80 MANGOLD. 



always small, a complete mass of them all over the crown of the Man- 

 gold, and (at the time of lifting) the top was short and bushy, and the 

 bulb very small. On the loamy part of the field little damage was 

 done, and the Mangolds were four times as large. 



" The land was a Wheat stubble, ploughed in the autumn, the 

 manuring and other cultivations being done in the spring. There was 

 no second sowing. The sort was Golden Tankard." — (R. D.) 



The above clear description agrees well with the main points laid 

 down by technical observers of Atomaria attack. We have the bad 

 gnawing at the roots of the young plants, also the lesser injury of holes 

 being bitten into them, and also the damage to the leaves. 



The enormous amount of the crsatures to be found in the ground, 

 which is a point especially drawn attention to in M.Bazin's account, is 

 also noted in the following further notes with which I was favoured 

 from Mr. James Girdwood, Estate Agent, after further inquiry : — 



" Early in October I observed large patches on which the roots 

 were evidently dying off, and none of us could account for it, but 

 believe the cause has been revealed by Miss Ormerod's letter, as I saw 

 Davis the other day, who informed me that he had observed the cause 

 in taking up tlie crop, when they found at the roots ' hundreds of 

 millions of ants which had gnawed the fibres of the roots' " ; and now 

 Mr. Girdwood notes that he believes, from the information in my letter, 

 that these supposed ants were really the Atomaria beetles. The result 

 of the attack was " something like half a crop of seedy-looking roots." 

 -(J. G.) 



At present the only case in which we have secured identification of 

 the Atomaria beetle in connection with its attack, is that furnished by 

 Prof. Harker, of Cirencester ; but to show the similarity of our attacks 

 with the authorized descriptions, I append notes on these points ; and 

 first as to the serious amount of destruction to the young crop, the 

 injury at the ground level, and also to the roots, thus well-described in 

 the account of this infestation given with great minuteness by Dr. J. 

 Ritzema Bos, Professor at the Royal Agricultural College, Wageuingen, 

 Netherlands : — 



"It is often observable in the spring that the young plants of 

 Sugar Beet are very irregularly distributed on the land. On many 

 parts of the field absolutely none of the young plants are to be found ; 

 on other parts a couple of seed patches may be found still bearing 

 young Beet plants, but these already withering, and of a yellow 

 colour, it is impossible to take them from the ground without tearing 

 them to pieces. The lower part of the stalks are badly eaten below 

 the surface of the ground, and the damag^e extends even to the middle 

 of the underground parts of the stem. The root is often similarly 

 gnawed in places, and the wounded parts become black. If one of 



