Mr. Hardy on Turnip Insects during 1870. 145 



I have again recourse to Mr. Langland's report. " In the 

 beginning of September, the Turnip Louse, (Aphis Brassi- 

 cce) made its appearance, and its ravages on the early sown 

 Swedes, which had escaped the Fly, were most pernicious. I 

 was in the fine turnip district near Thirsk — and also on the 

 Tees, at this time, and then first noticed the louse, which 

 had already affected some fine fields of Swedes to a great 

 extent. I found it appearing in this district, on my return, 

 and it soon assumed a very destructive character. The early 

 sown Swedes on the gravels and on strong land, seem to have 

 gone off entirely. My own Swedes were partially affected 

 only ; — but this I ascribe to the fact of being all later sown ; 

 and having suffered less from the drought. The Aphis pre- 

 vailed with me — and did last year in circular patches ; — and 

 not to any greater extent this year than last. I hear that 

 East Lothian has suffered much. The worst here-abouts is 

 near Wooler ; and those I saw on the Tees were also very 

 bad." 



From East Lothian I have a communication from a com- 

 petent authority, Mr. R. Scot Skirving, of Camptown. He 

 is of opinion, in which I join him, that in Scotland, w r e have 

 little to fear from the " surface- grubs " of the lepidopterous 

 genus Agrotis, which Mr. Newman, in The Field, and The 

 Entomologist, considers to be so hurtful to the turnip. A 

 much more deadly " grub " is that of the Tipula oleracea, or 

 " Crane fly," which eats through the root just below the sur- 

 face, and soon clears half a field. From this grub, this 

 season, Mr. Skirving has lost, at least, thirty acres of turnips. 

 He goes on to say, "The 'fly' took the first sowing, the 

 drought the second, and the crane grub the third. From 

 Tranent to Edinburgh, and all round Portobello, the turnips 

 looked magnificent up to the end of August ; and they almost 

 caused me to ' envy and grieve at the good of my neighbour,' 

 as 1 travelled on the railroad ; but the Turnip Louse came 

 and destroyed the Swedes, root and branch, and the fields 

 became bare ; whilst the soft turnips became bright orange, 

 then dirty yellow, and witheied up as if scorched by fire. 

 This seemed rather disease than insect work. Farms be- 

 tween Tranent and Edinburgh seem peculiarly liable to this, 

 though I have seen it come all over the lower half of East 

 Lothian. It does not attack Swedes." 



The migrating epoch of the turnip Aphids, took place in 

 the end of September, as soon as the wings had developed ; 



