LAMELLICORN-BEETLES. 



85 



(ration. This larva is generally known as the "white grub," and 

 is very injurious to strawberries, devouring the roots and de- 

 stroying the plants ; it feeds also upon the roots of grass and 

 dther • plants, and when very numerous it so injures pasture- 

 lands and lawns that large portions of the turf can he lifted with 

 the hand and rolled over like a piece of carpet, so completely are 

 the roots devoured. When cold weather approaches, the grub 

 buries itself in the ground deep enough to be beyond the reach 

 of frost, and there remains until the following spring.* 



"When ready for its next change, the larva forms a cavity 

 in the ground, by turning itself round and round and pressing 

 the earth until it moulds a cell of suitable form and size, which 

 it lines with a glutinous secretion, so that the cell may better re- 

 tain its form, and within this it changes at first to a pupa, and 

 finally produces the perfect beetle. 



d c s 



Fig. 93. — Typhia inornata. Say. After Riley. 



"Remedies: It is very difficult to reach the larvae underground 

 with any remedy other than digging for 'them, and destroying 

 them. Hogs are very fond of them, and, when turned into places 

 where the grubs are abundant, will root up the ground and de- 

 vour them in immense quantities. They are likewise eaten by 

 domestic fowls and insectivorous birds; crows especially are so 

 partial to them that they will often be seen following the plough, 

 so as to pick out these choice morsels from the freshly-turned 

 furrow. An insect parasite, the unadorned Tipln'a, Tiphia iu- 

 ornata Say, is also actively engaged in destroying the white grub. 



*The writer has long ago come to the conclusion that insects do not enter the 

 ground simply to escape the rigors of winter. If they had to do so, they would be 

 forced in Minnesota to go to the same depth as water pipes, which have to be laid 

 from six to eight feet to prevent treezing! 



