THE CO'J’TAGE GARDENER. 
FKBlllTAK-i 2fi. 
temljer, 1855, before ns the imilersigned Commissioners 
of Assessed Taxes for the said district:— 
Timothy Abraham Curtis, Esq., Agent to liis Grace the 
Duke of Marlborough, appealed against an assessment of 
a charge for nine under-gardeners. 
He contended that the Duke was not liable, inasmuch as 
they were not the servants of the Duke, but merely la¬ 
bourers, hired, employed, and under the sole control of the 
head-gardener in the public and i)riTate pleasure grounds at 
Dlenheim, who by an agreement,* dated drd March, 1842, 
is bound to keep such gardens in order for the sum of T200 
jjer annum, exclusive of his salary of TOO per annum. 
Mr. Curtis contended that the Duke could only be called 
upon to pay duty for the persons he employed, and not for 
those employed by the head-gardener. 
IVilliam MacMorran swoim ;—I am head-gardener of the 
public and private pleasure gardens at Dlenheim. 
Q. State the number of persons employed by you ns 
under-gardeners. 
A. I employ nine men in the summer, six in the autumn, 
and four in the winter’. Tire average iruniber of hoys I 
employ is about six—age from about ten to twelve years, at 
fid. anil 4d. per day, some 8d., only big hoys at 8d. irer day. 
I agree to keep both gardens in order for T200 a year. I 
have sometimes nine men and six boys employed at the 
same time. 
Q. State the acreage of the gardens. 
A. I cannot say with certainty. I should say about sixty 
acres. The Duke has full power over all the persons em¬ 
ployed in the gardens. 
The Commissioners being of opinion that the coirtract 
with the head-gardener did not interfere with the Duke’s 
liability, confirmed the churge; hut the Duke being dissatisfied 
with their decision, demanded a case for the opiinioir of Her 
Majesty’s judges upon the follorving grounds :— 
Firstly, that William MacMorran, my gardener, having 
contracted with me for a certain fixed sum for the main¬ 
tenance and due cultivation of my pleasure gardens, and 
the labom’ers employed by him under that contract being 
his servants and not mine, I am not liable to any tax for 
imder-gardeners, and therefore claim exemption. But if 
the judges should decide that I am liable to the tax on 
under-gardeners, then— 
Secondly, I appeal against the stated number of nine, as 
according to the average number of persons employed 
during the year it appears that the number does not exceed 
six. 
The case is hereby stated and signed accordingly. 
Given under our hands this 20th day of October, 1855 :— 
Charles Cottrell Dormer, John Lechmere, J. Burrows, Com¬ 
missioners. 
JuDGMEKT.—We are of opinion that the determination of 
the Commissioners is right.— E. H. Alder son, T. J, Platt. 
Cth December, 1855. 
The Anniversary Meeting of the Entomological 
Society was held on the 28th of January, the chair 
being occupied by Mr. Edward Newman, F.L.S., the 
senior Vice-President. A report from the Council was 
read, giving an account of the prosperous state of the 
Society, and containing a proposition for the sale of the 
exotic portion of the collections of the Society, in order, 
• Copy of an Agreement between the Duke of Marlborough and 
William McMorran. 
Blenheim, 3rd March, 1842. 
I agree to serve the Duke of Marlborough as gardener, and to under¬ 
take the care of the public and the private gardens at the annual salary 
of sixty pounds, to commence from the first of September last, being 
allowed to retain all fees for showing the gardens if they exceed that 
sum, and having the salary made up to that sum if the fees' fall below it; 
and being also allowed a house rent-free, firewood, and vegetables as at 
present : and I undertake to keep and render, wnen required, an accurate 
account of the fees. I also undertake for the sum of two hundred 
))Ounds a year from the first day of September last, to ho advanced by 
the Duke for labour, to expend that sum in keejiing the public anil 
private gardens in a perfectly neat state and proper course of cultivation. 
(Signed) IF. SlcMorran, 
with the proceeds, to increase the library, and to render 
the collection of British insects as jierfect as possible. 
This proposition was opposed by Mr. W^'estwood, who 
contended either that the whole or no portion of tlie 
collections ought to be sold. He had considered, from 
the first establishment of the Society, that the keeping 
up of a collection was injudicious, as requiring an out¬ 
lay for cabinets, house room, and curatorship, which 
would be much more usefully applied in extending the 
library and publishing the Transactions. He had, accor¬ 
dingly, proposed the sale of the whole of the collections 
at a previous meeting of the council, but had failed in 
carrying his motion. He, therefore, now moved, that as 
the Society had been founded for the study of Ento¬ 
mology in general, and not of British Entomology ex¬ 
clusively, that the exotic portion of the collection should 
be maintained as well as the British. A majority of the 
members present, however, adopted the view of the 
Council, whose report was carried. It is intended, 
however, that a general meeting of the Society shall be 
called, to express their opinion on the subject. 
Messrs. Newman, A. F. Sheppard, Edward Sheppard, 
and Waring, were removed from the Council, and 
Messrs. Baly, Pascoe, Saunders, and Waterhouse, elected 
ill their stead, and W. W. Saunders, Esq., F.L.S., was 
elected President for the ensuing year, in the stead of 
Mr. Curtis, resigned, to whom a vote of thanks was 
passed, and a portrait of whom was ordered to be sus¬ 
pended in the meeting-room. 
Mr. Newman delivered an address on the state of the 
Society, and on the progress of Entomology in England 
during the past year, which he was requested to have 
printed for distribution among the members. 
The ordinary meeting of the Society for February 
was held on the 4th instant, the newly-elected President, 
W. W. Saunders, Esq., being in the chair. The Chair¬ 
man briefly returned thanks for his election as President, 
and nominated Messrs. F. Smith, G. R. Waterhouse, 
and J. 0. Westwood, to act as Vice-Presidents for the 
ensuing year. A new part of the Society’s Transactions 
was announced as ready for distribution. 
Mr. Samuel Stevens exhibited some very fine species 
of Beetles received recently from Borneo, including 
some new and rare Stag Beetles. 
Mr. F. Moore exhibited some earthen cases formed by 
a wild Bee {Megachile lanata), within the hollow of a 
buffalo’s horn, recently received by the East India Com- | 
pany, from Northern India. The insect had evidently ' 
taken advantage of a oast horn to form its nests in the 
hollow part. 
Mr. Baly exhibited a specimen of the very rare Beetle 
{Gryptonychus porrectus), from old Calabar, received by 
A. Murray, Esq., of Edinburgh. 
A note from Mr. Hewitson was read, giving an 
account of the creeking kind of noise made by a speci¬ 
men of the Peacock Butterfly, which had been dis- j 
turbed in its hybernating quarters. A similar circum- | 
stance had been recorded, three years since, by the Rev. ' 
Joseph Green, in the Society’s proceedings. It was 
suggested that the noise was formed in conne.xion with i 
