136 Mr. James Hardy's Notes for 1864. 



glossum grows here in strong clayey soil, as have been the 

 other localities where it has occurred. 



2. Ciiscuta Trifolii. Sometimes abundant among tares 

 grown from continental seed. I see a considerable quantity 

 of it in a field of young clover at Oldcambus. 



3. Aphis Itapce. Worthy of record from year to year, are 

 the ravages of destructive insects, and the districts liable to 

 their attacks. During the present season, while the turnip 

 has been suiFering from the parching influence of the great 

 drought, it has also miserably been kept behind by the abund- 

 ance of the common green fly {Aphis Rapce). The immedi- 

 ate neighbourhood of Wooler, diminishing to the north and 

 south of that place ; the district around Dunstanborough 

 Castle ; Tyneside ; and parts of the county of Durham, have 

 been particularly infested with it ; while in the east of 

 Berwickshire I have not seen it at all. The oat crop for a 

 time, however, was loaded with Aphis Avence, but without 

 inflicting any injury that I could perceive. 



4. Coccus Fagi. This appears to be spreading. As a 

 native of Berwickshire, I observed it two years since on the 

 trunk of a beech near the Railway Station at Ayton. I 

 believe I was the first to notice this insect in the Journal 

 of Horticulture, conducted by Mr. Charles Macintosh, in 

 connection with the North British Agriculturist. He for- 

 warded specimens from Dalkeith Park, in the young and eg^ 

 state, which I ventured to say was a Coccus. Communicating 

 with Mr. F. Walker, I found that he had obtained the perfect 

 insect near London ; and he has named it Coccus Fagi, in the 

 British Museum Catalogue of Homoptera. Since first noticing 

 it. Professor Balfour has sent me specimens from the Edin- 

 burgh Botanic Gardens. It occupies the trunk of the trees 

 attacked, like a dirty cottony mould. 



5. It is surprising how deep the Aphis of the sow-thistle 

 root, fRhizoterus Vacca,) will penetrate, even into the 

 stiffest clayey soil ; and how it maintains its place amidst 

 repeated cultivation. As far down as the plough can reach, 

 the roots come torn up attended by generations of the insect ; 

 whose white cottony excretion scattered through the soil, is 

 quite apparent as one crosses over the recent furrows. 



6. Coccus halophilus, J. H. The Cocci offer few tangible 

 specific characters. The present species apart from its peculiar 

 habitudes cannot be readily discriminated by words. It is 

 scarcely a quarter of a line long, oval, opaque white, without 

 a hard scale, abundantly supplied with a white excretion. 



