1868 



ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. 



PART III. 



may have pushed above 1 in. in length. Cobbett recommends gathering the 

 acorns before they are quite ripe, drying in the sun, and packing in dry sand ; 

 but by this mode, we think, the vital principle would not be so well preserved 

 as by packing them in Sphagnum. 



Insects. In America, the white oak is infested with numerous insects, some 

 of which are figured in Abbott and Smith** Insects of Georgia. Phalse v na 

 (? PygaeVa) albifrons (t.80., x 1728 



and our Jig. 1728.), the white- 

 tip moth, is by no means a 

 common kind. The cater- 

 pillar, which is of a pinkish 

 colour, striped with yellow, 

 white, and black, has a fine 

 polish, as if glazed or var- 

 nished. The whole brood 

 feeds together, especially 

 when small. One observed 

 by Abbott spun itself a thin 

 white web,between the leaves 

 of the oak, on October 28th, 

 and came out on the 18th of 

 February. The chrysalis is 

 of a reddish brown, and the 

 perfect insect of a dull brown, 

 tinged with yellow. Phala3 v na 

 (Notodonta) Aurora (Abb. 

 and SmUh,t. 87., and our fig. 

 1729.), the pink and yellow 

 prominent moth, was taken 

 by Abbott on the white oak. " The caterpillar went into the ground, 

 and enclosed itself in a thin case of dirt, on July 15th, appearing on the wing 

 on August 7th. Sometimes this species buries itself in the autumn, and remains 



till spring, at which season the moth may now and then be observed sitting 

 on the oak branches." 



Statistics. In the environs of London, at Fulham Palace, a tree bearing this name, between 100 

 and 120 years old, is 60 ft. high, but it appears to us to be nothing more than Q. peduncuh\ta ; at 

 York House, Twickenham, it is 50 ft. high; at Muswell Hill, 72 years old, it is 61ft. high, the 

 diameter of the trunk 6 ft. 6 in., and of the head 70 ft. In France, in Brittany, at Barres, 8 years 

 planted, it is 9ft high. In Austria, at Vienna, in the park at Laxenburg, 10 years planted, it is 

 20ft. high. In Bavaria, at Munich, in the English Garden, 10 years old, it is 7 ft. high. In 

 Italy, in Lombardy, at Monza, 24 years planted, it is 30ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 8 in., and 

 of the head 10 ft. 



Commercial Statistics. The name of the white oak does not occur in any 

 of the London nursery catalogues of the present day, with the exception of 

 that of Messrs. Loddiges; neither is it in the Bollwyller catalogue. In that 



