31 5 CULTURE OF FARM CROPS. 



beneath two horny capes; it is included in the family 

 Chrysomelidae or golden beetles, for certain scientific reasons 

 in conformity with its structure, and is one of about one 

 hundred species forming the genus Altica, so called from 

 the great powers they have of leaping ; it is readily known 

 by the thickness of its thighs, which give it the power of 

 leaping, like fleas, to a prodigious distance, considering its 

 small size. Eighteen inches is about the greatest extent 

 of its leap, which, in a straight line, would be, averaging 

 its stature, two hundred and sixteen times its own length; 

 and, when it is remembered that this leap is performed in 

 a curved line, it must be admitted that a considerably 

 greater distance is achieved. Mr. Le Keux states that 

 ' the female, which is larger than the male beetle, lays but 

 few eggs, compared with other insects ; and that it requires 

 a period of about thirty days to carry the animal through 

 its various stages up to the time when it becomes a perfect 

 beetle again viz. : It remains an egg ten days, a maggot six, 

 and a chrysalis thirteen days. The eggs are deposited on 

 the under-side of the turnip-leaf; and when they become 

 maggots, they immediately begin to eat through the lower 

 skin of the leaf, and form winding burrows by feeding on 

 the pulp. They are full fed in about sixteen days, when they 

 desert these burrows, and bury themselves not quite two 

 inches below the surface of the earth, where they become 

 immovable chrysalides, which are brought to maturity in 

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

 emerges from its tomb again, to fulfil the laws of Nature.' 

 One pair of these insects produces five or six broods in a 

 season. They are rather long lived, and are found, during 

 the inclement months of winter, under the bark of trees, 

 and similar sheltered places, in a torpid state. It is a 

 perfect wonder, to the naked eye, how this pest can, in a 

 short space of time, commit such destruction on the turnips, 

 because its dimensions are so small; but when highly 

 magnified, this idea is at once dispelled, for it is then seen 

 that Nature has provided it with formidable weapons, 

 whereby it is enabled to obtain its sustenance. We are 



