Ill 
On the Ravages of the Turnip Fly. 
tard and radishes in the earlier months of spring, the leaves of 
which are constantly perforated by them in almost every garden. 
From their extreme activity, it seems almost impossible to apply 
any destructive agent to them, but probably sulphur, in a dry hot 
season, scattered over the plants early in the morning of a clear 
day, would destroy them, as at a temperature of from 75 to 85 it 
would undergo slow combustion, and form sulphurous acid gas, 
which is very deleterious to almost all kinds of insects. Lime, if 
applied very late in the evening, or very early in the morning, 
before the dew was off, might have some effect upon them. They 
seem to be equally abundant in wet as in dry weather ; but, in the 
former case, the growth of the turnip is greater than the con- 
sumption by the fly, and the insects are probably not quite so 
active. Watering the plants, therefore, would appear to be the 
easiest remedy under some circumstances. 
The specimens confined under glasses appeared to be injured 
by the damp arising from the soil in which the plants grew, and 
most of them escaped upon replacing the plants for their food ; 
after some weeks’ confinement, some of both species (confined 
each separately) paired under confinement, but the bottles unfor- 
tunately, containing the earth in which eggs might have been 
deposited, were lost. 
The foregoing experiments appear to me to prove the conclu- 
sions of Rusticus to be erroneous so far as the deposition of the 
egg is concerned, and to render it evident that the beetles are to 
be found in the immediate vicinity, ready to devour the plants as 
soon as they make their appearance. If I mistake not, the young 
plants of hedge-mustard ( Erysimum alliaria) are frequently per- 
forated by these insects, and probably charlock ( S inapis arvensis ), 
and other wild plants, supply them with their earliest food. 
Saffron Walden. 
