GROUND BEETLES. iil 
large acreage, this is a slow and expensive process. . . . They 
seem very retentive of life, as some lived in water for two or three 
days. They appear to lie dormant in the winter, and come out again 
in the spring.” 
From a fruit-grower near Tewkesbury I had the following enquiry 
during the autumn, which appears (although I had not specimens sent 
for identification at the time of the attack) to refer, without doubt, to 
the same infestation. 
*¢ Will you kindly inform me whether I can apply anything to my 
Strawberry beds to kill or drive away a small beetle commonly called 
in this neighbourhood the ‘ Bat Beetle’? In colour it is of a dull black, 
with reddish brown legs; and it eats the surface of the growing 
Strawberry, continuing from the time the fruit is just beginning to 
swell until it is ripe. My crop was totally destroyed last season 
through this pest. The soil in my garden is a rich sandy loam. There 
are plenty of moles, which I encourage to destroy beetles, grubs, &c.” 
A few days after, on receipt of such information as I was able to 
furnish him with regarding method of “Ground Beetle” attack to 
Strawberries, my correspondent replied :— 
“TJ think it has furnished me with the reason why my crop of 
Strawberries should be entirely ruined and my neighbours’ plantations 
should be almost entirely free. The variety of beetle that I found in 
my beds, according to the description, is the winged variety (Harpalus 
ruficornis); and as they are a carnivorous beetle, I can quite see that 
I have been attracting them from all over the neighbourhood, as I 
have been using blood fresh from the slaughter-house for my fruit 
trees on each side of the Strawberry plats, and as I discontinued the 
use of it as the warm weather came on, the beetles remained to eat 
the Strawberries.” 
During December I received the following communication from 
West Ringham, Berkshire, with specimens of the beetle which had 
caused the damage in the preceding summer accompanying :— 
‘“T srow about three-quarters of an acre of Strawberries for sale, 
and last season the fruit was all spoilt by little beetles, such as I now 
enclose (which were glossy black on the back with red legs); they 
seemed to eat the seeds, and then the fruit withered away. I did not 
gather a bushel off the whole place. . . . They were not to be 
seen on the surface in the daytime, apparently burying themselves 
about an inch underground, but at night they were very busy. The 
ground between the plants has now (Dec. 31st) been dug, and we saw 
nothing of them; but perhaps the eggs are there. . . . I may 
say both early and late kinds were equally affected.” 
The specimens, which were in very good order, so that they still 
preserved the somewhat golden down on the wing-cases, agreed well 
