JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
April 7, 1881. ] 
Striped.— Marie Theresa* —Neat flower; petals broad and 
rounded, white striped with rosy crimson. Rose de la Reine .— 
Fine variety; petals rounded, of good substance, rose or crim¬ 
son striped with white. Beauty of Hornsey. —Petals imbricated ; 
flower symmetrical, rosy pink, with a faint white stripe. Lavinia 
Maygi. —White striped with crimson ; flowers frequently very 
large and of excellent shape. Countess of Derby. —A beautiful 
variety, very free ; flowers white, streaked or flaked with pink. 
Belle d' Argligionc. —Petals thick ; flower of good form, rose, with 
purple tinge and white stripes. 
Other beautiful varieties are Cup of Beauty, blush white ; 
Andrea Doria, bright red ; Mrs. Abby Wilder, white, lake 
stripe ; Prima Donna, blush white ; Countess of Derby, white 
rose flake ; and Rafia, dark crimson. There are many forms 
equally as good as some of those named, but the above would 
form a fairly representative collection.—S. 
USEFUL PLANTS. 
Urceolina aurea. —The drooping clusters of yellow and green 
flowers produced by this plant are very pleasing in the winter 
months. After flowering the bulbs should be potted in a compost 
of loam and lime rubbish and placed in a light position, gradually 
diminishing the supply of water when decay is showing in the 
leaf, so as to ripen the bulbs for the next season. 
Torenia Fournierii .—Among the few stove plants bearing blue 
flowers this is one of the best. It flowers so freely that the plants 
60 on become exhausted, consequently propagating must be done 
three or four times in the year to maintain the stock of plants. 
Lachenalia tricolor .—One of the best spring-flowering bulbs. 
They should be potted when about to start into growth, and be 
kept as near the glass as possible. A strong loam with a small 
portion of leaf soil I have found the most suitable compost. When 
well managed they will produce from six to ten spikes of red and 
yellow flowers in 5-inch pots.—A. 
CHAPTERS ON INSECTS FOR GARDENERS.—No. 20. 
NEW SERIES. 
From the last family of the weevils, which includes the Scolytus 
and other species that infest wood, we proceed to our next group 
of beetles, very unlike the weevils in some respects, but resembling 
them in this circumstance, that the larvss bore into and devour 
wood. General characteristics do not always suit every member 
of a group they are supposed to belong to, just as the natives of 
one district of Africa defined white men as “ the wearers of tall 
hats yet all white men do not thus disfigure themselves. Thus, 
the next group of beetles is named the Longicorn division, from 
the length of the antennas ; but in a number of the species these 
adornments are not conspicuously long, though usually thread-like. 
Yet the Longicorns are easily recognised by persons who do not 
profess to be naturalists, owing to their large jaws, long legs, and 
long body broadening towards the extremity. These beetles from 
their habits are of special interest to those engaged in forestry, for 
throughout the earth we find their species are distributed, and the 
doings of British species give but a faint idea of their destructive 
powers in hot climates ; still, several of them show themselves, or 
leave us the results of their operations, in our gardens and shrub¬ 
beries as well as in the woodlands. 
It is of necessity one of the peculiarities belonging to the history 
of most wood-boring larvae, that neither the gardener nor the 
naturalist can discover how they work without cutting deeply into 
standing trees, which it is undesirable to do. One or two cater¬ 
pillars that feed upon wood are said occasionally to migrate from 
tree to tree, but they are rarely caught in the act. The monstrous 
caterpillar of the Goat Moth does indeed diffuse fragrance (?) 
round, telling of its presence in trees ; not so as a rule the larvae of 
beetles, even where the perfect insect gives out an odour. When 
we have an opportunity of examining one of the Longicorn grubs, 
small or large, we notice that it is thin and flattened, with legs 
imperfectly developed ; the movements of the creature depending 
entirely upon the muscles of the body and the head, the latter 
being covered with a horny substance that serves for a helmet. 
