August 11. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
357 
making use of clay, whilst the others form burrows in 
sand, for which purpose they have need of brushes on 
their legs to brush away the fine particles of sand. 
This enables us also to account for the habits of the 
singular genus Pelopceus, so interestingly described by 
Mr.Gosse.in his work on the Natural History of Jamaica, 
recently published. Sapyga punctata, and Trypoxylon 
figulus, also regarded as parasites, had been descried by 
Mr. Smith in the fact of carrying off" the small caterpillars 
of moths for the purpose of provisioning their nests; 
whilst Odyherus parietum, also destitute of bristles on 
the legs, makes its cells in bramble sticks, but generally 
selects those which have been previously burrowed into 
by other insects. He also opposed the opinion that 
some species of Ilymenoptera pass the winter in the 
pupa state. This he had never found to be the case, as 
they either go through the winter as larvae, or as perfect 
insects ready to burst forth at the first approach of 
spring. The idea that the cold is destructive of these 
insects is untenable, as he had seen larvae of the Wild 
Bee, Anthophora Haworthana, frozen so hard that they 
might be broken in two, and yet these had been the 
first to arrive at the perfect state in the following spring. 
An extract was read, from The Gardeners Chronicle, 
on the employment of chloroform for stupifying bees 
when it was desired to take the honey, the fumes from 
which were more efficacious than those of puff-balls. 
Extracts were also read, from an American newspaper, 
of the great ravages committed in the United States 
upon all kinds of trees by the caterpillars of some small 
kinds of moths, most probably belonging to the family 
Tortricidce. This pest had not been before noticed by 
American horticulturists and agriculturists. A letter 
was also read, addressed by Dr. Schaum to Mr. Wol¬ 
laston, announcing the death of his uncle, Professor 
Germar, of Halle, the distinguished Entomologist. Mr. 
Westwood exhibited specimens of a new kind of Silk, 
in different stages of manufacture, recently imported 
from western tropical Africa, communicated to him by 
the Rev. Mr. Venn. In its manufactured state it forms, 
when mixed with cotton, a very strong texture, and is 
the produce of the caterpillars of a small moth, which, 
unlike the Silkworm caterpillar, spin their cocoons in a 
mass as large as a man’s double fist. Mr. Douglas read 
a translation of a report by Dr. Goeppert, of Silesia, 
i on the recent progress in our knowledge of the history of 
the singular insects composing the order Shepsiptera, and 
in this supposed relationship with the beetles, first sug¬ 
gested by Dr. Burmeister, and subsequently by Newman. 
A discussion took place on this subject, in which Herr 
Schrodte, of Copenhagen (who had also maintained the 
same view in the introduction to his work on the 
Coleoptera of Denmark), and Messrs. Westwood and 
Waterhouse took part. Lord Goderich, Captain Cox, 
and several other gentlemen, were elected members of 
the Society. 
COVENT GARDEN. 
We have seen, when journeying through the pro¬ 
vinces, and at a distance of seventy and eighty miles 
from the Metropolis, cart loads of potted plants in full 
bloom being hawked from town to town, village to 
village, and house to house. These carts professed, by 
the name and address on the sides, to have travelled 
with this load all the way from London, and the owners 
disposed of these plants at prices which sometimes 
astonished the country nurseryman, considering the 
distance they had been brought. It is true, the un¬ 
guarded ones were sometimes taken in, and, yielding to 
the oratory of the vendor, paid double and treble the 
price they could have obtained the same article for at an 
adjoining nursery. Indulging the charitable belief that 
these were come honestly by, we never could understand 
how it was that these men could travel so far, paying 
travelling expenses, and keep themselves and horse out 
of the profit arising from the sale of the plants. Some, 
to whom they were opponents in trade, were less cha¬ 
ritable, and, with gesticulations adapted to the verbal 
expression, declared, they must have got them in a way, 
or from a source, which honest men, like themselves, 
would have been afraid of. We, too, we must own, had 
many surmises on this subject; but within these last 
few days we had facts brought to our eyes and ears 
which have for ever dispelled any misgivings on the 
subject. 
It was but the other day we saw a costermonger’s 
truck laden with Geraniums, Heliotropes, Petunias, 
Fuchsias, Lemon-scented Verbena, and many other flowers 
of that class, all well-grown, and potted in what are 
called 48-pots. A donkey did the mechanical part, and 
the man did the vocal, and that, too, almost as well as 
the donkey himself could have done. The burthen of 
the vocal part was—“ Buy my flowers a-blowing, a- 
growing; five a-shilling, five a-shilling; all one price!” 
We listened while the echo of “ five a-shilling” played 
upon and around us, and again the same vocal parts, 
louder than before, was performed. We could hardly 
believe we had heard aright, and, turning to our tiger, 
who was sitting beside us, enquired—“ What does that 
man say, boy?” “Plants five a-shilling, sir,” was the 
reply; and five a-shilling it was, for we pulled up to 
hear a repetition of the vocal part. The great mystery of 
the perambulating florists was at last solved, and then 
we understood how it was that they paid expenses, and 
kept themselves and horse by selling potted plants at 
Is., and sometimes 2s. (id. a-piece; for, on inquiry, we 
find they buy them at from lOd. to Is. (id., and 2s. per 
dozen, pots and all—a fact for country nurserymen. 
The supply, both of Vegetables and Fruit, continues 
in abundance. Peaches and Nectarines make from 7s. (id. 
to 21s. per dozen, and are of very superior qualities. 
Grapes are from Is. to 2s. (id. per pound; and, in some 
instances, when very fine, 3s. (id. Strawberries are 
nearly over, and are small and indifferent. Cherries are 
still plentiful, particularly th v Black Caroon; but Bigar- 
reaus are over, or nearly so. Currants are plentiful, at 
