214! Entomological Society. 



Hams was appointed to the botanical professorship, in 1795; and I know that 

 he considered it to have been introduced to Oxford by his predecessor. Dr. 

 John Sibthorp, who enriched the garden by the introduction of a great num- 

 ber of plants from Greece, and other foreign countries. As far as I have ob- 

 served, there is no specimen of this lathyrus in the Sibthorpean Herbarium ; 

 neither is it described in the Flora GrcEca. The earliest account I find of it is 

 in the Annals of Botany, by Konig and Sims (vol. ii. p. 451.), where it is 

 described as a newly discovered plant, in a paper entitled " Some Account of 

 the Vegetable Productions of the Countries situated between the Terek and 

 Kur, rivei's flowing into the Caspian Sea. Extracted from a description of 

 these parts by F. R. Marschall von Bieberstein." The work of M, Bieber- 

 stein from which the extracts were made was published, according to the 

 Annals of Botany, m 1800; and, in the same year. Professor Willdenow pub- 

 hshed the name of this plant in the third volume of his edition of Linnaeus's 

 Species Plantarum, p. 1088. : this was six years after the death of Dr. Sibthorp ; 

 by whom, I think, there is no doubt the plant was introduced into the Oxford 

 Garden. It appears not to have been in the Kew Garden in 1812, when the 

 second edition of the Hortiis Keiuensts was published. It has been recently 

 figured and described in Maund's Botanic Garden ; but, as I have no access to 

 that work, I am unable to refer to the plate in which it is figured, [t. 511.] — 

 William Baxter. Botanic Garden, Oxford, March 7. 1836. 



Ipomoe'^a ruhro-caeridea. — Many persons are deterred from cultivating this 

 beautiful plant, from the idea that it requires a stove to bring it to perfection. 

 This, however, is not the case, as nothing could be more splendid than the blos- 

 soms on a plant which I had last summer, in a pot in the open air. Three or 

 four large magnificent blossoms, of a most brilliant ultramarine blue, expanded 

 every morning for several weeks, dying off a pale pink ; and in the end the 

 plant produced several pods of ripe seeds. It was raised in heat, and trained 

 up a slight frame, but received no farther culture, except occasional watering. 

 — F. Ranch. Bai/sivater, Oct. 28. 1835. 



Strelitz'ia augusta H. K. — A magnificent specimen of this plant is now in 

 fine flower in the stove of Joseph Wilson, Esq., Clapham Common, under 

 the care of my very esteemed friend Mr. Joseph Gunner, who is gardener 

 there. — VV. P., jun. Wai^dsworth Road, March 1. 1836. 



Art. IV. Entomological Society, 



The labours of this most useful Society, though only lately commenced, 

 will ultimately be of immense advantage to the gardener and the farmer. We 

 can strongly recommend these Transactions (in two parts, 7*. (yd. each) to 

 all who can afford to purchase them ; and, at all events, to all gardening and 

 agricultural societies, and to all county book clubs. Mankind in general know 

 little of the gigantic operations that are performed by insects, and of the 

 immense influence which creatures, that could not be seen with the naked eye 

 by our rude ancestors, have directly and indirectly on human happiness. We 

 intend, from time to time, to notice the progress of this Society, as far as 

 respects vegetable cultivation ; and, in the mean time, we give the following 

 extract from the Address on the Second Annivei'sart/, by the Rev. F. W. Hope, 

 President : — 



" In Grenada, the Cicada (jDelphax saccharivora Westivood, Mag. of Nat. 

 Hist., vol. vi. p. 407 — 413. ; vol. vii, p. 496.) still continues its ravages on 

 the sugar canes, and I regret to state that two thirds of the crop are already 

 destroyed. A species of C6ccus, which infests our hot-houses, prevents the 

 pine-apple from arriving at perfection. In various counties, arising, probably, 

 from the mildness of our late winters, the wire worm, the flea beetle, and the 

 saw fly and caterpillar have nearly annihilated the turnip crops. To find 

 antidotes against these evils should be the unceasing object of your enquiries. 

 Respecting the turnip beetle, there is now a better prospect of checking this 



