214 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, January 3, 1860. 
EXTRAORDINARY SUDDEN CHANGE OE 
TEMPERATURE. 
I think a note of the temperature, as registered by one of 
Casella’s thermometers here (four miles south of Dublin, and a 
quarter of a mile from the sea, on a moderate hill facing N.E.), 
may be acceptable to you. 
The thermometer is faced due north, thirty yards from any 
wall, about two feet above the surface of the ground. 
The indication registered took place between twelve at night 
and seven in the morning. * 
Thursday, December 15th . . .25° Eahr. 
Friday, „ 16th'. . . . 24° „ 
Saturday, „ 17th . . .23° „ 
Sunday, „ 18tli . . . . 20° „ 
Monday, „ 19th . . .12° „ 
Last night (19th) at twenty minutes past eleven o’clock, the 
thermometer marked 12° The anxious and intelligent gardener 
went round his house, and on coming out again into the air was 
struck by the extraordinary change to warmth. He went again to 
the thermometer, and found that in the twenty minutes which 
had elapsed it had risen 10°! 
The wind rose a little in the course of the night, and towards 
morning we had some rain; and now we have, all round, no 
traces of snow, and the ice disappearing fast. 
It will be curious and interesting to know if this extraordinary 
sudden change in temperature extended far, or was general. We 
have had several greenhouse plants and rare shrubs liviug out 
here uninjured the last three "winters. I will tell you their fate 
after this.—C arrig Cathol. 
[The same very sudden and violent change of temperature was 
observed and mentioned at the time by the gardener of C. Wool¬ 
dridge, Esq., Winchester.—Eos.] 
MEETING of the ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 
The last meeting of the Entomological Society for the year 
18o9 was held on the 5th of December ; the President, Dr. J. E. 
Gray, F.R.S., &c , being in the chair. 
This, like many of the late meetings of the Society, was so 
much crowded, that complaints have been formally addressed to 
the Council to provide larger apartments. This is one of (he 
inconveniences to which the smaller scientific societies of the me¬ 
tropolis are subjected at present, but one which, it is to be hoped, 
may be remedied when the contemplated arrangements and new 
buildings at Burlington Gardens are completed. The French 
Government has, for many years past, given the French Entomo¬ 
logical Society a meeting-room at the Hotel de Yille in Paris ; 
whilst our own Entomological Society (of which the Queen, 
whilst Princess Victoria, was, together with her mother, Patroness, 
but of which, on coming to the throne, it was not considered 
that she could remain at the head, as a matter of court-etiquette, 
because the Society was not a chartered body), is compelled to 
look out for apartments in any situation wherever a convenient 
set of rooms may happen to be found disengaged. It is to be 
hoped this state of things will not be allowed to remain much 
longer ; although it would certainly be better to put up with the 
present inconvenience for a short time longer rather than incur 
the expense of removal, if there be a probability of Government 
supplying the want. 
The donations announced as having been received since the 
last meeting consisted of the publications of the Zoological 
Society and the Society of Arts, the beautiful work on farm insects 
by Mr. Curtis, the continuation of M. Lacordaire’s great work on 
the genera of Coleopterous insects, and that of M. Candeze on 
the family Elateridte, with various serials. 
Dr. Balyjgxhibited and described a new and beautiful species 
of Ilispidse, sent from the island of Batchian by Mr. Wallace. 
Mr. Stainton exhibited a very handsome new British Moth, 
Margarodes unionalis, belonging to the family Pyralidte, remark¬ 
able for the brilliant pearly white colour of its wings. It had 
been taken by Mr. George King near Torquay. 
Mr. Faraday exhibited an interesting specimen of the clouded 
yellow Butterfly, much suffused with dark colour. Taken in the 
Isle of Wight in September. 
Mr. iegetmeier gave an account of the attempts made during 
the past year to introduce a new species of Honey Bee, the Apis 
Ligustica of Spinola, into this country from the north of Italy. 
It is somewhat larger than our common Apis mellijica, more 
brightly coloured, and withstands the cold better than ours ; so 
that it can collect honey at times when Giirs is confined to the 
hive. In other respects the habits of the two species appear to 
be identical; and the new introductions have been lodged in 
hives partially occupied by our common species, so that this new 
species will stand a chance of soon being crossed with A. mellijica. 
