January 20, 1881. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
47 
of species, and with satisfactory results, for the name given above 
is now accepted as correct, and the plant was figured under it in 
the “ Botanical Magazine ” a few months since. Johnsqn’s 
“ Gardener’s Dictionary ” gives the date of introduction as 1789, 
but the plant appears to have been cultivated as early as 1732 
in Dr. Sherard’s famous garden at Eltham ; but whether it has 
continued in this country since that time is uncertain, although 
figures have appeared at different times in Andrews’ “ Botanist’s 
Repository,” the “ Botanical Register,” Loddiges’ “ Botanical 
Cabinet,” and lastly in the “Botanical Magazine” in 1880. It 
has been described under the names of S. pseudo-China, S. con- 
color, and S. concolor var. hispido-scabra, all of which have been 
rejected in favour of S. speciosus as already stated. 
It seems strange that a plant of such merit should have been 
known for about 150 years without becoming popular, but, like 
many other old introductions that have now’ almost disappeared 
from gardens, it has been long neglected, and the nurserymen ai« 
again bringing it into notice. It possesses the recommendation 
of being half-hardy in England, consequently it deserves a fore¬ 
most place amongst the plants in the so-called mixed border, 
where it will flower during the greater part of summer. Grown 
in pots, too, it forms a valuable and attractive addition to the 
greenhouse or conservatory, in which positions the flowering 
period is greatly prolonged. In habit the plant is moderately 
dwarf and compact, the radical leaves forming a rosette-like tuft 
round the stem ; they are somewhat thick, inversely lance-shaped, 
the margin being toothed or lobed. The flower stems rise to 
about a foot in height, and bear numerous flower heads (capitula) 
of narrow strap-shaped, rich purplish magenta florets, each head 
measuring about inch in diameter, and disposed on the stems 
in a corymbose manner, and are altogether rather suggestive of 
the Cineraria. However, it is unquestionably a handsome plant, 
and being of easy culture is worth the attention of all.—L. 
“ black beetles” are those of the genus Blaps(fig. 11) one of which— 
B. mortisaga—has received the ominous name of the Churchyard 
Beetle. This does, with its congeners, haunt cellars and damp 
places underground, and so I can quite understand that it may occur 
in church vaults or catacombs. Both the beetles and their larvae 
are harmless to garden produce, though they may sometimes be 
found in pits; the larvae are similar in shape to the mealworm, 
but much larger. It is one of the curiosities of medical science 
that the larva; of one species or other of Blaps have in several 
instances been thrown up from the human stomach; how they 
got there and lived for a time is puzzling. The beetles have such 
strong vitality that they will revive after being long immersed in 
spirits of wine. In their movements they are so tardy as to suggest 
that they suffer from chronic rheumatism ! Leaving these we 
pass to the Tetramera, the third great section of beetles, having 
the tarsi apparently four-jointed, and containing swarms of 
species, which naturally break up into three grand divisions. 
These beetles are commonly diurnal in habit, particularly active, 
and for the most part feeders upon vegetable substances, though a 
few are predacious. We have seen, in groups of beetles already 
noticed, various species that do mischief in gardens, orchards, and 
fields ; we come now upon a multitude of species, often small in 
size, but highly destructive and difficult to destroy or keep in 
check. Especially is it so with the long-nosed or beaked beetles, 
to which belongs the general name of weevil, the Rhyncophora, 
first division of the Tetramera, and readily distinguishable by the 
head being always more or less lengthened, the antennas standing 
CHAPTERS ON INSECTS FOR GARDENERS.—No. 17. 
NEW SERIES. 
Those who deal in statistics have, I believe, attempted a half- 
serious calculation of the quantity of dirt the civilised human 
being swallows each year in taking his customary meals, even 
where the cooking arrangements are first-class ; and if a compu¬ 
tation were possible of the number of insects we dispose of 
unconsciously, some persons might be more surprised than pleased. 
