53 
THE 
COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, October 20, 1858. 
But damaged fruit, when left on the ground, send up abundance of 
seedling plants the following year; and, though these are, of 
course, much later than those reared under glass, with all the 
advantages of gentle heat, and other nice things, nevertheless, 
self-sown plants arc often early enough to ripen thoir fruit, as I 
have proved, in more seasons than one. The present year I 
removed a lew from a warm border, backed by a close-wooded 
paling, to one of the least-favoured spots in the garden, for early 
maturing its crops, where they never saw the morning sun till 
eight o’clock, or after, and a high wall shaded them from the 
meridian after the end of September. Still, they have ripened 
some of their fruit, by a few boughs being laid under them, to 
keep them from the ground,—no tying up, and but very little 
pruning, or other attention being given them. Certainly, a little j 
trouble that way would have benefited them very much, as I 
consider stopping, at both top and toe, to bo necessary, to hasten 
them to maturity. 
I merely mention this case, in order to remove tho idea, that 
Tomatoes are so delicate, as not to ripen their fruit, except under 
very favourable circumstances, as I have never seen them do so 
well under glass as they do without it; only it must be borne in 
mind, that they arc seldom indulged with a glass-case anywhere; 
but in places where they will not ripen well out of doors, and even 
then they run a great deal to wood. 
In the dull, cold autumn of 185G, and one or two seasons 
before that time, a disease attacked the Tomatoes, similar, in 
every respect, to the one which made such destruction in the 
Fotato. The consequence was, that the later fruits did not ripen 
at all,—the stem dying, and leaving them to wither or decay. The 
features of this disease were the same as the one exhibited in the 
Potato; but I did not perceive the least trace of it last year, 
nor in tlie present one,—both years having been warm and dry. 
Whether any clue to the cause or prevention of the Potato 
disease can be derived from the above, I cannot say; certain, 
however, it is, that the disease is much less in the Potato this 
season than I ever remember to have known it since its first 
appearance.—J. Robson. 
stances. I merely place an opaque object—such as a brick or a 
piece of wood—on tho alighting board, or in some way shade the 
entrance from the bright reflected light of the snow-; and 1 find 
that, with a temperature below freezing, there is no chance of 
seeing a bee out, unless the hives are roused from their torpid state 
by shaking, or some other excitement.—W. B. Tegetmeieil 
MEETING OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL 
SOCIETY. 
The October meeting of the Entomological Society waa 
held on the 4th inst., J. O. Westwood, Esq., M.A., Vice- 
President, in the chair. The donations received since the last 
meeting comprised tho publications of the Royal and Zoological 
j Societies, tho Society of Arts, the Entomological Society of the 
Pays Bus , tho third volume of Mr. Stainton’s work on the 
Natural History of the Tineina, the first volume of tho Mono¬ 
graph on the Elateridce, by M. Candezc, Ac. 
Mr. Augustus Shepherd exhibited specimens of a small Moth 
taken by Mr. Cooke, near Liverpool, at the beginning of Sep¬ 
tember, and regarded by him as a new species, which lie had 
described in the “ Zoologist,” under the name of Peronea 
potentillana. 
Other specimens wore also exhibited by Mr. Edlestono, to¬ 
gether with a series of varieties of Beronea comparana, to which 
Air. Cooke’s insect was also evidently referable. 
Mr. Samuel Stevens exhibited various splendid Butterflies, 
from Celebes, just received from Mr. Wallace. Amongst them 
were both sexes of Papilio, Remits, Ilaliphron, and Andrades. 
Mr. Stainton exhibited a variety of small Moth, taken in 
Cornwall, in June, by Mr. Boyd. Among them were Biasemia 
RamburiaUs, only known, hitherto, as a native of Corsica, and 
Gelechia ocellatella, a native of tlic island of Madeira. 
Air. Fred. Bond exhibited a fine specimen of Xanthia gilvago, 
reared from the larva found feeding upon the seeds of the Elm. 
CONFINING BEES DURING WINTER. 
A YEHY interesting paper was read at the recent meeting of 
the British Association, describing tlie production of a fungoid 
disease in bees that were confined during winter. 
The circumstances under which the disease appeared were as 
follows :—The liives were lifted from their floorboards, placed on 
coarse cloths, which were then tied around them, and in that 
state they were suspended in a room during the winter months. 
