THE HOLLY. 



65 



bark is said to allay a cough. Rats and mice 

 occasionally injure the young trees by knawing the 

 bark of them, especially when the ground is 

 covered with snow. It is infested by but few 

 insects : the azure-blue butterfly {JPolyommatus 

 Argiolus) delights to hover about it, and settle on 

 it ; and another small insect passes the larva and 

 pupa stages of its existence between the upper 

 and under cuticle of the leaf ; but, with these 

 exceptions, it is exempt from insect depreda- 

 tions. 



Paterson, in his Insects mentioned in Shak- 

 speare," speaks of the Holly as being occasionally in- 

 fested to a great degree with honey-dew. He once 

 noticed one at Castle Willan, in Ireland, on which 

 a number of wasps were continually alighting, run- 

 ning rapidly over its leaves, and flitting from 

 branch to branch. A great many Hollies were 

 scattered over the lawn, but not one exhibited the 

 same lively bustle. On a close examination, he 

 found that the wasps were not its only visitors. 

 A number of ants were plodding quietly along 

 the twigs and leaves, exhibiting by their staid and 

 regular deportment, a singular contrast to the 

 rapid and vacillating movements of the wasps. 

 The object of attraction to both was the honey- 

 dew deposited by the aphides which infested the 

 tree. Ants, however, do not in all cases frequent 

 trees for the sake of supplying themselves with 

 food from this source. In Guiana, grows a tree 

 ( Triplaris Americana) called by the natives Jacina, 

 or Ant-tree. It attains the height of fifty or 

 sixty feet, and at certain seasons presents a most 

 attractive appearance. The inconspicuous flowers 

 fall off soon after their expansion, and the calyx 



II. F 



