604 Horticultural Register. 



vicinity of Waterfall, in the county of Wicklow. A figure of the moth 

 and a figure of its larva are given : that of the latter we think not happily 

 executed. " It occasionally feeds on the ash and oak ; but its favourite 

 plants appear to be the alder (/I'lnus glutinosa) and the round-leaved 

 willow ((S'alix caprea) ; and amongst these its attacks are in a great measure 

 limited to trees growing in watery places. Possibly the great quantity of 

 water absorbed by the tree in such situation may render it more palatajjle ; 

 but the greater probability seems to be, that the soft wood of such trees 

 being more porous than those growing on high and dry ground, oifers less 

 opposition to its progress. Be that as it may, the fact of their predilection 

 is certain ; ten trees growing in low moist situations being infected for one 

 in a situation of an opposite nature." 



Another figure is given, exhibiting a piece of alder and the many per- 

 forations which had been effected by the larvae of the goat moth. This 

 " was one of many trees of the same kind, which, in consequence of the 

 innumerable perforations, were not enabled to resist even a moderate blast, 

 and were blown down." 



Part IV. consists of Revieivs and Extracts ; and these, in the present 

 number, are from the Journal of Agriculture, the Magazine of Natural 

 History, the Gardens and Meiiagerie of the Zoological Society delineated, 

 Curtis's British Entomology, and the Edinburgh PhilosojMcal Journal. 



Part V. consists of Miscellaneous Intelligence on natural histoi'Vj rural 

 affairs, and horticulture ; of reports of horticultural and floricultural 

 societies ; and of a horticultural calendar for July. This calendar is to be 

 continued monthly, and is a really useful article j being a dilatation of, and 

 improvement on, the calendarial index given in each of our last five volumes. 

 We hope some correspondent will oblige us with a similar one. 



No, II. for August, contains 

 Part I. Horticidture, Sfc, Original Communications. 1. A successful 

 Method of cultivating the White Tokay Grape. By Mr. Charles Parkin, 

 Gardener to Viscount Galway, Notts. The method is, to thin out the 

 unexpanded blossom, and by that means to render the pollen more perfect, 

 the stamens more erect, and fecundation more certain. This, with the 

 ordinary treatment in other points of culture, will produce berries of 

 uniform size, instead of, what is very general in the bunches of the White 

 Tokay grape, berries some of which are no larger than small peas, while 

 others are an inch or more in circumference. [The idea is good, and might 



insects, their species, time and mode of attack, &c., is of much importance in 

 arboriculture, and we, as part of the public, hope for much information from 

 Mr. Murphy on this subject. We, however, respectfully and with honest 

 deference, beg to caution him against becoming at all an alarmist ; being of 

 opinion that in most cases the Dendrophagi do not commence their oper- 

 ations until some immediate disease has beset the tree or trees they attack. 

 Cossus ligniperda in the willows (5alix alba mainly) of the Cambridge- 

 shire fens is no rarity ; but neither in these, nor in oak or walnut elsewhere, 

 have we witnessed it, except in trees that were diseased before the larvae of 

 the Cossus were hatched, or the eggs from which they were hatched depo- 

 sited in or upon the trees. 



An article on the Scolytus destructor (^auctorum ; Scolytus insons nobis 

 MSS.) in the Magazine of Natural History, xol.iv. p. 152 — 157. will more 

 fully explain the view recommended. The English name of goat moth for 

 the fossus is very expressive, as its odour resembles that of the goat, as 

 which it is almost as fetid. The woodpecker or popinjay (Picus viridis) 

 preys on the larvas of the Cossus, and the stench of the bird's stomach, 

 on dissection, is sometimes almost intolerable. — J.D. 



