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XLVIII. On a remarkable Property of the Hoya Carnosa. 

 In a Letter to the Secretary. By Mr. John Maher, 

 F. H. S. 



Read September 5, 1815. 



Dear Sir, 



Als it does not appear that any notice has hitherto been 

 taken of the very singular preference which the greater 

 number of Summer insects evince for the blossoms of the 

 Hoya Carnosa, in situations where their favourite fruits are 

 both abundant and well ripened, I trust the following ob- 

 servation may not be deemed unacceptable to Horticul- 

 turists ; since I am led to believe, that if this plant were 

 generally introduced into graperies, it would altogether set 

 aside the necessity of vising bags. 



At the same time that a flourishing plant of the Hoya 

 Carnosa was blooming in a hot-house under my charge, at 

 Millfield, near Edmonton, some healthy vines were loaded with 

 ripe fruit, in a grapery immediately adjoining ; the door com- 

 municating with the hot-house being kept constantly open. 



At this time I daily remarked, that while the blossoms of 

 the Hoya attracted innumerable wasps, bees, and other 

 insects, the Grapes remained altogether untouched. The 

 honied exudations of the Hoya, are therefore evidently pre- 

 ferred by insects to the pulp of those fruits which they so 

 commonly destroy. And it would appear, that this plant 