Having reached its full size the grub or larva must become a 
chrysalis, and were this embedded in the wood there it might die 
from inability to extricate itself : hence the larva usually finishes 
its career by working its way to a position where there is but a 
slight film between it and the open air. Some of these larvae 
manifest a preference for decaying wood, and if only left alone 
time enough they certainly bring many trees to decay, though 
there are instances where the attacks seem to cause little harm. 
The death of some trees is hastened, subsequent to the operations 
of these and other wood-miners, by the exposure that ensues, as 
271 
cold and moisture penetrate into the heart of the tree. Empty 
burrows of beetle larvae also become the resorts of various insects, 
molluscs, centipedes, and spiders. 
Prionus coronarius is the largest British species of this division, 
and in size it approaches the conspicuous stag beetle, but it is less 
common. Though the eggs are usually deposited by the parents 
on or just within the bark, the larvae bore deeply into the trees 
where they reside, and so they would be seriously hurtful in our 
woods if they were abundant; nor does it appear that they have 
a notable preference for any particular tree. The larval state 
lasts two or three years, and then a rather elaborate cell of chips 
of wood is constructed, in which the change to a chrysalis takes 
place. Towards the end of summer the beetles come out and 
repose during the day upon the trunks of trees. Owing to their 
dull brown hue they nearly resemble the bark on which they sit, 
and persons may be close to them without perceiving them. 
A far better known species, and ODe more attractive in appear¬ 
ance, is the beetle called Aromia moschata (fig. 61), or the Musk 
beetle, from the scent it diffuses, which is not, however, at all like 
musk, and has been better compared to the perfume of the Sweet- 
briar. Once upon a time, and within my own recollection, the Musk 
beetle was to be occasionally taken upon the Willows that adorned 
some of those Surrey commons near London, that have either been 
built upon or otherwise spoilt by the growth of the metropolis. 
From the habit it has of making a shrill noise, not so unlike the 
squeak of a bat, exploring juveniles have given it the name of the 
Squeaker, warning other juveniles who are ignorant of insect 
peculiarities that it bites. It is pacific enough for all that, but 
Fig. 62.—Leg of ditto 
enlarged. 
when a number of them are crawling upon a tree they will push 
each other about, and get their antennas into a tangle difficult to 
unloosen. If an attempt is made to remove one of them from its 
hold, the insect grasps the bark firmly with its singularly spurred 
fore legs (fig. 62) until the hand is withdrawn, when it rapidly 
runs off. The Musk beetles are seldom seen in the act of flying. 
Few beetles of our own or of any land can rival the colouring of 
this species, the golden green of the wing-cases being chequered 
with beautiful tints of azure and purple. The burrows or tracks 
of the larvae are of various sizes, and cross each other in all 
directions. The beetles seem to occur in companies, and they 
prefer those spots where rows of Willows occur near little stream¬ 
lets. Though an infested tree will put forth leaves for years 
after it has been severely bored into, the end generally is that it 
falls or splits up in some heavy gale. 
There are several lesser species allied to the preceding which 
have received names from the trees they attack. Thus the Aspen 
beetle (Saperda populnea), a brownish black insect dotted with 
buff, is found upon Aspens, sometimes also upon Poplars ; and the 
larva or grub bores into the shoots, producing enlargements here 
and there, and the shoots affected generally die. Many of these 
are fortunately killed by a parasitic fly, which pierces the branches 
with its egg-placer, and deposits its eggs upon or near the body 
of the unseen grub. S. cylindrica resorts to the Pear, the Plum, 
or the Hazel, in the branches or twigs of which its larvae feed, 
pursuing the same mode as that of S. populnea. The only remedy 
appears to be that of removing and burning any shoots seen to be 
infected. Another of the Longicorns that proves troublesome in 
some places is the Wasp beetle (Clytus arietis), a long-legged 
fellow, black and yellow-banded, and which maybe noticed during 
the summer dodging about amongst flowers, apparently with no 
definite object. Though it has received a designation from a sup- 
