204 RASPBERRY. 



cleared awjiy. A correspondent, near Dartford, forwarded 

 me Bytiirus beetles with Easpberry blossom which they had 

 injured, and a few days later forwarded more beetles and 

 Easpberry blossom in various stages of consumption, with 

 the further observation: — "You will see that it is quite 

 finished off, and if some remedy is not found the whole crop 

 will be destroyed." 



From an Essex locality the same attack was noted as that 

 "of a little beetle that attacks the bloom of the Easpberries, 

 and appears in some instances quite to destroy it " ; and 

 further, that " it was found quite at the bottom where the 

 fruit is forming." 



Another observer mentioned of Byturus, with specimens 

 accompanying : — " There are sometimes five in one flower. 

 They lly readily. They lie in the trough round the base of 

 the embryo fruit." 



All the above observations, it will be noticed, refer to the 

 attack of the Byturus beetle to i\\e Jiower or hlossom-hud of the 

 Easpberry, the first application being sent on the 26th of 

 May, and inquiries or remarks on presence of attack being 

 continued until the last day of June. This injury, however, 

 which is caused by the beetles to the blossoms is only one 

 portion of the mischief. Following on this is the harm done 

 by the maggot in the Raspberry fruit. Of this I received very 

 thorough examples from Toddington, sent me by Mr. Wise on 

 the 19th of August with the following observations : — 



" I am sending you some Easpberries, which will, I fear, 

 arrive in a pulp, but at this time of year they are so very 

 soft. In them you will find a quantity of grubs, and our 

 Easpberries are infested with them. Can you tell me what 

 they are ? " 



These I carefully identified as being maggots of the Byturvs 

 beetles of which so many had been seen earlier in the year, 

 and of which the chief characteristics are given below ; and on 

 forwarding the information I received the following note from 

 Mr. Wise :— 



" I looked out the Easpberry Beetle, and thought they were 

 our old friends. I think they are more plentiful this year 

 than I have ever seen them, and you will remember in the 

 spring of the year we were very much troubled with the 

 beetle." 



The maggots of the Byturus beetles grow to a length of 

 about a quarter or five-eighths of an inch, and are cylindrical, 

 somewhat depressed in front, and lessened at the hinder 

 extremity, which is terminated above by two brown curved 

 points, and beneath with a cylindrical tubercle employed as 

 a pro-leg. They have three pairs of moderately long hairy 



