108 
On the Ravages of the Turnip Fly. 
■ XIX. On the Ravages of the Turnip Fly (Haltica nemo- 
rum), with Experiments. By T. S. # 
[Read 1st February, 1836.] 
The most abundant species of beetle which feed upon the turnip 
are those noticed in the present paper, but there are at least two 
other, probably more, kinds which also devour this vegetable, 
(. Haltica similis and Haltica /lava), though not by any means so 
common. 
Of the two species, some of whose habits are now to be de- 
tailed, both appear to be equally abundant in this district : they 
are both equally active, disappearing upon the slightest sound or 
motion, retreating either under the surface of the leaves upon which 
they are feeding, or vaulting to a considerable distance from them, 
returning again in a few minutes, if the sound or motion be not con- 
tinued. The parent insects pair in July, if not in the earlier months. 
They are to be seen in the earliest fine days of February, (one spe- 
cies at least, H. nemorum), and do not disappear before the end of 
October, if the weather be warm : but they do not appear to feed 
much after the latter end of September. They seem capable of 
enduring long abstinence, as three specimens of II. oleracea were 
shut up in a box on the 24th of September, and, being forgotten, 
w r ere not seen again for five weeks, when they were found alive 
and active ; so that probably an idea entertained by some agri- 
culturists of starving them, would be found difficult to act upon. 
I have never been able to find any under the bark of trees in the 
winter. They feed chiefly by night, when they may be found in 
great numbers on the surface of the young plants, sixty having 
been counted on a row of plants, just out of the ground, eighteen 
inches long, and one inch broad. In the day-time they retire, 
for the most part under the cotyledons, or young leaves, of the 
plants. 
In order to ascertain whether the eggs were deposited upon 
the seed, as suggested by Rusticus, in the “ Entomological Ma- 
gazine,” I tried the following experiments, similar, indeed, to his 
own. 
* The writer hereof has communicated his name to the Council of the Entomo- 
logical Society. 
