BIT 



[ 120 J 



EIA 



BITTEK OAK. Qua'rcus ce'rns. 



BITTER- SWEET. Sula'num dulcama'ra. 



BITTER VETCH. Oro'bus. 



BITTER WOOD. Xylo'pia. 



BIVON.E'A. (After A. Bivona Bernurdi, 

 a professor of botany in Sicily. Nat. 

 ord., Crucifers [Brassicacese]. Linn., 

 \5-Tetradynamia. Allied. to Lepidium.) 



Hardy annual. Seeds ; common soil. 

 B. lu'tea (yellow). J. Yellow. June. Italy. 1824. 



BI'XA. Arnotta. (Its native name in 

 South America. Nat. ord., Bixads [Fla- 

 courtiacese]. Linn., 13-Polyandria 1- 

 Monogynia.) 



The reddish pulp which surrounds the seeds of 

 J3. Orella'na is the Arnotta of commerce, used in 

 the preparation of chocolate, and by farmers for 

 colouring cheese, and also by dyers for a reddish 

 colour, Stove evergreen trees. Cuttings of half- 

 ripened shoots in sand, under- a bell-glass, and in 

 heat ; lumpy peat and loam. Summer temp., 

 85 to 85 ; winter, 50 to 60. 

 B. Orella'na (Orellana). 20. Pink. June. 

 W. Ind. 1690. 



purpu'rea (purple). 20. Purple. July. E. 



Ind. 1817. 



Urucura'na (Urucu). 20. Pink. July. 



Brazil. 1820. 



BIZARRE. See CARNATION. 

 BLACK ADIANTUBI. Asple'nium adia'n- 

 tum-ni'yrum. 

 BLACK ARCH-MOTH. See PSILURA 



MONACHA. 



BLACK BRYONY. Poisonous weeds, 

 which need not be further noticed. 



BLACK BULLACE. Pru'nus insili'tia. 



BLACKBU'RNIA. (Named after Mr. 

 Blackburn. Nat. ord., Xanthoxyls [Xan- 

 thoxylacese]. Linn., k-Tetrandria 1- 

 Monoyynia.) 



Greenhouse evergreen shrub. Cuttings of half- 

 ripe shoots in sand, under a bell-glass, in April ; 

 also by layers, in autumn; peat and loam, both 

 fibry and" sandy. Summer temp., 65 to 75; 

 winter, 40 to 45. 



B. pinna'ta (leafleted). White. May. Norfolk 

 Island. 1829. 



BLACK CATERPILLAR. See ATHALIA 



SPIN ARUM. 



BLACK FLEA. (Haltica nemorum.) 

 No insect is more insidious or more 

 sweeping in the destruction it brings 

 upon some of the farmers' or gardeners' 

 crops than the turnip-flea (Haltica ne- 

 morum). Turnips of all kinds, beet- 

 root, mangold-wurtzel, radishes, and flax, 

 are all liable to be destroyed by this in- 

 sect. It is a singular misapplication of 

 terms, that this insect is known among 

 cultivators of the soil as the black and 

 the turnip flea or fly, none of them ever 

 calling it a beetle, which it really is ; and 



the most descriptive name is the turnip- 

 flea beetle, for this describes not only its 

 real nature, but its favourite food, and its 

 extraordinary power of skipping or 

 leaping like the common flea. This 



insect is represented in our drawing 

 of its natural size and magnified. The 

 body, one-eighth of an inch long, is rather 

 flattened, and of a brassy-black colour, 

 thickly dotted; the wing-cases are green- 

 ish-black, with a pale-yellow, broad line on 

 each ; the base of the feelers (antenna) 

 and the legs are pale clay-coloured. 

 The eggs are laid on the under side of 

 the rough leaf of the turnip from April 

 to September. They hatch in two days. 

 Their maggots live between the two skins 

 or cuticles of the rough leaf, and arrive 

 at maturity in sixteen days. The chry- 

 salis is buried just beneath the surface 

 of the earth, where it remains about 

 fortnight. The beetles are torpid 

 through the winter, and revive in the 

 spring, when they destroy the two 

 first or seed leaves of the young turnip. 

 There are five or six broods in a season. 

 These insects are most to be feared in 

 fine seasons. Heavy rains, cold springs, 

 and long droughts destroy them. Their 

 scent is very perfect: the beetles fly 

 against the wind, and are attracted from 

 a distance. The rapid growth of a plant 

 s the best security against them ; to 

 secure which, sow plenty of seed, all of 

 the same age. Burning the surface of 

 the land' is beneficial, by destroying the 

 chrysalides. Deep digging is an excel- 

 ent practice when the chrysalides are 

 n the soil. Drilling is a far superior 

 Dractice to sowing the seed broadcast. 

 Destroy charlock-: it affords support to 

 the beetles before the turnips come up. 

 The most effectual banishment of the 

 turnip-fly, we think, is secured by sowing 



