20 



beans was gathered, and the prospect of a second 

 crop, usually obtained from the suckers after the stalks 

 are headed down, was entirely ruined. Should the 

 devastations of the Cantharides increase, it would be- 

 come an object to attempt to diminish their numbers 

 by collecting them for medical use. 



I am disposed to rank the turnip, as a root, next in 

 value to the potato. In many countries it forms a 

 large part of the vegetable sustenance of man and of 

 his domestic animals. It is stated that in England, 

 soon after the turnip appears above ground, a host of 

 little jumping beetles, called by the farmers the fly * 

 attack and devour the seed-leaves, so that, on account 

 of this destruction, the land is often obliged to be re- 

 sown, and frequently with no better success.! The 

 consequent loss sustained in the turnip crops of Dev- 

 onshire, in the year 1786, is estimated, in Young's 

 " Annals of Agriculture," to amount, at least, to one 

 hundred thousand pounds sterhng. In the same country 

 the caterpillar of the cabbage -butterfly t attacks the 

 turnip also in great numbers. Insects allied to these 

 are found upon the turnip in this country. The leaves, 

 in all stages of their growth, are eaten through and 

 through with numerous holes by a small, black, jumping 

 beede, a species o{ Haltica. Some of these insects 

 infest several of our useful plants, such as the horse- 

 radish, the mustard, the radish, the cucumber, &c. 

 The same means for protecting these plants are to be 



* Hallica nemorum. F. 



f Kirby & Spence's Introduction to Entomology. Vol. I. (3d ed.) 

 p. 188. 

 J Pontia Brassica. L. 



