December 15, 1870. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



471 



for the caterpillar, which has been described by Gnenee, the 

 acute German entomologist. He has found it feeding on "tufts 

 of grass on commons, and in dry woods." The head is large 

 and light brown, giving the caterpillar an odd appearance ; the 

 claspers are small and short. The body is velvety, and yellowish 

 grey ; along the back there is a very conspicuous stripe, and 

 below this on each side, a faint stripe, and another, also indis- 

 tinct, in the line of the spiracles ; in the second segment there 

 is a brown plate, with a shining surface. Abroad, the cocoon 

 is made amongst Moss in April, the moth appearing in July. 



The caterpillars of the Mottled Rustic (Oaradrina MorpheuB) 

 feed throughout the winter at intervals when the weather is 

 open ; at other times they rest on the under side of decayed 

 leaves, or even enter the earth for a short distance. They may 

 be Bought on Docks and other plants which are green through 

 part of the cold season. The body is very plump, the head 

 less, and over both these are numerous short bristles. The 

 colour is brown, varying in tint, with markings along the sides 

 of a wedge-like appearance, of a darker hue, and a pale line 

 below these. The species occurs in many places throughout 

 England. Another in this genus has a singular history. This 

 is the Pale Mottled Willow (Caradrina cubioularis) ; the name, 

 from cubiculum some have believed to have been given because 

 it occurs in outhouses or barns ; Mr. Newman believes that the 

 authors of the name gave it "in allusion to the familiar habit 

 of the caterpillar residing in a little cubiculum or lodging-room 

 of its own construction." The moth lays its eggs in June on 

 Peas or Beans growing in fields, and still more frequently on the 

 growing Wheat. When these crops are cut down and housed, 

 the caterpillars of this moth are, much to the disadvantage of 

 the farmer, carried in with them. Here they feed through the 

 winter, forming the temporary cocoons already referred to, as 

 they move from place to place, being nearly full grown in early 

 spring. These caterpillars have the body studded with warts, 

 each giving off a hair ; the body being short and thick, and the 

 head rather small, and capable of being withdrawn beneath the 

 second segment, the surface being shining and blaok. The 

 tipper surface of the body is a dull grey, sometimes greenish, 

 the sides are smoky grey, the under side and claspers much 

 paler. The Frosted Orange Moth (Gortyna flavago) would 

 probably become very common, were it not that the caterpillars 

 are many of them destroyed before they are full grown by the 

 attacks of an insect enemy. It has afforded matter for some 

 speculation as to the mode in which the egg of this parasite is 

 introduced, since the caterpillar lives entirely conoealed in the 

 stems of plants, such as the different species of Thistle, Bur- 

 dock, Mullein, and Hemp Agrimony. When removed from 

 this retreat, it does not roll up, but crawls off rapidly to seek 

 some concealment. The stems of some of these may be ex- 

 amined for this caterpillar in December, though as yet it has 

 been mostly found in the summer ; if taken it must be trans- 

 ferred of course to some transplanted specimen of its particular 

 food. The formation of the body is admirably adapted to its 

 life as a feeder upon the pith of plants, being soft, maggot-like, 

 and pliant. The head is horny, flattened, of a yellow colour ; 

 there is also a horny plate on the second and one on the last 

 segment ; these plates are brown, the rest of the body being dull 

 white, tinged slightly with pink. There are a number of dots 

 arranged more or less regularly on the back and a few on the 

 sides ; the legs are horny but not the claspers. The chrysalis 

 has a curious projection in front of the head, and two sharp 

 spines at the tail, by means of which it extricates itself from 

 the stem when about to become a moth. — J. R. S. Clifford. — 

 {English Mechanic and Mirror of Science.) 



PORTRAITS OF PLANTS, FLOWERS, and FRUITS. 



Stenoglottis fiheeiata (Spotted Natal Orchid). Nat. ord., 

 Orchidaceae. Linn., Gynandria Monandria. — Native of Natal 

 and other Cape of Good Hope districts. Flowers lilac, with 

 purple blotches.— (Sot. Mag., t. 5872.) 



Gladiolus Saundersii (Mr. Wilson Saunders's Gladiolus). 

 Nat. ord., Iridaceas. Linn., Hexandria Monogynia, — Native of 

 Cape of Good Hope. Flowers scarlet and white. — (Ibid., t. 

 5873.) 



Cassia hijiosoides var. Telfaieiana (Telfair's Mimosa- 

 leaved Cassia). Nat. ord., Leguminosfe. Linn-, Decandria 

 Monogynia. — Native of Zanzibar, and elsewhere on Africa's 

 eastern coast. Flowers yellow.; — (Ibid., t. 5874.) 



