2 Eev. W. Houghton and Mr. W. Phillips on 



Irish pest. A few other mangel enemies are known to have 

 caused much damage in France, but not in this country, with 

 the notable exception of the two-winged fly [Anthoviyia hetce), 

 which first, I think, in the autumn of 1862 attacked the crops 

 in Shropshire and the Midland counties generally, causing 

 very serious injury*. Since that date this Anthoinyia has, 

 from time to time, caused considerable damage in different 

 English counties, sometimes appearing on the dicotyledonous 

 leaves in the early summer as well as on the full-grown leaves 

 in the autumn; and now, for the first time in Shropshire, 

 another insect foe, whose known antecedents imply tlie possi- 

 bility of very serious mischief to the mangels, appears. The 

 Aphis Tumicis, Linn., popularly known as " black dolphin " 

 in some districts, " collier " or " black smother-fly," is, I 

 feel pretty sure, the species in question. The diagnosis of 

 the Aphides in closely allied species is very difficult, and the 

 absolute differentiation of A. runnel's and A. atriplicis, for 

 instance, is especially so. However, I carefully compared a 

 great number of these mangel Aphides with specimens on 

 the beans in my own garden, and could see no difference 

 between the two lots. 



Mr. Buckton, the author of the valuable ' Monograph of 

 British Aphides,' Ray Society^ to whom I sent fresh speci- 

 mens of the Apliis on some affected leaves, corroborated my 

 identification. Miss Ormerod informs me t\\ixi A. j^ctpaverls 

 is mentioned by Kaltenbach as occurring on almost all kinds 

 of plants, and especially on mangel ; but I feel sure that 

 ^.^a^aver/s is not the species I examined. The same lady 

 also informs me that in the course of the year before last she 

 received numerous specimens on mangels, which appeared to 

 her to belong to A. atriiAicis^ Linn. It is not improbable 

 therefore that the three species — A. rumicis^ as noticed by 

 myself, A. poimveris^ as mentioned by Kaltenbach, and A. 

 atriplicis, as examined by Miss Ormerod — are all occasional 

 mangel pests. 



Buckton says that A. riimicis is almost omnivorous ; though 

 its common food-plants are Bumex crispus, Garduus lanceo- 

 latus, and the stalks and top shoots of the broad-bean ; it is 

 also found on the flower-heads of the garden rhubarb and ivy- 

 shoots, on Polycjoniim persicaria, Borago officinalis, Digitalis 

 purpurea, and other plants. Mr. Buckton also informs us 

 that in 1854 the ravages of this Aphis in the turnip-fields of 

 Yorkshire were Very marked, many hundred acres being 

 utterly ruined. Now, one of the fields visited by me last 



* See my paper in the ' Quarterly Journal of Microscopic Science ' for 

 18G3, -where the female tly is figured and described for the first time. 



