496 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 191. 



seedlings that are now standard varieties, and several more 

 have come into prominence since. 



It is interesting to note that, although California is now pro- 

 ducing a great number of valuable new varieties of all the 

 standard fruits, the Almond alone has so far improved that 

 the older kinds are practically given up, and now can only be 

 found in a few gardens. The same tendency is to be seen in 

 the Peach, Apple, Pear, Apricot and Walnut, but in the case of 

 these fruits many of the old standards still retain places in the 

 front rank. Horticultural history must record the fact that 

 California first originated an entirely new line of market varie- 

 ties in the Almond. 



The variety that I have chosen to illustrate (see page 499) is 

 one of Lewellyn's seedlings, originating some years ago in 

 Napa County, and considered by some growers the best 

 bearing Almond known to orchardists. It is hardly in the 

 general market yet, but all who have seen the orchard speak 

 well of the variety, and it is being planted extensively. The 

 branch from which the photograph was taken was smaller 

 and somewhat less heavily loaded than many on the tree, and 

 several almonds were broken from it before it reached the 

 hands of the photographer. But it is a fair illustration of the 

 vigor and fruitfulness of the whole race of California seed- 

 lings. It was cut from a five-year-old tree planted on a warm 

 gravelly loam in Livermore Valley, and grown without the aid 

 of irrigation. There was a fair crop in 1889, when the trees 

 were four years from the bud ; a large crop in 1890, the season 

 when the photograph was taken, and a still larger crop is now 

 ripening. Like the best of the California seedlings, it bears 

 regularly every year. 



Niles Cai. Charles Howard Shmn. 



A Clematis Borer (Acalthoe caudata). 



A DESCRIPTION of this moth was first given by the late 

 Dr. T. W. Harris, author of " Insects Injurious to Vege- 

 tation in Massachusetts." The original account of the moth, 

 which he named JEgeria caudala, was given in The American 

 Journal of Science (vol. xxxvi., 1839). 



Without naming it, he refers to the insect in his volume on 

 injurious insects, and again, in a letter to the late Dr. Le Baron, 

 he speaks of taking a male specimen at Jackson, in the White 

 Mountains of New Hampshire (" Correspondence," page 262). 

 Dr. Harris has recorded that he found the eggs on Clematis, 

 but no further account of the earlier stages is given nor of the 

 injuries caused ; and, although other authors have since writ- 

 ten accounts of the yEgerians and have quoted Harris, nothing 

 has been added to the facts given by him. 



In the spring of 1890 it became necessary to move an old 

 specimen plant of the Virgin's Bower (^Clematis Virginiana) in 

 the shrub collection of the Arboretum, and then it was found 

 that the whole mass of roots at the crown and the bases of the 

 stems had been bored and hollowed out by lepidopterous 

 larvae, a few of which were secured alive. These were kept, 

 and on July 25th a female moth emerged, which proved these 

 borers to be of the same species described by Harris. An ex- 

 amination of many other plants of the Virgin's Bower in the 

 Arboretum and vicinity showed that almost every plant was 

 more or less infested, a fact which fully accounted for a very 

 apparent lack of vigor in this usually rampant-growing spe- 

 cies. The borers attack the larger roots near the surface, 

 infest the crown, and often enter into the larger stems, espe- 

 cially where these trail on the ground. 



In June, larvae of various sizes, from one-third to fully 

 grown, may be found in the infested plants. The fully grown 

 borer is about two-thirds of an inch in length and of a dull 

 white color. The legs are brownish. On each side of the body 

 there is a row of very minute brown dots placed singly on 

 each segment, and a magnifying-glass shows several rows of 

 solitary hairs along the body. The head is brown, and the top 

 of the segment behind it is of a very light brown color, with 

 two darker-colored club-shaped or spindle-shaped spots, the 

 larger ends of which almost touch each other at the back of 

 the segment, while the points are directed downward toward 

 the sides of the head. 



In the latter part of June or in July the fully grown larva 

 makes a slight cocoon of silk, mixed with small particles of 

 the wood or other material, and changes to a brown chrysalis, 

 which is provided with a number of minute spines. These 

 spines are largest on the last segments, and by their aid the 

 chrysalis is enabled to force its way to the open air when the 

 moth is about to emerge. Apparently the moths begin to 

 emerge in the last days of July, and the eggs are deposited on 

 Clematis soon afterward. 



