84 



LAMELLICUKN-BKETLES. 



Fig. 92.— Tune beetles at night. After Breb.1 



numerous, entirely stripping the trees of foilage (Fig. 92). 

 Their strong jaws are well adapted for cutting their food, and 

 their notched or double claws support them securely on the 

 foliage. 



"The female is said to deposit her eggs between the roots of 

 grass, enclosed in a ball of earth; they are white, translucent, 

 and spherical, and about one-twelfth of an inch in diameter. 

 When hatched, the small white grubs begin at once to feed upon 

 the rootlets of plants ; they are several years in reaching ma- 

 turity, and hence larvae of different sizes are usually found in 

 the ground at the same time. When full-grown, they are al- 

 most as thick as a man's little finger; they are soft and white, 

 have a horny head of a brownish color, and six legs; the hinder 

 part of the body is usually curved under, as shown in the illus- 



