JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
332 
[ October 7, 1880. 
I hare previously referred, the flowers are of great size and sub¬ 
stance. The falls, as the specific name implies, are very long, 
finely striped with lilac, the streaks radiating from the centre on 
a lighter ground ; the standards and stigmas are of a purplish 
blue tint. It is one of the finest of the Irises, but is by no means 
well known in gardens at present, though it is included in the 
large collection of choice hardy plants grown by Mr. Ware 
at Tottenham. I have not had an opportunity of obtaining 
flowers for sketching, and the engraving has been prepared from 
an excellent coloured figure of the species in the “Botanical 
Magazine,” plate 5298. 
I. fulva is interesting from its resemblance to Hemerocallis fulva 
both in shape and colour, the falls and standards very nearly 
equal in size and spreading. It is very distinct in general appear¬ 
ance from all other Irises of the beardless section, and is the last 
in that division that calls for special notice.—L. Castle. 
BOSA EUGOSA. 
This is popularly called the Japanese Bose, and a charming 
shrub it makes. It should never be budded on standards, but 
upon dwarf Mauetti stocks, so as to acquire a true globular bush 
form, which it soon does, and is then so ornamental that every¬ 
body admires it. Many times have I found visitors warmly dis¬ 
cussing its charms this season. Each one appears to have dis¬ 
covered some especial merit. The dense spreading yet compact 
habit of growth ; the handsome dark evergreen foliage, so stout 
in texture, and so especially ornamental in winter ; the abundance 
of its flowers, and their delicious perfume ; and above all just now 
the numerous clusters of bright red hips nestling among the foli¬ 
age, the brightness of every one of them most charmingly refined 
by the exquisite bloom with which it is covered.—E. L. 0. 
CHAPTEES ON INSECTS FOE GAEDENEBS.—No. 12. 
NEW SEBIES. 
Proceeding with our notice of the predaceous beetles in the 
family Adephaga, we should observe that some of these are un- 
unjustly suspected of doing mischief. During the past summer 
we received specimens of a small Carabus, or ground beetle, to 
which one gardener gives the name of “ black jack,” as others 
perhaps may also, and this was thought to have caused damage to 
a crop of Strawberries ; but inquiry into the case rendered it 
evident that the offenders had been of another kind, probably a 
small species of mollusc, and upon these the beetles had been 
preying. Some colour to the mistake, in this and similar in¬ 
stances, is given by the fact that the actual depredators have often 
disappeared through the agency of some foe or parasite before 
the injury they have done is remarked by the gardener, and 
amongst parasite insects there are several that attack both our 
friends and our enemies; for the active flies of the genus Tachina, 
the larvse of which help to diminish the number of caterpillars, 
especially that of the Gooseberry grub, and which sometimes 
attack the destructive weevils, are also found upon those useful 
beetles the Carabi. 
These Carabi, however, occasionally hunt their near relatives. 
Thus C. monilis seeks out a smaller beetle, which is gifted with a 
defensive power, from which it has received the name of Brachinus 
explodens, or the Bombardier. Their usual habitat is damp 
places, where the Carabus seeks for them, and should one of these 
discover a Bombardier forthwith a stern chase begins. The 
smaller beetle is less agile and would soon fall a prey to its 
assailant ; but finding it is losing ground it pauses and fires off 
from its tail a mimic artillery—a few drops of fluid which vola¬ 
tilises in the air like a tiny puff of smoke. The hunting insect 
pauses, and frequently stops in its career ; if, however, it should 
recommence the pursuit the Brachinus can fire again and yet 
again. But for all that it is possible that the Carabi do succeed 
in capturing and killing some of these beetles. Many of these 
ground beetles keep themselves concealed through the day, though 
some of them may be seen traversing the beds, or crossing the 
paths, intent upon their particular prey, such as the greenish- 
coppery C. cancellatus, or the larger violet-coloured C. violaceus. 
A very useful species is unfortunately scarce in Britain; this is 
C. auratus, which seeks out the female cockchafer when crouching 
on the ground with a view to deposit a batch of eggs. The active 
Carabus having laid hold of the slow-moving cockchafer kills it 
and tears it asunder, so that by this means a check is given to 
the increase of that species. The Bose beetle is also captured by 
this Carabus. In the larval condition the beetles of this family 
live under moss in trunks of trees or similar situations, feeding 
on other insects. The French have, for some time past, been 
awake to the advantage of encouraging such beetles in gardens, 
and have even taken measures for introducing colonies of them 
where they are scarce. 
