632 



Garden and Forest. 



[December 31, 1890. 



In the Sedge family we have the common and widespread 

 Bulrush (Scirpus lacustris) frequently employed by Indians to 

 make mats, loose baskets, and as thatch for their huts ; the var. 

 occidentalis or " Tule " of the Pacific Coast, often eight or ten 

 feet high, for these and other purposes is a plant of economic 

 value. 



Lastly let us mention the Cat-tail {Typha latifolid), whose 

 leaves, twisted together, have, since the colonial days, been 

 used in making chair bottoms. According to Professor Dud- 

 ley they are now collected quite extensively in central New 

 York for the manufacture of chair-bottoms and baskets. 



The Indians have a great fondness for color, and, besides 

 the many shades of the raw material, often use native dyes 

 with excellent effect. The bark of several species of Alder 

 yields, by infusion, a very good coloring matter ; this bark, at 

 first grayish white, becomes bright red by exposure. The 

 Hoopa and Klamath Indians use the bark oi Alnus rhombifolia 

 (perhaps also that of A. rubra), the Navajos that of A. incana, 

 var. virescens, which, says Dr. W. Matthews, U. S. A., they 

 combine with the root bark of Cercocarpus parvifolius, using 

 juniper ashes as mordant. 



In the Great Basin the black dye used in the ornamentation 

 of baskets is obtained from Suceda diffusa. A black dye is 

 also made by the Navajos from the berries oiRhus aromatica, 

 var. trilobata, by mixing them with ocher and the gum of 

 Pinus edulis. 



Fort Buford, N. Dak. V. Havard. 



The Spotted Willow-twig Aphis. 



OUR various species of Willow are particularly subject to 

 the attack of aphides or plant-lice. No less than nine of 

 these insects have been described as occurring upon them. 

 No part of the tree, unless possibly the roots, is exempt from 

 attack ; and the bark and twigs receive the exclusive attention 

 of at least five species. Some of these often become seriously 

 injurious, and more frequently, perhaps, their presence is ex- 

 tremely annoying where they occur upon shade or orna- 

 mental trees in private grounds or public parks. 



The aphides most commonly found upon Willow-twigs be- 

 long to the genus Melanoxanthus. Three American species 

 of the genus are known. The Willow-grove Aphis {M. salicti) 

 is probably the most abundant in the eastern and middle 

 states. It is very similar in appearance and habits to the nearly 

 related Spotted Willow Aphis (M. salicis), which is represented 

 in the accompanying figures. This insect lives over winter in 

 the egg state on the bark of Willow-twigs. Early in spring 

 the eggs hatch into young plant-lice that insert their tiny beaks 

 into the bark of the tender twig and suck out the sap. They 

 grow rapidly, and each one soon becomes the mother of a dozen 

 or more young aphides. Hence these lice are called vivipar- 

 ous. The generation that came from the egg are all wingless, 

 but the young borne by these probably develop into both 

 wingless and winged forms, which are also viviparous. Suc- 

 cessive generations continue to appear throughout the entire 

 summer, all being viviparous, and some having wings, while 

 others have none. By midsummer they often have increased 

 so enormously as to cover all the twigs of infested trees, mak- 

 ing them appear filthy and unsightly, as well as impairing their 

 vitality by extracting the sap. A single one of the lice hatched 



Fig. 83. Spotted Willow-twig Aphis. Oviparous Female. (Magnified.) 



from the egg in spring may become the ancestor of many 

 millions before autumn. But in October a true sexed genera- 

 tion develops, the males being winged and the females wing- 

 less. By the union of these the true fecundated egg is obtained. 



The egg-laying female is represented at Fig. 83. It is about 

 one-fifth of an inch long, bluish black in color, with a glaucous 

 bloom, and has a distinct white line along the middle of the 

 back. There is also a row of white spots along each side. 

 The honey-tubes or cornicles are bright orange yellow. The 



Fig. 84. Spotted Willow Aphis. Winged Male. (Magnified.) 



wingless viviparous female is much like this in general 

 appearance. 



The winged male is represented, magnified, at Fig. 84. It is 

 one-fifth of an inch long, with a wing expanse of one-third of 

 an inch. The body is bluish black, with the wings hyaline 

 and their veins yellowish brown. 



The egg-laying habits of this insect are peculiar. The ovipa- 

 rous females apparently congregate for the purpose of depos- 



Fig. 85. Eggs of Spotted Willow-twig Aphis. 

 a. Egg, magnified ; b. Eggs and oviparous females on Willow-twig. 



iting the eggs in one or a few places on the tree. There they 

 will cover the bark with them, as represented at Fig. 85, b. 

 The egg itself is shown magnified at a of the same figure. It 

 is about one-twentieth of an inch long and oval in form. 

 When first laid it is covered with a liquid which on drying be- 

 comes grayish, giving the egg a peculiar appearance. Under 

 the microscope the structure of this gray coating suggests a 

 thin covering of felt. 



The artificial remedies ordinarily used for plant-lice are ap- 

 plicable to this species. Kerosene emulsion and whale oil soap 

 are the standard remedies for this class of insects. 



Ohio Experiment station. Clarence M. Weed. 



Plant Notes. 

 Some Recent Portraits. 



f~\F the plants figured in the December issue of the Botani- 

 ^■^ cal Magazine, the number which completes the one hun- 

 dred and sixteenth annual volume of this, the most venerable 

 of the publications of its class, the most interesting from a 

 garden point of view is the beautiful purple-flowered Tha- 

 lictrum Delavayii {t. 7152), a native of the mountains of Yunan, 

 and one of the first of the numerous plants discovered by the 

 Abb6 Delavay to flower in Europe. It is a slender herb, two 

 or three feet high, with long-petioled, ternately decompound, 

 radical leaves, triangular in outline, and ten or twelve inches 



