96 



LAMELLICORX-BEETLES. 



fleshy grub, very similar in appearance to that of the May-bug, 

 which is familiarly known as the "white grub." It lives in the 

 ground, and feeds on the roots of plan'ts, and is thus sometimes 

 very destructive to strawberry plants. It is said that the larva 

 is three years in reaching its full growth ; finally, it matures in 

 the autumn, and late in ithe same season, or early in the follow- 

 ing spring changes to a beetle." 



Among the Rhinoceros-beetles we have in Minnesota a 

 number of species which do not possess a shape that is in the least 

 like the one giving name to this group of beetles. Yet a few of 

 them should be mentioned, as (they are frequently sent to the 

 office of the entomologist to be identified. 



Fig. 103. — Chalepus trachypygus. Burm. — After Division of Entomology, U. S. 

 Department of Agriculture. 



It is well known that old manure harbors many grubs that 

 look very much like those producing the May-beetles. Yet they 

 are mostly of an entirely different character, as they change into 

 black, polished beetles (Fig. 103), with faint longitudinal striae 

 upon their wing-covers. Such beetles have received the scien- 

 tific name of Chalepus trachypygus Burm. The insects are harm- 

 less in Minnesota, notwithstanding their resemblance to the com- 

 mon white grub in the larval stage, and there is no danger in 

 using the material, in which they thrive, upon lawns and in 

 gardens. 



Such good words can not be said about similar beetles of a 

 dark brown color that are fairly common wflth us. Two species 

 of Ligyrus are rather common in Minnesota, and a third, the 

 Aphomis tridentatus Say, is also found in some numbers in cer- 



