86 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTUEB AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ February 2, 1871. 



laws, and if we only had a key to them it would be possible to 

 predict the character of the season beforehand with the regu- 

 larity of a clock ; but at present we are far from that happy 

 state of afiairs, and are waiting for some meteorological Newton 

 to appear and settle a few of the knotty points for us. Does 

 the moon influence the weather ? The French savants, after 

 investigating the matter for a long time, came to the conclusion 

 that she did not affect the weather at all. Perhaps it would 

 have been better if they had reported that they could not find 

 out how she afiected the weather. The American captains 

 who fetch guano from the Soulh Seas say that the moon does 

 affect the weather, and that there is more rain in certain 

 phases of the moon than in others. Is it not more reasonable 

 to suppose that she does, and that the changes in our atmo- 

 sphere are caused by the relative position of the sun, moon, 

 and other planets? I think so. It is clear that the tides are 

 affected by the phases of the moon ; why not the weather ? 



" But to return to the prophecy. If the data are sound, no 

 doubt there are reasons which may be shown for their existence. 

 Dryness and low temperature in the early months of the year 

 seem to be the desiderata for cold. Perhaps under these con- 

 ditions the ice and snow may be less melted in the Arctic 

 regions than at other times. It is certain that in 1868, when 

 there was an unusually warm spring and summer, accompanied 

 with more rain than in 1870, and when the temperature in 

 Iceland in June was as high as it usually is in August, and when 

 ship captains reported that the ice belt round the Pole was 

 driven back further almost than in the memory of man, the 

 warm summer was followed by a very mild winter, and the 

 north-east wind seemed fhorn of its usual rigours. Were the 

 previous heat and rain the cause of it? Mr. Brumham, per- 

 haps, would say, Yes ; I would rather say. Wait and see if the 

 conclusions arrived at in the table are borne out in future 

 years, and then the investigation of the cause will be likely to 

 add still further to our limited knowledge of the laws of 

 meteorology. — Amateue, Cirencester." 



SOME PREDATORY INSECTS OF OUR 

 GAEDENS.— No. 3. 

 An entomological friend of mine, whose spite towards gar- 

 deners generally is probably to be attributed to the circumstance 

 that in the course of his researches he has come at times into 

 collision with various species of that genus, takes upon him 

 to assert that the majority, large as are their opportunities for 

 observation, have done little towards ^tpcreasing our stock of 

 facts in natural history. I think, however, that if we look 

 back on the records of the past we shall admit that in matter 

 and in style, what horticulturists do now communicate to our 

 journals from time to time, throws quite into the shade the 

 meagre descriptions which were once thought of value. Still 

 * there is scope for improvement, especially amongst working 

 gardeners, and we may hope that, through the impetus given 

 to education by its being regarded as of national importance, 

 natural science and its concomitants will be so taught as not to 

 disgust, but to stimulate the youthful mind, and prepare it for 

 making discoveries on its own account when the after-life gives 

 opportunities. One thing, certainly, caused some difficulty in 

 other days — there were few journals through which facts in 

 natural history could be brought before the public. Some 

 communications came out, however, in the " Gentleman's Ma- 

 gazine," and strange enough they were, for " Sylvanus Urban " 

 was decidedly non-scientific. I quote two amusing specimens 

 of the sort of thing that went down with the reader of a hundred 

 years since. A certain " J. H.," writing an alarmist's letter 

 from Cambridge in 1763, says of insects, that "the embryos of 

 these rapacious animals are now quickening by the rays of the 

 vernal sun. The caterpillars that destroy the trees and hedges 

 glue their nests to the branches. The web is woven with a 

 close texture, and covered with a viscous liquor. In hot weather 

 an effluvium exhales from caterpillars, which is noxious both 

 to man and cattle, and sometimes produces contagious diseases." 

