I 12 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 159. 



Late in the season an attempt at some sort of quarantine in- 

 spection was inaugurated with the idea of preventing the spread 

 of the insect from one town to another. While teams on 

 roadways were examined, at certain points the inspection 

 seemed to be of the most superficial nature, and it does not 

 appear that such modes of conveyance as railroad trains or 

 river boats received any attention. 



It is now generally conceded that it must be fully twenty 

 years since the insect was first unwittingly introduced by Mr. 

 Trouvelot while making experiments in silk-culture near Med- 

 ford. During that time it has been increasing in numbers and 

 annually spreading over a larger area ; and in some localities 

 it was noticed as quite injurious during at least two sea- 

 sons before it came to the notice of entomologists or received 

 official attention. This being the case, the question naturally 

 arises as to how far beyond the present known limits of forty 

 or fifty square miles and in what directions the insect may 

 have been transported during all the years in which its exist- 

 ence was ignored. Whether or not its extermination, which was 

 plainly contemplated by the legislature, can be accomplished, 

 depends largely upon the area over which it has been dis- 

 tributed. If it does not exist in this country outside of the 

 limits where it is now known the task might not be easy, but 

 it would be much simplified. 



That the pest may be in other places undetected may 

 readily be supposed, since it has escaped the notice of the 

 numerous naturalists of Boston and vicinity for so many 

 years. Some of the most infested localities were about large 

 manufacturing places, where freight-cars remain for days or 

 weeks while loading or unloading. The habits of the insect 

 are such that there seems every reason to believe that, in the 

 last years preceding its discovery, it has been carried in one 

 or another of its stages with freight to distant points, where, 

 if the conditions were favorable, it is now on the increase, 

 although its presence may not be.observed for years. It might 

 be worth while for the Commission to find out some of the 

 places to which car-loads or empty cars have been most fre- 

 quently dispatched from the infested district in recent years, 

 and to have competent persons visit these places to ascertain 

 whether the pest is there. While there is not the least evi- 

 dence that it has spread beyond the area now known to be 

 infested, the chances of the pest having been carried far be- 

 yond should not be lost sight of. If it is found to have gained 

 a foothold elsewhere, an opportunity would be given for 

 checking it before it becomes as alarmingly abundant as it 

 did at Medford and surrounding towns. 



Its advent within the borders of other states would make it 

 a national rather than a state care, but it is questionable 

 whether further special legislation would be advisable except 

 for the enactment or enforcement of such laws as would com- 

 pel every landowner to keep his property reasonably clear of 

 such pests, so that they would not be a menace to the rest of 

 the community. 



To many persons it seems that the prospect for the exter- 

 mination of the Gypsy Moth is not very hopeful ; and from its 

 habits, known distribution and the means that have been thus 

 far taken for its subjection, one can hardly see how its exter- 

 mination in this country is now practicable, even with the aid 

 of larger appropriations than the legislatures could be pre- 

 vailed upon to give. 



The appropriation and expenditure of the $50,000 already 

 voted, however, will not have been altogether in vain ; for, 

 besides the accomplished temporary suppression of the pest, a 

 wide-spread popular interest in entomology has been aroused, 

 and the value of a knowledge of such things has been once more 

 very effectually and practically demonstrated to those who 

 usually belittle such studies. Besides this, the folly and waste 

 of allowing political and personal motives to control appoint- 

 ments in matters of this nature has had one more illustration, 

 if, indeed, any more was needed. 



The now famous work, carried on under the direction of 

 Dr. Riley, in overcoming the Cottony Cushion or Fluted Scale 

 in California by the importation of the predaceous Lady-bird 

 beetle ( Vedalia cardinalis) from Australia, very naturally has 

 led to the inquiry whether there are predaceous or parasitic 

 foes of the Gypsy Moth which could be introduced to keep it in 

 check in this country if the project of extermination should be 

 abandoned. In Europe over a dozen parasites of the Gypsy 

 Moth are known which are the chief preventives of the undue 

 increase of the pest. Owing to circumstances unfavorable to 

 their enemies, the Gypsy Moths are occasionally very abun- 

 dant and their larvae exceedingly destructive to vegetation in 

 some parts of Europe. 



