442 



ERIGERON ERIOGASTER. 



to the leaf-stalks of almost all the species of Kalmia, 

 Andromeda, and Rhododendron, as well as that which 

 surrounds their seeds, is used by the common people 

 in the United States of America to excite sneezing 1 . 

 An infusion of Gaultheia procumbrens is used as tea 

 in North America. It is stimulating, and somewhat 

 anodyne. The berries are succulent and esculent, and 

 are sometimes infused in brandy, which is then used 

 like common bitters. Ledum palustre is astringent, 

 and when used in the manufacture of beea renders it 

 heady. 



Menziesia c&rulea is a small shrub, found in a single 

 station in Scotland, but frequent in America. It 

 produces beautiful large purple-blue flowers, and is 

 well worthy of a place in our gardens. Another 

 species, Mcnziesia polifoita, is indigenous in Ireland, 

 and is frequent!}' cultivated. 



This order, we have thus seen, is more distinguished 

 for the beauty of the plants which it contains, than 

 for the uses to which they are applied. Under it are 

 included many of the most valuable green-house pro- 

 ductions, and to it also is referred the heather-bell 



That breathes the mountain air, 



and which gives, in some degree, to thejiills of Scot- 

 land their wild and romantic character. 



ERIGERON (Linnaeus). A genus of annual, 

 biennial, and perennial herbs, mostly found in Europe. 

 Linntean class and order Syngenesia superjlua, and 

 natural order Composites. Generic character : antho- 

 diinn imbricated; receptacle naked; florets of the 

 ray ligulate, and very narrow. Increased by seeds 

 or dividing the roots, grows anywhere in flower 

 borders. 



ER1GONUM (Michaux). A genus of North 

 American herbaceous perennials, belonging to the 

 natural order Polygonece, Generic character: flowers 

 enclosed in a bell-shaped involucrum ; calyx bell- 

 shaped, six-cleft, segments obtuse, interior ones some- 

 what smaller than the exterior ; filaments like hairs, 

 longer than the calyx ; anthers ovate ; style scarcely 

 visible ; stigma filiform ; achenium three-sided and 

 winged. These plants when cultivated thrive best 

 in pots. 



E1UNUS (Linnaeus). Beautify! little alpine plants, 

 belonging to Didynamia angiospermia, and to the natu- 

 ral order Scrophularince. Generic character : flowers 

 somewhat spiked and bracteate ; calyx regularly 

 five-cleft ; corolla inclining to salver-shaped, tube 

 cylindrical, limb spreading, five-parted, segments in- 

 versely heart-shaped, sometimes emarginate; stamens 

 short; style filiform, with headed stigmas; capsule 

 oblong, two-celled, two-valved, and many seeded. 

 The E. atpimts grows readily on old walls, and in- 

 creases itself readily by seeds. It is a favourite plant 

 for rock-work. There are two or three greenhouse 

 species. 



ERIOBOTRYA (Lindley). A genus of Chinese 

 fruit trees, belonging to the natural order JKosaccee. 

 Generic character : calyx woolly, obtusely five- 

 toothed ; petals bearded ; stamens equally joined to 

 the calyx ; styles five, filiform, and hairy ; fruit 

 from three to five celled, cells many seeded. The 

 E. Japonica was introduced into this country about 

 1787, under the name of MespUns Japonica, so called 

 by Thunberg. It is said to be indigenous to Japan, 

 but it is very common in China, and is the Loquat of 

 Chinese fruiterers. It is a half hardy tree, and with- 

 stands frost with a slight covering. 



ERIOCEPHALUS (Linnseus). A genus of ever- 

 green shrubs, introduced from the Cape of Good 

 Hope. They belong to the natural order Composite. 

 Greenhouse plants of easy culture, and propagated 

 by cuttings. 



ERIODENDRON (Decandolle). Tropical tim- 

 ber trees, formerly associated with the genus Bombax. 

 The flowers are monadelphious, and the trees are 

 placed in the natural order Bombaceae. Almost all 

 the genera of this order are known by the capsules 

 being lined with a kind of silky or cotton-like wool, 

 which is put to various uses, but it has no.t tenacity 

 enough for the fabrication of cloth. In our stoves 

 these trees have necessarily a pigmy habit, and are 

 propagated bv cuttings. 



ERIOGASTER (Germar). A genus of lepido- 

 pterous insects belonging to the section Pomeridiana 

 of Stephens, family Bombycida, and to the division 

 with entire wings, and the palpi not advanced in front. 

 The body in this genus is stout, and densely clothed 

 with woolly hairs ; the antennae are slender, and 

 attenuated at the extremity ; the wings are somewhat 

 transparent. The abdomen in the females is furnished 

 with a mass of down. The type of the genus is the 

 Pluiltena bombyx lanentris (Linn.), a species known to 

 collectors by the name of the small egger moth (so 

 named from the resemblance of the cocoon to an egg), 

 of rather common occurrence ; the wings are of a 

 dark reddish tinge, with an irregular toothed streak 

 beyond the middle of the wing, and with a large basal 

 and smaller central spot of a whitccolour. It varies in 

 expanse from one inch and one-sixth to one inch and 

 five-sixths. Like the genera Cnethocampa and Clisio- 

 campa (which see), to which it is nearly related ; 

 this moth is gregarious in the caterpillar state, living 

 in colonies under a common tent, from whence the 

 inhabitants make nocturnal exclusions in search of 

 food, returning before morning by means of silken foot- 

 roads parallel to the brandies. The caterpillar is 

 black and hairy, with two red hairy spots and three 

 white streaks on each segment. It is found at the 

 end of June feeding upon the sloe, birch, willow, 

 whitethorn, and other trees. The moth appears at 

 the end of February. 



We have already, in our article CHRYSALIS, given 

 an account of a curious circumstance which has been 

 observed relative to the occasional duration of this 

 insect for several years in the pupa state. 



The cocoon is hard and of an egg-like appearance, 

 somewhat resembling a pheasant's egg. Very little 

 silk is employed in its composition, moreover it is 

 spun with various little pin-holes, as if bored from 

 without, the use of which has not been ascertained. 

 It has, indeed, been suggested, that these apertures 

 might be left as air-holes for the included chrysalis, 

 " as the closer texture of the cocoon might, without 

 this provision, prove fatal to the animal." Ins. Ar- 

 chitect, p. 328. This supposition can scarcely, how- 

 ever, be maintained, inasmuch as we find numerous 

 cocoons of an equally firm texture, which are not fur- 

 nished with such apertures. There is also another 

 peculiarity which has been observed in this insect, 

 and which is thus noticed by Mr. Haworth, in his 

 Lepidoptera Britannica : " When an aurelian pos- 

 sesses a brood of this moth, he readily learns, on the 

 arrival of the month of February, which of his puptu 

 will become winged that year. This always happens 

 to by far the greater number, and its approach is 

 denoted by the swelling of the larger belts of the 



