196 



Insects most injurious to Cultivators : — 



Genus, Athalia Leach. (Synonymes of the genus: Allantus Jurine, Hylo- 



toma Fabricius,') 

 Species, AthaUa centifolise Panzer. (Insects of Germany, No. 49. fig. 18. : 



Stephens, Illustrations of British Entomology ; Mandib., vol. vii. p. 62. ( Syno- 



nyme of the species : Athalia spinarum Curtis. (British Entomology, pi. 617. 



Fabricius, Ent. Syst,, ii. p. 110. ? ; Syst. Piezatorum, p. 26.*) 



The perfect insect is about a quartei' of an inch long; the 

 wings, when expanded, extending {^g. 73. e) nearly two thirds of 



73 



a. Caterpillar; S, caterpillar magnified; c, cocoon; d, pupa magnified; x, its natural length ;; 

 e, perfect insect; /, ditto magnified. 



an Inch. It is, for its size, a very conspicuous insect, being of 

 a bright orange colour ; the head black ; the upper lip pale 

 yellow ; the antennas black, varied sometimes on the under side 

 with dirty yellow, nine-jointed, the terminal joint having the 

 appearance of an impression somewhat like a distinct articula- 

 tion, the basal and terminal joints entirely black ; the thorax 

 bright orange, with two large lateral spots ; the metathorax black 

 above, with an orange spot in the centre ; the abdomen is pale 

 orange, with a small black spot on each side of the basal seg- 

 ment ; the wings are orange at the base, and colourless at the 

 tips, the costa, or fore margin, being black and incrassated ; the 

 legs are pale orange ; the tips of the tibiae and of the four basal 

 joints of the tarsi black, as are also the entire fifth tarsal joint, 

 and the tip of the ovipositor or saw-like instrument which is em- 

 ployed in depositing the eggs, and of the curious construction 

 of which a future opportunity will occur for the description. 



In the perfect state, the insect is in no manner injurious to 

 the crop of turnips, the only objects being now the coupling, 

 and depositing of the eggs. As to the time of the appearance 

 of these insects in the winged state, we find Rusticus stating that, 

 " about the middle of July, these real turnip flies were showered 

 down upon us, as it were, from the clouds ; they fell thicker than 



* There is some confusion as to this species in the works of Fabricius. In 

 the Ent. Syst., he describes the antennae as filiform and exarticulate, and the 

 wings as white ; but, in the Syst. Ent., he seems to have had another insect 

 in view, as he places it in his section with nine-jointed and filiform antennae, 

 with the observation, " The larva is black, and feeds upon the ^rassica J?apa 

 (or turnip), which it entirely destroys." The confusion as to the species pre- 

 vails also in the specific name. 