They are rarely or never so destructive, however, as another 

 closely related insect, Liparis monacha, popularly known as 



the " Nonnen " in Germany, the advent of which would be a 

 much greater evil to this country. The ravages of the " Non- 

 nen" in European coniferous forests have been recognized for 

 hundreds of years, and the serious destruction caused in 

 Bavaria last season showed that it was almost as hopeless to 

 make a fight against this foe to-day as it was two centuries 

 ago. Its extreme abundance and destructiveness is of only 

 occasional occurrence, the numbers fluctuating remarkably 

 from year to year. It frequently happens that insects of this 

 destructive class are almostannihilatedbyepidemics of fungal 

 or bacterial diseases, the causes and conditions of the develop- 

 ment of which are not yet well known. With a better knowl- 

 edge of them, it is possible that such diseases may at some 

 future time play an important part in the struggle against de- 

 structive insects. 



The new Commission appointed to prosecute the work 

 against the Gypsy Moth may be depended upon to carry it on 

 in the best and most disinterested manner possible, for 

 although none of the appointees of Governor Russell are 

 known as entomologists, they are men of such wide intelli- 

 gence that they are certain to solicit and take advice from the 

 very best authorities as to the possibility of extermination, the 

 benefit likely to be derived from the importation of the foes of 

 the pest and the best means and methods of carrying out the 

 intent of the law. 



Arnold Arboretum. J • G. Jack. 



New or Little Known Plants. 



New Orchids. 



Cypripedium x "Muriel Hollington," Rolfe. — This is a 

 charming little hybrid, raised from Cypripedium niveum ferti- 

 lized with the pollen of C. insigne, in the collection of A. J. 

 Hollington, of Enfield. It received an award of merit from 

 the Royal Horticultural Society on November nth last. As in 

 the case of all hybrids raised from C. niveum, the characters 

 of that species largely preponderate, but the spots and es- 

 pecially the folded apex of the dorsal sepal, the nerves of the 

 petals, and the leaves, are all modified in the direction of C. 

 insigne. The flower is white, with the lip, petals and dorsal 

 sepal beautifully veined with light purple, the latter organ 

 having a yellowish green disc. — Gardeners' Chronicle, January 

 3d, 1891, p. 10. 



. Cypripedium x Castleanum, Rolfe, is a beautiful hybrid, 

 raised in the collection of Messrs. F. Sander & Co., of St. Al- 

 bans, from C. hirsutissimum fertilized with the pollen of C. 

 superbiens. It somewhat resembles C. X Fraseri, raised from 

 the first-named species crossed with C. barbatum, but is more 

 brightly colored. The characters of the pollen parent some- 

 what preponderate, but the colors are darker than would 

 naturally have been expected. — Gardeners' Chronicle, January 

 10th, 1 891, p. 30. 



Cypripedium x Orpheus, Rolfe, is a pretty hybrid, raised in 

 the collection of Messrs. F. Sander & Co., of St. Albans, from 

 C. venustum fertilized with the pollen of C. callosum. It 

 strongly resembles the last-named species in character, but 

 the dorsal sepal is smaller, more acute, and without the purple 

 veins, and the petals more purple toward the apex, and with 

 fewer warts on the margin, in which respect it approaches the 

 seed-bearing species. It is the first hybrid raised from C. cal- 

 lossum. — Gardeners' Chronicle, January 10th, 1891, p. 39. 



Cypripedium x Alcides, Rolfe, is a large and delicately-color- 

 ed hybrid, raised in the collection of Messrs. F. Sander & Co., of 

 St. Albans, from C. insigne fertilized with the pollen of C. hir- 

 sutissimum. It is tolerably intermediate in character, though 

 the influence of the pollen parent decidedly preponderates in 

 the shape of the dorsal sepal, petals and lip. The colors are 

 more delicate than would a priori have been expected.— 

 Gardeners' Chronicle, January 10th, 1891, p. 40. 



Kew. _____ R - A - Rol J e - 



Plant Notes. 

 Some Recent Portraits. 



SIR JOSEPH HOOKER describes, in the February number 

 of the Botanical Magazine, a new Magnolia (t. 7157) from 

 Japan, for which he proposes the name of Magnolia Watsoni, 

 in honor of Mr. William Watson, our London correspondent 

 and the assistant curator of the Royal Gardens. Magnolia Wat- 

 soni is described as a small tree, flowering at the time of the 

 unfolding of the leaves, which are four to seven inches long 

 by two to three and a half inches broad, elliptical or obovate- 

 oblong, obtuse or cuspidate, deep green above with yellow 

 margins and nerves, paler, and, when young, clothed on the 



