AprU 27, 1871. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



305 



general land connection between these various groups of islands, as 

 well as with south-western Europe, which had subsequently been 

 broken up by some gigantic catastrophe; whereas Mr. M^'allace con- 

 tended that they were the result of atmospheric phenomena, such as 

 storms and hurricanes, which, however, Mr. Wollaston asserted were 

 of very rare occurrence in that part of the Atlantic, the wind blowing 

 as a moderate breeze almost uninterruptedly from the north-east, with 

 an occasional storm from the south, sufficient to account for the intro- 

 duction of the few African forms amongst the insects, but not sufficient 

 to have caused so large a per-ceutage of Mediterranean forms as were 

 exhibited, Mr. Bates, in the subsequent discussion upon the paper, 

 -objected to the idea of " ^roRt catastrophes," such as would have pro- 

 duced a sinking of the depth of the ocean between the Azores and 

 Europe to the depth of 12 or lo,000 feet, considering that geological 

 changes were extremely slow in their operation. A protracted discus- 

 sion upon this subject took place, in which Messrs. Wallace and A. 

 Murray also took part. 



The April meeting of this Society was held at Burlington House o^ 

 the 3rd inst., the President, Mr. A. K. Wallace, being in the chair 

 Among the donations received by the Society since the last meeting 

 was a valuable Report of the Fruit-growers' Association of Ontario for 

 1870, published at Toronto at the beginning of the present year. Mr. 

 Holdsworth sent a series of carefully executed drawings of Chinese 

 Moths, some of which exhibited great similarity to English species. 

 Mr. F. Smith exhibited and described several singular specimens of 

 ■well-known British bees and other Hymenopterous insects, in which 

 one side of the body and its corresponding limbs were of one sex, whilst 

 the other side and limbs were of the opposite sex. One of these indi- 

 viduals was the common honey bee, and it was suggested that this was 

 especially interesting in connection with the lately observed facts rela- 

 tive to the parthenogenesis of Apis mellifica. Other instances of 

 Hymenoptera similarly monstrous were mentioned by Mr. MacLachlan 

 and Professor Westwood. The last-named gentleman stated in refer- 

 ence to a communication received by Mr. A. Miiller from M. Lichten- 

 stein, of Moutpellier, that he had not considered the insect which has 

 recently proved so destructive to A'ines in France and England, to be 

 identical with the Vine insect described in America by Mr. Kiley, the 

 state entomologist of Missouri. 



Mr. A. Miiller communicated a memoir by Herr Gredler on the 

 distribution of Coleopterous insects at various heights on the Alps, 

 showing that Beetles taken at equal heights on the opposite sides of 

 the mountains exhibited no difference, thus opposing the suggestion of 

 Mr. Butler made at a previous meeting with reference to differences 

 in the individuals of Cienonympha Satyrion taken at Kandersteg and 

 Leukerbad. Mr. Lewis mentioned the injurious effects of Lepismte 

 upon the covers of boi^ks, those insects attacking everything to which 

 paste had been applied ; and Mr. Home stated that in India they were 

 one of the greatest pests, gnawing the paper from the walls of apart- 

 ments, &c. 



A paper was read by Mr. Lewis on certain alterations which had 

 recently been made in the classification of the principal groups of 

 nocturnal Lepidoptera, which he considered not only as injudicious 

 and unnatural in themselves, but as censurable from their having been 

 introduced in mere labelling catalogues, without any explanation of 

 the reasons on which they had been made. He also strongly objected 

 to the practice, which has recently become common, of rejecting the 

 name of well-known species which had been in general acceptation, in 

 favour of names published previously in obscure publications, and 

 which had never been generally adopted. He insisted that the well- 

 known legal maxim, Covvniunis error Ja^it jus — i.e., an error accepted 

 by all the world becomes a law — is as apiilicable in scientific nomen- 

 clature as it is in ethics. 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 



Proposed Internatiosal Feuit and Flower Shotv at Glas- 

 ■Gow. — A meeting of the Directors of the Glasgow and West 

 of Scotland Horticultural Society was held on the 191h inst. The 

 ■question of an International Fruit and Flower Show, to be held 

 at Glasgow in September, 1872, was considered. The opinion 

 of the meeting was that the time had now arrived when it was 

 necessary for the interests of horticulture in the west of Scot- 

 land, and for the reputation of Glasgow in horticultural matters, 

 that such an international show be held at Glasgow. The 

 object is to bring thither collections of fruit from not only all 

 parts of the United Kingdom, but also from all foreign coun- 

 tries with which the Clyde ports have commerce. It was ulti- 

 mately resolved that a special fund of at least £1000 be raised 

 for this purpose ; and a large and influential committee, com- 

 prising many of the leading gentlemen in the city and neigh- 

 bourhood, was appointed to organise and mature the scheme, 

 with Mr. A. B. Stewart (of Messrs. Stewart & Macdonald), as 

 convener of committee, 



Death of Mr. W. B. Page. — Gardeners are a long-lived 



race, and another evidence is afforded by Mr. Page. He died 

 aged eighty-one at Hill, Southampton, on the 12ih inst. He 



had long carried on an extensive trade in that town, and until 

 a few years since was much consulted as a landscape gardener. 

