STRAWBEERY-LEAF BEETLE. 249 



From the circumstance of the maggots bemg sometimes 

 found in the decayed wood-soil that accumulates within old 

 hollow trees, it would appear desirable to remove all wood 

 rubbish, and also heaps of decaying sawdust, that may attract 

 the beetles or shelter the grubs. 



For other remedies, see " Cockchafer," p. 245, 



Strawberry-leaf Beetle. Galcmca tenella, Liun. 



The Galeruca (or, as it has recently been called, Galeru- 

 ceUa) tenella, is a very little beetle, only an eighth of an inph, 

 or slightly more, in length, which was observed in 1892 doing 

 much harm in one district to Strawberry leaves. The beetle 

 maybe easily identified from description with the help of a 

 fairly strong magnifier. It is oblong-ovate, and convex in 

 shape, and the general colour is of some shade of dull yellow, 

 or brownish. Looked at more minutely, the head is yellow, 

 with a broad black stripe or band across the top. The thorax 

 or fore body also of some yellowish tint, with, in some in- 

 stances, a dark line along the central furrow, and on each side 

 of the furrow is a small round depression. The wing-cases 

 pitted, so as to be slightly granulated, on the surface, and 

 rather shiny, and in the specimens sent somewhat variable in 

 colour, sometimes yellowish, sometimes of a brown tint, with 

 the margin and the suture yellow, and occasionally a spot on 

 the shoulders of a dark brown. The body black beneath, with 

 the tip of the abdomen pale ; legs pale ; and the horns long, 

 palest at the base, black towards the end. 



This kind is recorded as being found " in this country iii 

 July, frequenting Willows, Alders, &c."; and in Gerniany it 

 is mentioned by Kaltenbach as being repeatedly noticed by 

 himself on young plants of Sinrcea tdmavia (Meadow Sweet), 

 and "once in greater numbers" on the Potentilla anserina 

 ("Silver Weed" with us), of which it greatly damaged the 

 leaves by its gnawings. 



The Sjnrcea, and still more the Potentilla, are nearly allied 

 to the Strawberry, so that it is not surprising that it shoukl 

 be found on this plant ; but still, until the observation of it 

 was sent from Hants, I was not aware of it having been noted 

 as a Strawberry pest. Plentiful samples, both of the beetles 

 and of the injured leaves, were sent me on the 27th of July, 

 from Hundred Acres, Wickham, Hants, with the observation 

 that they were insects which were destroying the Strawberry 

 plants in that neighbourhood. Also that it was considered to 

 be a new pest in the locality. The injured Strawberry leaves 



