_ even calcine the corn. 
| to such a degree of cold as would prevent the in- 
| store. 
| and tossed abeut as much as possible, at inter- 
put in motion. 
618 CALANDRA. 
within the skin of the grain; and when the per- 
fect insect is matured, it gnaws a passage for 
itself through the skin. The perfect insect also 
feeds upon the grain, attacking grains which 
have not been used by larve, and eating portions 
of their substance ; yet it does not appear to con- 
sume much of their farina, but seems to inflict 
damage principally by its numerous piercings and 
fractures of their envelope. Grain which has 
been destroyed by the weevil presents no external 
| indication of being unsound; yet is easily de- 
tected by its great comparative lightness; for 
when a sample containing some of it is thrown 
into water, all the unsound grains float on the 
surface. 
Proposed and attempted remedies against the 
corn-weevil are numerous; but some are elabor- 
ate or difficult, and most involve nearly or alto- 
gether as much loss or outlay as the very evil 
which they are designed to remedy. The passing 
of the grain through a winnowing-machine, as 
| nearly as possible at the time when the great 
| proportion of the insects are transforming from 
| larvee to pupee, is cheeper and easier than any 
other proposed method ; and, if it were found to 
| throw away all the damaged grains in the manner 
_ of chaff or light corn, it might, in the course of 
| @ season or two, completely expel the insect from 
| a set of premises. 
The exposing of the corn to 
heat can rarely kill the eggs or larva without 
raising the temperature so high as to overdry and 
The exposing of the corn 
sects from propagating or from passing through 
their transformation, might be successful if a 
_ sufficient degree of cold could be steadily ob- 
tained ; but, as free ventilation is the chief means 
which can be employed, no such degree of cold is 
| attainable in summer,—the very season when the 
experiment would require it. The mixing of the 
corn with quicklime, sulphur, or any other sub- 
_ stance which might be likely to nauseate or kill 
| the insects, can scarcely be attempted without 
communicating a mischievous or deteriorating 
taint to the corn. “Of the various schemes that 
have been proposed,” says Mr. Duncan, “ the fol- 
lowing is the most approved. When the indivi- 
| duals that have passed the winter in a torpid 
state, are beginning to recover their activity, and 
to move about among the corn, a small heap, 
_ composed of that kind of corn to which they are 
most partial (which is said to be barley), should 
be placed at a small distance from the principal 
The latter should then be turned over, 
vals, that the weevils may be fairly disturbed and 
Naturally very fond of quiet, 
and anxious to escape from such unceremonious 
| treatment, they take refuge in the undisturbed 
heap placed as adecoy. When collected there in 
| numbers, they are speedily incapacitated for fur- 
ther mischief by having boiling water poured over 
| them in such quantities as completely to saturate 
CALATHEA. 
the heap. Such individuals as escape to the walls 
or elsewhere, may be swept together by a broom, 
and easily disposed of. The corn of the decoy- 
heap may afterwards be separated from the dead 
insects by sifting. Even though this plan may 
appear not to promise much in the recital, it is 
affirmed that, in practice, it has been attended 
with highly favourable results.” 
CALANDRINIA. A genus of ornamental 
plants, of the purslane family. The showy spe- 
cies, C. speciosa, is a splendid, hardy, trailing an- 
nual, of 3 or 4 inches in height, and carrying 
dark purple flowers from May till October. It was 
introduced about 15 yearsago from New California. 
—The large-flowered species, C. grandiflora, is a 
beautiful, evergreen, herbaceous, hothouse plant, 
about a foot in height, and carrying purple flow- 
ers in June and July. It was introduced about 
twenty years ago from Chili—The two-coloured 
species, C. discolor, is a splendid, evergreen, green- 
house, undershrub, about 20 inches in height, and 
carrying bright rose-coloured flowers in July and 
August. Its two-coloured property belongs to 
the leaves. It is a plant of very conspicuous 
beauty; and, being hardy during summer, is 
capable of contributing its brilliance to the open 
flower-garden. It resembles the large-flowered 
species; but its flowers are four times as large, | 
and have the valuable property of remaining fully 
expanded under a cloud, or even during the dull- 
est weather.—Fourteen or fifteen other species 
have been described by botanists; and seven or 
eight of these have recently been introduced to | 
the gardens of Britain. 
CALANTHE. A genus of evergreen, herbace- 
ous, tropical, ornamental plants, of the orchis | 
tribe. The name means “ beautiful flower,” and 
justly indicates the genus to be an accession to 
the superb and bewildering attractions of the 
orchideous houses of our gardens. The vera- 
trum-flowered species, C. veratriflora, grows to 
the height of about two feet, and carries a white 
flower in June and July. This species was in- 
troduced in 1819 from the Hast Indies; and 
since that time, six other species have been in- 
troduced from Java, Sylhet, New South Wales, 
and Madagascar. 
CALATHEA. A genus of evergreen, herba- 
ceous, tropical, ornamental plants, of the Indian- 
shot tribe. They belong to the first and small 
Linnzean order, which have only one stamen ; 
and they take the name of Calathea, which sig- 
nifies ‘a basket,’ from the curious and unique 
shape of their stigma. The species popularly 
called the Zebra plant, Calathea zebrina—but de- 
signated by some botanists Maranta zebrina— 
grows to the height of about two feet, and car- 
ries a reddish- yellow flower throughout the 
greater part of the year, and was brought to 
Britain, about thirty years ago, from Brazil. 
Hight or nine other species are known; and 
most of them have been brought to Britain since 
the introduction of the Zebra plant. 