The male is remarkable for possessing a curious tail-like 



appendage, nearly, if not quite, as long as the abdomen. The 

 general color of the insect is brown. In the male the fore 

 wings are transparent from the base to the middle ; hind 

 wings transparent, but with a brownish fringe and subcostal 

 spot. Antennas, palpi, collar and tarsi tawny yellow ; hind 

 legs yellow, end of tibiae and first tarsal-joints fringed with 

 tawny yellow and black hairs. Tail slender, cylindrical, nearly 

 as long as the body, tawny yellow, with a little black tuft on 

 each side at base. 



The female moth has the fore wings entirely black (opaque). 

 The hind legs are black, with a rusty spot in the middle of the 

 tibiae, and fringed with black ; and the caudal tuft is short, and 

 such as is ordinarily seen in moths of this class. The female 

 is larger than the male, and its wings expand from one to one 

 and a quarter inches. 



Besides Clematis, Dr. Harris gave our common wild Black 

 Currant (Ribes floridum) as another food-plant, the larvae liv- 

 ing within the stems. Other writers have quoted this state- 

 ment, but a careful examination of Currant-bushes growing 

 among infested Clematis in the Arboretum failed to show any 

 evidence of attack by the Clematis borer. 



It has not been definitely ascertained how long a period is 

 necessary for the larva to attain full growth, and no experi- 

 ments have been made toward curing or preventing the at- 

 tacks. Such treatment as is given in the case of the well- 

 known Peach-tree borer would probably answer for this. 



As yet no other species of Clematis except our Virgin's 

 Bower has been found attacked at the Arboretum. 



The accompanying figures are from drawings by Mr. C. E. 

 Faxon. 



Arnold Arboretum. J • G. Jack. 



New or Little-known Plants. 



New Orchids. 



Pholidota repens, Rolfe, is a small species, with light 

 flesh-colored flowers, sent to Kew by Mr. James O'Brien, 

 in June, 1890, and again during the present year. It is a 

 native of some of the hills of India. It is allied to P. 

 Griffithii, Hook, f., of which it may be an unusually pro- 

 cumbent variety with differently colored flowers. — Kew 

 Bulletin, 1891, p. 199. 



Epidendrum Mooreanum, Rolfe, is a very pretty species 

 belonging to the section Encyclium, and allied to E. stel- 

 latum, Lindl. The flowers are very fragrant, the sepals 

 and petals light green, and the lip deep purple with light 

 green margin. It is said to be a native of Costa Rica, and 

 exists in several collections, having been sent to Kew for 

 determination by Mr. F. W. Moore, of Glasnevin, Mr. W. 

 Bull, Messrs. Hugh Low & Co., and Sir Trevor Lawrence. 

 — Kew Bulletin, 1891, p. 199. 



Polystachya bulbophylloides, Rolfe, is a minute and 

 very anomalous species, with the habit precisely of Bulbo- 

 phyllum. It is a native of west Africa, and was sent to 

 Kew by Mr. J. O'Brien in July of the present year. The 

 small diphyllous pseudo-bulbs are borne at intervals on 

 slender creeping rhizomes. The flowers are white, except 

 two orange spots on the lip and a purple margin to the 

 column. The petals are reduced to a pair of minute fleshy 

 tubercles, another anomalous character. — Kew Bulletin, 

 1891, p. 199. 



Renanthera Ims-chootiana, Rolfe, is a handsome species 

 allied to R. coccinea, Lour., and R. Storiei, Rchb. f., but 

 with flowers in simple racemes and various structural differ- 

 ences. It was sent to Kew by M. A. Vanimschoot, of 

 Ghent, Belgium, during July of the present year, with the 

 information that it was received with JErides Godefroyce, 

 Rchb. f., from Messrs. F. Sander & Co., of St. Albans, and 

 is believed to be a native of the same country. The flow- 

 ers are chiefly of a reddish vermilion shade. — Kew Bul- 

 letin, 1 89 1, p. 200. 



Pelexia olivacea, Rolfe, is a native of the Andes, sent to 

 Kew by Messrs. Charlesworth, Shuttleworth & Co., of 

 Heaton, Bradford, in April, 1890, where it flowered about 

 a year later. It is one of those plants formerly referred to 

 Neottia, though erroneously. The leaves are dull olive- 

 green, with a broad, irregular, silvery band on either side 

 of the midrib ; the scape, ovary and sepals are also olive- 

 green ; the petals and lip white, with some yellow on the 



