May 19, 1881. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
403 
several of which we noticed in our last article. Bulky and 
rotund is the familiar sluggish insect that is popularly called the 
“ Bloody-nose Beetle ” (Timarcha laevigata), because it readily 
ejects from the mouth a drop of red fluid when it is touched. 
Being partial to the hedgerows this insect occasionally appears on 
those which surround some garden, plots, especially if they have 
been allowed to fall into a neglected condition. From a hedge 
the beetles are wafted perhaps by the breeze, and descend upon 
some plant where a gardener discovers them, and has his sus¬ 
picions aroused. The unlucky Timarcha is generally doomed to 
destruction, though it is not one of those beetles that does any 
appreciable amount of mischief. Indeed the matured insect— 
which is of deep purple, almost black hue, dotted with tiny punc¬ 
tures which seem to give it a velvety gloss—does not eat much. 
Probably the larva has a good appetite, but its preference is for 
the low-growing plants in mixed hedgerows, where it hides judi¬ 
ciously, since the soft fat body might offer a temptation to hungry 
birds ; though it is said (by those, I presume who have made 
experiment) that the juices secreted by both the larva and 
beetle are so bitter as to prevent the birds from meddling with 
them. 
In the genus Chrysomela are reckoned nearly twenty British 
species, most of them of moderate size, globular in form, and 
brightly coloured, golden tints predominating, hence the name. 
Some of the species are injurious to trees, upon which, during 
seasons favourable to their increase, both larvae and beetles are 
found in swarms. Like the preceding they have usually the 
power of emitting a dark (often strong-smelling) fluid either from 
the mouth or from the joints of the legs, that is apparently 
designed to keep off enemies. One curious circumstance con¬ 
nected with the history of several Chrysomelac is, that the liquid 
they secrete has long had the repute of acting as a specific for pains 
in the teeth and jaws. A finger had to be well moistened with 
this and gently rubbed upon the part affected. If the cure is not 
to be ascribed to fancy there must be something of a sedative 
nature in the fluid, which is possible ; for the 
belief has certainly prevailed many years, and 
over a large area; one species indeed has 
been named C. odontolgicus, but it has no 
claim to power more than its relatives possess 
(fig. 89). C. populi resorts to the Poplar and 
Sallow, a pretty insect, bronzed and red, 
capable of flying briskly if so inclined, but 
generally noticeable by day in the act of 
crawling upon the twigs. The larvae are 
greyish, short-legged, and stout, abroad at 
times in sufficient numbers to strip whole 
branches of their leaves, but they do not affect 
the tree’s life. Upon the Alder is found the 
blue beetle, and the green tubercled larva of 
C. Alni, while the Aspen is greatly infested by C. tremulm, black 
and chestnut, with a preference for the soft portions of the leaf, 
all the fibres being cautiously avoided. 
The Tortoise beetles are singularly formed ; Cassida viridis is 
one of the commonest of these, occurring plentifully amongst 
Thistles. In gardens it has been taken upon the Artichoke. When 
these beetles are not in motion they draw the head and limbs 
completely under the thorax and wing-cases, which in colour 
nearly resemble the herbage, and thus escape capture unless the 
seeker is well acquainted with their habit. The larva of this 
species is flat, covered with spines, and it bears upon the tail a 
forked apparatus, which is characteristic of a Cassida. Few of 
the genus are taken in gardens, however, except as stragglers. 
We have now reached the last section of the Coleoptera, the 
least of all the sections, and which from the three-jointed tarsus 
or shank is designated that of the Trimera. In this there are 
various small species, some of which are scarcely observed even 
by entomologists. The only important group to us is that which 
contains the ladybirds of popular phrase. These beetles are de¬ 
serving of all the encouragement we can give them in our gardens 
and houses, as the persistent foes of aphides. Mr. Staveley and 
others have referred to them as if they were the principal destroyers 
of this blight; but useful though they are, we cannot allow them 
quite as much honour, the number of aphis-eaters being consider¬ 
able and fluctuating with the season. No doubt in the autumn of 
most years the ladybiids and their larvae appear conspicuously 
amongst the flocks of aphides ; but during the spring, as I have 
already pointed out in this Journal, just at the time when the 
aphides are increasing rapidly and preparing for their May 
migration, the beetles in question are often to be seen in a some¬ 
what inactive condition. Our cold spring has a depressing effect 
generally upon the Coccinellac, but unless it is very moist the 
aphides are unaffected by it. The beetles hybernate, moreover, 
and when in April they come forth to deposit eggs they have not 
quite recovered from their long sleep. As soon as the new brood 
of larvae is hatched they begin to feed voraciously upon the 
aphides and considerably reduce their numbers. 
