September 3,189L ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
205 
lightly from the tree, more like a feather than a grub ; this, I think, is 
owing to the quantity of hair on them. Then the following winter, 
when the leaves were off, I had every shred carefully overhauled, also 
every projection on the walls—both favourite places for the cocoons. 
The eggs have a red spot on the upper surface and a red ring round it. 
They seem to be invariably laid on the cocoon, and fortunately are not 
often more than two hundred in number. I have not noticed that the 
same batch hatches out many days apart. I burn all the eggs I can find, 
and. it is a capital imitation of distant file firing, as they pop con¬ 
tinuously. The larger caterpillars, with the four whitish tufts on the 
moult. If I see a dark reddish moth flying about a tree in the daytime 
I should suspect the presence of a female, and look carefully about for 
her.—Y. B. A. Z. 
VIOLAS AND BEDDING PANSIES. 
\I0LAS have certainly had an innings this season, and have scored 
largely as outdoor decorative plants. They began to make our gardens 
gay in April, some earlier, and they have continued in full bloom ever 
since, the long spell of wet weather affecting them very little. 
Fig. 31.—CRINUM KIREI. 
back, are females ; the smaller, with yellow tufts, males. The chrysalids 
I have seen, and I have opened dozens of cocoons, are invariably a 
polished black. The male moth is a day flier, often called round London 
the cockney, and I have seen it flying in the City itself, hence this nick¬ 
name. When at rest the white spot on each upper wing is very visible, 
and its well feathered front legs are stretched out on each side of its 
head. This latter—the head I mean—is furnished with a pair of beauti¬ 
fully fringed black antenna?. Its flight is very erratic. The female is a 
fat dull greyish brown, much the colour of the cocoon, and easily 
escapes notice. It rarely moves from the cocoon. The caterpillar is 
preyed on by a small long black ichneumon, and the cocoon of this is 
mottled black and white. I have never found more than one in each 
caterpillar, and it causes the death of the caterpillar before its third 
• 
In the Journal of last week a correspondent speaks of their success 
near London, and I can speak in terms of high praise of their well 
doing in a comparatively smoky town garden, surrounded by buildings, 
large factories, and workshops in a large midland manufacturing centre. 
All through the season from planting out time they have been in flower, 
latterly in very full bloom, the white kinds used being Countess of 
Hopetoun, Marchioness of Tweedale, and Mrs. Gray, very fragrant and 
profuse blooming. The yellows are Ardwell Gem, pale yellow ; Bullion, 
a very free-blooming deep yellow; and a variety named Yellow Boy, 
with a stronger Pansy habit, and an immense bloom of good constitution, 
early to bloom and continuous, being now a mass of flowers. Two ex¬ 
cellent town garden blues are to be found in True Blue, which has more 
blue colour in it than any other, and Holyrood, a rich violet purple 
