November 29, 1864. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAG-E GARDENER. 



437 



I was about to take them up, and throw them away, when 

 an idea struck me that I might turn them to account by 

 converting them into standards of some other sort : I con- 

 sequently budded one, a plant with a clean stem of about 

 15 inches in height, with Duehesse de Canibaceres, and the 

 other, about 3i feet high, with General Jacqueminot ; the 

 former from a dormant bud has this season grown into a 

 fine bushy head, which produced no fewer than thirty-eight 

 buds ; and the latter, from a bud which was not much larger 

 than a pin-head before starting into growth in the spring, 

 has thrown up four strong shoots which have scarcely ceased 

 blooming from July to the present time. 



My reason for mentioning this is that from what I have 

 seen I believe it will make an excellent stock, which the Dog 

 Rose is not under all circumstances ; for in light and dry 

 soils, unless mulched or otherwise carefully attended to, it 

 will not thrive at all. On the contrary, the Rose I speak of 

 appears to do well in almost any situation ; it grows and 

 flowers freely in most of the cottage gardens in this neigh- 

 bourhood, where it receives not the slightest attention. In 

 colour it is of a rosy pink when nearly opened, but soon 

 changes to a pale blush or white ; flowers large and irregular 

 in shape ; in its wood and foliage it has some resemblance 

 to the Moss Comtesse de Murinais. It does not, at least so 

 far as my observation goes, throw up suckers at long dis- 

 tances from the root like the Dog Rose, which is a great 

 advantage ; for standards are frequently half ruined by these 

 secret enemies before one is aware of their existence. I in- 

 tend, however, giving it a further trial, having put in a 

 dozen or two for budding on next season, after which I will 

 be better able to judge of it. 



Although thS Rose, as you may have observed, is my 

 especial favourite, I do not altogether forget the cultiva- 

 tion of other plants ; but as your patience must now be 

 nearly exhausted, I will merely state in conclusion that 

 with various flowers, from the humble Crocus to the more 

 stately Tulip and Gladiolus, with masses of Saponaria, 

 Nasturtiums, Stocks, and Asters, I have contrived through- 

 out the season not only to make one of the humblest 

 cottages in the Highlands look cheerful, but, to a certain ex- 

 tent, comfortable by having the kitchen garden well stocked 

 with various kinds of vegetables, including Scarlet Runners 

 even, which are not known here as an article of food, a few 

 nice rows of Celery, and some other things quite foreign to 

 this locality. Being a young amateur, I feel some hesita- 

 tion in forwarding these remarks ; but the articles on the 

 Rose which appear from time to time in The Journal of 

 Hortictjltuee, to which I am a regular subscriber, being 

 chiefly confined to England, I do so in order to show that 

 the queen of flowers, with a little care, can be grown, and 

 grown well, even in our Highland glens. I regret, however, 

 to state that, although such may be the ease, cottage gar- 

 dening in the Highlands is much neglected; a few Cabbages, 

 Greens, and Potatoes are certainly from necessity grown, 

 but iu the cultivation of flowers the Highland cottager, 

 generally speaking, takes no delight whatever. — Loch Ness, 

 Fort Augustus, Inverness. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY'S MEETING. 

 The November meeting of the Entomological Society, 

 held on the 7th inst., was very fully attended, in consequence 

 of that evening being fixed for the presentation of a very 

 handsome piece of plate (in the shape of an epergne repre- 

 senting a Palm tree with outspreading branches, the base 

 clothed with foliage, amongst which insects were sporting), 

 to "William Wilson Saunders, Esq., P.R.S., Treasurer of the 

 Royal Horticultural Society, &c, one of the most liberal 

 patrons of entomological science. This piece of plate had 

 been subscribed for by the members of the Society ; and the 

 address by which it was accompanied, engrossed on vellum, 

 set forth Mr. Saunders's claims upon entomologists for his 

 uniform liberality and devotion to the Society. Amongst the 

 insects represented at the foot of the tree were several which 

 had been dedicated by their describers to Mr. Saunders, such 

 as the Erycina Saundersii, Mecynorhina Saundersii, &c. Mr. 

