82 STRAWBERRY. 
thus cisteloides. For the detailed information placed in my hands re- 
garding this attack, see my ‘Eighteenth Annual Report,’ pp. 983—97. 
In the past season, namely, that of 1895, Ground Beetle attack to 
the ripe and ripening Strawberries occurred again, not only at Wood- 
borough, but at other places in the district, to a very serious extent, 
as will be seen by the following notes, and especially by the detailed 
report of Mr. Rice. 
A good supply of the injurious beetles was sent to myself, which 
enabled me to identify them, and for the sake (in such an important 
fruit crop matter) of having the opinion of a known entomological ex- 
pert to rest on besides my own, I submitted specimens to Mr. Oliver 
E. Janson, F.E.8., who verified my identifications, and pronounced 
them correct. 
These Ground Beetles proved, as before, to be Harpalus ruficornts, 
Pterostichus (= Steropus) madidus ; and also Pterostichus (Omaseus) vul- 
garis, Linn. 
Of these, the Harpalus ruficornis, Fab. (which was by far the most 
numerous kind in the consignments sent), is of the shape figured at 
p. 80; average length six to seven lines; pitchy black; antenne and 
legs red or fuscous, rarely black; thorax (fore body) with hinder angles 
acute, thickly punctured at the base, less so at the other margins; the 
wing-cases are faintly striated, and clothed with a grey or golden 
down, and beneath them are ample wings, which they use freely for 
flight. 
For those who have to do practically with these injurious Straw- 
berry Beetles, it would be well worth while to raise the wing-cases, and 
by spreading the wings folded beneath, to see the size and power of 
the wings by which they can transport themselves wherever attraction 
of food may take them. 
The Pterostichus vulgaris, Linn., is wingless. This beetle (figured, 
as well as the above, at p. 80) is rather larger than the H. rujicornis. 
It is from six and a half to seven and a half lines, or rather more, in 
length ; the colour entirely black; the fore body rather broader than 
long, and the hinder angles, though pointed, yet more bluntly so than 
in ruficornis; the wing-cases strongly and smoothly striated. 
The Pterostichus (= Steropus) madidus, Fab. (figured, magnified, at 
p. 81), is (or may be) rather larger than the vulgaris, the length 
running from half-an-inch to over two-thirds. It is wingless and 
black, though sometimes the legs have red thighs. It is distinguish- 
able from the other species of Pterostichus mentioned above by the 
hinder corners of the fore body being rounded behind so as to be 
narrower than the base of the wing-cases. For this compare figures 
‘at pp. 80 and 81. 
The above notes of general appearance give perhaps enough 
