98 TURNIP. 



My ob=;ei'vations beofan on the 22nfl of Mny, and were carried on at 

 Sedbury Park in West Gloucestersliire, my then home. The attacks 

 were watched on Turnip, Rape, and Cabbage blossom, bat mainly on 

 the two former. The Melifiethps observed were the 3f. fBnem, and the 

 M. viridescens. Presumably the (rneus was present far more nnmemnsly 

 than the viridescens ,- but in the out-of-doors part of my observations, 

 where hundreds of the beetles passed under review, it was impossible 

 to distini^uish between these very similarly coloured and sized beetles 

 by examination of structure of the shank of the foreleo: ; therefore for 

 security I describe them now (as in my orij^inal paper) as " Green 

 Meli.^ethes," though probably alwnst all mneus. 



This species is one-twelfth of an inch, or rather more, in len^rth, 

 of the shape fissured at p. 97 ; variable in colour, brassy green, or 

 violet, or sometimes with a bluish tinge ; legs red with pitchy thighs. 

 The .1/". viridescens is about the same shape and size, the colnnr green 

 or bluish green, or blue-black above, with reddish legs. The only 

 absolutely sure point of distinction appears to be that the anterior 

 tibiae (/. e., shank of the fore-legs) are slightly serrated along the 

 outside in crveus, and are not so in viridescens. 



About the 6th of June, I found the " Green Meligethes " or 

 " Flower Beetles " in great numbers on flowers of the Cabbage kind, 

 then apparently feeding only on the pollen, which they collected in 

 any way that might chance, — either from the anthers or from where 

 it had fallen on the flower, or on each other's backs, or by drawing 

 their shanks with pollen attached through their jaws. At this date I 

 found eggs were formed within the beetles, and shortly after both eggs 

 and maggots were noticeable. 



The eggs I observed were long, cylindrical, and blunt at each end, 

 and so transparent that the development of the maggot might be 

 watched within from the day after laying. Hatching took place in 

 four or five days.* The maggots, in the early stage, were whitish, 

 the dark head furnished with a pair of sharply pointed, much-curved 

 jaws. The first three segments each bore a pair of claw-feet, and the 

 proleg at the caudal extremity was made great use of in progression. 



species. These necessitated careful notice of the insect, and record of habits from 

 esPt-layins up to perfect development, and the main points of the observation are 

 given in two papers (with fi,'j;ures of larval development within the egg, also by 

 myself) published in the 'Entomologist's Monthly Magazine,' numbers for July and 

 August, 1874. 



* A clear and full account of the life-history of the Melifjethes crneus is given by 

 Dr. Taschenberg in his ' Praktische Insekten-Kunde, pt. ii, pp. 12 — 14; in this he 

 names eight to fourteen days as the time of hatching. My own observations were 

 taken in a sunny garden with warm exposures, or from specimens brought under 

 artificial circumstances which might accelerate development. 