 Saunders, after expressing his gratitude to the members for 

 so handsome a gift, impressed upon them the necessity of 

 careful investigation into the habits and economy of the 



objects of their study, and which had been too much neglected 

 by entomologists. He had been anxious to forward exotic 

 entomology by assisting in sending out collectors to foreign 

 countries ; but the collections which he had thus formed 

 were freely open to any one desirous of studying them ; and 

 he should much prefer that the many new species which 

 had thus been obtained should be described by our own 

 writers rather than left for foreigners to publish. 



Mr. Sidebottom exhibited four species of Beetles belong- 

 ing to the family Curculionidae new to the British lists — 

 namely, Lixus filiformis, Sibynes canus, Pentelus griseus, 

 and Ceutorhynchus Poweri. 



Mr. P. Smith exhibited specimens of both sexes of a new 

 British Bee, Bombus poaiorum, taken near Deal, and which 

 had been mistaken for a supposed variety of Apathus ru- 

 pestris, but which proved to be a true species of Humble 

 Bee. 



Mr. Saunders exhibited some Galls found on rootlets of 

 the Oak several feet underground, from which about a week 

 previously wingless specimens of a species of Cynips made 

 their appearance, all of which proved to be females. It was 

 difficult to understand how these insects could either make 

 their escape out of the ground from such a depth, or how 

 they could find their way from the surface to the rootlets to 

 deposit their eggs. It was also remarkable that the males 

 were not developed at the same time, and it was suggested 

 that this was a case of alternation of generations, such as 

 had recently been pointed out as existing in the genus 

 Cynips in the United States. Mr. Smith stated that, so far 

 as his observations went, not a single male individual of the 

 genus Cynips was known. The same was also the case with 

 a species of Tenthredo (Hemichroa Alni), of which hundreds 

 of females had been taken, but no male had ever been seen 

 either in this country or on the continent. 



Mr. Stainton exhibited a remarkable kind of Gall found 

 on Oak trees, resembling a lump of cotton wool, of which, 

 however, the perfect insect was not known. 



Mr. Saunders also exhibited several other kinds of Galls, 

 which he had found in Switzerland. 



A series of engravings of British species of Hemiptera 

 intended for a work on that order to be published by the 

 Ray Society, was exhibited. 



A letter was read from S. Stone, Esq., of Brighthampton, 

 giving an account of the carrying out of diseased larvae of 

 Wasps by the perfect insects. He had observed this in 

 nests of both Vespa vulgaris and sylvestris. He had also 

 found the larvae of the parasitic Ripiphorus in the nests of 

 these insects, and had observed that the larvae enclosed in 

 the larger cells of the queen Wasps were larger than those 

 in the small worker cells. 



Professor Westwood suggested that the larvae of the Wasps 

 appeared to have been attacked by an epidemic similar to 

 that in the hive Bee, described in these pages under the 

 name of foul brood by Mr. Woodbury; and Mr. P. Smith 

 gave an account of his visit to that gentleman, who had- 

 unfortunately rediscovered the malady in one of his hives. 



Mr. Carter, of Manchester, exhibited several beautiful 

 specimens of the very rare Trochilium sphegiforme, reared 

 from the stalks of Alder in North Staffordshire. 



The Secretary gave a very favourable account of the re- 

 cent exhibition of natural history at Huddersfield, in which 

 insects were well represented, amongst which was a remark- 

 able hermaphrodite specimen of Liparis dispar. The exhi- 

 bition had proved a complete financial success. 



Mr. Baly read a paper containing descriptions of new 

 species of exotic Plant Beetles (Phytophaga). 



Mr. Wilson, of Adelaide, South Australia, sent an article 

 containing a general survey of the entomology of our South 

 Australian colonies as hitherto known. About five thou- 

 sand species of Coleoptera had been captured, including 

 200 Carabidse, 600 Curculionidse, 4-50 Chrysomelidse, 300 Bu- 

 prestida% &c. 



The Secretary read a translation of a memoir recently 

 published on the natural history of a species of Coccus, 

 which attacks the Sugar Canes in the island of Mauritius. 

 In the discussion which ensued on this paper Mr. Saunders 

 stated the very beneficial results he had found in the em- 

 ployment of diluted spirits of wine (one-half of water), for 

 the destruction of Mealy Bug and other species of Coccidae 

 in greenhouses. Thus diluted it does not injure the plants, 



