8 
TEE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, April 6, 1858. 
of the white excrement of different birds. A species of An - 
thophora builds its nests in the holes of walls of houses, 
which are infested by a parasite of the genus Crocisa. A large 
species of Pompilus provisions its cell with large hairy spiders; 
and a Xylocopa builds its cells in dead branches, roots, &c., 
which it excavates for that purpose. 
Mr. Samuel Stevens exhibited a number of very beautiful 
insects, collected recently by Mr. Wallace in the Aru Islands, 
near New Guinea. Amongst them were some of the finest 
Longicorn Beetles ever discovered; also both sexes of an 
Ornithoptera, allied to Priamus , together with its chrysalis ; 
also a green species of Wasp, described by Mr. Smith. 
Mr. Westwood exhibited a small Moth, allied to the com¬ 
mon Acorn Tortrix of this country, which had been hatched 
from the curious jumping seeds that had been sent from 
Mexico, and had created so much interest, both in this 
country and in France, where, as appeared by an article 
recently published in the Journal des Debats, it was supposed 
that the inclosed larvae (whose motions cause the leaps to be 
effected) were those of some Coleopterous insect. He also 
exhibited the larva of the curious genus Drilus , allied to the 
Glowworm, which had also created considerable interest in 
France, where it had been mistaken for a separate genus, and 
had been named Cochleotonus by M. Mielzinsky. It feeds 
upon the common Helix. Also specimens of the curious blind 
Beetle Leptodirus Hohemvartii , collected in the Proteus 
caves of Styria by Sydney Saunders, Esq., her Majesty’s 
Consul in Albama, in December last; together with a con¬ 
siderable number of blind insects of other orders. 
Mr. Stainton read a notice of a species of Moth belonging 
to the family Geometridce , which feeds in the larva state on 
dried plants, and has thence been named Acidalia herbariata , 
a specimen of which had been taken by Mr. Hunter, in a 
garden in Bloomsbury Street, London. 
Mr. Samuel Stevens exhibited a new substitute for cork, to 
be used in lining the drawers of insect cabinets, namely, 
inodorous felt, an article much cheaper than ordinary cork, 
not costing more than a penny a square foot. 
NTEMOPHILA MACULATA. 
Raised from Californian seeds sent home by 
Mr. Hartweg. 
This is the best annual yet raised from Mr. Hart- 
weg’s seeds. With the habit of A. insignis , it has 
whitish flowers, distinguished by a deep violet 
blotch on the end of each lobe of the corolla. It 
varies, however, much in their colour, the dots 
being sometimes faint, ill defined, and run; the 
veins, too, of the corolla are often of a pale blue, 
which interferes much witli the gay effect of the 
blossoms. It will, therefore, require to have its 
seeds saved from carefully selected plants. Mr. 
Hartweg called it N. speciosa , a very objectionable 
name, for which Mr. Bentham has substituted 
macidata. 
It requires exactly the same treatment as 
N. insignis.—(Horticultural Society's Journal.) 
FLORISTS’ FLOWERS. 
THE YERBENA. 
Those intended for exhibition in pots, should 
now have their last shift. Choose such for this 
purpose as are well furnished with shoots down 
to the soil. . To make them still more bushy, take 
off the highest tops, and, as it is now a good time 
for propagation, every one of these tops will make 
, an excellent cutting. If the amateur or gardener 
chooses to try Mr. Kidd’s method of striking them 
in sand and water, as mentioned by Mr. Beaton 
lately, he may do so; but, I think the better way 
is the old fashioned one of putting them in pots 
with an inch of silver sand upon soil well drained, 
for if cuttings are left in sand and water a day too 
long, the roots will certainly perish. In a nursery, 
Avhere everything goes on like clockwork, such de¬ 
licate practices may be carried out with impunity. 
In potting for exhibition, the size of the pots ought to bo 
considered carefully. r Ihe best mode of training them, is on a 
circular wire trellis, placed horizontally, that is flat; and 
these trellises should not exceed a foot, or at the most, fourteen 
inches in diameter. They should have three or four strong 
v ire feet to be pushed into the soil, so as to bear up the shoots 
about two inches above the rims of the pots. Any wire- 
worker, with proper instructions and diameter given him, 
would easily make such trellises at a trifling cost. The size 
of the pots intended to be used for this purpose, should be 
given lo him also, so that lie might fix the feet to the 
trellises, that they would enter the soil an inch within the rim 
ol each pot. Eight inches diameter will be quite large enough 
lor each pot, but if that exact size cannot be obtained, half an 
inch to an inch wider may be allowed. To bring out high 
colours, use a rather rich compost, formed of sandy peat and 
turfy loam, in equal parts. To enrich this compost, procure 
some cakes of cowdung from a pasture, dry it moderately, and 
then rub it into pieces, and mix it with the peat and loam, in 
about a proportion of one-eighth. Drain well, and pot 
moderately firm. When they are potted, place them in a cold 
frame, covered up at night to protect them from frosts. 
During fine weather, and when gentle warm rains are falling, 
draw off the lights entirely, but keep the lights on in heavy 
rains, and blazing sunshine, shading them when the latter state 
of the weather prevails. As the shoots rise, guide them through 
the meshes of the trellis, and tie them down to it, extending 
them every way till the trellis is completely covered. When 
the pots are filled with roots, give the plants a watering now 
and then, say every third time with weak liquid manure. The 
green fly, red spider, and, if wet weather prevails, the mildew, 
will make their appearance ; the first is easily got rid off with 