Eulophia Helleeoeina (Helleborine Eulophia). Nat. ord., 

 Orchidaceaa. Linn., Gynandria Monandria. — Native of Sierra 

 Leone. Flowers white tinted with pink. — (Ibid,, t. 5875.) 



Tacsonia quitensis (Quito Tacsonia). Nat. ord., Passi- 

 florefe. Linn., Pentandria Trigynia. — Native of the Andes in 

 New Grenada and Ecuador. Flowers pink inside, crimson 

 outside.— (Ibid., t. 5876). 



Geissoehiza geandis (Large-flowered Tile-root). Nat. ord., 

 Iridacefe. Linn., Triandria Monogynia. — Native of the Cape 

 of Good Hope. Flowers pale straw-coloured.— (Ibid., t. 5877.) 



Gloxinias — Scarlet Gem, Negro, and Mdlle. Jeanne Prevost. 

 — " Few genera of ornamental plants are more useful in their 

 way for general decorative purposes than the Gloxinia, which 

 to facility of culture adds the recommendations of convenience 

 of size, variety of form and tint, profuseness of flowers, and 

 a velvety richness of colouring which is almost unapproached. 

 Need we wonder, then, that they are largely grown both for 

 house decoration and for exhibition — though not much en- 

 couraged at the great London shows ; and, moreover, that the 

 varieties are very numerous ? 



" Their culture is so simple and well understood, that we 

 need not here devote space to explain it. Suffioe it, then, to 

 say that the variety Scarlet Gem is one of the richest and 

 brightest flowers we have ever seen, and one which unanimously 

 won a first-class award when exhibited last spring. The colour 

 at the deepest parts is of a rich bright velvety tint of carmine 

 scarlet, beautifully blended with a soft violaceous hue at the 

 throat. This novelty was shown by Mr. Williams, of Holloway. 

 Negro is a richly shaded violet purple, raised last spring by the 

 Messrs. Veitch & Sons, amongst many others of great beauty 

 and merit ; and Mademoiselle Jeanne Prevost, a French variety 

 of recent introduction, is a deep rosy lilac tint, beautifully 

 spotted and rayed with violet in the mouth and throat. They 

 all belong to the erect-flowered section of Gloxinias." — (Florist 

 and Pomologist, 3 s., iii., 265.) 



"A PENNORTH O' POT-HERBS." 

 " Heee's your pot-herbs, a penny a lot ! " Such is the an- 

 nouncement addressed, in stentorian tones, to the discerning 

 public, by the proprietors of numerous stalls ranged on either 

 side of Whitecross Street, St. Luke's. 



My readers may probably not be acquainted with this lo- 

 cality. It is overshadowed by the vestiges of the old prison, 

 but adorned by public baths and wash-houses for the labouring 

 poor, and illumined by the " Tabernacle," in which are held 

 meetings for the moral and intellectual improvement of the 

 costermongers and their families, and in which hundreds of 

 their children are daily taught how to tread the path of life here, 

 so that it may lead to realms of love and light hereafter. 



Some people call this a " low neighbourhood," but I do not. 

 I recognise the principle that where there is an up-hill there 

 must be a down-hill. Wherever there is a high light, there 

 must be a deep shadow ; and therefore, as surely as the Pyra- 

 mids have reared their summits for ages above the ground, 

 even so surely did the nummulites, of which their structure is 

 formed, work for countless ages in the depths of the sea ; and 

 as certainly as the mighty-winged albatross sails high above 

 the ocean at a thousand miles from shore, even as certainly 

 does the humble earth-worm penetrate the ground deeper than 

 man can reach, so enabling the rain from heaven to sinki 

 and fertilise the soil. There is no occupation low bo long as 

 is honest ; and thus we realise the words of the poet — 



".Let every work be hallowed 

 That man performs for man ; 

 And have its share of hononr, 

 As part of one great plan. " 



Along the kerb on either side of this and the neighbouring 

 streets are all sorts of arrangements for selling goods. These 

 alone furnish, as it were, a complete record of the progress of 

 shopkeeping ; and, as the history of architecture has been 

 called the history of the world, so in the gradual development 

 of these stalls may be found the history of the growth of our 

 magnificent shops, with their plate glass fronts reaching up to 

 the second floor — even as it has been said, the hovel grew into 

 the palace, and the cave became the temple. 



Here is to be seen the most primitive form of stall — the sup- 

 ports being the legs of the proprietor, around whose neck an 

 old tea-tray is slung. On this are sometimes displayed a few 

 sheets of note paper and envelopes, a stick or two of very thin 

 sealing wax, some pencils and pen-holders. Sometimes the 

 edge of the tray is bent perpendicularly upwards, so as to form 

 a wall ; and in this case the article exposed for sale is a little 

 pair of wheels made of wire; on the axle is fixed a small doll, 

 which is wheeled along on this primitive bicycle by jerks on 



