THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 387 



happened to the crop in Northumberland : — " The ordinary 

 turnip- fly was prevalent over all this district, with scarcely 

 an exception, last summer. Its ravages were greater, and it 

 continued them for a longer time, than I ever remember. In 

 ordinary years it has generally attacked turnips — Swedes, 

 especially — which have been sown early, and where the soil 

 has not been in the most perfect tilth. This was not the 

 case this season; the plants came away very well, and at 

 first appeared to grow vigorously; when they were attacked 

 by the fly, and withered off", leaving long stalks in many 

 instances; the frosty nights completing the destruction. 

 The flies continued to sweep off every fresh sowing, — one, 

 two, three, and sometimes even four, — even after the middle 

 of June, at which period we have, hitherto, always found the 

 plants safe. Most of the Swedes were destroyed. I have a 

 very few of the second sowing which escaped. The white 

 turnip and hybrids that succeeded were also two or three 

 times sown, and afterwards came away vigorously ; and 

 hereabouts have done well, mainly owing to the showers in 

 August." 



The turnip leaves were remarkably free from caterpillars; 

 even the small caterpillar of the diamond moth was absent. 

 In a few spots bordering the outcrop of rocks, which had 

 supplied secure breeding places, I had a space of several 

 yards breadth entirely eaten off by earwigs. They stripped 

 the leaves, after the plants were thinned, leaving only the 

 skeleton ribs; weeds and potatoes all went in the same way; 

 till some change took place, perhaps the acquisition of wings 

 by the young broods, when the nuisance abated. They fed 

 only at night, and used to hide during the day in the soil, 

 the fork at the tail being visible here and there at the 

 surface, or clustered under clods and small stones. The 

 workers killed numbers with their hoes ; and for a few days 

 the rooks and jackdaws held a high feast over the spot. 

 This happened also at the sunny-side of stone walls, the 

 turnip leaves being holed for some distance off. 



But a still worse source of mischief lurked in some of the 

 fields, and began to develop itself to an enormous extent 

 towards autumn, viz,, the turnip louse, or Aphis, of which 

 a notice was given in the Club's ' Proceedings' of last year. 

 I first noticed them here among the Swedes (Aphis Brassicae 



