294 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
Januaby 19. 
the Natural History Society at Vienna;» the “Journal 
of the Entomological Society of Stettin an elaborate 
Memoir on the anatomy, history, and transformations 
of the common domestic Black-beetle, or Cock-roach 
(BUtta orientalis) in which the author has endea¬ 
voured to investigate the place of its origin, whence it 
has been so widely distributed over the habitable world, 
the remarkable nature of its egg-case, &c„ is also 
carefully examined and described. 
A number of splendid Lepidopterce were presented by 
Mr. Jones Stevens, of Bogota; and various species of 
rare British Microlepulopteras, by Mr. Vaughan, of 
Bristol. A note was communicated on the decease of 
Mr. Whitfield, the African traveller and collector, by 
whom so many rare animals had been brought to this 
country Mr. Samuel Stevens exhibited some speci¬ 
mens of the splendid Morplto Ganymede (Morph q 
S ullwwshji, of Kollar, recently described and figured in 
the Vienna Transactions), which he had received from 
Mr Jones Stevens, of Bogota. One of the specimens 
had arrived in a bad condition, being saturated with an 
exudation of grease. Having, however, dipped the 
Butterfly in camphine, and then powdered it over with 
magnesia, or pipeclay, the grease is entirely absorbed, 
and the fly has entirely regained its former brilliancy. 
Mr S. Stevens also exhibited some beautiful Lepidopterce 
from Manilla. The Secretary read a note by Mr. Jones 
Stevens, on the occurrence of many species of minute 
moths in Bogota, but as they generally came to the 
lamps at night, they eould not be captured and pre¬ 
served in good condition. -r, , 
The Secretary also road a note by Mr. B. Fortune, 
from the Gardeners Chronicle, on the mode of taking 
honey from bee-hives in China. The Chinese hives 
consist of a rough box, square or cylindrical, with a 
moveable top and bottom, which is rarely placed near 
the ground, as with us, but is raised eight or ten feet 
high and generally fixed under the projecting roof of a 
house or out-building. When it is desired to take 
a portion of the honey, the hive is gently lifted down, and 
placed on its side on a table; the moveable top is then 
taken off, and as much honeycomb as is considered 
desirable cut out with a knife, made apparently for 
the purpose, having the handle almost at right angles 
with the blade; the top is then replaced, and the hive 
elevated to its former position. The bees had neither 
been killed by fumes of brimstone, as it is contrary to 
the Buddhist Creed to take away animal life, nor had 
they been stupified with fungus, but they were flying 
overhead, during the operation, in great numbers, 
without even stinging the half-naked operator; but they 
were rendered harmless by the smoke of the dry steins 
of leaves of a species of Artemisia, which grows wild on 
the Tea-lulls, which is cut early in summer, sun-dried, 
and twisted into bands, and used for this purpose, as 
well as for driving the Mosquitoes out of the dwellings. 
Mr. Westwood stated that a similar plan of taking 
honey had been adopted by an apiarian neighbour of 
his at Chiswick, and who, having turned-up the hive to 
be operated upon, partially stupified the bees by a few 
whiffs of tobacco-smoke; he had himself succeeded in 
extracting as much cornh as was desirable from his 
hives even without the use of tobacco, by simply 
turning the hive upside down, and driving the bees into 
an empty hive, and then cutting out the comb, working 
slowly and quietly, and brushing off the few bees which 
remained in the comb with a feather. 
Mr. Curtis read a note upon the habits of Panurgus 
ursinus, a curious wild Bee, which he had observed 
formed its burrows on hard earth at Tunbridge Wells. 
He had noticed the females occasionally curled up, as 
if asleep, in the flowers of Hieracium; and at other 
times with their hind-legs laden with pollen. The first 
portion of a Memoir on the Chrysomelidce of New 
Holland, by Mr. Baly, was read, containing the genera 
Phyllocharis and Lamprolina; also, descriptions by 
Mr. Hewitzon, of new species of Butterflies from 
Bogota; and an elaborate Memoir by Dr. Davy, f.b.s., 
on the Chemical Analysis of the excrement of insects, 
from which some remarkable results were deduced, with 
reference to the analogies exhibited with the urinary 
and excrementitious secretions of birds, serpents, &c. 
After two years’ experience, we think it 
express our firm conviction that the most 
right to 
valuable 
domestic Fowl at present known to us is the blianghae, 
or Cochin-China. 
If any one conversant with poultry as a stock for 
profit were asked to give what he considered the points 
of excellence desirable in such fowls, he would reply— 
They should be large, quick of growth, hardy, fit for 
the table at an early age, meaty, abundant layers, 
especially in winter, good mothers, quiet in their habits, 
and their feathers valuable for the upholsterer.” 
Now, in every one of these points do the Shanghaes 
excel. Their feathers are equal to those of the Goose. 
No fowl known to us is so gentle, or can be kept within 
a boundary no higher than three feet. Better sitters, 
or mothers more careful of their chickens, cannot be 
found ; and at the end of a month from their hatching 
time they will again begin laying with their chickens 
around them. That they are early fit for the table is 
told by the facts that cockerels are best cooked when 
from four to five months old, and pullets when from 
five to six months old, and that, if tolerably well fed, 
they will weigh about lj pounds for every month of 
a<m As to their hardihood, we have not heard of then- 
suffering anywhere during the late severe weather, 
though we know of many that endured it with no other 
shelter during the day than a roofed shed, boarded up 
on the north and east sides. As layers they are sur¬ 
passed by none. We have known instances of pullets 
laying more than 190 eggs without requiring to sit. 
Pullets when six months old begin laying, and continue 
doing so throughout the winter. 
As to their meatiness, the very great mistake is being 
assented to by some breeders of this fowl, that there is 
more of giblets than meat upon them. It is quite true 
that most of the meat on a cockerel is upon the legs, 
