88 



CHRYSIDID^E. 



Generic character : anthodium hemisphe- 

 lical, scaly ; scales with scarious margins ; receptacle 

 plain and naked ; seeds oblong and angular. The 

 geographical distribution of this genus extends over 

 all the northern hemisphere, from the British isles to 

 Kamschatka, and from Siberia to Asia Minor. One 

 of the British species, C. scgetum, was formerly a 

 troublesome weed in corn, insomuch that land subject 

 to it was lower rented than that where the yellow 

 weed was unknown. By careful hand-weeding, how- 

 ever, the plant is now almost banished from all well 

 cultivated fields. Several are admitted into the flower 

 garden ; and since the introduction of the Chinese 

 half shrubby species, every greenhouse, garden, and 

 court-yard, are ornamented with them. Few plants 

 have engaged the attention of florists more than this, 

 and they are now as much admired, and as much cul- 

 tivated in England, as they are in China. Two 

 monographs have been published of the C. Sincnse, 

 the first by J. Sabine, Esq., S.H.S. of London, and 

 the second by the late A. H. Haworth, Esq. Ac- 

 cording to Mr. H., there are above fifty different 

 species or varieties, all of them handsome, and some 

 of them splendid flowering plants. They are what 

 are called half-hardy, that is, if planted in the open 

 ground, their stems, like those of other perennials, 

 are killed down to the ground in winter ; but the 

 aggregated roots survive with but a very slight pro- 

 tection, whence the flowering stems of the next 

 summer are produced. 



There are various methods of cultivating the 

 chrysanthemum. The easiest, perhaps, is to plant 

 them close under a wall, to which the stems are 

 trained during their growth. They may also be 

 planted singly in the flower borders, and the shoots 

 kept tied to a stake as they advance in height. But, 

 as the plants flower very late in the season, a circum- 

 stance for which they are much prized, they require 

 assistance from heat, either reflected from a wall, or 

 applied in some other way, in order that the flowers 

 may be sufficiently forsvard to blow before the frosts 

 set in. 



Young shoots separated from the old stool, or 

 cuttings made of the earliest shoots, are soon esta- 

 blished as individuals, and in this state grow much 

 more luxuriantly tlian if they had been left on the 

 parent stool. These young individuals, being more 

 robust in habit, produce larger flowers, and these in 

 greater abundance. 



As the flowers are terminal, that is, produced on the 

 points of the shoots, they cannot appear until the 

 stem has gained its full height, which is sometimes, 

 when trained to a wall, six or eight feet ; and when 

 allowed to grow so tall, and kept in pots, are very 

 inconvenient in a greenhouse. To counteract this 

 tendency to run up, and to have low bushy plants 

 and a plentiful bloom, a judicious practice has been 

 had recourse to by some florists with the best effect. 

 This is by layering the strongest shoots, in the 

 months of June and July, into pots of light rich com- 

 post, plunged in the ground at a proper distance 

 round the stool, and in a shady place. The point of 

 the layered shoot is thus furnished with a new system 

 of active roots, which are competent to perfect the 

 further elongation of the shoot, with its terminal 

 bouquet of flowers ; and these, though quite perfect 

 as to form and colours, are never quite so large as 

 would have been borne by the shoot if it had not been 

 layered at all. Each stem bears a branched head of 



flowers ; and if a few only are wished to be as large 

 as possible, they may be thinned by cutting off all 

 the inferiors before they are too far advanced. 



There are other ways of dwarfing the chrysan- 

 themum besides layering them as above described. 

 Starving them in poor sandy soil, in diminutive pots, 

 and allowing but short supplies of water, will chock 

 luxuriance ; but this is always at the expense of the 

 beauty and size of the flowers. 



CHRYSIDID.E (Leach). A family of hymeno- 

 pterous insects, belonging to the section Pupivora, and 

 distinguished, not only by the exceeding brilliancy of 

 the colours of the insects of which it is composed 

 (whence the origin of the name which signifies golden 

 flies), but also by the antennae having thirteen joints 

 in both sexes, the basal joint being the longest, so as 

 to form, at its extremity, an elbow with the remaining 

 joints ; the mandibles are narrow, curved, and pointed ; 

 the lower wings are destitute of nervures, and the 

 abdomen of the females is terminated by an articulated 

 retractile ovipositor, composed of several of the 

 apical segments of the body, the abdomen itself 

 appearing to be composed of only three or four 

 segments. The under surface of this part of the body- 

 is concave ; so then, when the insect is alarmed, it 

 contracts itself into a ball, like a wood louse, leaving 

 the wings only exposed. These insects are adorned 

 with the richest colours, the thorax being generally of 

 a fine blue colour, and the abdomen of a polished 

 coppery flame colour ; they fly, in the hottest sun- 

 shine, about old walls and palings exposed to the sun, 

 with very great agility, seeking entrance into the 

 burrows of other insects, in the nests of which they 

 deposit their own eggs, in the manner of the cuckoo- 

 bees. See CuculhuE. M. St. Fargeau has observed 

 the proceedings of the female of the species Hcdychrum 

 rcgium, which, in general, selects the nests of Mega- 

 chile muraria, a wild mason bee. Having entered one 

 of the nests of this bee, head foremost, it drew back 

 and turned itself round for the purpose of introducing 

 the hind part of its body into the nest, walking back- 

 wards. The bee, however, arrived at this critical 

 juncture with a supply of pollen paste, no sooner, 

 however, did she perceive her enemy than she pounced 

 on it and seized it with her jaws ; like the ChrysuMtE 

 in general, however, it immediately rolled itself into a 

 ball, so that the jaws df the bee, although very power- 

 ful, were not able to affect the least wound upon the 

 polished cuirass of the Hedychrum ; she, however, cut 

 off the four wings of the latter which were undefended, 

 and then let it fall to the ground. She then visited 

 her cell with some inquietude, deposited her store of 

 provision, and retutned to the fields for a further 

 supply. No sooner, however, was she gone than the 

 Hedychrum, which had, during the interval, remained 

 rolled up, unrolled itself, crept up the wall, and quietly 

 deposited its eggs in the cell, from which it had just 

 previously been precipitated, placing them in the 

 midst of the paste against the walls of the cell, which 

 prevented the Megachile from perceiving it. 



De Geer found the Chrysts vricans, in the resinous 

 ll of the pine, whence he surmised that its larva 

 had been nourished upon the larva which had been 

 previously inclosed therein, having observed at the 

 aottom of the cell of the gall, an empty cocoon, com- 

 posed of loose silk, which the Chrysts had pierced in 

 order to make its escape. 



This family comprises the genera Parnopes, Chrysis, 

 Stilbum, Euchrceus, Pyria, Hcdychrum, Elawpus, and 



