THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 389 
sown, and having suffered less from the drought. The Aphis 
prevailed with me, and did last year in circular patches; and 
not to any greater extent this year than last. I hear that 
East Lothian has suffered much. ‘The worst, hereabouts, is 
near Wooler; and those I saw on the Tees were also 
very bad.” 
From East Lothian I have a communication from a com- 
petent authority, Mr. R. Scot Skirving, of Camptown. He 
is of opinion, in which I join him, that in Scotland we have 
little to fear from the “surface-grubs” of the Lepidopterous 
genus Agrotis, which Mr. Newman, in the ‘ Field’ and the 
‘Entomologist,’ considers to be so hurtful to the turnip. A 
much more deadly “ grub” is that of the Tipula oleracea, or 
“crane-fly,” which eats through the root just below the 
surface, and soon clears half a field. From this grub, this 
season, Mr. Skirving has lost, at least, thirty acres of turnips. 
He goes on to say:—‘ The ‘fly’ took the first sowing, 
the drought the second, and the crane-grub the third. From 
Tranent to Edinburgh, and all round Portobello, the turnips 
looked magnificent up to the end of August; and they 
almost caused me to ‘envy and grieve at the good of my 
neighbour,’ as I travelled on the railroad; but the turnip 
louse came and destroyed the Swedes, root and branch, and 
the fields became bare ; whilst the soft turnips became bright 
orange, then dirty yellow and withered up, as if scorched by 
fire. This seemed rather disease than insect-work. Farms 
between Tranent and Edinburgh seem peculiarly liable to 
this, though I have seen it come all over the lower half of 
Kast Lothian. It does not attack Swedes.” 
The migrating epoch of the turnip Aphids took place in 
the end of September, as soon as the wings had developed ; 
and for more than a week, during the calm and genial 
weather, they rose in succession from the turnip-fields along 
the valleys of the Till and Glen, till they became almost 
incorporated with the air, so intensely crowded they became. 
They grew very troublesome to those who had to go out. 
One had almost to breathe them. At night, or during dull 
days, they stuck to the threshold, to the grass by wall sides, 
or gathered upon hedges or trees. Many fell into the waters, 
or were swept from the grass on the brink. Beating the 
bushes for insects at Heathpool, | got my umbrella so filled 
