28 INSECTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



Phyllophaga* quercina of Knoch, the May-beetle, as it is gener- 

 ally called here, is our common species. It is of a chestnut- 

 brown color, smooth, but finely punctured, that is, covered with 

 little impressed dots, as if pricked with the point of a needle ; 

 each wing-case has two or three slightly elevated longitudinal lines ; 

 the breast is clothed with yellowish down. The knob of its 

 antennae contains only three leaf-like joints. Its average length is 

 nine tenths of an inch. In its perfect state it feeds on the leaves 

 of trees, particularly on those of the cherry-tree. It flies with a 

 humming noise in the night, from the middle of May to the end of 

 June, and frequently enters houses, attracted by the light. In the 

 course of the spring, these beetles are often thrown from the earth 

 by the spade and plough, in various states of maturity, some being 

 soft and nearly white, their superabundant juices not having evap- 

 orated, while others exhibit the true color and texture of the per- 

 fect insect. The grubs devour the roots of grass and of other 

 plants, and in many places the turf may be turned up like a carpet 

 in consequence of the destruction of the roots. The grubf is a 

 white worm with a brownish head, and, when fully grown, is 

 nearly as thick as the little finger. It is eaten greedily by crows 

 and fowls. The beetles are devoured by the skunk, whose bene- 

 ficial foraging is detected in our gardens by its abundant excrement 

 filled with the wing-cases of these insects. A writer in the 

 " New York Evening Post " says, that the beetles, which fre- 

 quently commit serious ravages on fruit-trees, may be effectually 

 exterminated by shaking them from the trees every evening. In 

 this way two pailsful of beetles were collected on the first experi- 

 ment ; the number caught regularly decreased until the fifth even- 

 ing, when only two beetles were to be found. The best time, 

 however, for shaking trees on which the May-beetles are lodged, 

 is in the morning, when the insects do not attempt to fly. They 

 are most easily collected in a cloth spread under the trees to 



* A genus proposed by me in 182G. It signifies leaf-eater. Dejean subsequently 

 called this genus Jlncylonycha. 



t There is a grub, somewhat resembling this, which is frequently found under 

 old manure heaps, and is commonly called muck-worm. It differs, however, in 

 some respects, from that of the May-beetle, or dor-bug, and is transformed to a 

 dung-beetle called Scarabaus rclictus by Mr. Say. 



