826 



OPEN FLOWER-GAEDEN. 



more than a quarter of an inch in the expansion 

 of its fore-wings. It is of a beautiful green 

 colour, -with several reddish-brown spots on the 

 thorax. The fore- wings are of a pale buff colour 

 with green veins, and the hind-wings are quite 

 transparent; the antennae are yellowish, with 

 tips dusky. The female has a horny ovipositor 

 at the extremity of the body, with which, in all 

 probability, she forms slits in the twigs in 

 order to deposit her eggs, which are not hatched 

 till May in the following year. The place, how- 

 ever, in which the eggs are placed has not yet been 

 observed ; but the strong horny texture of the 

 instrument for oviposition seems to indicate the 

 habit similar to that of the Cicadse, or saw-fly." 

 The broad-leaved box, especially when it has at- 

 tained some size, is more liable to its attacks than 

 the narrow-leaved varieties, and more so when 

 grown as a shrub than when planted as edgings. 

 The black horned leaf-miner (Phytomyza nig- 

 ricornis), fig. 11. — This is one of the many of 

 the smaller species of moths, flies, and beetles, 

 which deposit their eggs either on the under 

 side of the leaves, or probably, in some cases, 

 under the skin or cuticle of the leaves of green- 

 house and flower-garden plants. Although 

 much less injurious to the general health of 

 plants than many other insects, the whole of 

 these minute miners are vexatious enough from 

 the sickly appearance their presence gives to 

 plants. The Phytomyza nigricornis, in its maggot 

 state, carries on its depredations by burrowing 

 between the upper and lower cuticles of the 

 leaves and devouring the parenchyma, in which 

 it forms long and irregular galleries, and there 

 changes into its pupa state, and afterwards, 

 into the perfect fly. The female is somewhat 

 larger than the male, and both, when fully 

 grown, are of a dull ash or slate colour; the 

 head is ochreous in front, of a dark slate colour 

 behind ; the antennae are small and drooping ; 

 they are dark-coloured, compressed, and formed 

 of a small basal joint, a second cup-shaped, and 

 the third orbicular; the eyes are remote in both 

 sexes, small, blackish, and round ; the thorax is 

 somewhat globular, quadrate, and very grey, as 

 well as the scutellum ; the abdomen is short, 

 narrower than the thorax in the male, slightly 

 tapering towards the point, which is incurved 

 and obtuse ; in the female it is broader, ovate 

 and conical at the tip ; wings much longer than 

 the body, somewhat dusky, irridesceut, ochreous 

 at the base; the costa downy, with a short basal 

 nervure, and two others stout and of a dark 

 colour; there are also three longitudinal ones 

 slightly marked, and uniting at the base, but 

 having no transverse nervures on the disc ; legs 

 moderately long and black, tips of thighs and 

 tibia of an ochreous colour; halteres pale 

 yellow and clubbed. They are often found on 

 the foliage of Cinerarias, and similar soft- 

 wooded plants. 



The pansy fly (Agromyza violce), fig. 272. — Of 

 the economy or natural history of this insect 

 little appears to be known beyond its being ex- 

 ceedingly injurious to the flowers of this plant. 

 By May they become abundant in some locali- 

 ties, and continue increasing until the cold 

 of September cuts them off. In August they so 



abound in some gardens, that three or four may 

 be detected on a single flower, which they per- 

 forate in innumerable holes, causing the colours 

 to run, and entirely destroying the beauty and 



Fig. 272. 



■w 



PANSV FLY. 



value of prize flowers. The insect is of a shin- 

 ing black colour, and slightly covered with 

 bristles of the same colour, the head and anten- 

 nas being bright orange ; sides of thorax and 

 scutellum sulphur colour ; wings large, irrides- 

 ceut, and transparent ; the sub-costal cell short, 

 divided by a nervure running across it, the three 

 following longitudinal nervures nearly parallel, 

 and extending to the outer margin ; the fourth 

 longitudinal nervure greatly devaricated, and 

 joined to the third by a transverse one, the 

 second and third united near the base by a very 

 short nervure. The whole insect small, about 

 one-eighth of an inch in length ; legs pitchy 

 black ; anterior tibiae and tarsi variegated with 

 rusty colour; poisers yellow. In some speci- 

 mens the thighs are sulphur-coloured on the 

 under side. No satisfactory means have been 

 fallen upon for the destruction of this minute 

 pest; nor is it likely any will be, while its 

 habits are so little known. For prize pausies in 

 frames it is worth trying the fumes of Cayenne 

 pepper, produced by sprinkling it upon hot 

 plates of iron. 



Oniscus asellus Linn., 0. murarius Fabr., fig. 

 266. — The genus Oniscus is well known in vari- 

 ous parts of the kingdom by the popular names 

 of woodlice, carpenters, slaters, millipedes, sow- 

 bugs, pig's-lice, and old sows. There are two 

 distinct species discribed by entomologists, 

 which in gardens are nearly always taken for 

 one — our preseut'subject and the following one. 



0. Asellus does not roll itself up into a ball 

 when at rest, which the following one does, a 

 distinction suf&oiently obvious to have induced 

 very superficial observers to have drawn a broad 

 distinction between them. 0. Asellus has its 

 antennae composed of eight joints, the fourth 

 being nearly as long as the fifth, while the ter- 

 minating one forms a sharp bristle. The body 

 is ovate, slightly convex, composed of fourteen 

 segments, including the head, which is broad, 

 having two distinct tubercles, one on each side, 

 immediately before the eyes. The tail is fur- 

 nished with four styles and a central spine. The 

 antennae are long, angular, and hairy towai'ds 

 the point ; .the head is of a lead colour ; the 

 back is dark, variegated with yellowish spots ; 