 This is of a general cast ; of more particular observations, if 

 Buoh they can be termed, we have such as that written down 

 . by " D. J." in 1760. His gardener in digging discovers a 

 mysterious roll. This is opened, master and man both agape 

 with astonishment — behold ! a mass of desiccated matter re- 

 Bembling chewed grass, compacted together, 7 inches long, 

 1 broad, terminating in a blunt end, tenanted by what he calls 

 a single egg, about which the substance was looser. The oddest 

 part of the letter states that a hunt was instituted for the insect 



which had made it, and the sagacious discoverer could not 

 understand why, after its trouble, it had not waited to see the 

 result ! This was probably a nest of some species of solitary 

 bee. 



It is possible, however, some may think that in horticulture 

 ignorance regarding the numerous insect pests which mock our 

 labours has some advantages. We reduce the numbers of the 

 enemies we see and can get hold of, but how many are there 

 which work us trouble and yet evade us ! Then occasionally 

 there suddenly appears some new blight, and the reflective 

 visage of the gardener, full of insect lore, lengthens as his 

 imagination pictures the divers annoyances it may inflict, whicii 

 he cannot totally prevent. Increasing knowledge we must in- 

 crease sorrow, is a reflection, however, that may be pushed too 

 far ; in natural history our great danger is a sort of half know- 

 ledge, which enables us to talk but gives us little insight. 

 Thus, one who thought himself thoroughly acquainted with 

 caterpillars and their destructive doings, had jet no idea that 

 any were to be found waiting quietly through the winter to 

 recommence their jaw work in spring. It is true of various 

 species in gardens as well as in fields and woods, and an un- 

 pleasant lurker of this sort is that producing the Gothic Moth 

 (Moenia typica). The parent Moths are on the wing often for 

 a couple of months in the summer, coming eagerly enough to 

 an ensnaring sweet compound spread on tree trunks even about 

 London, and in spite of its commonness it deserves to be called 

 handsome. It has been observed by Mr. Newman that the 

 juvenile caterpillars proceed with a certain degree of military 

 regularity, marching in little companies, and confining them- 

 selves to the upper surface of the leaves. My own observations 

 confirm this, though, unlike Mr. Newman's specimens, those 

 occurring at the west end of London do not always begin by a 

 short sojourn on trees ere they descend to the lower growth in 

 gardens. I have found eggs and young caterpillars on low 

 plants, nor do they hesitate to devour the produce of the flower 

 as well as that of the kitchen garden. These caterpillars seem 

 to have at all times a partiality for dead leaves — they often 

 hybernate on or amongst them; atd, when feeding some in 

 captivity during the spring, I noticed that they ate chiefly at 

 night, hiding under a dried leaf during the day. Hence the 

 species escapes notice in gardens at the very time it is most 

 destructive, and skigs and snails are anathematised occasion- 

 ally, while the culprit is our Gothic foe, now getting plump, 

 and who would perhaps wink his eyes, if he had any eyelids, to 

 express his satisfaction at the good fare he obtains on the fresh 

 juicy leaves. However, as, by-and-by entering the earth, he 

 becomes a chrysalis, he may chance to get chopped in two by 

 the spade or hoe. From the small proportion of these cater- 

 pillars to be found by careful searching in some springs as com- 

 pared with the number about the preceding autumn, I fancy 

 that they are kept in check by some parasite, or killed by the 

 sharp weather of certain seasons. 



Who has not some early associations connected with the 

 Woolly Bear ? though this name is applied loosely to yarioviE 



Chelonia Caja. 

 hairy caterpillars. I think, however, that it could be demon- 

 strated to be the peculiar property of the common Tiger Moth 

 (Chelonia Caja), the only probable rival being the caterpillar of 

 the White Ermine. An active fellow is the Tiger Caterpillar, 

 though its long silky hairs, as seen at the final change of skin, 

 have nothing resembling wool about them except their light 

 colour on the back. The head and legs are of a deep black. 

 Nor is it remarkable for being bearish in disposition, though 

 it may be thought a feeble miniature of that animal in appear- 

 ance. An observer, however, reports last year an instance 

 wherein a Tiger Caterpillar proved a cannibal, devouring a 

 chrysalis of a brother ; but then there was this excuse, that 

 the individual had been kept on short commons^ and, to all 



