74 Observations on various Insects 



jointed : the thorax is broader than long, the sides rounded : 

 the wing-cases are much bioader, oval ; they have about 5 

 iaintly elevated lines : wings ample : body of the female some- 

 times very large and extending beyond the elytra : the thighs are 

 stout : the shanks thickened towards the apex, which is bristly : 

 the feet are broad and 5-jointed ; the third joint is bilobed, the 

 fourth very minute, the terminal joint clavate, with 2 claws : 

 length from 4 to 6 lines. The larva of this beetle is somewhat 

 lanceolate, composed of about 12 segments, spined and brown, 

 with 6 pectoral feet : pupa ochreous (Rcesel, v. 2, class 3, t. 5). 

 This common species inhabits the north and south of England. 

 It is found in May, June, September, and October, in chalk-pits, 

 and sometimes in profusion on sand-hills near the sea. It occa- 

 sionally frequents the ears of barley, and sometimes the beetles 

 are of a brown colour.* 



The genus of Gnats comprised under the name of Tipula are 

 in the larva state amongst the most formidable enemies which 

 the farmer and gardener have to contend with. There is not a 

 crop of corn, of turnips, mangel-wurzel, or potatoes, which may 

 not fall a sacrifice to what have been significantly termed, from 

 their toughness, " leather-jackets," and there are but few crops 

 in the kitchen-garden which escape their attacks. AVherever 

 grass will grow, however scanty, these larvae are generated, and 

 of course pasture-lands, meadows, and marshes give birth to 

 myriads of crane-flies, which issue forth from their subterranean 

 abodes as they emerge from their pupa cases, during summer, 

 until late in the autumn when frost sets in, to pair and scatter 

 their eggs over the length and breadth of the land. There are 

 upwards of thirty British species of the genus Tipulo, all of 

 which find a home on grass-lands ; but there are only three 

 whose economv has been sufficiently investigated to enable us to 

 speak positively as to the damage they occasion in fields and 

 gardens: they are — T. oleracea, Linn.; T. jmludosa, Meig; and 

 T. maculosa, Hoff. As these species have been carefully de- 

 scribed and figured in a former Report, we shall not here enter 

 further upon tlieir history. (Roy. Agr. Jour., vol. x. pp. 90 and 

 91, pi. V. fig. 35-39 ; also p. 92 and pi. V. fig. 40-44.) 



Another most destructive larva in pasture-lands is that of a 

 pretty beetle called 



32. AXISOPLIA HOKTICOLA. 



This beetle is exceedingly abundant in May and June in 

 corn-fields, hedge-rows (especially when the whitethorn is in 

 flower), and grass-lands. We will now fulfil our promise, made 



♦ Curt. Brit. Ent., fol. and p. 371. 



