1911 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 50 



After the maggots cease feeding they change to the puparia from which the flies 

 emerge in about two weeks. It is probable that there are two broods each season 

 in the bean fields in Ontario. 



Means for Control. — While investigating tliis pest in Kent County the 

 writer found that in every case where the maggot had done serious harm its pre- 

 sence in large numbers could be accounted for by one or other of the following con- 

 ditions: Planting the seed just before a prolonged cold rainy spell, planting the 

 seed too deeply, the heavy application of farmyard manure, or the neglect to fol- 

 low the usual three years' rotation of crops. Means for control are, therefore, 

 chiefly methods of prevention. Planting the beans at the right time and at the 

 proper depth in order to insure a quick start seems to be one of the best means 

 to prevent the ravages of this pest. Anything which retards germination, such 

 as cold wet weather shortly after planting, or covering the seed too deeply, gives 

 the maggots a chance to get started in the seed and to prevent its proper germina- 

 tion. As the eggs are deposited in decaying matter the application of farmyard 

 manure increases their number, and the substitution of commercial fertilizers is 

 often advised but not always practicable. If the maggot becomes very serious in a 

 field, it will often be advisable to stop growing beans in that field for a number 

 of years, in order to get rid of the pest. 



THE HORSE-EADISH FLEA-BEETLE {Phyllotreta armoraciae, Koch). 

 A. F. Winn, Westmount, Que. 



About the middle of May last I purchased at Bonsecoui-s Market, Montreal, 

 a few roots of horse-radish^ which I cut up and planted. In due course they began 

 to put up their leaves. 



Early in June, when the leaves were only four or five inches long,, holes ap- 

 peared, evidently the work of flea-'heetles, but as it was the first time I had grown 

 the plant, I did not know what species was likely to be the culprit. A glance 

 showed the beetle? in albundance, and also that they Avere sometliing quite new to 

 me. 



They were about 3 mm. long, oval, and very convex. Head and prothorax 

 black, elytra creamy white with a black sutural stripe, broadest in the middle, and 

 a narrower black marginal line. Both prothorax and elytra dotted over with punc- 

 tures. 'Many of the beetles were mating. 



There was no difficulty in identifying the insects, as in Insect Life, Vol. vii., 

 pgs. 404-406, 1895, there is an article by Mr. F. H. Chittenden ghmg an excel- 

 lent figure and an account of its first captures in the U.S.A., at Chicago, 111., and 

 Guttenburg, Iowa. Whether this well-known European species has spread to the 

 districts about Montreal overland eastward from Chicago, or whether we have had 

 a direct immigration via the St. Lawrence route is a question, but not a very im- 

 portant one, as the fact remains that it has settled down in Canada, and will have 

 to be entered among our insects injurious to vegetables. It-seem,s remarkable that 

 these little beetles could find my new plants so quickly and in such numhers. Doubt- 

 less someone within a few blocks of our house has been growing horse-radis.h, and 

 has been harbouring a rather interesting beetle, perhaps for several years, all un- 

 known to the Montreal Branch of the Entomological Society of Ontario. 