The Sunshiners form another family amongst the Adephaga. 
Most of these beetles are green or greenish blue, rapid in their 
movements, and destroyers of smaller species. They belong to 
the genera Amara and Ptecilus. A curious superstition prevails 
in some counties that it is unlucky to kill a Sun Beetle ; it is 
certainly undesirable to diminish the number of insects that are 
always harmless, and mostly helpful to the successful culture of 
gardens or fields. Some of them are especially partial to the 
margins of streams, marshes, and the seashore. Usually they are 
so constituted as to be able to master insects larger than them¬ 
selves, though they frequently prefer small fry. These Sunshiners 
have sundry relatives of a sooty or pitchy hue, which are not 
uncommon about gardens or outhouses, and they are more inclined 
to deeds of darkness, seldom showing themselves by daylight. 
We may mention two of these in passing—Pristonychus terricola, 
a beetle of elegant shape, with faint lines upon the bluish-black 
wing-cases, and which feeds upon various insects indoors or 
without; and P. leucopthalmus, of a deeper black, having long 
slender palpi, and wing-cases covered with tiny punctures. Both 
these are about three-quarters of an inch in length, and the latter 
is notable because it is reported to hunt and kill that objectionable 
insect the cockroach. 
The second division of these predaceous beetles is suitably 
called Hydradephaga, containing a part of the water beetles, and 
at once distinguishable from their land brethren by the long 
flattened hind legs, fringed with hairs also, and which act famously 
as oars. In ravenous habits these surpass the Adephaga ; perhaps 
their life under the water stimulates the digestive process ! The 
Gyrini or whirligig beetles (a name that is oddly printed in some 
books “ whirlwig ”) are to be found at one time beneath the water 
and at another running rapidly upon its surface, where they 
capture the little beetles and flies that may fall into the water. 
The great water beetle (Dy ticus marginalis) is a powerful swimmer, 
and it does not limit itself to insects and molluscs, for it has been 
taken when attacking fish. Juvenile naturalists occasionally haul 
up these beetles with the intent of placing them in an aquarium, 
and while grasping one in such a way as to avoid the jaws, they 
are surprised to discover that the beetle, by backing when it is in 
the hand, can inflict a wound with a sharp process on the under 
side of the body. But, from their destructive habits, these and 
similar water beetles are unfit tenants of any aquarium intended 
to be a home for other living creatures. If it be wished to observe 
them, the only way is to give them a glass vessel to themselves, 
when they must be freely supplied with other insects or fragments 
of meat. In ponds and narrow streams the Dytici may be often 
seen coming to the surface, where from time to time they elevate 
the abdomen, expelling air in that way, or receiving a fresh supply, 
which is carried about in a hollow under the wing-cases. At night 
these beetles take excursions through the air, not unfrequently 
picking up insects on the road as they go from one pond or 
streamlet to another. The lame of D. marginalis has sometimes 
been called the water tiger. It is a slender but very ferocious 
creature, armed with a pair of hollow mandibles, which act in an 
almost similar manner to the fangs of a snake. Its growth is, 
however, gradual, and during most of its life it hides under the 
mud, though obliged to rise at certain periods to breathe. 
The other important group in the Hydradephaga is represented 
by the Gyrini, to which allusion has been made. Quite a contrast 
in size are these when placed beside the huge Dytici, and their 
movements on the surface are so pleasing to look at, especially 
when the sun shines upon their polished bodies, that a colony of 
them is an agreeable addition to a pond in the parterre; only 
beware of handling one of them should the insect be the common 
whirligig (G. natator), for this species has the faculty of emitting 
a defensive liquid of an odour not by any means fragrant. 
G. natator is blue-black in colour with a reddish mouth, and about 
the size of a large ladybird ; each it may be observed, as it glides 
to and fro, or suddenly dives beneath the water, to carry at its 
tail a small bubble of air. The Gyrini have much shorter antennae 
than the rest of the water beetles, but the eyes in the genus are 
formed in a very unusual manner. Each eye is divided by the 
protruding portion of the head that bears the antennae, and one 
part of the eye is directed upwards, the other sideways, having a 
comical appearance under a magnifier; this arrangement being 
suited to the usual habits of these insects.—J. B. S. C. 
Digestion in Plants. —Dr. Lawson Tait has recently inves¬ 
tigated afresh the digestive principle of plants. While he has 
obtained complete proof of a digestive process in Cephalotus, 
Nepenthes, Dionrea, and the Droseracese, he entirely failed with 
Sarracenia and Darlingtonia. The fluid separated from Drosera 