At the season of Christmas it is not agreeable to discover that 
what as first you took for a Plum stone left by accident in your 
slice of pudding is the carcase of a beetle that had been feeding 
in one or other of the articles that go to make up that seasonable 
dish. Probably a good proportion of the insects we eat, or nar¬ 
rowly escape eating, are beetles, as imagos or larva;. The latter, 
happily, if cooked up often leave no trace, nor have they a flavour 
usually that would distinguish them from the substance in which 
they live and feed. In the group of beetles that we now proceed to 
examine there is one species, Tenebrio molitor (fig. 10) we may well 
regard with an unfriendly eye, as it frequents flour or meal, upon 
which the uninviting larva feeds, and there hides securely ; but it 
may be consolatory to reflect that mealworms are at least useful 
to bird-fanciers ! 
The second group of the beetles that are placed in the section 
Heteromera, the small middle section of the coleopterous order, 
are called Atrachelia—that is, “ without a neck.” The hind part 
of the head appears as if sunk in the thorax, and the wing-cases 
are hard, not flexible as in the Trachelia, noticeable readily in the 
Oil and Cardinal beetles already described. One or two of these 
species resort to flowers, but the bulk of them haunt dark and 
damp spots, and gardeners have had at present no reason to com¬ 
plain of this group. One species, however, rejoicing in the appel¬ 
lation of Melandrya caraboides, occurs in old Willow trees, larva; 
and beetles together, the beetles having this curious habit of 
living for a short time in the burrows of the larvae, afterwards 
taking excursions in the air from tree to tree. They are about 
two-thirds of an inch in length, with flattened bodies and blackish 
wing-cases; the larva; are slender and muscular. It is not a 
sufficiently common species to do any injury to Willows, com¬ 
pared with such insects as the Musk beetle and the Goat moth. A 
curious and allied species, only about half the size of the preceding, 
is Orchesia undulata, so named from its power of taking leaps or 
skips, which seem to be rather objectless, and which are performed 
by means of the long spines on the hind legs. In colour it is 
reddish-yellow chequered with black. Their favourite food is 
moist Boleti growing upon trees in woods or damp places, and 
Mr. Curtis when hunting them found he could only capture 
specimens by pushing a net close to the trunks. 
Sombre in colour and unattractive in appearance, veritable 
Fig. 10.—Larva and imago of 
Tenebrio molitor. 
Fig. 11.—A cellar beetle 
(Blaps obtusa). 
out prominently upon the beak or snout. Though as a group 
they are thus easily recognised, the species are many of them 
exceedingly like each other in form, size, and colour. Writing 
concerning the weevil tribes Mr. Staveley aptly remarks—“No 
part of a plant is secure from the attacks of weevils, for one 
species devours the green and soft parts of the leaves of fruit 
trees, another the bark, another the roots. Some destroy the 
young buds either of leaves or flowers, while others gnaw their 
way into and deposit their eggs within the setting fruit, which is 
to remain suspended till the time of transformation, when ‘ down 
will come cradle and baby and all,’ and the grub, after remaining 
for a time sheltered in the earth, will return to the daylight in a 
perfect state. Acorns, nuts, young Plums are easy to find with 
the little weevil grubs enclosed, while the sheller of Peas can 
bear willing testimony to their attention to that part of creation. 
Some roll up leaves, which they have previously severed from a 
tree, and deposit their eggs therein ; others lay them in the 
ground ‘ convanient ’ to the roots which are to form the food of 
the young when hatched.” 
Really, as an ancient and reflective gardener remarked, “ When 
you consider what insects and other things one has to be bothered 
with it’s a wonder that one gets flowers and fruit at all.” Fortu¬ 
nately, modem science has supplied us with more effective appli¬ 
cations for destroying weevils than were known or dreamt of in 
the days of our grandfathers, but at the best they would fail were 
it not that we are also helped by the natural enemies of these 
beetles. Many are killed, moreover, especially in their early 
stages, by unfavourable weather. That splendid Indian species 
called the Diamond beetle, as I may note here, belongs to the 
weevil family, and, placed under a suitable magnifying power, a 
goodly number of our British weevils that appear unattractive to 
the naked eye display beautiful tints on the wing-cases, due to 
the presence of an array of scales with varied colours. As a rule, 
the beetles of this group go about their work noiselessly, but it 
has been found that a few of them can make a long chirp by 
rubbing the wing-cases against the abdomen. 
Before referring to some of the numerous weevils that are 
objects of dislike to the horticulturist with good reason, I shall 
mention a species which is undeniably a useful one. It is a small 
insect with antennae that are tipped with a club-like end composed 
