April 26, 1883 ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 345 
growth produced at the place where Picea nobilis was grafted on 
the silver P. pectinata. 
Abies Nordmanniana Attacked by Insects. —He also sent a bough 
from a tree terribly infested by coccus, to which the entirr tree 
appeared to be succumbing. 
Lilium Thomsonianum. —Hr. G. P. Wilson showed a plant bearing 
several spikes of flowers, which have as yet been somewhat seldom 
seen. 
Rhododendrons. —Mr. Boscawen sent several sprays of various 
forms, all having been grown in the open air, but amongst Fir trees, 
which Mr. Llewelyn observed constitutes an excellent protection— 
viz., R. Thomsoni, R. fulgens, a pink variety of arboreum introduced 
(he believed) by Sir J. D. Hooker, a white seedling of much beauty, 
and Mrs. Townshend Boscawen. Mr. Llewelyn brought cut blooms 
of R. arboreum album or ochraceum (?), having a white waxy cam- 
panulate corolla, very slightly spotted with black, the foliage having 
an ochraceous tomentum below. The tree is 15 feet in height. He 
also exhibited trusses of R. Thomsoni, R. campanulatum, R. arboreum, 
R. Wallichii, and R. niveum, all being in bloom now in the open aii. 
He observed that all these would have been over at this time had 
not the buds been held back by the cold for a month before the 
March frost began. They are now blooming as if there had been no 
frost. 
Arum italicum. —Dr. Masters showed a specimen of this plant found 
at Folkestone, a new locality ; it elsewhere occurs in the Isle of 
Wight and Penzance. The leafstalks are much larger than in the 
common A. maculatum, and the arrow-shaped blade has rounded 
lobes at the base ; it also produces its foliage much earlier in the 
year. 
Primula elatior. —Mr. Boulger showed various specimens of this 
plant, received from Mr. Christie of Saffron Walden, described as 
scentless, but have a marked smell of Apricots. After a coppice had 
been cut it appears to run into several monstrous forms, such as 
fasciata, <fcc. He noted that single flowers appear to arise from 
lateral points on the rhizome, while the pedunculated umbel appears 
to be more terminal. This latter form, Mr. Henslow observed, is the 
one horticulturists now aim to develope, at the same time suppressing 
the isolated flowers. He also showed a supposed hybrid between 
P. officinalis and P. elatior. 
Plants Exhibited. —Mr. Lynch show r ed the following plants:— 
Cineraria Webbiana from the Canary Isles, the night-flowering white 
Nicotiana affinis, Tulipa Borszczowi from Central Asia (“ Botanical 
Magazine,” 1882, No. 6635). 
Sclerotium in Potato. —Mr. A. Stephen Wilson forwarded tubers 
diseased, and several microscopic slides of preparations of the 
Sclerotia, which were forwarded to Mr. Murray for examination and 
report. 
Lecture. —The Rev. George Henslow first called attention to the 
large series of Primulas exhibited, of various true species sent by Mr. 
Llewelyn, and numerous groups of crosses of Primroses as well as of 
Auriculas shown by the National Auricula Society and other horti¬ 
culturists. He described the peculiar features residing in Primula, 
Cyclamen, and other members of the family, in that the stamens are 
opposite to the petals instead of alternating with them. This vio¬ 
lation of the law of alternation was explained by the ordinary sup¬ 
pression of a second whorl of stamens. Next the dimorphic condition 
was described, commonly known as pin-eyed and thrum-eyed, which 
Mr. Darwin had shown to be co-related to cross-fertilisation. Then 
the symmetry of the flower was explained, and how under cultivation 
the whorls have their parts increased to sixes, sevens, or more toge¬ 
ther, greatly enhancing the beauty of the flower, while the colour 
becomes distributed into whole or self-colouring and laced-edged 
kinds. Curious malformations occur in which the calyx becomes 
coloured and produces the duplex form, or it maybe partially green 
as well, giving rise to the var. Smaragdina, or pass into leaves, when 
it is called “ Jack in the Green.” 
The lecturer next invited attention to some new forms of Narcissus 
exhibited by Mr. Barr, one of which, Incomparabilis pallidus the 
Princess Mary, received a first-class certificate. It possesses a 
remarkably broad yellow cup or crown. Leedsii, Purity, is a good 
white form ; while Incomparabilis Mary Read Vincent had an 
entirely orange cup. Fine specimens of the Hoop-Petticoat Narcissus, 
or Corbularia, were shown, differing from ordinary Narcissi in having 
“ declinate ” stamens like those of Amaryllis. 
THE INSECT ENEMIES OF OUR GARDEN 
CROPS.—No. 3. 
bushes, and in the general way they yield satisfactory returns. 
