i<6 



THE STUDY OF INSECTS 



Fig. 267. 



them. When troublesome, they can be easily gathered by shaking them 

 from trees upon sheets. Figure 267 represents a common species. 



The larvae of the different species of May-beetles are 

 commonly classed together under the name " white grubs." 

 They are often great pests in meadows and in cultivated 

 fields. We have known large strawberry plantations to 

 be destroyed by them, and have seen large patches of 

 ground in pastures from which the dead sod could be 

 rolled as one would roll a carpet from a floor, the roots 

 having been all destroyed and the ground just beneath the 

 surface finely pulverized by these larvae. No satisfactory 

 method of fighting this pest has been discovered as yet. 

 If swine be turned into fields infested by white grubs they 

 will root them up and feed upon them. We have destroyed great numbers 

 of the beetles by the use of trap-lanterns, but many beneficial insects 

 were destroyed at the same time. 



II. The rose-bugs. — The common rose-bug, Macrodactylus sub- 

 spinosus, is a well-known pest. It is a slender beetle, taper- 

 ing before and behind, and measuring f of an inch in length 

 (Fig. 268). It is thickly clothed with fine, yellow, scale-like 

 hairs, which give it a yellowish color; the legs are long, slender, 

 and of a pale red color. These beetles appear in early summer 

 and often do great injury to roses and other flowers, and to 

 the foliage of various fruit-trees and shrubs. This is a very 

 difficult pest to control. The larva- of rose-bugs feed on the roots of 

 plants. 



III. The shining leaf-chafers. — These insects resemble the May- 

 beetles in form, but can be distinguished from them by the position of 

 the hind pair of spiracles, which are visible on the sides below the edges 

 of the wing-covers; and they differ from the other leaf-chafers in which 

 the spiracles are in this position in that the tarsal claws are of unequal 

 size, one claw of each pair being larger than the other. These beetles 

 are usually polished, and many of them are of brilliant colors. To this 

 family belong the most beautiful beetles known, many appearing as if 

 made of burnished gold or silver, or other metal. 



The goldsmith-beetle, Cotalpa lamgera. — This is one of our most 

 beautiful species. It measures about one inch in length, 

 and is a broad oval in shape. It is of a lemon-yellow 

 color above, glittering like burnished gold on the top of 

 the head and thorax; the under side of the body is 

 copper-colored and thickly covered with whitish wool. 



The spotted pelidnota, Pelidnota punctata. — This bee- 

 tle is reddish-brown above, with three black spots on 

 each wing-cover and one on each side of the prothorax 

 (Fig. 269). The scutellum, base of the head, and entire 

 body beneath, are of a deep, bronzed-green color. The 

 adult is commonly found feeding on the leaves of grape. 

 The larva feeds upon decaying roots and stumps of various trees. 



The Japanese beetle, Popillia japonica. — This is a very serious pest 

 which feeds in the adult state on the foliage of many cultivated and wild 

 plants, being practically omnivorous, and in the larval state feeds on the 

 roots of grasses. It was first observed in this country in a limited area in 



Fig. 269. 



