50 LADY-BIRD BEETLES. 
‘‘T have been on the wolds near Grimsby this week, and the lambs 
are put on Tares and Rape. The Tares are simply covered with 
filth, and millions of Lady-birds have come to them. A net-stake 
was covered, and they are on the gates all over. I never saw so 
many.” 
On Sept. 15th my correspondent wrote further, in- reply to my 
letter on the subject :—‘‘I sent at once to the place where I saw the 
filth on the Tares, but the rains have killed them.”’ 
Below I give extract from letter in answer to my enquiry :— 
‘« The aphides on the Tares are all gone, the late heavy rains and 
colder temperature having killed them. The Lady-birds are to be seen 
dead in great numbers on the Tares, their pabulum, the aphides, 
having failed them. One of our greatest long-wool ram breeders 
refused to put his young rams on his Tares, owing to the excessive 
filth.” 
The following note by the late well-known coleopterist, Mr. E. C. 
Rye, is of interest in connection with these vast appearances of 
Lady-birds :— 
‘They have been observed in the southern counties to follow the 
aphis in swarms, unexpectedly making their appearance by thousands, 
and settling upon every available resting place ; indeed, I have known 
them to occur in such numbers that it has been necessary to sweep 
them away from paths and windows. They fly strongly, but are not 
rapid or strong walkers. . . . The patches of small yellow eggs can 
often be seen deposited by the parent insect on plants infested by 
aphides; and the slaty-blue larve, which are tuberculated and spotted, 
contracted behind, and with six conspicuous legs in front, may be 
observed crawling about shrubs in gardens, or on walls, preparatory to 
the change to pupa, which is fastened by the tail, and does not get rid 
of the skin of the larva.”’ * 
The genus Coccinella, to which these beetles belong, does excellent 
service by destroying Aphides or Plant-lice, both in the beetle state, 
commonly known as the Lady-bird, and also (and to a still greater 
extent) in the grub or larval condition, sometimes known as “niggers.” 
The eggs soon hatch, and the grubs feed (on the aphides) for about a 
fortnight or three weeks; they then change to the chrysalis or pupal 
state, from which the beetles appear also in about a fortnight or three 
weeks’ time. ‘The late broods pass the winter in beetle state in any 
convenient shelter, as crevices of palings, under bark, amongst loose 
leaves, or in buildings, or dwelling-house, and are ready with the 
return of warm weather to lay eggs and start a new generation. 
The Coccinelle, which are more especially known as Lady-birds, 
are small beetles, hemispherical in shape, convex above and flat below, 
* «British Beetles,’ by E. C. Rye, p. 228. 
