April 26, 1894. 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
315 
not the dish which comes empty away, and in the emptying pays a 
compliment to both gardener and cook. 
March finished the Brussels Sprouts ; they were never better 
nor more abundant, and in constant use from September. Until 
Gooseberries come in Rhubarb gets severe pulling ; to enable it to 
pull through the ordeal it has just had a tonic in the form of a 
liberal dose of liquid manure flavoured with nitrate of soda. This 
did wonders with some weakly roots last year. 
Amongst the “ Praties ” Sharpe’s Victor as a first early makes 
the record against time, and gives general satisfaction in this 
locality. Parsley is and has been abundant ; its rich unique green 
and beauty of form makes it appear to assert a claim for a place in 
the flower beds. On some occasions lines of it have been very 
close to the beds and not suffered by comparison. In a retrospec¬ 
tive survey vegetables have been abundant and good, though the 
Onion loft is empty. Bad luck to the maggot. Yet out of evil 
may come good. Lessons have been learned, and “ Forewarned is 
forearmed.” 
At present propitious weather favours the garden, and the 
prospective view is one of plenty, which carries with it a measure 
of peace to the gardener.—E. K., Dublin. 
SOME FRIENDLY BEETLES. 
Beetles are amongst the insect pioneers of spring that show 
themselves when the sunshine is rousing up the many species which 
have passed the winter in a more or less torpid state, and hidden 
from our view. In the air, in water, on the earth, or upon plants 
and trees, beetles are now exhibiting their usual activity, and 
though reputed to be a slow race of creatures mostly, we find 
some can be swift in running, if not in flying, and they can 
manage a good amount of jaw work, as we know to our sorrow in 
the case of several garden species. Still, many of the early beetles 
do us no small service in destroying species that are very injurious 
to our crops, and which belong to other families, often of prolific 
habit. Unfortunately, the spring rambles of beetles frequently 
terminate their lives, as they have a propensity for getting crushed 
on garden paths and roads, also in the course of the usual operation 
of turning over earth some are killed by sundry implements. Not 
only beetles, but other friendly insects, meet their death, too, from 
the applications made to the soil and to plants of various insect- 
destroyers, since the effect of these cannot be limited just to the 
species we wish to clear away. A little attention and a slight 
knowledge of entomology, however, might help gardeners to protect 
the lives of some serviceable insects. Of course there are numerous 
species that we come upon against which no accusation can be 
made ; but some, generally harmless, are open to occasional 
suspicions, the ground beetles for instance. Carnivorous by 
nature, some of them have been repeatedly captured in the act of 
devouring ripe, or partially ripe. Strawberries, and very likely 
others may be tempted, especially if other food be scarce, by the 
attractions of a succulent root or a juicy tuber. Our Strawberry 
foes chiefly belong to the genus Harpalus, and issue forth at night, 
hiding during the day ; they may be looked for with a lantern, 
but I may remind gardeners now of the suggestion formerly made 
in these pages, that hundreds may be caught by putting, as traps, 
small drain-pipes loosely filled with hay, into which the beetles 
will readily creep. 
Returning to our friends, the Carabi offer a well-marked and 
familiar instance of a useful tribe of ground beetles ; though 
wingless, they are very nimble and very ravenous. Their long legs, 
armour-cased bodies, and trenchant jaws give them great advan¬ 
tage in pursuing prey ; the larv® or grubs are also carnivorous, but 
their life is passed under the earth. One that we frequently see in 
spring is C. violaceus, about an inch long, seemingly black, though 
really deep violet, with a golden tinge at the margins. It feeds 
upon other beetles, attacking our enemy the cockchafer, also on a 
variety of insects, often seizing caterpillars, and it preys upon 
slugs. Along the beds or amongst flower pots occurs the common 
C. monilis, so named from its peculiar adornments ; a pretty and 
useful beetle, which people foolishly crush sometimes. Then in 
our houses we come upon the pitchy black Sphodrus, rather smaller 
in size. Should we see it amongst pots and boxes we need not kill 
it, for it hunts up insects that are fond of the warmth and moisture ; 
it is even capable of mastering a cockroach should one appear. 
