TUENIP BIUD-BEETLE. 105 



September of the past season, I received specimens, forwarded by Mr. 

 Eobert Turnbull, Inspector of Technical Education mider the Aberdeen 

 County Council, which show the presence of Helophoms larvae as 

 feeders in the upper part of Turnip-bulbs, and in the leaf-stalks, 

 coincidently with presence of this H. rurjosus {=fennicns) on the 

 leafage. 



At present we have only notes of this " Turnip Mud-beetle " as a 

 crop pest from localities in Aberdeenshire or its neighbourhood ; but 

 as under its synonym of fennicus this kind is recorded as found at 

 various places in Kent, also as having been found in Hertfordshire, 

 Norfolk, near Carlisle,"' &c., though "not common," we might find, if 

 attention was directed to the subject, that these maggots are the cause 

 of some of the tunnellings in tops of Turnip-bulbs, of which the reason 

 has not yet been made out. 



The history of the infestation, with description of the beetle and 

 maggot, and habits, so far as we know them at present, stand as 

 follows : — 



The beetles are about a quarter of an inch long (see figure, natural 

 size, at p. 104) ; when magnified (and carefully cleaned from the mud 

 or dirt, with which it is one of their characteristics to be often 

 covered), they will be found to be of various tints of a rusty or rusty- 

 reddish colour ; the wing-cases greyish or ochrey, with scattered dark 

 spots; the legs and horns (which are somewhat clubbed at the end) 

 pale. The thorax (body behind the head) is slightly waved at the 

 sides, and has five grooves, more or less forked and interrupted, 

 running along it, and the wing-cases are punctate-striated, the spaces 

 between being raised in a smooth clean narrow ridge. By the presence 

 of this line running along the wing-cases, this kind may be especially 

 distinguished from the H. aquaticns, which is noted by Stephens (see 

 reference below to 'British Entomology') as being "common in 

 every stagnant pond and ditch throughout the Metropolitan district, 

 and, I believe, in most parts of the country." 



In the notes given me in 1889, by Mr. Milne, of the habits of these 

 beetles, he mentioned amongst other points that he had "observed 

 Turnip-fields attacked at the side next a former Tarnip-field here and 

 there throughout this part of the country " (Inverurie, Ed.) " for over 

 thirty years. It is most seen in crofts (small farms) where the lots 

 are in narrow stripes ; in some cases I have seen the portion of a lot 

 next the last year's Turnip lot quite half-eaten. The mischief is done 

 when the plants are small." 



Some slight amount of observation of presence of the beetles was 

 sent in following years from one or two localities in the neighbourhood 



* See Stephen's 'Illustrations of British Entomology: Mandibulata,' vol. ii. 

 pi 111 ; also, by the same author, ' Manual of British Goleoptera,' p. 84. 



