Iviii 



" All accounts, however, we have been able to refer to concerning this 

 and congeneric species agree (as does the information I'uruished by Mr. 

 Carruthers) in attributing the chief damage to the perfect insect, which 

 feeds upon the green corn in the ear. In some parts of Germany 

 Anisoplia agricola is reported to do considerable damage to rye in the same 

 manner. 



"In the year 1867 Pfarrer Josef Orth published a letter in the 

 Hungarian ' Pester Lloyd ' with reference to the appearance, in June, of 

 extraordinary numbers of this Anisoplia austriaca in the Banate, a 

 Danubian province of Hungary; and his letter is reproduced and commented 

 upon by Herr A. von Pelikan in the article entitled " Ueber Getreide- 

 Verwiistunzen durch Anisoplia," published in the ' Verhandlungen der 

 k. k. zoologisch-botanischen Gesellschaft in Wien,' vol. xvii. (18G7), 

 pp. 693—696. 



" Pfarrer Orth states that a very long cord, several fathoms long, was 

 stretched across the field, a horse being attached to each end, and in this 

 way the cord was drawn across the field so as to disturb the beetles from 

 their food, which they left and flew away. In one way or other one hundred 

 men were engaged upon this service collecting the beetles and putting them 

 into pots, the beetles being afterwards destroyed. He enters into an 

 elaborate calculation as to the numbers so destroyed, which he estimates at 

 some 6,720,000 individuals. 



" We think it is impossible to place too high a value upon the laborious 

 process of destroying the perfect insects, but there are some other matters 

 in connection with it that merit serious consideration. First, we think it 

 highly desirable that rotation of crops (which is probably less attended 

 to in the grain-producing plains of Southern Eussia than here) should be 

 enforced, and that it might be advisable to revert to the grain-crop only 

 after the lapse of the second year. Secondly, we cannot place too high an 

 importance upon the encouragement of insectivorous birds, such as Rooks, 

 Starlings, &c. If such birds be allowed unrestricted access to newly- 

 ploughed fields which have been recently under grain, they will probably 

 effgct more good in a few days by destroying larvae and pupae than could 

 possibly be done by collecting the perfect insects. Fuially, we believe 

 there is no reason to apprehend the recurrence year after year of such 

 multitudes of the beetles. 



" Pfarrer Orth (in the letter above quoted) says it is always present in 

 the Banate, but only sparingly in moist seasons, and he does not appear to 

 have had any former experience similar to that of 1867. In the present 

 state of entomological science it is impossible to accurately account for 

 visitations like this, which occur with many insects, injurious or otherwise. 

 It may be that the pupal condition is prolonged indefinitely, or until circum- 

 stances favour its determination : by tins reasoning (which is warranted by 