Dingy, too, are the Harpali, many of them, though some are green 
or bluish. These we commonly turn up with the spade, and we 
may spare them when we can, since they are predatory beetles ; 
but one or two species, as above remarked, have lost their good 
characters by their sly visits to Strawberry beds. Rejoicing in 
the April sunshine, and becoming more numerous when the days 
lengthen, beetles of the genus Amara, popularly called sunshiners. 
run over the beds and borders, or pass us in the air, aided by their 
ample wings ; they have a broad thorax, prominent eyes, in colour 
chiefly blue or green, and are about half an inch in length. They 
are quite harmless to plants, so far as we know, subsisting on other 
insects—in fact, it is •* unlucky ” to kill a sunshiner, though I am 
not prepared to say what will happen if you do ! 
Those insects called the rove beetles are a remarkable family ; 
the short wing cases do not cover the wings when folded, their 
antennae are far apart, and the mandibles very strong, both in 
beetles and larvae. Just now these beetles, the Staphylini, are in 
their larval condition, living chiefly under the earth, though they 
now and then take an excursion upon it; they are dark in colour, 
and not unlike the mature insect, only lacking wings, and quite as 
ravenous, devouring many insects, especially in spring; as they 
increase in size a few species feed also upon carrion. During the 
summer and autumn the beetles are common about gardens, roving 
on paths frequently by day, or flying after dusk. Most gardeners 
know S. olens, which walks fearlessly across a public roadway, 
raising its head angrily if it is threatened ; it has not only 
formidable jaws as a weapon, but like some of its relatives, can also 
emit a fluid of very unpleasant odour. Still, it is an insect that is 
friendly to us ; it has strength enabling it to conquer large earth¬ 
worms and all sorts of larvae. 
During the spring or early summer the burying beetles of the 
genus Necrophorus emerge from their pupal state, busying 
FIG. 52.—DENDEOBIUM EUEYALUS. {See page 322.) 
themselves both in the open country and on cultivated land with • 
the employment of interring small dead animals, to serve as food 
for their progeny, also other substances occasionally that are 
decaying or putrescent. By this means they enrich the soil, while 
they remove what is offensive, acting, indeed, both as scavengers 
and gardeners. These beetles are mostly black-and-orange in 
colour, strong winged to enable them to fly great distances ; their 
digging is performed entirely by the head and mandibles or jaws.. 
Allied to these are the Silphse, or carrion beetles, narrow bodied 
and long-legged, the larvae of which are flat, broad, and active, not 
unfrequent about gardens in April. They feed on fragments of 
dead animals or decaying vegetable matter; also they help in the 
decomposition of manure. The four-spotted Silpha has much the 
appearance of a large ladybird, and flies about very briskly. 
Another species, S. laevigata, works chiefly on the soil, where it 
watches for wandering snails, which it eats alive. One species, 
however, S. opaca, has a bad reputation ; though a carrion eater, 
the larva at times does much harm to Beetroot in May and June. 
April brings out from their winter retreats hosts of the 
common two-spotted ladybird, probably the most useful of the 
genus Coccinella, though small in size. Eggs are deposited by 
the beetles, which speedily produce a brood of larvie, and these 
with the ladybirds interpose a check to the increase of the aphis 
hosts. Other species, less abundant, are also similarly busied from 
this time to the end of autumn ; later on the larger seven-spotted 
species appears in gardens. We must not forget to number 
amongst our friends the showy and active beetles which young 
folks call “ soldiers and sailors,” from their being garbed in red or 
in'blue. They are now entering the pupal state ; the larvse, which are 
rather like glow-worms, though not luminous, feed upon ground 
insects and earthworms. About midsummer the beetles appear, 
being partial to umbelliferous plants, upon which they hunt 
other insects, and also often do battle with their own kind.— 
Entomologist. 
