62 
THE FLOEIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[April, 
character; G. F. Wilson, Esq .—Nymphcea zanzi- 
harensis (pi. 431), a very handsome water lily from 
Zanzibar, the flowers of which are large and of a 
violet colour shaded with purple intensified on the 
lower petals; Kew. 
CURTIS’S FARM INSECTS.* 
® HE late Mr. Curtis was a recognised 
authority on the subject of insects 
hurtful to vegetation, and the work 
whose title is here quoted has long 
been known as one of the standard books on 
the subject. Though nominally devoted to 
farm insects, it applies equally to those of 
gardens, seeing that the many identical or 
closely allied subjects found in the field and 
garden, are attacked by the same insect 
enemies; and on this account, as well as 
from its authoritative character, it should be 
placed in every garden library. The illustra¬ 
tions are of a very high class, and fill sixteen 
steel plates each containiog many figures, 
besides which there are sixty-nine wood en¬ 
gravings, all, we believe, from the pencil of 
Mr. Curtis himself, who was a very expert 
draughtsman. In the plates the principal 
figures are coloured. Altogether, so excellent 
is the book in all its departments, that, as 
it was out of print, we think the publisher has 
exercised a wise discretion in determining to 
reissue it, and placing its valuable and im¬ 
portant information within the reach of the 
agriculturists and horticulturists of the present 
day. 
The book is divided into sixteen chapters, 
which are severally devoted to the natural 
history and economy of the insects affecting 
particular crops, as the Turnip crop, the 
Corn crops, the Pea and Bean crops, the 
Potato crop, the Clover crop. Carrots, 
Parsnips, &c. The mode of treatment is to 
give a description of the several insects affect¬ 
ing each particular crop, with remarks on 
their habits and peculiarities, and such in¬ 
formation on the mode of destroying them as 
may be available, the whole winding up with 
a summary of the information contained in 
the cjiapter, this summary being printed in 
short pithy sentences. Thus in reference to 
Carrots we read (p. 423)— 
“ Carrots subject to the attacks of a variety 
* Farm Insects : being the Natural History and Economy 
of thei,Insects injurious to the Field Crops of Great Britain 
and Irelahd,-&c., &C.. By John Curtis, F.L.S., c&c. Illustrated 
with numerous Engravings. London : Tan Voorst, 1883. 
of insects. The Carrot-leaf plant-louse killing 
one-tenth of the crops about midsummer. 
Powdered tobacco dusted over the carrots, 
or watering them with a decoction of tobacco 
will kill the Aphides. 
Another species of Aphis infests the roots 
in the Autumn. 
The Piust is occasioned by the maggots of a 
fly called Psila Rosa;. 
These maggots infest the carrots in summer 
and winter, boring labyrinths round and 
through the tap root. 
They change to pupw in the earth and the 
flies are hatched in the spring. 
Slugs and Podurcc also inhabit the unsound 
roots. 
The maggots of Psila nigricornis are, pro¬ 
bably, equally injurious. 
Sometimes they attack the carrots when 
very young. 
Remove the infested roots as soon as the 
leaves turn yellow and burn them,. 
Trenching the ground in the autumn is one 
of the best securities against most insects.” 
In this way the whole of each chapter is 
summarised, and all the principal points in it 
brought out clearly. 
The book is well printed, and thus forms 
a handsome and attractive volume, valuable 
both for its appearance and the sound informa¬ 
tion embodied in its pages. —M. 
ZYUOPETALUM CLAYII. 
J r HYBRID Zygopetalum raised by Col. 
T Clay, of Wallassy, Birkenhead, be- 
^ tween Z. crinitum and Z. maxillare, 
and named by Prof. Reichenbach. 
We are indebted to Mr. Williams, of the 
Victoria Nursery, Holloway, for the annexed 
figure, and for the following particulars respect¬ 
ing the plant:— 
“ This is the finest Zygopetalum ever offered; 
it has the free habit of growth of Z. crinitum, 
with the intense bluish-violet lip of Z. mgxil- 
lare, only much enlarged. The inflorescence 
is that of the well-known Z. crinitum; the 
sepals and petals are, however, not blotched 
on a green ground, but they are totally 
brownish-purple, with a very narrow green 
border; the lip has unusually small basilar 
auricles adnate to the callus, which is whitish 
with bluish-violet stnpes, free from^any velvety 
