Striped Pea-weevil
The former bears ten punctured stripes down the wing-cases, these stripes being alternately dark and light ochreous. The former species is a little smaller than S. lineata, is more grey or rosy than that insect, and has a few dark spots on the wing-cases. Both have the limbs, for the most part, dull-red.
The beetles feed on Peas, Beans, and other leguminous plants, gnawing the young leaves and leaflets from the margins inwards, and, in this way, sometimes completely destroy the crops, if the weather is cold and unfavourable to growth after the young plants have come through the soil. Strong, healthy plants suffer least from them. The life-history of these Weevils has been followed out, within the past three or four years, by Messrs. Hart and Christy. The larvae feed on the roots of Clover, and, it may be presumed, of other Leguminosae. They have been observed of all sizes and ages in the autumn, and many of them live through the winter as larvae, and reach their full size in spring. When full-grown, they are footless, wrinkled, white maggots. They become pupae in oval, earthen cells, 1in. to 2in. below the surface of the soil; and in two or three weeks they emerge as beetles. It would thus seem that the larvae are injurious; but the beetles are far more so. They are apt to remain undetected in their depredations, as, when in danger, they drop at once from the plants to the soil and hide under particles of earth, &c.; but pressure, or stamping with the feet, on the soil around the plants, makes the beetles' come out in swarms. They seem to pass the winter in open ends of stubble, or in any other convenient retreat. Remedies. The best is probably to make up the seedbed so as to be favourable to rapid and healthy growth of the young plants, thus rendering them able to survive the attacks of the Weevils. For the same reason it is well to water the plants in dry weather. It is recommended also to lay wood-ashes or coal-ashes along the drills above the rows of Peas or Beans, as this favours growth. Rolling the ground brings the Weevils to the surface, and kills many of them. Applications of lime or soot to the wet leaves renders these distasteful to the insects; but the most useful application yet tried is paraffin, in a solution of about two ounces to one gallon of water, with which the plants should be watered.
SKIMMIA (from skimmi, a Japanese word, signifying a hurtful fruit). ORD. Rutaceae. A genus comprising about half-a dozen species of pretty, hardy, evergreen, highly glabrous shrubs, with green branchlets, natives of the Himalayas and Japan. Flowers whitish, clustered; calyx short, four or five-lobed; petals four or five, oblong, much longer than the calyx, valvate or loosely imbricated; disk inconspicuous; panicles terminal, branched. Drupes ovoid, fleshy, two to four-stoned. Leaves alternate, simple, petiolate, lanceolate, entire, coriaceous, pellucid-dotted. The species thrive in a compost of peat and loam. Propagation may be effected by cuttings, inserted in sand, under a bell glass, in gentle heat; and by seeds, sown, when ripe, in sandy loam and peat.
S. fragrans (fragrant). fl. white, fragrant, disposed in terminal panicles. l. elliptic-oblong, thick. h. about 3ft. Of this garden plant only the female is at present known.
S. fragrantissima. See S. oblata.
S. intermedia (intermediate). fl. white, rosy on the outside, scented, disposed in spike-like panicles. Spring. l. narrow-elliptic, coriaceous, deep green. 1870. A much-branched and compact, garden variety, intermediate between S. fragrans and S. japonica.
S. japonica (Japanese).* fl. white, resembling those of some Hollies, deliciously scented; petals spreading; panicles thyrsoid, pedunculate, broadly-oblong, many-flowered. fr. roundish-oval, bright red. March. l. alternate, but here and there crowded, so as to appear sub-verticillate, oblong, acuminated, entire, pellucid-dotted, tapering into short footstalks. h. rarely above 3ft. or 4ft. Japan, 1845. A very handsome shrub when in full berry.(B. M. 4719; G. C. n. s., xxv. p. 244; I. H. 1854, 13; L. & P. F. G. ii. 163; S. Z. F. J. 68.) S. j. argentea variegata (silvery-variegated). l. oblong, acuminated, broadly and unequally bordered with white. 1875 S. Laureola (Laureola).* fl. pale yellow, very fragrant, densely disposed in terminal, compact corymbs; rachis and peduncle purple-dotted. Spring. fr. ovate, smooth, nearly as large as an olive. l. approximating at the tips of the branches, sub-opposite or ternate, oblong-lanceolate, acute, attenuated at base, entire, 3in. to 5in. long, dark green above, yellowish beneath. h. 4ft. Nepaul. A very pretty, Citron-scented shrub. SYN. Limonia Laureola. S. oblata (oblate-berried).* fr. very bright vermilion-red, oblate, glossy, borne in panicled clusters. l. firm, smooth, elliptic-obovate, bright green. Japan, 1864. (G. C. n. s., xxv. p. 245.) A remarkably beautiful, dwarf shrub, of dense habit. The male or pollen-bearing plant is known in gardens by the name of S. fragrantissima.
S. o. Veitchii (Veitch's). fl. hermaphrodite or monoecious, in spike-like racemes; petals dirty-white. Spring. fr. spherical, of a beautiful coral-red. l. flat, elliptic, oboval, glossy, narrowed into a thick petiole. h. 3ft.(R. H. 1880, p. 57,) S. ovata (ovate). This appears to be a garden form of S. japonica, with larger, broader leaves than the type.
S. rubella (reddish).* fl. greenish-white, disposed in thyrses, odorous; buds tinted with red, hence the name. l. lanceolate-elliptic, leathery. China, 1874.(R. H. 1874, 311; 1880, p. 57, p. 189.)