November 9, 1871. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GABDENEE. 



357 



Bat there ia another trick which bees "put into practice at 

 times, which leads the flower gardener to regard them with 

 disfavour. When a bee comes to a flower, and finds that either 

 {rom the length of the tube or from the closing of the lip it 

 cannot obtain the honey, the bee goes off elsewhere. No, not 

 always. It may do so, if it is in the prime of the flower season, 

 but when honey is getting difficuh to obtain the bee does not 

 give it up. Instead of that, it ingeniously bores a hole in the 

 Tight position to enable it to rifle the flower of its treasure. 

 Several species of Faohsia have been noticed as particularly 

 ■the objects of attack. Some years ago nearly every blossom of 

 Fachsia elegans in some gardens exhibited these holes, which 

 "were a puzzle to the non-observant. Bees have also reached, 

 in a similar way, the nectaries of the species of Delphinium, 

 -Aquilegia, &o. 



Some of the wild solitary bees disfigure our garden shrubs, 

 ■though they do them no positive injury. Tiie most conspieu- 

 •OQS offenders are those belonging to what are popularly called 

 the Upholsterers, from the fact that their cells are very care- 

 ■fally and curiously lined, usually with leaves, occasionally with 

 other materials. The Bose-leaf Cutter (Megachile centuncu- 



Megachile centancularis. 



rl, Head of larva protrudiDg from case b ; c, narrow part o! case farmed 

 of leaves. 



laris of Litreille) uses by preference the leaves of the Eose, 

 Birch, and Mountain Ash, cutting out circular pieces with 

 wonderful ingenuity. The nests contain a varying number of 

 ■cells, and they are placed in a beaten path, or in the cavities 

 of walls, sometimes in rotten wood. Other species frequent 

 the Pear, the Elder, and various trees for the same purpose. 

 ■On the banks of the Thames, near Eew, in 1865, I was sur- 

 prised to find how extensively some bee of this division had 

 been at work upon a long Privet hedge ; in fact, I was led at 

 first to suppose that some caterpillars had been devouring the 

 ieaves, until an examination of the character of the incisions 

 proved that they had been made by bees. Some of the Up- 

 holsterer bees employ, instead of leaves, the petals of flowers. 

 Authocope Papaveris delights to deck her nest with the bright 

 petals of the Corn Poppy. 



There yet remain in the gardens, as well as in the fields and 

 ■woods, a few external-feeding caterpillars, mostly, it may be 

 assumed, of rather a melancholic turn ; they almost seem to 

 ■feel themselves out of place as they walk amongst the withered 



Fhlogopliora meticulosa. 



leaves and fading flowers, and prefer to retreat to the kitchen 

 garden, where, even in autumn, there remains abundant pro- 

 vision for them. The juvenile caterpillars of the Angleshades 

 Moth (Phlogophora meticulosa), are to be discovered now, and 



as the perfect insect, 

 which appears in Sep- 

 tember and October, 

 continues about for 

 some time, we may 

 possibly find both 

 moth and caterpillar 

 at once. The Angle- 

 shades Moth not un- 

 frequently enters our 

 rooms, being attracted 

 thither by the lights. 

 In its attitude of re- 

 pose it has a peculiar 

 appearance, the wings 

 bt ing folded and form- 

 ing a roof, BO that 

 when resting upon the ground I have known the insect passed 

 over even by an entomological ej e, it having a resemblance to 

 a bit of crumpled paper. -i--^5M-j -;:;;- 



The egg of the Angleshades is laid upon various plants. I 

 have found it on the garden varieties of Chrysanthemum. By 

 means of a moderate magnifying power, we perceive that it ia 

 channelled and dotted, the markings being regularly arranged, 

 and giving to it, as Eennie observes, a likeness to a sea-egg in 

 miniature. The caterpillar is a very general feeder ; in the 

 flower beds -it attacks many species ; besides the Chrysanthe- 

 mum, it is partial to the Hollyhock and Primulaceous plants. 

 In the winter it ia more frequently found in the kitchen garden, 

 feeding whenever the weather is tolerably mild upon the 

 Cabbages and Lettuces ; in fact, I do not believe it is ever 

 entirely torpid. A dissection of this caterpillar shows that it 

 has the vital organs well surrounded with fat, and its insensi- 

 bility to cold may be thus explained. It ia remarkably smooth 

 and velvety, of an apple-green, occasionally brown, in both 

 cases having indistinct whitish dots and white lines ; the head 

 is small, giving to it somewhat of a leech-like aspect. If alarmed 

 the Angleshades caterpillar drops from its food, rolling itself 

 into a ling more or less complete. It is rather inclined to 

 shun the daylight, so that by examining different plants with a 

 lantern after sunset these and other caterpillars will be dis- 

 covered, the existence of which, it may be, the gardener had 

 little idea of. He may have noticed the drooping leaves which 

 they had nibbled during their night excursions, and removing 

 these the next morning, has, perhaps, been inclined to think 

 that " the slugs " had been the chief offenders. 



These caterpillars attain their maturity in the month of 

 April ; eating pretty considerably of the early-spring growth, 

 and then descending to the ground, they spin a cocoon of a 

 slight texture on the surface. Many of the pupae are fortunately 

 killed by the spade. The first brood of the moth is on the 

 wing in May and June, and there is generally, at least, a second 

 brood of the caterpillars in the summer, producing the autumn 

 moths. I have found the species commonly on the banks of 

 the Thames, where the caterpillars feed on Groundsel and 

 Docks.— J. E. S. C. 



APPLE AND PEAR TREE STOCKS. 



Neap. Ilford there ia one of the most beautiful orchards of 

 pyramidal fruit trees one can wish to see. It is under the 

 management of Mr. Green, a very intelligent student of nature, 

 and a great lover of fruit culture, though not a gardener in the 

 strict sense of the word. Amongst the many rows of very fine- 

 ahaped trees Mr. Green pointed out to me three or four of the 

 following kinds — viz., Louise Bonne of Jersey and Beurr§ 

 d'Amanlia Peara, and Sturmer Pippin Apple. 



In growth these trees had apparently remained stationary for 

 the last few years, the general stock so far exceeding them in 

 height as to be about five times their size. These dwarfed 

 specimens annually bore a crop of remarkably fine fruit, even 

 in seasons when their more robust associates were barren. 

 The cause is the stock, which is quite distinct from all sur- 

 rounding ones, which foster stronger growths, and its distinc- 

 tive marks are a very rough bark and a perfect freedom from 

 suckers. As regards the Pears I would ask, Are seedling Quince 

 stocks ever employed, or are the stocks invariably trans- 

 planted suckers ? If seedling Quince stocks are occasionally 



