THE MUSTARD BEETLE. 93) 
Luddington, who drove me over to a field of brown mustard, 
where the beetles were very plentiful on nearly every plant, all 
busily engaged in finding partners to keep up the family name, 
and, from the number noticed pairing off, there was every pros- 
pect of a large progeny. . 
This brown mustard was from two to three feet high, and too 
tall to do much work in, so we drove off for six or seven miles 
along one of those straight level roads, bounded on eacl: side by 
hedgeless fields, the black soil of which reminded us that it was 
not many years ago when it was all fen-land; and though we had 
come with the intention of examining this crop pest, our thoughts 
and conversation often turned to those grandest of British butter- 
flies, the Swallow-tail and Large copper, both of which used to be 
seen in these parts. P. machaon can still be found in the right 
locality, but P. dispar is an insect of the past. 
Passing over into the borders of Suffolk, we pulled up at a 
field of white mustard, jumped the dyke, and landed safely on the 
other side, where I was almost staggered with the sight which 
presented itself to my eyes. The mustard was from nine inches 
to a foot in height, and every plant was absolutely swarming with 
the Mustard Beetles. I had my ordinary bag-net with me; this 
I held on one side of a drill whilst Mr. Luddington shook the 
plants, the beetles pouring off into the net by hundreds, so that 
in a very short time their weight was quite perceptible, necessi- 
tating transfer to a tin canister. A glance around and up the 
drills showed that every plant was swarming with beetles, which 
looked very beautiful as the sun shone upon their lovely blue 
elytra ; but their work on the mustard was only too evident that 
this vast army in this field of six or seven acres required feeding, 
and, like a hostile enemy, everyone was for himself, and the 
beetles did not intend to starve as long as there was a green leaf 
left; and to insure complete destruction of the crop, the females 
were busily occupied laying their eggs on almost every leaf, and 
many tiny larve or maggots were already hatched, and rapidly 
reducing some plants to a mere skeleton. 
We beat one drill for a distance of seventy yards, which 
occupied just fifteen minutes; the beetles I most carefully boxed 
and counted out at home the next day, and found that there were 
over fifteen thousand from this fifteen minutes’ beating! 
I pulled up several plants for the purpose of examination at 
leisure, and for making drawings, &c. I commenced counting the 
eggs on one plant, taking each leaf separately. ‘hese eggs are 
laid on the under side, alongside the mid- and cross-ribs. The 
female first scrapes out a small channel half-way through the 
cuticle, into which cavity she places an egg, so that it is embedded 
and protected from harm when the plants are blown about. 
The top leaf had 85 eggs; the middle ones from 150 to over 
500; whilst on one of the lower ones were no less than over 700 
