234 STEAWBEKRY. 



In the year 1894 accounts were sent to me of much mis- 

 chief caused by various species of "Ground Beetles" (duly 

 identified at the time) to Strawberry fruit at Woodborough in 

 Nottinghamshire. In this instance the farmer watched for 

 the cause of the mischief, and detected the beetles swarming 

 on the fruit by night, which they devoured to such an extent 

 that the crop of three roods was ruined. 



In 1895 the attack reappeared to a much more serious 

 extent, for it showed itself at many places in the above 

 district, and injured the Strawberry fruit to such an extent, 

 just when it was beginning to ripen, as to cause severe losses. 



In 1897, the specimen and reports forwarded showed this 

 great trouble to Strawberry growers to be not only still present 

 and injurious in the district where it was first observed, but 

 also to be much more widely prevalent. In this county 

 (Hertfordshire) the beetles appeared in great numbers in the 

 early part of June at two localities, respectively, about two 

 and a half miles in a north-easterly and two miles in a south- 

 westerly direction from St. Albans, and also elsewhere in the 

 district. In Norfolk they were reported in two localities. In 

 Nottinghamshire they reappeared as again seriously mis- 

 chievous. In Bedfordshire they were reported from one 

 locality as a great trouble on a large acreage, with the remark 

 that it was believed to be a general complaint. I had also 

 information of the total destruction of a fruit-grower's crop 

 near Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, and similar destruction of 

 three-quarters of an acre near Pdngham, Berks. A glance at 

 the position of the above-named localities on a map will show 

 how widely this destructive visitation has spread since its first 

 observation in 1894. Previous to that date, so far as I am 

 aware, the attack of Ground Beetles to Strawberry fruit had 

 not been noticed in this country ; but in the summer of 1892 

 Ilarpalus ruficornis was identified by Dr. J. Eitzema Bos, 

 Director of the Phyto-pathological Laboratory, Amsterdam, 

 as being found in great numbers in Strawberry beds in the 

 neighbourhood of Goes, in Zeeland, Holland, and being very 

 hurtful to the ripe fruit.* 



Tlw attack of 1894 was watched (so that there might be no 

 uncertainty as to the cause of the mischief), and samples of 

 the beetles taken proved, on identification, to be of three 

 distinct species of Geodepliaga, or " Ground Beetles," namely, 

 Harpalus ruficornis, Pterosticlnis ( = Steroims) madidus, and 

 Calathus cisteloides. 



* See ' Kurze Mitteilungen iiber Pflanzenkrankheiten und Beschadigungen 

 in der Niederlanden in den Jahren 1892 und 1893,' von Dr. J. Eitzema Bos. 

 Separate impression from ' ZeitschriftfiirPflanzenkranldieiten.'iv. Band, 3 und 

 4 Heft. Also ' Biologisches Centralblatt,' xiii. Band, Nr. 7 und 8, pp. 255, 256. 



