166 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



useful that has yet been noted. Where agricultural arrange- 

 ments are such (as in some parts of the Lothians) as to allow of 

 watering at remunerative rate, this is a great help in times of 

 passing drought, both by preventing the plant flagging, and 

 giving it the benefit of manure in the soil, or specially supplied. 

 Whether any dressing can be applied to prevent oviposition by 

 the fly remains to be seen (and it is much to be hoped that 

 those who experiment will give us the benefit of their experience) ; 

 but, looking at the dislike of insects to sulphur, it is probable 

 that the application of this would be useful, whether as a dressing 

 which may be given at the rate of 141b. per acre mixed (a few 

 days before use) with a bushel of fresh lime, and two bushels of 

 road scraping, or in the form of a sprinkling of gas-lime which 

 has been exposed to atmospheric action for six months or so, 

 and thus become a safe as well as serviceable application. Ex- 

 periment in the present season has shown this to be of great 

 use as a means of prevention of attack of the so-called turnip 

 ** fly," and though the Coleoptera and Diptera are widely apart 

 in their natures there is much similarity in some of the points 

 of these two kinds of attack, and the application is worth a trial. 

 Looking also at the great attraction of animal excreta to many 

 of the Diptera, the observation of the bad attack of the beet fly 

 occurring for a second time on a sewage farm is worth remarking, 

 and further notes on any matter bearing on prevention would be 

 of general service. — E. A. Ormeeod; Dunster Lodge, Isleworth. 



An. Insect Plague. — Our Preston correspondent states, "A 

 great plague of insects, unequalled in Lancashire for many 

 years, is visiting the agricultural districts in the neighbourhood 

 of Clitheroe. The insects come in dense clouds, and the houses 

 and country literally swarm with them ; they eat up the grass 

 and almost everything green. To-day (Thursday) they have 

 passed towards Chipping, and it is reported that a whole field 

 has been eaten bare." — 'Daily Telegraph,' June 17, 1881. 



[Having applied to our obliging correspondent, Mr. J. B. 

 Hodgkinson, of Preston, for particulars about this so-called insect 

 plague, he has favoured us with the following facts : — " In reply 

 to your enquiry, I have to state that the caterpillars which have 

 caused so much sensation in this district are those of Charceas 

 graminis. I have personally had several opportunities of verifying 

 the extraordinary abundance of these larvte. One of my most 



