May 25, 1871. ] 



JOUBNAL OF HOKTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAKDENER, 



367 



De Foe, Joseph Jenner, Yellow Qaeeu, Allan Ramsay, George Muir 

 head, Imperial Prince, Capid, Robert Bnrns, Prince of Wales, M. A. 

 Buchanan, Jesse Laird, J. B. Downie, itc. Mr. Hooper was second 

 with, amongst others, Village Maid, Blackbird, Le Grand, Lord 

 Derby, Prince Teck, and Mr. Gladstone. They were not at all equal 

 in quality to those which Messrs. Downie & Co. exhibited. Mr. James 

 was third, with neat but small blooms. In Fancy Pausies, Messrs. 

 Downie, Laird, & Laiug exhibited a fine stand, comprising Mr. Suther- 

 ■land, Mrs. K. Dean. Mr. Davidson, Grand Condc, and Agnes Laiug. 

 In the class for twenty-four Pausies, amateurs, Mr. James took the 

 second prize. His blooms although neat were very small, while iu the 

 class for twelve Fancies, there was no competition. 



In the class for thirty-six Tulips, Mr. Turner was first with a mag- 

 nificent collection, comprising splendid clean blooms of Polyphemus, 

 Dr. Horner, Aglaia, Sarah Headly (Headly's), Adonis (Headly), a 

 'beautiful flower; Vivid, Duchess of Satherland, Triomphe Royale, 

 and others of the very best character. Nothing could exceed the beauti- 

 ful cleanliness of these flowers, while their size aud freshness were 

 ■equally conspicuous. Mr. Hooper, of Bath, was second wi<^^h a col- 

 lection not very well staged, comprising some good flowers, but a very 

 'far way behind those exhibited by Mr. Turner. 



In the class for twelve Tulips, the first prize was taken by Mr. 

 Mercer, of Hanton, near Staplehurst, with some nice, clean, although 

 small blooms of leading varieties ; aud Mr. Norman, of Plumstead, 

 was second with small flowers, which, however, exhibited a good deal 

 of want of freshness, doubtless owing to the loiiality iu which they 

 ■were grown now being so completely surrounded by buildings. I wish 

 we could see a little more of the floricnltural spirit that exists in the 

 ■north disseminated amongst lovers of flowers in the neighbourhood 

 of London, and then these exhibitions of cut flowers would greatly 

 increase in importance. — D., Deal. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY'S MEETING. 



The May meeting of the Entomological Society was held on the 

 1st inst., Professor Westwood, V.P., in the chair. Amongst the 

 donations to the Society's library received since the last meeting were 

 the publications of the Royal and Linnean Societies of London, and 

 fhe Societies of Vienna, Berlin, Italy, &c. ; also an important work 

 on the insects of the State of Missouri, with the title, " Third Annual 

 Report on the Noxious, Beneficial, and other Insects of the State of 

 Missouri. By Charles V. Riley, State Entomologist "—published at 

 -Jefferson Citj' during the present year. Also the new and very com- 

 plete Catalogue of the European Lepidoptera, just published by 

 Messrs. Staudinger & Wocke, and the last volume ef Thomsen's Cole- 

 optera of Scandinavia, completing the work. 



Mr. Higgins exhibited a beautiful series of Butterflies and Moths 

 "from Natal, containing some fine species of Charaxes and Saturnia, 

 "together with a number of figures executedinphoto-chromo-lithography, 

 representing their larvre, and the plants ou which they feed, in their 

 ■natural colour?. This is the first instance of the application of this 

 novel process to the delineation of living insects. Also a series of 

 curious insects from the north of Borneo. Mr. Meek exhibited a 

 specimen of Nyssia lapponaria, a Geometer new to these islands, 

 ^aken at Ranao h, Perthshire ; aud Mr. Champion, Scydmoenus rufus, 

 a small Beetle, also new to England, from Richmond Park. The Rev. 

 Mr. Murray exhibited a variety of Polyommatus Eurydice, also a num- 

 ber of drawings of Indian Moths, executed in India by his brother. 

 Mr. Percy Bieknell exhibited a number of specimens of difl'ereut 

 English Moths and Butterflies, remarkable for their diminutive size ; 

 also Odonestis potatorea, male, very pale -coloured, a very dark 

 female of the same species, and a singular specimen of Gonepteryx 

 Rhamni, male, with blotches of blood-red colour placed irregularly 

 GU the wings. He had taken it alive iu this condition on the ITth of 

 March. Mr. Jansen suggested that the change of colour might be 

 dae to some chemical action, instancing the case of some yellow 

 Beetles from Nicaragua placed in sawdust moistened with cyanide of 

 ipotassium, which had turned red. 



Mr. MacLachlaa exhibited a small female elephant's tusk from 

 India, portions of which, near the base, were found, on the dead 

 animal being examined, to have been eroded, and having a large 

 number _ of the eggs of some insect (possibly those of a blow fly) de- 

 ,j)osited in regular rows in patches upon the diseased part. He con- , 

 Bidered the erosion to have been the result of some inflammatory 

 ■action, and not the work of the insects in question. Some conversa- 

 tion took place relative to a recent statement in the Times and other 

 journals, in which two "storms" of insects were reported to have 

 fallen at Bath, especially on the platform of the railway, in which 

 some vaguely described insects were affirmed to have fallen in numbers. 

