BEETLES ON BLACKBERRY.

Thames Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 17761, 7 December 1929, Page 4

BEETLES ON BLACKBERRY.

(To the Editor.)

Sir,—l have read with interest the accounts in the “Thames Star’’ of the blackberry insect. It may be of interest to your readers that I have just noticed that the insects are plentiful in Coromandel. The plants are well-eaten near my office, and the shoots are covered with beetles. There seem to be three colours: a black, a brown and a dark brown. When touched they hop very strongly or turn over bn their backs and remain motionless, with ’their legs drawn against their bodies. I also noticed the insects on dock plants adjacent , to the blackberries. The leaves were well eaten. I caught about half a dozen insects, and put them in a small tin, with air holes in the lid and some young blackberry shoots, but they did not seem to eat anything and tried hard to escape whenever the lid of the tin was opened. I kept them in the container overnight, but in the morning, most of them were dead.—l am, etc., COROMANDEL RESIDENT.