COS 



[219 



COS 



ord., Composites [Asteracese]. Linn., 19- 

 SyngenesiaS-Sitperjltta. Allied to Bidens.) 

 Cosmea is united to this. Both the annual 

 and perennial species are all readily increased 

 from seeds, sown early in spring, and treated 

 as tender annuals ; planted out in the open 

 borders in the summer months. 



PERENNIALS. 



C. diuersifo'lia (various-leaved). 3. Lilac. Sep- 

 tember. Mexico. 1835. Hardy tuber. 



geubiosoi' des (scabious-like). 4. Scarlet. Sep- 



tember. Mexico, Greenhouse tuber. 



ANNUALS. 



C. bipinna'ta (doubly-leatteted). 3. Purple. July. 

 Mexico. 1/99. 



Chrysnnthemifo'lia (chrysanthemum - leaved). 



2. Yellow. July. S. Amer. 1826. 

 ~crithmifo'lia (samphire-leaved). 2. Yellow. 

 September. Mexico. 18'-'6. 



lu'tea (yellow). 2. Yellow. October. Mexico. 



1811. 



parviflti'ra (small -flowered). 2. White. July. 



Mexico. 1800. Hardy. 



sulphu'rea (sulphur). 2." Yellow. July. 



Mexico. IjyQ. Hardv. 



tene'lla (delicate). 2. Yellow. October. 



Mexico. 1S24. 



tenuifo'lius (slender-leaved). 2. Purple. Sep- 



tember. Mexico. 1836. Hardy. 



COSSI'GNIA. (Named after Cossigny, a 

 French naturalist. Nat. ord., Soapworts 

 [Sapindacece]. Linn., 6-Hexandria 2- 

 Digynia. Allied to Koelreuteria.) 



Admired for its golden-veined leaves. Stove 

 evergreen shrub. Soil, peat and loam. Cuttings 

 root readily under glass, in bottom-heat. 

 C. Borbu'nica (Bourbon). 10. Mauritius. 1824. 



Cossus LIGNIPERDA. Goat Moth. The 

 caterpillar of the Goat Moth is most 

 destructive to the wood of fruit-trees, 

 though the elm, oak, -willow, poplar, and 

 walnut, also, are liable to its attacks. It 

 is the Cossus ligniperda of some natural- 

 ists, and the Bombyx and Xyleides cossus 

 of others. The caterpillar measures more 

 than four inches in length, is smooth and 

 shining, beset only here and there with 

 single short hairs. It is dark red on the 

 back, and the breathing-holes situated 

 at both sides are of the same colour. 

 The sides and lower part of the body are 

 flesh- coloured; the head is black; the 

 first segment, also, marked with black 

 above. After remaining more than two 

 years in the larva state, and casting its 

 skin eight times, the caterpillar becomes 

 of a light ochrish-yellow hue shortly be- 

 fore becoming a chrysalis, which usually 

 takes place in spring, when it makes a 

 strong cocoon of chips of wood and small 

 pieces of bark, which it has gnawed off. 

 The chrysalis is yellow, and the segments 

 are deeply indented and capable of much 

 extension; its back is furnished with 



strong, pointed spines, sometimes of & 

 reddish-brown colour. The cocoon is 

 situated immediately within the opening 

 in the tree, so that the pupa, when 

 arrived at maturity, can press itself half 

 out of the hole when the shell bursts, 

 and the moth comes forth usually in 

 the month of June or July, after having, 

 reposed in the pupa state for an indefinite 

 time. When at rest the wings are folded 

 together over the back in the form of a 

 roof; it sits quietly in the day-time on 

 the stems of trees, and is difficult to be 

 distinguished on account of its grey 

 colour. Its wings measure, from one tip 

 to the other, nearly three inches, and 

 many specimens more than this ; the 

 female is usually larger than the male. 

 The fore-wings are ashy-white, clouded 

 with brown, especially across the middle, 

 and marked with very numerous streaks, 

 like net-work; the hind-wings are brown ; 

 thorax ochrish in front, pale in the 

 middle, with a black bar behind. The- 

 female is provided with a strong egg- 

 depositor, with which she introduces her 

 eggs into the bark of the tree often 

 1000 in number ; the young caterpillars 

 living, at first, in and between the outer 

 and inner bark, and afterwards, when 

 they are stronger, penetrating into the 

 wood. When the existence of one of 

 these creatures is detected in a trunk, by 

 its excrement, relief comes too late for 

 the tree, even if we are able to kill the 

 caterpillar, the mischief being already 

 done. Notwithstanding this, the cater- 

 pillar should never be left undisturbed ; 

 and an attempt should be made to reach 

 it by enlarging the opening with a garden- 

 knife, or endeavouring to kill it by thrust- 

 ing a piece of garden-wire up the hole. 

 It is called the Goat Moth from the 

 peculiar smell both of the insect and its 

 larva. The Cottage Gardener, iii. 137. 



CO'STUS. (An ancient name, adopted 

 from Pliny. Nat. ord., Ginyenvorts [Zin- 

 giberacesej. Linn., 1-Monandria l-Mo- 

 nogynia,} 



The roots are very hitter, and without the 

 aromatic pungent odour peculiar to the Costus of 

 the continental shops, which is the root of a very 

 dltferent plant, a native of Arabia, and allied to 

 Cardo;>atum. The Costus of Cashmere, employed 

 to protect bales of shawls from moths, is the root 

 of Aukla'ndia cn'stus. Stove herbaceous peren- 

 nials of easy growth, and readily increased by 

 root division ; Bandy loam, with a little peat. 

 C. A'fer (African). 2. White. June. Sierra Leone. 



1 822. 

 Ara'bicus (Arabian). 2. White. August. 



Indies. 1752. 



