HENS IN CALIFORNIA. 
109 
be well to examine the vines occasionally, and 
if any holes are found in them near the roots, 
carefully to lay these open by splitting the 
stem, and then to draw out or otherwise destroy 
the borers. This may be done safely, if care 
has been taken, beforehand, to fasten down the 
joints and cause them to strike root. 
This insect, when it was named and describ¬ 
ed in the New-England Farmer, was supposed 
to be new to science, and it is confidently be¬ 
lieved that its habits and transformations had 
not before been ascertained. In its winged 
form, however, it had been described and fig¬ 
ured, under the name of Melittia satyrintformis , 
in Huebner’s Zutrage, a work which has been 
accessible to me only within the last year. It 
is possible that it may be identical with the 
Sphinx tibialis of Drury, and bombiliformis of 
Cramer, which, (perhaps erroneously,) are 
stated to be natives of Africa. Drury’s name of 
tibialis , if really intended for our insect, being 
the oldest, must prevail over all others. The 
insect is truly an JEgeria , a genus including 
also, the borers of the peach tree and of the 
currant bush, and several other destructive in¬ 
sects of similar habits. 
In the course of 22 years since the publica¬ 
tion of my first communication on the JEgeria 
cucurbitcc, I have had frequent opportunities of 
seeing the insect in all its stages, in my own 
garden. I have taken many specimens, which 
were in a much more perfect condition than 
those from which my former description was 
drawn, and have thus been able to make the 
present account far more accurate. The his¬ 
tory of the insect is more fully detailed than in 
my former accounts of it; and the suggestions 
for protecting the vines from suffering by the 
depredations of the borer, are entirely new, 
and are the results of my experience during the 
last summer. On these several accounts, it is 
my hope that the present article may prove ac¬ 
ceptable to you. 
T. W. Harris. 
Cambridge , Mass., Jan. 25th, 1851. 
SI- 
HENS IN CALIFORNIA. 
Rev. Walter Colton, the late alcalde of Mon¬ 
terey, finding it difficult to procure eggs when 
required, either for love or money, took the hen 
fever in the natural way; and that our friends 
of the Boston society may know what kind of 
birds they have in California, and their habits, 
we give Mr. Colton’s own description of them :— 
I purchased six hens of an Indian woman 
for $6, and a rooster for 50 cents. On asking 
the woman why she charged only half price 
for the rooster, she replied that the fellow laid 
no eggs, and as for his crowing that did nobody 
any good. Sounder reasons than these could 
not be furnished in a much higher place than 
a hen coop. The habits of these hens are a 
little singular. They are perfectly tame, and 
are as much at home in the kitchen as the cook. 
They never trouble themselves much about a 
nest, but deposit their eggs where they find it 
convenient; one takes the tea tray, another the 
ironing table, a third the oven, and there is one 
that always gets into the cradle. She is not at 
all disturbed by the tossing of the little fellow 
on whose premises she is intruding. Neither 
she nor any of her feathered sisters cackle 
when they leave their nest. They don’t seem 
to think that anything worth making an ado 
about has come to pass. The rooster, it is true, 
picks up a little, and perhaps feels a feather 
taller. But this is the vanity of his sex. There 
are a great many who crow over what others 
have done. 
COL. CHESNEY’S ACCOUNT OF THE ARABIAN 
HORSE. 
Elsewhere, individuals of this species may 
be more showy, and even more powerful; but 
it is only in Arabia that the horse is found bor¬ 
dering on perfection. Here he is remarkable 
for a small head with pointed ears, peculiarly 
clean muscular limbs, a corresponding delicate 
slender shape, rather small size, and large ani¬ 
mated eyes, expressing that intelligence which, 
as in the dog, is the consequence of being con¬ 
stantly with the members of his master’s fam¬ 
ily ; in fact, he generally shares their meals. 
He is frequently allowed to frolic through 
the-camp like a dog, and at other times he is 
picquetted at the entrance of the tent; he is 
exposed to the weather at all times, and com¬ 
pared with the treatment of his species in Eu¬ 
rope, he is scantily fed. A meal after sunset, 
consisting of barley, in some parts of the coun¬ 
try, and camel’s milk in others, or a paste of 
dates and water, which in Nedjd is mixed with 
dried clover and other herbs, constitutes his 
usual sustenance; but, on any extraordinary 
exertion being required, flesh is frequently giv¬ 
en, either raw or boiled. The Bedawins count 
five noble breeds of horses, all, it is understood, 
derived originally from Nedjd, namely, the 
taneyse, the manekeye, the koheyl, or koklani, 
the saklawye, and the julfa; of which the last 
and koklani are particularly prized. The julfa, 
a small active animal, capable of enduring- 
great fatigue, belongs to the province of Eh’sa - 
