BEET CARRION BEETLE. 
98 
Mangold ground, but did not plough up or cultivate the old ridges. 
The ground was perfectly bare, and after drilling the Swedes it was 
rolled with a heavy roller ; this operation and trampling killed many 
of the insects. The Carrots that adjoined the Mangolds on one side 
were untouched by the grubs, and a small quantity that was eaten off 
in a crop of Swedes on the other side was considered on investigation 
to be taken by Flea Beetle, not Beet Carrion Beetle. 
On June 15th further specimens of the same kind of grub were 
forwarded me (by the courtesy of the editor of the ‘ Agricultural 
Gazette ’) from Cwmbran, near Newport, Monmouthshire, with the 
mention that it was an insect new to the sender, and which was 
destroying what promised to be a very fair crop of Mangolds. On 
July 12tli specimens of the same grub (namely, that of the Beet 
Carrion Beetle) were sent me by Mr. Edmonds from Wiscombe Park, 
Honiton, Devon, with the information that it was doing considerable 
damage to the Mangolds of some farmers near. 
The above observations, it will be seen, refer to attack in England 
at three places respectively, in Shropshire, Monmouthshire, and 
Devon ; the following refer to attacks in Ireland, respectively in 
Kilkenny and Tipperary. On June 28th Mr. J. Loftus Bland wrote 
me from Blandsfort, Abbeyleix, regarding attack to his Mangolds, 
some part of which was caused by grubs of Beet Carrion Beetle, of 
which a little later he sent numerous specimens of different ages; one 
of them (which he mentioned as the largest grub which he had been 
able to secure) was about five-eighths of an inch long. 
Mr. Loftus Bland reported :—“ I am at a loss to account for the 
presence of the Beet Carrion Beetle in my land ; the manure used 
was half farmyard, made in covered yards, and half the cleaning of a 
pond that had not previously been cleaned for over thirty years ; also 
superphosphate (26 soluble) and agricultural salts spread broadcast. 
No bones, no decaying animal matter.” 
There is a graveyard (very ancient), in constant use now, on the 
farm, perhaps some five hundred yards distant from the Mangold 
fields,—that is the only way I can account for the presence of animal 
matter to any great extent. 
On or about June 19th Mr. D. Sym Scott, of Ballinacourte, Tip¬ 
perary, Ireland, also forwarded specimens of the Beet Carrion Beetle 
(Silpha opaca ) with the following note :— 
“ From many quarters complaints are rife with regard to a maggot 
having destroyed large breadths of Mangolds: it is a black maggot, 
nearly three-quarters of an inch in length, and to the writer a new 
enemy of that plant.” 
These grubs were forwarded on to me, and by that time some of 
them had (as with another consignment sent me) been apparently 