 It was suggested that these might possibly have been the curious Crus- 

 tacean, named Branchipus stagnalis, taken up from neighbouring 

 standing pools of water by a whirlwind. 



Mr. Lewis exhibited a circular earthenware vessel, very porous, aud 

 having a very thick bottom, emjjloyed in Pekia for keeping " fighting 

 beetles" in a living state. Mr. Stainton exhibited a number of beau- 

 ■tiful drawings of leaves of diflerent plants, with the burrows of difi'erent 

 small moths, &c., executed at Santa Martha, in South America, by 

 the Baron Von Nolken. 



Mr. MacLachlan stated that M. Candeze, of Liege, had undertaken 

 ihe completion of Lacordaire's work on the Lougicoru Beetles, and 



that the Chi-ysomelidiB, in the same series, were in the hands of 

 M. Chapuis. 



Mr. Albert Miiller gave an account of a new kind of gall found 

 upon common Fern (the first instance of that tribe of plants being 

 thus afl'ected), and which ajjpeared to have been produced by Diastro- 

 phus Rubi. 



The following memoirs were read : — 1, Descriptions of some new 

 exotic Longicorn Beetles, by Mr. Bates (amongst which was a species 

 remarkable for its very short antenna;, with the fourth joint singularly 

 swollen). "2, Descriptions of some new exotic Lucanidm (Stag Beetles), 

 by Professor Westwood. 3, On the synonymes of the French Lepido- 

 ptera described by Fourcroy and GeoUroy, by Mr. Kirby. Mr. Lewis 

 called attention to the fact that the Moth produced from the very 

 destructive "army worm" of the United States has occurred in this 

 countiy, being the caterpillar of Noctua unipuncta of Haworth, Leu- 

 canea extrema of recent authors. 



SOME PREDATORY INSECTS OF OUR 

 GARDENS.— No. S. 



Said a friend to rue one day, while we were strolling in a 

 garden, " Here, look at these ants, the gardeners call them 

 pests, and they do seem to ran about a great deal over the 

 plants, but there's a lot of them eating up the green blight, so 

 that's doing some good, at any rate." "My good friend," I 

 answered, " do not be too certain. Examine them again, and 

 I will give you a sovereign for every aphis you find which has 

 been killed by an ant. Busy enough are they about the ' blight,' 

 certainly ; yet their intentions are not hostile. The object of 

 their pursuit is a peculiar fluid ejected by the aphides (some 

 people call it honeydew), which is grateful to their palates ; and 

 there is as great a difference between seeking aphis ' milk,' 

 and devouring the producers of it, as there is between eating a 

 cook and feasting on a pudding which that cook has made." 



No, on all grounds I maintain that horticulturists have a 

 full justification when they include the ant amongst their 

 insect enemies. Why, the case is very black indeed. Ants 

 not only do mischief themselves, but they bestow an apparently 

 needless amount of attention upon a species, or rather a num- 

 ber of species, of smaller insects so prolifie aud so injurious as 

 to have had the appellation " blight " especially handed over 

 to them ; for it is a fact unquestionable, that ants have been 

 observed carefully removing the eggs of aphides from one place 

 to another, and watching over the progeny of these — not from 

 pure benevolence, of course, but with an idea of ulterior advan- 

 tages obtainable from what have been fancifully called their 

 milch cows A recent instance of this is given in one of our 

 natural history journals. Around some plants which had 

 recently been potted a colony of ants assembled, and raised a 

 structure of earth around them, bringing down to the lower 

 part of the stems which were thus concealed the aphides which 

 had been before dispersed on the leaves and twigs. Moreover, 

 ants are actual transgressors themselves. They haunt our gay- 

 den fruit in troops during autumn, making havoc amongst 

 Peaches, Pears, and Plums ; also, they do not hesitate to nibble 

 away the petals of various flowers, and thereby disfigure them, 

 or attacking the buds ere they have expanded, prevent their 

 development. In fact, on plants, shrubs, and trees they wander 

 at will, using their jaws on whatever may happen to attract 

 them. Just at this season I see them sometimes swarming in 

 parties upon Vines trained on or near houses, being, doubtless, 

 congregated for an unlawful purpose. 



On the other hand, I must grant that ants do destroy certain 

 insects which are also injurious in gardens. They seize and 

 carry ofi caterpillars ; in their researches under ground they 

 come across occasionally the pupas of Lepidopterous insects, 

 and these they will eat, especially if soft. Moths, too, do not 

 always escape, when they are settled down in a half-torpid 

 state during the day, or in cold weather ; the fat-bodied species 

 being preferred. I noticed once a score or so surrounding an 

 Ermine moth (A. lubricipeda), which seemed in a comatose 

 condition. Had they been left unmolested the ants would 

 have removed it to their hill ; as it was, the moth was removed, 

 but died shortly, having been fatally wounded by them. Flies, 

 too, which have been partly disabled by some accident, are 

 carried off by ants, and occasionally such hard-cased insects 

 as beetles. Possibly, also, juvenile centipedes are seized by 

 them, though I saw a party worsted in an assault upon an adult 

 individual of that sort. Had our British ants the same habits 

 as are recorded of a certain Brazilian species, they might put 

 in a claim to the gardener's consideration, on the plea that 

 they work at the same pursuit — viz., cultivating the ground. 

 This species D.'. Lincecun watched for twelve years ere he 



