282 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 
eggs! I must confess that I was glad when I reached the 35th 
and last leaf, and found that on this one plant alone there were 
no less than 9234 eggs laid! and this was not a special plant, for 
all examined appeared to be covered; and what the field looked 
hke a month later I much regret that I cannot say, as I was pre- 
vented visiting it after June 11th, when Mr. Charles Waterhouse 
and I went down and found both beetles and larve hard at work 
reducing the mustard plants to bare skeletons. The beetles were 
not so plentiful, as no doubt most had played their part, laid their 
eggs, and died. 
We were particularly struck with the great number of Diamond- 
back moths (Plutella cruciferarum) which flew up at every step. 
The mustard plants were alive with the larve of this pest, as well 
as those of the Mustard Beetle. 
As I have been engaged for some years studying Economic 
Entomology as applied to Agriculture, I think I may venture to 
offer a few suggestions, in the hope ‘that they may be useful to 
help check the advance of these ‘ ‘crop pests,” for if mustard is 
worth ten pounds per acre, surely it is worth while trying to save 
from the throats of these busy beetles. 
Watching these beetles time:after time, feeding by thousands, - 
or, I might say, millions, I cannot come to any other conclusion 
but that much might be done if growers of mustard, &c., would 
see the use of the sweeping or beating net, and impart that 
knowledge to their employés, that it would be possible to per- 
ceptibly diminish the vast army of this crop pest, as well as the 
Diamond-back moth ; in fact, it is on record that a German did 
adopt such practical means to rid his fields of the Mustard Beetle, 
with the result that he saved his crop; but this plan, like every- 
thing else, ought to be done carefully, and at the right time. 
There is not the slightest difficulty to contend with as to the 
activity of the beetle, which is one of the laziest and most timid 
of creatures; and though having wings, it seldom uses them, but 
at the slightest shake of the beating g-stick they drop down instantly, 
feigning death, and nothing could “be easier to carry out than this 
simple plan of beating. 
We must bear in mind that the growers want some cheap and 
easily applied remedy, which would not be too great a strain on 
their pockets, or the mental capacities of their employés. 
It is most important that we should know the life-history of 
these crop pests from actual personal observation, so that, like 
an experienced general, we may know their hiding place at any 
time, to enable us to circumvent them. A few years, if needs be, 
spent in proving one fact in the economy of an insect is time well 
spent, rather than to go on for fifty years on an unproved 
statement. 
During last winter I had the pleasure cf regularly meeting a 
number of those engaged in farming and floriculture, most of 
