Queries and Anstve7's. 505 



chasing it, if expensive ? Au extract, in that case, would be of some value. 

 — J. C. Farmer. 



Captain Brown, in his notes to his edition of White's History of Selhorne 

 represents, p. 1 14., that Marshall has given some information on the 

 insect in the Philosophical Transactions ; and, we believe, some may also be 

 found in one of the volumes of Gill's Technological Ecjjositori/. 



The Fly in Turni2Js. — A farmer, who lives at Green Hammerton 

 (Yorkshire), states that nearly all the Swedish turnips in his neighbour- 

 hood were destroyed by the fly, with the exception of those of a few of 

 the farmers at Green Hammerton : and that, in consequence of their 

 having adopted the following method, their crops had suffered very little, 

 although they were at first as much infested as their neighbours'. A 

 board, about 18 in. in breadth, and sufficiently long to cover four ridges of 

 turnips, was made to run upon wheels, high enough to allow the board to 

 pass over the turnips without touching the tops of them ; the lower side 

 of the board was painted with white paint, which the men provided them- 

 selves with and took into the field ; and, during the night (at which time 

 the fly is more vigorous and destructive than during the day), the instru- 

 ment was wheeled from one end of the field to the other. The insects, on 

 being disturbed, of course immediately fly or jump up, and stick to the 

 paint ; and, at the end of every set of ridges, the board was always covered 

 with them. (Bury and Norwich Post, August 15. 1832.) 



On the Turnip Fly, Flea, or Beetle (Hdltica nemorum'). — Mr. Main, in 

 his Illustrations of Vegetable Physiology just published, in a chapter on 

 " Destructive Insects," has, p. 297., remarked: — " The most successful 

 management for preserving a crop of field turnips is by sowing drills 

 of the kind intended to stand, rather thinly, alternating with drills of an- 

 other sort sowed thickly ; the latter will be preferred by the flies, and 

 devoured while the first grow out of their way : the supernumerary 



drills, if any of the plants escape, are afterwards hoed up We 



had been acquainted with this beetle, and had suffered much from its 

 ravages many years, without ever being able to witness its flight ; but one 

 day (July 20. 18.32), in passing along the Fulham Road, and opposite a 

 piece of turnips saved for seeds in the nursery of Messrs. Harrison and 

 Bristow, we found several of the insects on our dress, and saw thousands 

 sporting in the sunbeams over the crop. This circumstance shows the 

 fallacy of those arguments in which it is stated that sowing ten days after 

 the turnip land is ploughed, or fallowing two years successivel}', will 

 destroy or banish the insect from the crop." 



The Oat Grub. — The larvae of the Tfpula are stated, in Insect Trans- 

 formations, occasionally to destroy the grass in meadows, in particular 

 places, to some extent. I wish to mention (as requiring a little explanation), 

 that this never happens in the north of England. The oat crop is the 

 only one that suffers much, as wheat is scarcely ever sown after lea ; and it 

 is probable that the eggs are deposited the preceding year amongst the long 

 grass where the insect is generally found, though it may also be seen 

 amongst turnips, on fallows, &c. ; but then does not appear to injure the 

 after-crops. It is also stated, that Reaumur was of opinion that the insects 

 only eat the mould; and that the damage to the plant is done by burrowing, 

 and loosening the soil : but the author is of opinion that they eat the roots 

 of the grass and corn ; and quotes Stickney's Observations on the Grub, in 

 support of this opinion. As to me, they appear solely to injure the oats, 

 by eating the shoot above ground. I referred to the pamphlet ; and, at page 

 11., it is stated, " I have observed that the principal damage done to the 

 crops of grain by grubs is by their eating off the young shoots before, or 

 soon after, they make their appearance above the surface of the earth ; but 

 when the plants have acquired more strength and substance, by spreading 



