GROUND BEETLES. 111 
for feeding poultry, or the very miscellaneous collection of bodies 
larger than corn grains, sometimes known as “ rubble,’’—may or do 
spread pests wherever they are taken, and are to be looked on with 
great suspicion.* 
STRAWBERRY. 
Ground Beetles—“Bat Beetle.” Harpalus ruficornis, Fab. ; 
Pterostichus (Omaseus) vulgaris, Linn. 
“HK, 
Harratvus rvricornis (left hand), and Prerosticuus vorcaris (right hand), 
magnified, with lines showing natural length. Strawberry fruit gnawed by H. 
ruficornis. 
In the year 1894 accounts were sent to me of much mischief caused 
by various species of ‘‘ Ground Beetles”’ (duly identified at the time) 
to Strawberry fruit at Woodborough in Nottinghamshire. In this 
instance the farmer watched for the cause of the mischief, and detected 
the beetles swarming on the fruit by night, which they devoured to 
such an extent that the crop of three roods was ruined. 
In 1895 the attack reappeared to a much more serious extent, for 
it showed itself at many places in the above district, and injured the 
Strawberry fruit to such an extent, just when it was beginning to 
ripen, as to cause severe losses. 
In 1897, that is, the year now past, the specimens and reports 
forwarded show this great trouble to Strawberry growers to be not 
only still present and injurious in the district where it was first 
observed, but also to be much more widely prevalent. In this county 
(Hertfordshire) the beetles appeared in great numbers in the early 
* See my ‘ Twelfth Annual Report on Injurious Insects,’ article “‘ Screenings,” 
pp. 56-65. 
