Il82 



Rural School Leaflet 



A white-grub, the larva of the May beetle, 

 in cell in soil 



which are the real organs of flight. When a beetle is flying the wing 

 covers are opened wide and held up out of the way of the true wings. 



The thin wings are larger than the 

 wing covers and have to be folded in 

 order to go under the wing covers 

 when the beetle is at rest. Some- 

 times a beetle is careless and does 

 not fold the wings neatly beneath the 

 covers but leaves the ends sticking 

 out. The legs of May beetles are 

 long, rather slender, and covered with 

 hairs and stiff spines. Each leg ends 

 in two sharp, curved claws, each of 

 which bears a sharp spur. Each 

 beetle is provided with a pair of 

 stout, black, biting jaws with which 

 it can bite off bits of leaves. 

 Some species, at least, of May beetles have the very interesting habit 

 in June of migrating about dusk from the fields to certain trees where 

 they feed during the night. In the morning, just before daybreak, they 

 all swarm back to the fields, where they remain during the day. The 

 beetles feed on oaks, elms, willows, and poplars and sometimes injure the 

 trees severely. Often there are so many of them among the trees 

 that they sound like a swarm of bees. 



Life history of a May beetle. — The eggs of May beetles are laid in 

 balls of earth a few inches below the surface of the ground, and the grubs 

 that hatch from them pass their 

 entire life in the soil. It is there- 

 fore very hard to follow the life 

 of a white-grub because it is 

 hidden from sight all the time. 

 So far as the author is aware, 

 the life of but one individual 

 May beetle of the commoner 

 species has ever been followed from 

 the egg to the adult. 



An egg of one species of May 

 beetle, as recorded by Doctor 

 Chittenden in Washington, was 

 laid on June 8, 1893. In about 

 eleven days a white-grub was hatched from it that lived in the soil 

 until August 8, 1895, or a little over two years. On the 8th of August 



The May beetle with wings spread 



