IXSECTS WHICH PREY UPOis^ AGPJCULTUEAL PLA^S^TS. 101 



C L E P T E Pt A. 



This order includes all the insects known as " beetles." The 

 upper wings are modified into two horny cases known as " elytra/' 

 which serve as a protection to the flying wings beneath. The 

 mouth is masticatory. 



Phyllotreta unclulata (the " Turnip Fly "). — This destructive 

 little pest is properly a beetle, and about one-eighth of an inch 

 in length, of a black colour, but distinguished by a yellow stripe 

 down each wing case. It is of an active habit, leaping away 

 whenever an attempt is made to catch it, but duller in cloudy 

 weather, when it draws itself together and falls down if touched. 

 Its appearance is made in the month of ]\Iay as soon as the 

 youDg turnips are beginning to peep above the surface. The 

 little soft " cotyledons " or seed leaves are what it attacks, and 

 the insects being innumerable, acres are cleared in a very short 

 time, necessitating the resowing of the crop. They have a 

 powerful scent, and fly against the wind, so that they can readily 

 shift their quarters from one turnip field to another. The eggs 

 are laid on the under side of the rough leaf, and, when hatched, 

 the young grubs bore their way into the leaf, and live on the 

 soft cellular matter or " parenchyma," like the " turnip-leaf 

 miners," and in so doing make long tunnels in the leaf which 

 look like blisters ; as this happens on the rough leaf, however, 

 no appreciable damage is done. When the grub is fully grown 

 it makes its way to the earth, and burying itself just beneath 

 the surface, becomes a chrysalis, and after the expiry of a fort- 

 night emerges a beetle ready to renew operations. It lives in a 

 torpid state under bark of trees and in chinks all winter, and 

 only wakes up when the sun becomes warm. Knowing that it 

 is not until the season is well advanced that the beetles appear, 

 and that it is the smooth cotyledon-leaf which they prefer, we 

 have a clue to the means of coping with them. Early sowing 

 and forcing the young plants on into the rough leaf stage are 

 the best means of doing so. There is no reason why turnips 

 shoukl not be sown in the end of April, except the ditficulty of 

 getting the land ready in time, as it- is only with the softer 

 varieties that there is any danger of running to seed, such as 

 the Tankard, White Globe, and Greystone — the Yellow Bullock 

 and Swedes stand well. Again, it is a good plan to force on the 

 young plants at first ; and tliis may be done by using a small 

 quantity of nitrate of soda jdong with the other manures, say 

 J cwt. per acre, or by watering with the liquid manure drill ; or, 

 again, by steeping the seeds in niiinure-water if there is a likeli- 

 hood of there being sufficient moisture in the soil to carry them 

 on afterwards. Mr. Fisher Ilobba' remedy was to broadcast a 

 mixture composed of 1 bushel of fresh lime, 6 lbs. of sulphur, and 