On opening the hives in the spring, three out of the four stocks 
were found to have perished, the bees suffering from a fungoid 
vegetable growth. 
I have quoted this paper to afford me an opportunity of enter¬ 
ing my most earnest protest against the filthy and unnatural plan 
of confining the bees in their hives during winter. These terms 
may appear to some persons too strong, yet that each is true is 
capable of proof. The plan is unnatural, being opposed to the 
instincts of the bees, which lead them to come forth during the 
suuny and warm days that occur in winter, gather pollen, and 
discharge their excrement, and also remove from the hives the 
bodies of such as may have died. What bee-keeper in this neigh¬ 
bourhood has not recollections more than usually pleasant of last 
Christinas Day, when his bees were out in hundreds, evidently 
much to their enjoyment, and the advantage of their health ? 
When confined, the whole of the excrement is of necessity dis¬ 
charged within tlie hives. Tlie dead bees also remain ; and both 
these causes produce a putrid atmosphere, that must be most 
injurious to tho insects, and highly conducive to the production 
of fungoid and mildewy vegetable growths. 
What object is supposed to be gained by this method I do not 
know. If persons imagine that the bees should be protected 
against cold, I can best reply by quoting (from memory) the 
question of Gelicu, who asks,—“ Who shuts up the wild bees in 
tho hollow trees in the Lithuanian forests, where they prosper so 
well, although the winter is excessively severe for many months 
of the year ?” 
The question may be asked,—Is it then never desirable to con¬ 
fine bees? Some persons reply, that it is advantageous to pre¬ 
vent their coming out when tlie snow is on the ground, and they 
are allured from home by a bright and deceptive sunshine. It is 
not my own practice, even to confine them under these circum¬ 
Also, a newly-disclosed specimen of Agrotis saucia, with the 
wings covered by at least 150 minute Acari. 
A number of insects captured in Nova Scotia, by Air. Piffard, 
were also exhibited. 
Air. Tcgetmeier brought forward some additional proofs that 
the honey bee, in the perfect state, will occasionally feed upon 
pollen, or bee-bread, generally supposed to bo eaten by the larvce 
alone. He had placed some cells, containing pollen, in the upper 
compartment of a hive in which lie had introduced tlie bees from 
two ordinary skeps, and ho had, subsequently, found the sides of 
the cells eaten down, and a portion of the pollen consumed. He 
had also dissected some of the bees, and had found pollen in the 
ventricles. This had taken place in a liive into which he had 
introduced several pounds of syrup and honey, so that the bees 
had not been driven to eat the pollen from want. He added, that 
Kirby and Spence had noticed the fact, of bees eating pollen, 
although overlooked by other writers. He also repeated liis 
observations on the original circular form of the cells of tho 
comb, and stated, that Mr. Charles Darwin had, at his suggestion, 
performed the same experiment with coloured wax, proving that 
the bees—having at first used part of this wax in the construction 
of a circular cell—had subsequently re-masticated it, and spread 
it over a considerable extent of tlie hexagonal sides of the cell 
when completed, and others adjacent added. 
Air. Stainton stated, that Dr. Whewell, at the meeting of the 
British Association, at Leeds, just ended, had made the sugges¬ 
tion, that the angular position of the ocelli, in front of the bees’ 
beads, might be the cause of the bees working the wax into a 
hexagonal form. But Air. F. Smith contended, that such an idea 
was completely upset by the fact, that- the first cells built by tho 
queen wasp, previous to the birth of the worker wasps, were so 
small that the head of the wasp could not go into them. Ho 
also exhibited the cylindrical cells of an Anthopora, and contended 
that on no principle of pressure, or approximation, would the 
bee alter its form to a hexagon. It was, on the other hand, con¬ 
tended, that as this was a solitary, and not a social species, tho 
principle of hexagon cells could not be applied to it; neither could 
the same argument bo applied to wasps’ cells as to those of bees, 
the material of which the former were made being of a totally 
different nature to that of the latter. 
Various insects from Demerara, including the larvce of a gi¬ 
gantic species of Dynastes, were exhibited by Mr. Piffard. 
An extract from a letter from Air, Bates, on the river Amazon, 
