98 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 3 



up when a lot of them were put together suggested Carabids ; but the 

 size, color and active diurnal habits of the species seemed to negative 

 this, and it was not until I actually saw the specimens that I recog- 

 nized the depredator as Amara avida Say. The insects had been only 

 recently matured, many of them were not yet fully colored and some 

 of them had the chitin not yet fully hardened. This gave the majority 

 a lighter, more brownish bronze color than normal, and had helped to 

 lead me astray, since everybody referred to them as brown in color. 



The insects were present in great numbers on a comparatively small 

 area of young beds, and practically every berry was destroyed. For- 

 tunately, it was the first year out, and the crop was small ; but the 

 owners feared for the future. This particular species is not one of the 

 more common ground beetles and, so far as I am aware, has never 

 been accused of doing similar injury ; so I was interested to discover, 

 if possible, the reason for the invasion. 



The Maurice Elver is a deep, navigable stream for several miles 

 from its mouth, but has low and very flat banks for a considerable part 

 of its course, and these are overflowed much of the time, forming 

 under natural conditions a deep morass. Some of the owners along the 

 river combined and organized to dyke out for some miles along the 

 course, and thus several hundred acres of very rich land were made 

 available. The land after being dyked was left water covered for a 

 year or two and then drained. To dry out, it was left another year or 

 two untouched and allowed to grow up into reeds, rushes, grasses and 

 in fact whatever would come in naturally. The result was a dense 

 mass of luxuriant vegetation that afforded excellent feeding ground 

 for numerous insect species, and also for their natural enemies — 

 ground beetles among them. 



In the summer of 1908 part of this land was plowed and cultivated 

 and later set out in strawberries. In the spring of 1909 other adja- 

 cent land was plowed, and left to be cultivated and prepared for plant- 

 ing later. It was in this mass of plants just turned over that this 

 large lot of Amara species matured in late May, and they found them- 

 selves entirely without normal insect food, and, at that season, no 

 seeds nor other attractive plant food on the area on which they had 

 been born. But close at hand was the small crop of strawberries on 

 the late set plants of the previous year, and these fell victims to their 

 hunger. Feeding was done chiefly at night, but the beetles could be 

 readily found under the plants during the day, and they ran actively 

 and flew readily. 



I advised that the turning under of the drained area be completed 

 as rapidly as possible, and that no new section be plowed under just 

 before a strawberry season, so as to avoid forcing the beetles from their 

 natural feeding grounds just when the berries were most susceptible. 