They have, it is true, some troublesome insect enemies. I believe, 
on the whole, the Gooseberry is the greater sufferer from these. 
Some market gardeners—a few even in the London suburbs—pursue 
the old plan of putting rows of Gooseberries and Currants amongst 
fruit trees. Space is thus economised, but I think this is open to 
objection, because it may lessen the amount of light and air which 
the bushes obtain; moreover, various caterpillars and grubs that 
occur upon fruit trees in orchards, falling from the wind and other 
causes, are helped to ascend by the bushes, or may possibly feed upon 
them and cause further losses. 
The insects that infest the Gooseberry are fewer than those that 
visit the Currant, and from their being rather conspicuous they 
ought not to prove troublesome where the bushes are carefully 
watched and attended to at those periods when these foes are best 
dealt with. Gardeners are now discovering this fact by experience, 
and I expect in the years to come we shall not hear as much about 
the Gooseberry caterpillar as we have in the past. There are two 
Gooseberry caterpillars about which we have frequent reports, and 
it is not always ascertainable to which the complainant refers, which 
somewhat interferes with our calculations concerning the preva¬ 
lence of the two species. They belong, however, to entirely distinct 
groups, and in their habits they are also unlike. We may take first 
the caterpillar of Abraxas grossulariata (fig. 82), named in Latin from 
the Gooseberry, but in English called the Currant moth as well as the 
Gooseberry moth. I find the caterpillars are more partial to the 
latter than to the former. It is by no means exclusively a garden 
insect; the entomologist discovers it, often to his annoyance when 
seeking choice insects, feeding in lanes and woods upon a variety of 
plants. One of our leading entomologists considers its natural food 
to be the Blackthorn. It is an instance of a species taking a fancy 
to a garden plant, and occurring upon it more plentifully in a limited 
space than it does upon the plants that must have furnished it with 
food ere Gooseberries and Currants were cultivated. 
The Gooseberry moth is one of those few species which show a 
resemblance in colour and markings between the matured insect 
and the caterpillar. White is the ground colour of the wings, with 
streaks of yellow on the fore wings, and numerous black spots upon 
all, the size and shape varying much. Sluggish in flight, the moth 
flaps about the garden during the day, or rests upon walls, so during 
July they may be easily captured and killed, the removal of each 
female meaning the destruction of probably a hundred eggs or more. 
Mr. Newman has told us how he has watched them laying their 
eggs one by one upon the leaves of the Gooseberry and Black Cur¬ 
rant ; but though this is their more common practice, the eggs. are 
also placed in small patches, as I have observed. Emerging in a 
few weeks, the young caterpillars feed until the commencement of 
winter, when they prepare for repose, frequently drawing together 
a leaf or two with silk, so as to form a sort of tent. But they also 
rest, especially in sheltered places, upon the twigs of their food- 
plant without any covering, rarely moving all the winter. . I have 
seen them on Gooseberry bushes near London, looking quite sooty 
towards spring from the effects of the smoke. Ibis, however, may 
help to keep them warm ! Occasionally they hide themseives in 
empty flower pots, amongst the stones of a rockery, and so fojth. 
After severe frost they may even be as stiff as to chink like little 
stones if shaken in ajar, and yet revive to feed up through April 
and May, as is their habit, changing to chrysalis early in June. 
These caterpillars attain a larger size than do the pseudo-cater¬ 
pillars or gruhs of the Gooseberry sawfly, which have also twelve 
sucker-like legs, beside the six horny legs near the head. In 
A. grossulariata there are but ten altogether. The head and legs 
are black, the body a creamy white, but.with conspicuous stripes of 
orange or red, and black spots of various sizes here and there 
running into each other. If alarmed while feeding they double up 
and drop by a thread, hence it is not difficult to shake them oft the 
bushes and secure them. Mr. Wood remarks that gentle taps are 
better than violent ones, because a sudden shake will bring down a 
party, when many will escape while some are being seized and 
Both the Gooseberry and the Currant have come into greater 
cultivation during the last few years, as it appears to me. The 
reason, I suppose, is an increasing demand for the fruits, especially for 
preserving. Owing to the excessive multiplication of cookery 
manuals of all sizes many housekeepers experiment in making jams, 
and waste perhaps nearly as much fruit as they use in numerous 
instances. Some, it may be, will associate a brisk demand for 
Gooseberries with the greater abundance of champagne (so-called), 
as in this age of luxury it has come to be the occasional beverage 
of colliers, so we are told. Explain it how we may, it is not un¬ 
common to see not merely plots, but fields, planted out with these 
