400 



Observations on the various Insects 



beans also : * I now find that another species assists very mate- 

 riall y in the destruction of these plants. 



Last Midsummer Mr. George Gill sent me many specimens 

 of a beetle alive ; and informed me, " that they were making sad 

 havoc in the vicinity of Kettering, in Northamptonshire, amongst 

 several different plants, more particularly peas, turnips, and young 

 winter-plants, as savoy, kale, broccoli, &c." A market-gardener 

 in the same neighbourhood had 4 rows of peas, 70 yards long, 

 destroyed by them, and the general crop much injured. About 

 8 poles of white turnips, just fit for the hoe, were eaten off in two 

 nights, and the same quantity of winter-greens, nearly in a state 

 for setting out, was also devoured. 



During the day Mr. Gill observed the weevils remained in 

 clusters under the soil, but as soon as the sun was set they came 

 out and commenced their depredations, which they continued 

 until 4 o'clock in the morning, when they again retired for the 

 day. It is possible the Caterpillars of Noctua segetum and N. 

 exclamationis, called surface-grubs, j might assist in the destruc- 

 tion of the turnips and winter-greens ; but no doubt Mr. Gill is 

 correct regarding the peas, for on putting 4 of the weevils into a 

 box with some shoots of peas and horse-beans, in two nights they 

 ate the holes in the stem and leaves as exhibited in the plate 

 (fig. 1), as well as others in different parts of the plants. 



This weevil is sometimes a dreadful pest in gardens, commit- 

 ting sad ravages on vines in hothouses and on wall-fruit, during 

 the night, when they emerge from their hiding-places in old walls, 

 from under the bark and clods of earth, to revel upon the branches 

 of the new wood in April, or to feed upon the young shoots, which 

 soon become black. They likewise injure raspberry plants in 

 spring by eating through the flowering stems and leaves, and they 

 nibble off the bark, and eat out the buds of apple and pear trees 

 as early as February or March. J 



The larvee also (fig. 1 , 8 the same magnified) are very destruc- 

 tive to the roots of flowers and various plants in the autumn, win- 

 ter, and spring, when they change to pupae (fig. 9, 10 the same 

 magnified), in which state they remain probably not more than 

 a fortnight. 



The larvae or maggots are fat, whitish, and wrinkled, with horny 

 hazel- coloured heads : they lie generally in a curved position, 

 and having no feet, remain feeding under ground, pretty nearly in 

 the same spot where they were hatched. Having arrived at their 

 full growth, they form an earthen cell, and change to a torpid 

 pupa of a whitish colour, with black eyes, exhibiting through the 



* Jour. Royal Agric. Soc, vol. vii. p. 405. t lb., vol. iv. p. 100. 

 % Gardeners' Chron., 1841, p. 292. ' 



