696 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



named orders; these are subdivided into lesser 

 groups, called families, which comprise smaller 

 companies, desijinaled genera; and each 0/ these 

 consists of more or lewer speci':s, or difl'ereni 

 sorts, which occasionally vary in size and color, 

 and such are termed varieties. Aiiolher still 

 more important lact to be remembered is, that all 

 insects pro)j;ress through several stages :*^rsi, the 

 lemale lays an egg ; tliis egg hatclies and produces, 

 secondly, a larva, which is a li tie anituHl cal.'ed a 

 maggot or gentle, a caterpillaK or canker, a Vv-orm 

 or grub, &c. Thus we have maggots in ciieese atjd 

 meat, called gentles by angleis; caterpillars on 

 cabbages, can&ers in roses, wire worms -dud silk- 

 loorms, and all sorts ol'grubs. When any of these 

 have fed until they are full grown, having been 

 compelled to cast their skins several times as they 

 increase in size, they change, thirdly, to a pupa, 

 chrysalis, aurelia, or nymph: they eiiher enter 

 the earth lor this purpose, as most naked mag- 

 gots do, or, like hairy caterpillars they spin a 

 web, in which ihey undergo their translijrmation 

 or change ; but the caterpillars of the cabbage, 

 butterfly, and many others, merely suspend them- 

 selves to a wall or rail, and there remain unpro- 

 tected during the winter. In this state they all 

 rest without any symptoms of life, except when 

 touched, until the substance of the enclosed larva 

 has become perfected into the various n)embers of 

 its first parents, when, fourtltly, out comes a flesh- 

 fly, a butterfly, a rose-moth, a click-beetle, a tur- 

 nip-fly, &c. ; and this i- called the i7nngo, or perfect 

 state. 



The turnip-beetle, with whose history we vvill 

 begin, belongs to the order coleopiera, from 

 its wings, with which it flies, being Iblded beneath 

 two horny cases. It is included in the family 

 chrysomelida, or golden beetles, for certain 

 scientific reasons, in confbrmiiy with its structure, 

 and is one of about one hundred species, ibrming 

 the genus altica, sometimes written haltica. 



Thestripedturnip-bcetle. or, as it has been called, 

 the turnip-fly, turnip-flea, earth flea-bertle, black- 

 jack, &c., is named in our catalogues altica ne- 

 morum.'\ The former word, derived from the 

 Greek, alludes to the leaping powers ofihe genus, 

 and the latter signilying that this species inhabits 

 woods and groves, which were more especially its 

 haunts before the cultivation of the turnip became 

 general. 



The economy of this little pest has puzzled the 

 man of science, as well as the practical agricul- 

 turist, fur many years ; and lor want of that rigid 

 care which is indispensable in the investigation of 

 natural history, numerous errors have been adopt- 

 ed, which have led to the promulgation of many 

 false theories. Dr. Pearson believed at first that 

 the white spots or dots observable on more than 

 half the turnip- seeds were the eggs of the turnip- 

 fly ; but he was compelled to abandon that opinion, 

 " having had no flies where the seed was sown in 

 soil contained in pots covered vi'ith bell-glasses." 

 " Kusticus," however, a contributor 10 the Ento- 

 mological Magazine, f so strongly insisted upon it. 



* Plant-lice often bring forth young instead of 

 laying eggs, so do blue-bottle flies, but not always ; 

 and there are a few other exceptions. 



t Vide Curtis's Gu'de to an Arrangement of British 

 Insects, second edit., col. 74. 



X Entomological Magazine, vol. i. p. 363. 



that seed steeped in brine, or otherwisejprepared, 

 have been sold in London at the seed-shops, to 

 insure the grower against the attacks of the fly. 

 It is exceedingly likely that the white dots are 

 occasioned by minute flies alighting upon the 

 seeds whiit; ihey are drying, and deposiiing their 

 excrement ujion then), which is often white; or 

 Ihey may be particles of pollen from the flowers. 

 It was, however, (rom the careful investigations 

 of JN'Ir. H. Le. Keux * ihai we were first made ac- 

 quainted wiih the actual economy of this little 

 beetle. 



If the spring be warm the sexes pair from April 

 to September, during which period the eggs 

 are deposited by the lemale on the underside of 

 the rough leaves of the turnips. She lays ap- 

 parently about one e^g daily ; and ten pairs laid 

 in a week oidy Ibriy-three eggs. This indeed 

 was under confinement ; but the correctness of 

 this esiimaieis supported by the fact, that in leaves 

 taken fiom the field, containing as many as six 

 larvfe, ijiey were ail of diflerenl sizes, indicating a 

 variety of ages. The eggs are very minute, oval, 

 smooih, and partaling of the color of the leaf. 

 They are hatched in ten days ; and the little 

 maggots immediately bei,Mn to eat through the 

 lower skin of the leaf, and to form winding 

 burrows by feeding on the pulp. These burrows 

 are visible enough to the naked eye when the 

 larva? leaves them, and the cuticles are withered 

 and discolored ; but in their early stage they are 

 discovered with difficulty: indeed it is only by 

 holding the leaf up to the light that they can be 

 well detected. 



The larvce are pale, fleshy, and cylindrical, with 

 six pectoral feet, and a proleg at the apex : the 

 head is liirnished with jaws and large dark eyes ; 

 and the first and last segments bear dark patches. 

 They are full led in about sixteen days, when they 

 desert their burrows and bury themselves not 

 quite two inches below the surface of the earth, 

 selecting a spot near the bulb, where the turnip- 

 leaves protect them from the wet and drought. 



In the earth they become immoveable c/irj/saZzt/es 

 which are brought to maturity, I believe, 

 in about a fortnight, when the beetle or fly, as it is 

 called, emerges fiom its tomb, again to ILilfil the 

 lavvs of nature. 



The beetles are shining black, minutely 

 punctured ; the head is rather small, with two 

 prominent orbicular eyes, finely granulated ; the 

 mouth projects a little, the upper lip and fiielers 

 being visible : just above the nose are placed two 

 longish horns, each composed of eleven joints, tliH 

 three next the head ochre-colored, the first being 

 the longest, the remainder dull black, the terminal 

 one pointed : the thorax, or trunk, is broader than 

 the head, narrowed a little before, with the sidea 

 rounded : the two wing-cases are moveable, and 

 Ibrm an oval ; they are twice as broad as the trunk, 

 and lour times as long ; each has a distinct ochre- 

 colored stripe, sometimes approaching to white, 

 running down theceritre, generallj' winding a little 

 on the outside, near the middle, and curved inward 

 at the extremity : beneath are ample wings, twice 

 as long as the body, and Iblded up for protection 

 when unemployed : the legs are of a rusty ochre, 

 the thighs pitch-colored, the hinder being very 



* Transactions of the Entomological Society of 

 London, vol. ii, p. 24. 



