STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETV. ISl 



The grul) is also sometimes destroyed by a parasitic cryptogamic 

 plant or fungus, which grows out from one or both corners of the mouth 

 in the form of an elongate, narrow, somewhat flattened, woody stem, 

 sometimes attaining several inches in length. This often greatly aston- 

 ishes persons unacquainted with its history, who suppose it is a plant 

 springing from a seed taken into the body. 



Shaking the beetles from the trees every evening and destroying them 

 has been recommended, and in some instances numbers have been caught 

 and destroyed in this way. Dr. Harris says the best time for shaking 

 trees on which these beetles are lodged is in the morning, as then they do 

 not attempt to fly. But it is evident that this remedy is of very limited 

 application. Applications of salt and ashes upon fields, especially mead- 

 ows, infested wi-th the grub has been recommended, but this can be of no 

 service unless applied in sufficient quantities to thoroughly saturate the 

 ground and destroy the vegetation. Applications of gypsum, or some- 

 thing of that nature, calculated to assist the growth of the plant, may do 

 some good. Alkalies prove speedily destructive to the grubs, but they 

 reside so deeply in the soil that it is impossible to reach them by any 

 reasonable surface applications. Hogs and domestic fowls are fond ot 

 them, and, so far as we will give them an opportunity, will assist us in de- 

 stroying them. I am satisfied the most effectual remedy, not only as 

 against this grub but for all larvse that attack the roots of plants, such as 

 corn, wheat, grass and vegetables, is winter plowing. Turn the soil to a 

 sufficient depth to bring them to the surface, where exposure to the frosts 

 and cold of the season will destroy them. 



Spec. Char. Iniajro. — Anterior tibi;v; with three spurs on the outside, counting the 

 one at the tip ; club of the antenniTe with three leaflets ; claws of the tarsi, strongly 

 bifid or split at the tip; one tooth standing above the other; body convex, sub-cylin- 

 drical; anterior cox;i: not prominent ; elytra not striate. (These are generic characters). 

 Head minutely punctured; front margin roundly notched, and the edge slightly turned 

 up. Thorax with large scattered punctures ; the sides distinctly curved outward at the 

 middle. Elytra not grooved or hairy, but a ridge along the sutural or inner margin of 

 each, which gives the appearance of a single groove on each wing-case ; two or three 

 indistinct flattened ridges on each. Scutellum rather broader than long; punctured 

 at the sides. 



Almost uniform chestnut brown, head and thorax generally darker than the other 

 portions ; abdomen varies from reddish brown to black ; breast covered with yellow 

 silken hairs. 



Length varies from seven-tenths to nearly an inch; width about one- half the 

 length. 



When the insect first appears the color is usually much lighter than 

 given above, but deepens with age, becoming in some cases almost 

 black. 



Tiphia inoniala. Say. — (leneral color jet black, unspotted, sometimes with a faint 

 bluish tinge ; wings yellowish, fuliginous or smoky. Head punctured ; antenna: piceous, 

 paler toward the tip; mandibles piceous, blackish at the tip. Thorax punctured, wing-scale 

 and posterior margin of the first segment impunctured ; the metathorax with three lon- 

 gitudinal, slightly elevated, lines. Feet hairy; abdomen hairy, especially behind. 

 Size varies from two-fifths to three-fifths of an inch. 