The commoner species of the genus Coccinella are known to 
everybody. The body is flat below and rounded above, wing-cases 
rather soft, and antennae short. One of their peculiarities is a 
tendency to vary in colour and markings, and in some species the 
forms and shades are so numerous that they present a puzzle to 
naturalists. For example, in the familiar seven-spotted species 
(C. septempunctata) not only do the spots vary in size, but one 
or more will be absent, and specimens are now and then taken 
that are without spots altogether. These, like some species of one 
family previously mentioned, have a propensity to discharge a 
fluid from the joints of the legs, which has not an agreeable odour. 
Ladybirds, or Ladycows our ancestors called these insects, under 
the belief that they were under the special protection of the 
Virgin, though this was before the value of the beetles and their 
larvae as aphis-killers had been recognised. The name Ladycow 
may be presumed to bear reference to the fluid secreted by the 
species of Coccinella. 
The larvae of this species are of similar appearance, though 
differing from each other in size, being blackish or brown and 
freckled, with small heads, thickening towards the tail, by which 
they secure themselves to a leaf or twig while they feed (fig. 90). 
They also change to pupae on the plants 
where they have fed, and these pupae are 
sometimes destroyed on the supposition that 
they contain the germ of an injurious insect. 
C. bipunctata, the Two-spotted Ladybird, is 
of great service to the Hop-growers, but the 
species is so wddely distributed that we find 
it everywhere upon plants infested with 
aphides. There are many varieties of this 
species,'and a dozen or more species of about 
the same size which occur here and there. 
One of these has a large number of spots Fig. 90.—Larva of a 
(C. 22-punctata). Another species that is Ladybird (Coccinella) 
well known is C. septempunctata, exceed¬ 
ing the former in size, though still a small insect: this also 
appears in all our gardens, yet not in the abundance that is so 
notable with the two-spotted species. In average years there is 
one brood of each species, the beetles emerging towards the close 
of summer. The migrations of Coccinellse have been often re¬ 
marked upon in our periodicals : these are chiefly noticeable 
during August, and in C. bipunctata and septempunctata. News¬ 
paper accounts, with their usual vagueness, have described the 
swarms of ladybirds as being “ miles in extentand the appear¬ 
ance of hosts upon the coasts of Kent and Sussex, as in 1869, has 
led to the plausible supposition that they can cross the Channel 
in a favourable wind. To these journeys they are doubtless 
prompted by aphis movements.—J. K. S. C. 
ELECTRICITY AND VEGETATION. 
( Cont.inued from page 330.) 
Glass and Shading. —It is a well-known fact that most, if 
not all, flowering plants under glass do best when situate as close 
to the glass as practicable, and the reason generally assigned for 
this is that they are thus brought nearer to the light. But this is 
not altogether the correct explanation : it is not so much the light 
itself as certain results produced by the light upon the glass. 
There is a small electrical toy obtainable at the toyshops -which 
affords an excellent illustration of what these effects may be. A 
small shallow box of deal, fitted with a sliding pane of glass for 
a lid, has inside a number of little figures cut out of thin paper 
lying loose upon the bottom. Now, directly the glass is excited 
by friction with a piece of leather or flannel, the figures are 
electrically attracted and start up, jumping and dancing about 
from the glass to the box until the whole of the electricity shall 
have been discharged. It is recognised in scientific circles that 
it is impossible even to lift a single finger without producing 
electrical disturbance ; whilst Judge Grove practically demon¬ 
strated at the lecture table that a ray of light falling upon a 
specially prepared instrument charged it with electricity. Hence 
it would be utterly impossible that our bellglasses, our frame- 
sashes or lights, and our glass roofs, should escape this electrical 
influence, not only from the action of light, but also from the 
friction of the wind and every passing current of air. 
On placing a bellglass upon a flat surface of earth it at once, by 
its non-conductivity, separates the enclosed air from that outside, 
and joins it electrically with the negative state of the earth with 
which it is in contact. Now, it has been explained that roots 