Mr. Tegetmeier also exhibited various portions of wax, which 
showed the remastication of the materials by the Bees which 
wanted feeding, in a hive that had no room in which to store 
the honey given to them. In these cases, wherever the cells were 
detached they were built of a circular shape; but os soon as 
their sides touched the sides of a neighbouring cell they were 
made straight. 
Dr. Wallace exhibited specimens of the Coquilla Nut, the 
interior of which had been consumed by the grubs of a Beetle, 
Bruchus lactris, which had subsequently passed through its 
transformations within the hollow which it had made in the nut. 
In one nut two grubs were found, which had eaten the two 
kernels, and which still remained in the larva state. It had been 
found that the nuts thus infested were worthless to the turner 
for manufacturing purposes. He also called the attention of 
Dr. Gray, as head of the Zoological department in the Biilish 
Museum, to the fact that that very troublesome pest, the Myrmica 
domestica, or House Ant, had established its colonies in the 
houses in Bedford Place, adjoining the Museum, where it had 
not only attacked provisions of all kinds as usual, but had 
destroyed portion of Dr. Wallace’s collection of Lepidoptera, 
some of the fragments of which were exhibited by him. 
Various plans for the destruction of this Ant were suggested 
by different members. 
Mr. Stainton read a memoir on the geographical distribution of 
Butterflies in Great Britain and Ireland as contrasted with those 
of the Continent of Europe, which led to considerable discussion 
among the members. Out of 50,000 species of Lepidoptera, not 
more than 3000 species of Butterflies were known: and of these 
only 186 inhabit Europe. In our own country we have scarcely 
70; whilst there are 94 in Belgium. The peculiar localities of 
many of the British species were also dwelt upon. 
A paper was also read by Mr. Wallace on the habits of the 
Scolytidae, or Bark Beetles of the Malayan Archipelago, which he 
had never found in healthy trees, but only in sircli as had been 
recently felled, and were already in their first stage of decay. 
TRADE LIST RECEIVED. 
Sutlon’s Spring Catalogue and Amateur's Guide for 1860.— 
This is really more than its name leads the reader to anticipate. 
Besides the usual contents of a mere price list, it contains a 
classified enumeration of Broccolis and Peas, shewing the months 
in which they come into use. It also contains directions for the 
culture of the Chinese Yam, the formation of lawns, and growth of 
annual flowers, concluding with a garden calendar. There is a good 
engraving of the Gynerium argenieum or Pampas Grass. The 
following is an extract from part of its contents :— 
“ Carrots.- —An increasingly large breadth is planted year after 
year, and there are few who regret their cultivation* When 
judiciously treated, you will get at least as heavy a return per 
acre as of Swedes ; and the value, either for sale or consumption, 
is far greater. Besides which, they have fewer enemies to con¬ 
tend with ; and, if good seed is used, it is in nine eases out of ten 
the fault of the grower if a full crop is not obtained. We have 
sold them at £24 per acre on the ground,—the purchaser under¬ 
taking the labour of raising and carting them off. These were 
Bed Altringham; but for general field culture we prefer the 
White Belgian (imported seed). Of these wc have repeatedly 
grown over twenty-seven tons per acre, and could sell them freely 
in the field at 30s. per ton. It is well to give plenty of seed 
(8 lbs. per acre), and sow by the middle of April, in rows fourteen 
inches apart, with the ground in a moist state, which is prefer¬ 
able to sprouting the seed. A 12-inch early winter furrow, where 
the soil will stand it, is an excellent preparation, and spring work 
will thereby be materially lessened. If well-made farmyard dung 
is not applied, a good crop will generally be insured by an appli¬ 
cation of artificials similar to that quoted for Mangolds. The 
weights per acre of the crop just lifted are— 
White Belgian (imported seed) 
Green Top Yellow Belgian. 
2GJ tons per acre. 
234 
“ Parsnips, Beet-root, Kohe Rabi.— Pigs do well with the 
former root: raw for stores, and boiled for fatting pigs. We 
sow at the same time and treat in the same way as for Carrots, 
and have obtained some fine roots of the Guernsey variety, fully 
