COB^A. 



59 



COCCULUS. 



means of its own tendrils ; but it is ge- j 

 neraily better either to nail it, or to tie ' 

 it to any projecting parts with strands 

 of bast-mat. The roots may be either 

 in the open ground, in the free soil of | 

 the conservatory, or in a pot; hut in 

 the latter case they should be allowed 

 abundance of room, and the pot 

 should be well drained. The plant 

 may also be treated either as an an- 

 nual, a biennial, or a perennial, ac- 

 cording to convenience. When treated 

 as an annual, the seeds should be 

 sown on a hotbed in February ; and 

 the plants should be transplanted into 

 pots, and afterwards into the open 

 ground, where they are to flower, in 

 April or May. When the plant is 

 grown as a biennial, the seeds should 

 be sown as soon as they are ripe in 

 pots, and the young plants should be 

 kept under shelter in a room or green- 

 house during winter, transplanting 

 them two or three times, till spring, 

 when they should be removed to the 

 open ground, or to a larger pot, for 

 flowering. It may also be treated as 

 a perennial, when cuttings should be 

 struck in autumn under a bell-glass, 

 and the pots plunged into a hotbed or 

 tan-pit ; or, if the plants be growing in 

 the open air, layers may be made by 

 pegging down the lower shoots of the 

 growing plants on the ground, and 

 leaving them in the open garden ; 

 only taking care to protect them, after 

 they are separated from the parent 

 plant, by a hand-glass during winter. 

 Till lately, C. scandens was the 

 only species of the genus known ; but 

 in the autumn of 1H39, and the spring 

 of 1840, some other species have been 

 raised from Mexican seeds sent home 

 by Mr. Hartweg, one of the botanical 

 collectors employed to collect new 

 plants by the London Horticultural 

 Society. The common Cobsea is also 

 a native of Mexico, where it is called 

 by a Spanish name, signifying the 

 violet-bearing Ivy. 



Coccinella. — Under this name na- 

 turalists distinguish the little beetles 

 generally called lady-birds, or lady- 

 cows. They creep slowly when in 

 their perfect state, and they are gene- 

 rally found on the ground ; and though 

 they fly fast and well, they are rarely 

 seen on the wing. They do no in- 

 jury to plants, either in their larva or 

 their perfect state ; and when the per- 

 fect beetle is found on a plant, it is 

 to find a place where it can lay its 

 eggs. Instinct teaches it to visit 

 those plants most infested with aphides, 

 for it is on these noxious insects that 

 the larva of the lady-bird feeds ; and 

 consequently, the eggs of that insect, 

 which are of a bright yellow, are al- 

 ways found on the leaves of shoots 

 the points of which are covered with 

 the green fly. The larvae are flattish, 

 fleshy grubs, tapering to the tail ; they 

 have six legs, and are very active. 

 Some years lady- birds are much more 

 numerous than in others ; but their 

 numbers are always found to bear a 

 proportion to those of the aphides on 

 which they feed. In France and 

 Germany, no peasant will kill them, 

 because they are considered to be sa- 

 cred to the Holy Virgin ; whence, no 

 doubt, they have received the name 

 of lady - bird. When these insects are 

 caught, they fold up their legs, and 

 emit a yellow fluid from their joints, 

 which has a very unpleasant smell ; 

 but which is so far from being injuri- 

 ous, that it is considered a remedy for 

 the tooth-ache. Sometimes the coun- 

 try people even crush the poor beetle, 

 and apply it to a hollow tooth, to pre- 

 vent it from aching ; and thus, as 

 in many other cases, in the hope of 

 an imaginary good, they do them- 

 selves a real evil ; as of course, it is 

 the interest of all amateurs of garden- 

 ing, and particularly all lovers of 

 roses, to protect the lady-birds. 



Cocculus. — Menispermacea. — 

 Climbing stove plants, with greenish 



