MUSTARD BEETLES. 
75 
“ now infesting a large field of Brown Mustard on the farm at Needham 
Hall” (near Wisbech); “I noticed them on Sunday evening in great 
numbers in the flower-knots of the plants, and I have during the past 
two or three days seen them in other fields on other farms.”— 
G. Moore.* 
On June 14th specimens were sent, shaken off the flowers of 
Mustard-plants near Peterborough; on June 26th specimens were 
sent from Wainfleet, Lincolnshire; and on July 27th I had again 
some of the same kind of beetle (Ji. aneiis) sent on flowers taken 
from White Mustard at Manea, Cambs. ; and I had an opportunity of 
seeing the Meligethes myself on both Brown and White Mustard flower 
at Coldham Hall, and Stags Holt, near Wisbech, in July. 
These beetles are little more than the twelfth of an inch long, of 
the shape figured at p. 74, and of a deep greenish colour. The eggs 
are long, cylindrical, blunt at each end, and so transparent that the 
development of the maggot may be watched from the day after laying. 
Hatching takes place in four or five days. The maggot has a broad 
head, with sharp jaws, three pairs of legs, and also a proleg (at the 
end of the tail). When full-grown the maggots are yellowish white ; 
earlier in their life they are usually somewhat spotted. 
The method of life, as I observed it on various plants of the Cabbage 
kind, was as follows :—About the 6th of June Meligethes were to be 
found in great numbers in the blossoms apparently feeding entirely on 
the pollen (probably they had been about for some weeks previously) ; 
shortly afterwards eggs and maggots were noticeable. The eggs were 
laid within the unopened buds, and the maggots were to be found in 
profusion by the 17th of June in the buds and partially opened flowers, 
which were distinguishable by their stunted and shrivelled appearance. 
The maggots appeared to prefer feeding at the base of the blossom ; 
presently they spread from the flowers and might be found in parties 
of a dozen or two at the base of the stalks of the topmost flowers ; 
others distributed themselves variously, but chiefly on the seed-pods, 
where the gnawing motion of their brown jaws might be clearly seen 
against the light colour of the vegetation. Some of these maggots, 
which I had under observation, left the sprays on the 17th of June 
(by falling down), and then buried themselves as quickly as they could. 
About ten days later I found the chrysalis already formed in an 
earthern cell, about three and a half inches below the surface of the 
ground. Probably in natural circumstances, and the hard ground of 
a field, the maggots would not go down so deep.! 
* As there are several kinds of Meligetlien varying little from each other, I sub¬ 
mitted some of the above specimens, for the sake of, absolute certainty, to the 
thoroughly skilled examination of Mr. Oliver E. Janson, who reported that he 
found fifty specimens of the M. ceneus and one of M. gicipes. 
f Life-history of Meligethes. By E. A. Ormerod, Ent. Monthly Mag., 1874, 
