566 Grasses and Leguminous Crops in New York 



little complaint about insect injury to the hay crop it is an 

 undoubted fact that the total loss to forage crops in New York 

 State is much greater than that suffered by the fruit interests. 

 It would certainly pay hay growers to give closer attention to the 

 insect enemies of their crops. Feeding a forage crop to a host of 

 hungry insects is even poorer economy than feeding it out to a 

 herd of '' robber " cows. 



WHITE GRUBS 



Several species of Lachnosterna 



Among the most serious enemies of grasses are the large white, 

 curved grubs that feed on their roots. These grubs (Fig. 609) are 



the larval form of the laree 

 brown June beetles or June 

 bugs (Fig. 610) that come 

 lilundering around our lights 

 on summer evenings. In New 

 York State there are over a 

 score of species, but it is quite 

 probable that the greater part 

 of the injury is caused by a 

 much smaller number. 



The parent beetles are most 

 abundant in May and June. 

 They feed at night on the 

 leaves of various trees, which 

 at daybreak they desert and 

 return to the fields. The females burrow into the soil to a 

 depth of two or three inches and there deposit their eggs 

 singly or in small groups. Each female is capable of laying 

 from fifty to one hundred eggs. The eggs are oval, white, and 

 have a diameter of about one-twelfth inch. They lie in small 

 cells composed of soil particles glued together with a sticky sub- 

 stance secreted by the beetle. The eggs hatch in from ten days 

 to several weeks. The young grubs feed throughout the remainder 

 of that season on the roots of grasses a short distance below the 

 surface of the ground. With the approach of cold weather they 

 burrow deeper into the soil and hibernate at a depth of ten or 

 twelve inches. The following spring they return to the grass roots 



Fig. 609. A White Grub, Twice 

 Natural Size. 



