6 



PESTS OF THE ORANGE AND PEACH TREES, 



Mr. It. M. Cocking to Director of Public Gardens and Plantations. 



Port Maria, 28th March, 1893. 



Sir, 



I notice in your Report on the " Coffee Leaf Fungi" you refer to the damage being done both to 

 the coffee and orange trees in Manchester by the slug. I may add that the destruction to the trees is 

 also going on in this parish, especially to the young orange trees (they do not trouble the bearing 

 trees). A good remedy I find is to hoe around each tree some three feet and then sprinkle strong 

 white lime, but this must be done during dry weather to have any effect. The Peach trees are doing 

 well ; I, however, nearly lost them about six weeks ago by the cochineal insect. I had to wash the 

 trees with Jeyes' Fluid and water, and then paint them with white lime. This appears to have des- 

 troyed the insects, for the trees have thrown out leaves again. 



I am, &c., 



R. M. Cocking. 



FERNS: SYNOPTICAL LIST.— XIX. 



Synoptical List, with descriptions, of the Ferns and Fern- Allies of Jamaica, by G. 8. Jenman, Superin- 

 tendent, Botanical Gardens, Demerara, (continued from Bulletin No 4-3.) 



Genus XIX. Blechnum, Linn. 



Sori costal or subcostal, linear or oblong, inserted cn a special filiform receptacle, forming a 

 transverse union of the veins parallel with costa and npargin, but distant generally from the latter ; 

 involucres special, attached exteriorly, inflexed, free and opening along the inner edge ; fronds pinnate 

 or bipinnate. 



This genus differs from the last by the fertile fronds not being contracted in the pinnae, the 

 lines of sori in consequence being distant from the margin. The species are few, but they abound 

 greatly in individuals, and propagate largely by stoloniferous shoots that are thrown out from the 

 rootstock, as well as by the ordinary generative course of spores. 



a. Fronds pinnatifid in the upper part, pinnatifid in the lower 



b. Lower pinnte adnate at the base and reduced to small deltoid segments. 



1. B. iinilaterale, Willd. 



bb. Lower pinnae free at the base and little if at all reduced. 



2. B. occidentale, Linn. 



3. B. longifolium, H. B. K. 



aa. Fronds fully pinnate throughout, pinnate articulated at the base, 



4. B. serrulatum, Rich. 

 aaa. Fronds bipinnate, twining. 



5. B. mlubile, Kaulf. 



1. B. unilaterale, Willd. — Rootstock small, fibrous erect, the crown scaly ; stipites tufted, several 

 ^-5 in. 1. slender, fibrillose scaly ; fronds pinnate at the base, chartaceous glabrous, 6-10 in. I. l|-2 

 in. w. tapering equally to both ends ; terminating in a narrow entire, even or serrulate acuminate seg- 

 ment ; pinnae numerous, ^-1 in. 1 2-3 li. w. close even-margined, straight or curved, acute, dilated 

 (rather more on the upper side) and adnate at the base with a narrow sinus between which in the 

 lower part of the frond is incised in the centre, inferior ones gradually reduced to mere broadly- based 

 deltoid auricles, the lowest of which are apart ; rachis slender, pale green ; veins forked, close; sori 

 subcostal, linear the upper line shorter, continuous or in short patches, not reaching the base or apex 

 of the pinnae. — B. poli/podioides, Radd. 



Common on banks and stony gi'ound in exposed situations from 500-3,000 ft. alt. A small freely 

 tufted stoltmiferous speties, marked from all the others by the broadly adnate pinnae, which dwindle 

 to small auricles at the base of the fronds. 



2. B. occidentalp, Linn. — Rootstock erect or oblique, usually small, fibrous and stoloniferous, the 

 crown scaly ; stipites tufted, ^-1 ft. 1. fibrillose-scaly below ; fronds ^-1^ ft. 3-9 in. w., at first pink 

 then bright gretn, naked or the ribs slightly puberulous, the lower part pinnate, the upper pinnatifid 

 and then passing gradually into the acuminate entire serrulate point , pinnae numerous, adnate above, 

 below free and cordate-auriculate, subfalcate, acuminate or acute, 1^-4 in. 1. in. w. the lower apart, 

 and the lowest 1-2 pairs somewhat reduced and deflexed, the cartilaginous margin finely spinulose — 

 serrate, as are also the ccstae on the upper sides ; veins free, close, forked ; sori subcostal, falling more 

 or less short at each end of the pinnae, the opposite involucral valves connivent over the rib, but at 

 length recurved and concealed by the matured sporangia. — Sloane t. 44. f. 2. Plum. Fil. t. 62. B. 



Var. minor, Hook. — Stipites 1-2 in. 1. fronds 3-6 in. 1. f-lj in. br , otherwise similar. 



Most abundant on banks and open stony ground from sea level up to nearly 6,000 ft. alt. 



The most generally diffused species, and though exceedingly variable in size the pinnae num- 

 bering from a dozen to 6 dozen to a side and from 1-6 in. in length, unmistakable in any state. Dis- 

 tinguished from the preceding by the free cordate and but slight shorter lower pinnae, and from the 

 next by the more numerous pinnae which dwindle usually imperceptably into the entire acuminate 

 apex. There is a form with forked or repeatedly forked fasciated apex, divaricating fish tail-like. 

 The small variety which is constant, is found at the higher elevations. 



3. B. longifolium, H. B. K. — Rootstock upright, fibrous, scaly, stoloniferous, stipites 5-10 in. 1. 

 a few deciduous scales at the base ; fronds relatively short, chartaceous, pale green, naked or the ribs 

 slightly puberulous, 6-10 in. I. 4-6 in, w. truncate at the base and pinnate, above the pinnatifid, ab- 



