2 
BEANS. 
applications on the growth of the Beans, and of the good effect of 
cutting off the infested tops; likewise some amount of estimate 
of loss. 
Fear was entertained, both in England and Ireland, that the 
“ Collier,” or Bean Aphis, had spread to the Mangolds, but, as far as 
such specimens of infested Mangold leaves as were forwarded to 
myself showed, these Mangold Aphides, though very like the “ Colliers” 
in appearance, were of a distinctly different kind. 
The true Bean Aphis, commonly known as “ Collier,” is the Aphis 
mmicis of Linnaeus, and, according to the description given in Buckton’s 
British Aphides,’ both the winged and wingless females, which pro¬ 
duce the living young so soon overspreading our Bean plants, are 
black. The young, as far as described, are of a slaty grey, gaining 
their black velvety coats as they increase in age ; and the pup*—that 
is, the insects in the stage with wing-cases, but not yet with wings— 
have the head and fore body of a slaty grey, and the abdomen black, 
with various white spots, “which give the insect a kind of chess¬ 
board or chequered appearance.” * 
Varieties of this species are to be found on other plants, and 
another species, which is with difficulty distinguishable from the true 
“ Collier,” and which frequents another plant as its home, is some¬ 
times to be found on the Bean. The subject therefore is one of 
difficulty. For further observations see “ Mangold Aphis.” 
In regard to the rapid spread of the Aphides on infested plants, 
Mr. S. L. Mosley, writing from Beaumont Park, Huddersfield, gives 
the following note:—“Bean Aphis extremely abundant this season, 
and must have done a large amount of damage, as gardeners here take 
little note of them until the plants are exhausted. I planted a row of 
Beans and allowed the “ Colliers ” to have their own way, as I wished 
to watch them; they almost covered the plants within a fortnight of 
their first appearance, and, though the plants produced one or two fine 
pods, the majority were shrivelled and worthless. 
“ Before I have always found topping the plants when the insects 
first appear to be the best remedy.” 
Mr. Edm. J. Gaskell, of Prenton Hall Farm, Birkenhead, (Sec. of 
the Wirrall Farmers’ Club), forwarded the following communication 
regarding Aphis-attack :—“ Beans, too, have been very much blighted; 
they were covered with a kind of honey, and with green flies, which 
caused the tops to go black and fall down, stopped the growth, and 
made all pods on the plants to become soft. We had twenty-four 
acres which were very bad. I made an examination the first week in 
August, and came to the conclusion that if I left them to ripen there 
* (See Buckton’s ‘British Aphides,’ vol. ii., pp. 81—88). 