 As long ago as 1818 he published a very well-arranged " Pro- 

 dromus, a general Nomenclature of all Plants, indigenous and 

 exotic, cultivated in the Southampton Botanic Garden." It 

 contains much useful information relative to culture, soil, time 

 of flowering, &c., and it is stated on the title-page to be " By 

 William Bridgewater Page (from Lee & Kennedy's, Hammer- 

 smith), Nurseryman, Seedsman, and Florist (by special appoint- 

 ment), to Prince Leopold and the late Princess Charlotte," and 

 that includes the whole of his biography known to us. 



The culture of Bamboo for paper-making and other pur- 

 poses is being promoted by the Government of Central India. 

 The Indian Government is buying land in the hill district of 

 the Neilgheries for a spice plantation. Col. Boddam has pro- 

 posed the cultivation of the Sunflower in Mysore. It is very 

 successful in France. Government has sent out six more 

 Scotch gardeners for experimental cotton-growing. These men 

 have answered very well. — (Nature.) 



The Eeoom (Sarothamnus seopariuc) is extremely 



abundant in Madeira, but is supposed to have been originally 

 introduced to the island. It is now sown extensively on the 

 mountains for the purpose of being cut down for firing, or burnt 

 on the spot every five to seven years to fertilise the ground. 

 The twigs and more slender branches are also used commonly 

 as withs for binding bundles of faggots, brushwood. Fern, &c. ; 

 and numbers of country people, especially young girls and 

 children, residing within reach of Funchal, gain a livelihood by 

 bringing daily into the town bundles of broom for use in heat- 

 ing ovens, &c. The fine and delicate basket-work peculiar to 

 Madeira is manufactured from the slender peeled twigs of this 

 plant. Mr. Lowe speaks of a variety with pure white flowers 

 which occurs on this island. — (Nature.) 



The Eucalypti, or Gum-trees of Australia, are well- 

 known for their hard wood as well as for the oils and gums 

 yielded by many of them. Some of the species have been intro- 

 duced and successfully grown in different parts of Europe, and 

 their products may become, ere long, recognised articles of im- 

 port. At the present time large quantities of sticks of a species 

 of Eucalyptus are imported into England from Algeria, and are 

 made into walking sticks. During the Great Exhibition in 

 Paris in 1867, the leaves of Eucalyptus globulus were made 

 into cigars, and recommended as being very efficient in aiding 

 digestion. — (Nature.) 



The Prickly Poppy (Argemone mexicana), originally 



from the New World, has become naturalised throughout the 

 tropics and sub-tropics of both hemispheres. In the West 

 Indies, where it is very abundant, it is called Fico del inferno, 

 the reason for this name being, according to Gerarde, " because 

 of his fruit, which doth much resemble a Figge in shape and 

 bignesse, but so full of sharp and venemous prickles that who- 

 soever had one of them in his throat doubtless it would send 

 him packing either to heaven or to hell." Barham, however, 

 gives, as an explanation, a statement that the seeds, " being 

 much stronger than opium," are " enough to send any that 

 should take them wilfully to inferno ;" but this is much ex- 

 aggerated. In India it is now abundantly naturalised in the 

 eastern part of the Punjab, and is spreading over fresh districts 

 year by year. It is not altogether a useless addition to the 

 Indian flora, as near Delhi an oil is extracted from the seeds 

 which is used for burning, as well as in the treatment of chronic 

 sores and eruptions. — (Nature.) 



NEW MODE OF GRAFTING. 



This method of grafting is a modification of the " perfected 

 graft " of Dubreuil, and has the advantage of being easily per- 

 formed when the bark of the stock will not easily run. It is 

 especially intended for the case of the scion being small as 

 compared with the stock. 



The head of the stock is cut off by two slanting cuts, meeting 

 in a ridge on one side of the centre, then a thin slip is cut 

 down from the smaller half [fie/, a, 1). This cut is made by plac- 

 ing the edge of the knifa parallel to the ridge on the top of the 

 stock, a little way within the junction of the bark and wood, so 

 as to cut down a slip having a small portion of wood in it. Next 

 by another longitudinal cut divide the slip into two nearly 

 equal portions (fig. a, 2), but leaving them on the stock. 



The scion is prepared as shown in the /jrs. e 1, 2, and 3. A 

 out is made with a long slope, so as to make the end of the 



