BEET-CARRION BEETLE. 
59 
alike in shape—that is, long and narrowish ; sometimes, as with the 
kind of Golden Eye figured, have tubercles along the sides furnished 
with bunches of hairs, which serve to support a kind of cloak formed 
of the skins of the Aphides the maggot has killed. The grubs are 
active, and wander about where their food is plentiful, and by means 
of their long jaws soon demolish any Aphis they attack ; it is stated 
that half a minute is enough for them to suck out the contents of the 
largest Aphis, but they will also attack and destroy good-sized cater¬ 
pillars, and, if no more suitable food occurs, will try their jaws on 
each other. 
When full-fed, which is stated to be in about a fortnight, the larva 
spins a cocoon. These cocoons “ vary from the size of pearl barley to 
that of a small pea, and are attached to the leaves of plants, &c. ; in 
these they change to pupa, and in about three weeks the flies come 
forth in summer ; but the autumnal ones remain through the winter 
in the torpid state.”—Curtis’s ‘Farm Insects,’ p. 78. 
One species is known as the Hop Lace-wing, the Hemerobius 
Hamuli; this is less than half the size of the Golden Eye (figured) in 
the expanse of its wings. The colour is pale ochreous, with bluish 
eyes, two faint rows of spots along the upper side of the abdomen, 
and the wings are also marked with dusky spots. Amongst the vast 
number of insect-plagues to the Hops it may be of service to know 
this insect as a friend, if it should be noticed in large numbers.* 
MANGOLD. 
Beet-Carrion Beetle. Silpha opaca, Linn. 
% 
Through the courtesy of the Editor of the ‘ Farmer’s Gazette.’ 
Dublin, I have been favoured with the following note of the appear¬ 
ance of the Beet-Carrion Beetle, an unusual kind of attack in this 
country. 
The observer, having noticed that something was eating his Man¬ 
golds at Mageney, County Kildare, examined closely, and found the 
damage was caused by insects, of which he forwarded specimens, this 
kind of attack not having been previously noticed by him. The fly-maggot 
of the Mangold had been more or less prevalent for four years, but in 
the present instance, though some of the plants had been only partly 
* As I am only partially acquainted with the habits of the Lace-wings from 
personal observation, the above description is mainly given from comparison of the 
published accounts of John Curtis, F. Stephens, and Prof. J. 0. Westwood. 
