MUSTARD BEETLE. 155 



Plou(}hinfj in the crop at once, when failing under beetle- 

 attack,' was noted as a means of saving fnrtjier infestation by 

 burying down the eggs (which would otherwise have started a 

 new brood), or by killing the insects which would have 

 migrated. 



A special note was given of such bad attack that it was no 

 good trying to save the crop, and on May 4th the marsh, 

 29 acres was ploughed and sown with Oats; . . "all the 

 under part of the Mustard was covered with eggs which, if 

 the plant had been allowed to stand, would undoubtedly have 

 hatched out ; when the leaves wilted the eggs perished." — 

 Ernest Smith, Southminster, Maldon, Essex. 



The difficulty of the migration of the pests in a body, or 

 their destructive onward progress across a field, appears to be 

 best stopped by burning straw, especially damp straw, in a 

 line across their line of march. 



" From a Mustard-field they troop off to any neighbouring 

 field where plants of the same tribe are to be found. They 

 will completely devour a field of Eape if it is in a young 

 stage, and a crop of Kohl Eabi, with bulbs as big as an 

 orange, may sometimes be seen with the leaves bitten off by 

 these insects, nothing but the rib of the leaf being left. At 

 this period they seem to make little use of their wings. I 

 have stopped their progress completely by burning damp straw 

 in a gateway through which they were passing, but previously 

 they fly vigorously. No attempts appear to be made to check 

 the pest, excepting the above plan of occasionally burning 

 straw or stubble to arrest their progress when moving from 

 one crop to another, or burning the straw or haulm after the 

 crop has been reaped, by which means great numbers of the 

 beetles which had sheltered in the hollow stems of the plant 

 are destroyed."— (Wilham C. Little, 1883.) 



Where a shallow trench can be cut across the line of 

 advance and filled with tar, this has also been found to 

 answer. 



The above observations refer to the true Mustard Beetle 

 — the Phadon hetidce : but besides this especial infestation, 

 the Mustard crop suffers from the attacks of the Turnip Fly 

 or Flea Beetle whilst still in its first leafage ; later on in the 

 growth of the Mustard-plant, just when it is knotting for 

 flower, the opening buds and blossoms are very often attacked 

 by large numbers of the Turnip-blossom Beetle — the Aleli- 

 gethes (Bueus. This is a small beetle, of much the same shape 

 as the Mustard Beetle, and, as far as I gather, it is frequently 

 taken for it, but it is distinguished by its much smaller size, 

 being little more than one-twelfth of an inch in length, and 



