302 



Beetles on Mushrooms. 



[AUG., 



5. As much lime as the plants will allow should be mixed 

 with the soil in which tomatoes are grown, more especially 

 if they are grown in the same beds during successive seasons. 



6. The infected soil from a bed should not be thrown out 

 at random, but should be sterilised by a mixture of quicklime, 

 and care should be taken not to bring it in contact with 

 tomato beds. 



7. Only short-jointed sturdy plants should be used, and those 

 should be fairly hard and the foliage of a dark bionze appearance. 

 All spindly or drawn plants should be rejected. 



8. The plants should be allowed plenty of air, light, and room 

 for growth. 



The Board recently received some specimens of insects 

 which were reported as causing considerable havoc in mush- 

 room beds. The specimens included two 



Beetles on different species of adult beetle, one of which 

 Mushrooms. • J r _ r a . 



was identified as one of the rove beetles, or 



Staphylinidce, and of the genus Quedius. These rove beetles 

 are very quick in their movements and very voracious, feeding 

 both on a carnivorous diet (live small animals, e.g., worms, and 

 rotting animal matter) and on vegetable matter. Characteristic 

 places for their breeding and shelter are heaps of rotting plant 

 matter and manure. 



The other beetle proved to be Aphodius fimetarius, one of the 

 dung beetles. In an infestation of this kind the manure of 

 the mushroom beds may harbour some of the pests, and this 

 should be carefully examined before the beds are made up. 

 All likely breeding or shelter places should be cleared away, 

 such as heaps of rotting vegetable matter, in the neighbourhood. 

 Trapping the beetles which are at work should be diligently 

 practised. The traps could be " baits " of, say, pieces of 

 " lights " or liver placed here and there over the beds ; these 

 should be frequently examined, and the beetles destroyed 

 by dropping them into a little paraffin. If it were possible to 

 place the " bait " in small basins with steep slippery sides 

 sunk to the level of the bed, many of the insects which had 



