The rather sudden transition from cool and damp to hot and dry weather appears to have had a disastrous effect on certain plants. Especially has this been the case with some of the large-leafed trees such as Catalpa and Firmiana, Their leaves grew during the protracted wet period we experienced here in June, and did not develop their usual resistance io the excessive evaporation caused by the fierce heat of summer. The result has been that in the case of most such trees the leaves a badly wilted appearance, while in have withered away altogether Many small and tender plants in the garden have been similarly affected, and flower beds and borders, which should have been a riot of colour at this time, show ugly bare brown patches of caked mud, with straggling ill-developed annuals sparsely distributed over their surface Most of the small wild flowers which formed such attractive ground cover in the spring have completely vanished. They sowed their seeds, however, and will soon reappear when the weather changes. As is usual in dry hot weather in the Shanghai area, spiders have multiplied their webs all over th¢ garden, giving the shrubs and bushes a thoroughly disreputable appearance. Cater-pilars, too, have increased enormously during the past two weeks. Whether or not the long spell of wet weather had anything to do with giving them a good start I cannot 1 only know that every rose bush and garden has been denuded of its leaves by these while my big pomegranate shrub, which was such a magnificent sight in the spi early summer, with its masses of large double vermilion blooms, has become infested three species of stinging cater-pi These grubs are extremely beautiful" to look at, but woe betide anyone so foolish as to allow his bare hand or arm tog come into contact with their bristles, which stick out in tufts all over their bodies and sting worse than the well-known stinging-nettle of English country lanes. They are the larvae of the beautiful pure white satin moths which will appear later in the season. An interesting thing about these insects, aside from the beautiful colours and markings of the caterpillars and the latter's stinging powers, is the fact that, when they pupate, they form egg-shaped cocoons with hard smooth shells, quite different from the fibrous cocoons of most other moths. These may be found adhering firmly to the trunks or branches of the trees and bushes upon the leaves of which the caterpillars have been feeding. Every summer, during the past few years, there have been a certain number of these caterpillars on various shrubs in my garden, but this yeg! their numbers have increased out of all bounds, I have found them on Deutzia and Weigellia bushes and on persimmon and: poplar trees as well as on the pomegranate shrubs. They also infest such trees as plums, apricots and peaches. literally stripping them of their leaves. The caterpillars of many other forms of moths and butterflies are also noticeably more numerous this year than usual, while grasshoppers are definitely on the increase and are becoming a plague. Evidently this hot spell suits them. If it is widespread over the country, we may expect to hear of locust swarms before the summer is out—a, DE
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.