224 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 485. 



over two months. The introduction of this and other giant 

 Utricularias from South America is very creditable to the 

 St. Albans firm, for they are plants of greater interest to 

 botanists than to horticulturists, the latter finding them 

 difficult to manage. From what I hear U. Forgetiana is as 

 easily grown as U. montana. 



Bowenia spectabilis. — Hitherto this remarkable Cycad 

 has found no favor with the ordinary cultivator, but Messrs. 

 Sander & Co. have succeeded in- raising a large number of 

 seedlings of it, and these reveal the merits of the plant for 

 purposes of decoration. The root-stock is a fleshy tuber 

 from which rise numerous decompound leaves resembling 

 the fronds of a gigantic Adiantum. Large plants produce 

 leaves a yard in diameter, and as the leaflets are elegant in 

 form and of a rich glossy green color they are decidedly 

 ornamental. Small plants have leaves of various sizes, 

 and are especially adapted for vases, drawing-rooms and 

 all purposes of ornamentation, the uncommon structure 

 of the fronds — indeed, one may say of the whole plant 

 — being of a character likely to excite interest as well as 

 admiration. The plant is monotypic and is a native of 

 Queensland. 



Phaius callosus. — An importation of this Orchid was sold 

 at the auction-rooms this week by Messrs. F. Sander & Co., 

 who collected the plants in Perak. It is very similar to 

 Phajus Wallichii, but is easily distinguished from that spe- 

 cies by its more oblong sepals and the broad ends of the 

 petals, while the lip has a tubular limb and short midlobe, 

 the spur being short and incurved. Their color is dull 

 reddish brown, the lip yellowish white, tinged with pink, 

 bright red toward the apex. The color of the flowers 

 varies considerably with age. A plant of this species 

 flowered in the Kew collection last year, but it is rare in 

 cultivation. It is a native of Java as well as the Straits 

 Settlements. P. Mishmensis, from the Mishmi Hills, in 

 Upper Assam, a species with rose-colored flowers, is worth 

 the attention of collectors. It flowered recently at Kew, 

 and a figure of it was published in The Botanical Magazine, 



t. 7479- 



Oxalis enneaphylla. — This is a most distinct and charm- 

 ing species of Oxalis which is hardy at Kew, where some 

 plants of it are now flowering freely in a shady nook in the 

 rock garden ; there are also about a dozen pots of it in 

 flower in the alpine house. It has fleshy thinly ovate bulbs 

 an inch long, and tufts of short-stalked leaves which are 

 very glaucous, and the blade is divided into from nine to 

 twelve linear, overlapping pinnse. The flowers are among 

 the largest in the genus, being over an inch in diameter, 

 the petals of solid substance and pure white. It is a native 

 of the Falkland Islands, whence it was first introduced by 

 the late Professor Moseby during the Challenger Expedi- 

 tion in 1876. The large batch of plants now in flower at 

 Kew were collected in the Falklands by Mr. Linney, the 

 Governor's gardener, formerly employed at Kew. It is 

 there known as " White Lady." This is the only species of 

 Oxalis known to me that requires a shady position. 



Campanula persicifolia. — Some of the varieties of this 

 handsome Campanula are most useful for pot-culture for 

 the conservatory. They force freely ; indeed, with good 

 cultivation and the application of a little heat, they pro- 

 duce finer flowers than when grown in a border out-of- 

 doors. The best of them all is one called Alba grandiflora, 

 of which there are now numerous examples in the conser- 

 vatory at Kew. They are two feet high, clothed with large 

 bells two inches in diameter and of the purest snow-white ; 

 they have been in flower since the beginning of May. 

 These plants are grown in pots in the open air all summer 

 and wintered in a cold frame. In February they are placed 

 in a sunny greenhouse along with Zonal Pelargoniums, 

 where they soon push up their flower-stems. The varie- 

 ties come true from seeds. There are other white-flowered 

 forms, but that here named is the largest and best of those 

 tried at Kew. 



Pelargoniums — I do not gather from W. S. A.'s interest- 

 ing paper on Pelargoniums at Cornell University (page 184) 



that he is acquainted with Sweets' GeraniacetZ, which con- 

 tains excellent colored pictures and descriptions of hun- 

 dreds of Pelargoniums — species, hybrids and seedlings. 

 The efforts of modern breeders of these plants are limited 

 to the three races — Zonal, Show and Ivy-leaved — but any 

 one familiar with the species of Pelargonium found in 

 south Africa will know how great is the variety and how 

 interesting the characteristics of many of them. There is 

 a fairly comprehensive collection of these species in culti- 

 vation at Kew, where their peculiarities are a source of 

 interest to visitors who know the ordinary types, but are 

 fain to believe that they have any close relationship with 

 these "queer-looking" and, in some cases, distinctly pretty 

 plants. We owe many of these to Philip Masson, who 

 collected for Kew in south Africa a hundred and twenty 



years ago. 



London. 



W. Watson. 



Entomological. 

 The Pistol-Case-Bearer. 



THE interesting insect which is shown in the ac- 

 companying illustrations is evidently becoming 

 one of the serious insect enemies of the Apple orchards 

 in this state. Last year we received many complaints 

 from prominent fruit growers from various sections of the 

 state, and especially from those residing in the more 

 important apple-growing counties of western New York. 

 Judging from letters received and from our own observa- 

 tions, there are as many or more of the case-bearers this 

 year than last. Some of the large orchards near Geneva 

 are badly infested, while many of those about Rochester 

 and westward, in the vicinity of Albion and Lockport, appear 

 to be even more seriously attacked. The nature of the 

 insect is indicated in the illustrations. It is one of the case- 

 bearing species, and as the case which each caterpillar 

 constructs slightly resembles an old-fashioned pistol in 

 shape, it is commonly known as the pistol-case-bearer. Its 

 scientific name is Coleophora malivorella. It was so 

 named in 1878 by Dr. Riley, who published a technical 

 description of the male and female moths in the Report of 

 the United States Department of Agriculture for that year. 

 The case is for the protection of the insect while in the 

 larva and pupa stages. During the winter the cases may 

 be found attached in a nearly upright position on the bark 



Fig. 28. — Young Pistol-case bearer, natural size, on an Apple leaf-bud. 



of the smaller twigs, and usually near or even upon the 

 buds. They measure on an average about an eighth of an 

 inch in length. With the first warm days of spring the 

 little case-bearers become active and make at once for the 

 nearest buds, carrying, as it appears, their odd-looking 

 cases on their backs. They bore into the swelling buds to 



