INSECTS INJURIOUS TO THE TURNIP CROPS. 3 
wonder that turnips ever come to perfection at all in this 
country. But the especial object of this paper is to bring 
before the reader’s notice some account of the insects which 
have been the cause of the complete failure of the turnip 
crops in Shropshire during the year 1865. Look where 
you will, the crops are in many instances utterly destroyed ; 
in others so deteriorated in quality, as to render them, com- 
paratively speaking, valueless, if not, it is to be feared, abso- 
lutely injurious as an article of food. To the ordinary 
observer, no doubt, the bulbs (I am speaking of the Swedes), 
though small, appear sound externally ; but only let us cut 
into the root, and five out of six specimens we shall find to 
hold numerous little maggots. These I shall speak of by 
and by. 
The first serious damage from insects is caused by the 
“ fly/ - ’ a small beetle about the size of a flea, and which, like 
that irritating little brute, is possessed of wonderful leaping 
powers. The muscles of the last pair of legs are enormously 
developed; by means of these the insect is able to take 
its tremendous jumps. The insect in question is not a fly 
properly so-called, but a beetle ; and were we not guided by 
the old proverb, that “ handsome is that handsome does,” I 
have no doubt we should be inclined to allow him a claim to 
beauty. The elytra are. greenish black, with a distinct broad 
longitudinal line or band of yellow down each ; the body is 
black, antennse and legs testaceous. The name of this insect 
is Haltica nemorum, i.e., the “ Leaper of the Groves,” the 
specific name having reference to the localities frequented by 
the animal before turnips were as common as they are now. 
The injury the countless hosts of these little beetles do to the 
turnips, just as they show their two cotyledonous leaves above 
the ground, is too well known to need repetition : with their 
sharp mandibles they bite through the succulent leaves and 
riddle them through and through. It is the perfect insect or 
imago alone that does this damage. It was long before 
naturalists became acquainted with the economy of Haltica 
nemorum ; various theories were promulgated, and most of 
them were false. It was supposed that the minute white spots 
occasionally seen upon the seeds were the eggs of the beetle : 
accordingly turnip-seed steeped in briny and other solutions 
was sold in the London seed-shops in order to ensure a crop. 
This may seem strange to us who refer every minute organism 
to the revelations of the microscope, which will tell us at once 
whether our preconceived theories be true. The whole his- 
tory of this little pest, however, has been made known by the 
careful investigations of Mr. Le Keux ; and though, now that 
we have become acquainted with the habits of the turnip fly, 
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