114 S'TRAWBERRY. 
and the beetles did not reappear in this manner, but were mentioned 
to be all about the neighbourhood, and especially reported by a 
gardener living close to a wood near Park Street. ‘This is a village 
about a mile (as the crow flies) south of St. Albans; Bone Hill is 
about two miles to the south-west. 
Later on, enquiry was made me by the Rev. J. A. Cruikshank, 
Vicar of Sandridge, a village not quite three miles to the north of St. 
Albans, as to the nature of a very great quantity of large dark brown 
beetles which had appeared in June, and completely destroyed his very 
promising Strawberry bed. On showing Mr. Cruikshank my type 
specimens of Ground Beetles, he picked out those of the Harpalus 
rujicornis as similar to those which had done the mischief, and at my 
request was good enough to give me the following note of the great 
numbers in which the beetles appeared, and the great amount of mis- 
chief which they caused :— 
‘The Harpalus ruficornis made its appearance in this way early in 
June. I noticed a sound as of heavy drops of rain falling on the step 
of the garden door; on inspection, I found that the sound was caused 
by scores of beetles falling from the walls of the house; apparently 
they had flown against the wall and then fallen to the ground. About 
the middle of June my gardener noticed great numbers of them on 
and about the Strawberry bed; they remained in the soil during the 
day, and came to the surface at night. They first attacked the 
Strawberry beds when a few berries were ripe, and then turned their 
attention to all the berries, whether green or ripe. The whole crop, 
an exceptionally good one, was destroyed in less than a week. After 
they had done all the mischief they could, they disappeared, but a few 
are still to be found in the soil at the date of this letter.”—(J. A. C., 
Sept. 20th, 1897.) 
A little later than the date of the above appearances of the H. 
rujicornis to the north and south of St. Albans, I found a small 
amount of injury to Strawberry fruit in my own garden, which lies on 
the southern slope of Holywell Hill in St. Albans, just outside the 
town; but I did not notice presence of any beetles, possibly because I 
was seldom in the garden in the evening. 
On July 6th I was favoured by the Rev. T. E. Platten, writing 
from Hindringham Vicarage, Walsingham, Norfolk, with the following 
communication, showing, like the preceding one from Sandridge, the 
speed and thoroughness with which a visitation of these beetles (H. 
rujficornis) clears off a promising crop of Strawberry fruit :— 
‘““T am sending for your inspection some Strawberries gathered 
from my bed. I had a most splendid show of fruit, and now I find 
that nearly all the berries are like those I am sending, and there is 
not a Strawberry on the bed worth eating. I am also sending you in 
