62 



MUSTARD. 



easily distinguishable (with the help of a magnifying-glass) from the 

 above-mentioned kinds, both by its shape and colour. Tbis very little 

 beetle is greyish in colour, and furnished with a long curved snout, or 

 proboscis, and is very nearly allied to the little weevil which did a good 

 deal of harm last season to Mustard plants just when they were first 

 sprouting. Of this, the Ceutorhynchus contractus, some notes are given 

 separately under the heading of its special name further on. 



Ceutorhynchus assimilis. — 1 and 2, beetle ; 3 and 4, maggot; 7 and 8, pupa ; all nat. 

 size and magnified ; 5, infested Turnip pod. 



The history of the Mustard Beetle has been so often given that it 

 seems almost unnecessary to repeat it. Still to save reference I note 

 it again as condensed into as short space as possible in my leaflet 

 above mentioned. 



The Mustard Beetle is of a deep full blue or greenish colour above 

 (so shiny as to be almost of a glassy lustre), and black beneath. The 

 legs and horns are also black. It is oblong-oval in shape, about the 

 sixth of an inch long, slightly punctured on the back, and has two 

 wings. 



The grubs, which are of the shape figured at p. 60, are about a 

 quarter of an inch in length when^ full-grown, slightly hairy, of a 

 smoky colour, spotted with black, with black head, and stout black 

 conical horns, lighter at the base. They have three pairs of claw-feet, 

 and a sucker-foot at the end of the tail, and along the sides of the body 

 are a row of tubercles, from which the grubs have the power of pro- 

 truding a yellow gland. 



The method of life is for the beetles to winter in any convenient 

 shelter, in the most various kinds of localities. It may be in the ends 

 of Mustard stocks, or in the roots of old Mustard plants left on the 

 land, or in rough shelters made of Mustard straw ; in ditch or hedge- 

 banks, in the earth or in the rough grass, or at the bottom of hedge- 

 rows. Also they are to be found in crannies of walls, gateposts, old 

 wood or bark, and are especially noted as fond of sheltering amongst 



