THE HEATHER BEETLE 381 



the beetles, it is any exaggeration to allow three hundred beetles 

 per day per bird. Ours is not a very good Blackgame ground 

 now, and perhaps we have three hundred head in all ; that 

 would equal ninety thousand beetles per day. I was surprised 

 to find, too, how little heather was eaten in most cases, despite 

 the fact that the birds were in almost every case found on 

 the moor and not in the woods." It is interesting to note 

 that this was written and printed before any one realised 

 the importance of the heather beetle as a destructive 

 insect ! 



Probably the only practicable method of dealing with the 

 pest is that of burning the affected heather, not at the usual 

 season for so doing, but at the time when the grub is on the shoots 

 feeding. As the beetle hibernates between the months of 

 September or October, and April or May, it would probably be 

 of little use burning within this period, for the beetles would 

 then be lying in a torpid condition below the surface of the soil, 

 with cool and moist surroundings, and the flames would pass 

 over them without doing them serious harm. The burning 

 should, therefore, be done between May and August, when the 

 grubs are above ground feeding on the shoots. There are two 

 principal objections to this plan, namely the legal restrictions on 

 heather burning in Scotland, and the practical difficulty of 

 getting the heather to burn when in a green and sappy con- 

 dition. A special dispensation might be obtained in order to 

 try the effect of burning the diseased areas during the summer 

 months. The difficulty regarding the green condition of the 

 heather might be got over by spraying the portion to 

 be burned with some inflammable fluid such as paraffin 

 or petrol, in small areas at a time, and well before any 

 light is applied. It would not be necessary for the heather 

 itself to be so thoroughly burned as for the purpose of pro- 

 moting young growth for feeding, the fire obtained from the 

 inflammable agent itself might be sufficient to kill the grubs, 

 even if the shoots did not burn so freely as at other 

 seasons. 



