64 OUTLINES OF ENTOMOLOGY. 



inches in length, by an inch in diameter, and thick in proportion. The 

 color is pale gray, the wing covers being marked with numerous irregu- 

 lar blotches and spots of black. From the front of the head of the 

 male a long, pointed, polished horn curves upward, which is almost met 

 by a similar downward curving one on the thorax, on each side of 

 which are two small, straight ones. The female has no thoracic horn, 

 and only a small protuberance on the head. The larva? are, as a rule, 

 found in rotten wood, but are also said to injure ash trees by feeding 

 on the roots. 



Under the name of Dor-beetles or May or June beetles ( Melo^n- 

 THiD^), are grouped a great variety of medium-sized, leaf- feeding spe- 

 cies, most of which have thick, oblong bodies and are of a plain brown 

 color. In some the surface is smooth and shining, in others more or 

 less thickly covered with hairs or scales. One of their most peculiar 

 characters is that each of the claws of the feet is minutely bifid or 

 forked at the tip, which accounts for the persistence with which they 

 cling to any but the hardest and most polished surfaces. This fine 

 division of the claws can be distinctly seen only with a lens. 



In this family the agriculturist finds a large number of the promi- 

 nent pests of his farm and orchard, to only a few of which have we 

 here space for reference. 



One of these destructive species is the common May or June bee- 

 tle ( Lachnosternafusca, Proh.), a smooth, shining, chestnut-brown insect, 

 which issues from the ground in swarms during the latter part of May 

 or early in June, filling the air at twilight, and finding its way in num- 

 bers into lamp-lighted rooms, unless excluded with the utmost care. 

 These beetles settle on trees at night and feed voraciously on the foli- 

 age. They are cleanly, inodorous and inofensive creatures to handle, 

 and therefore make excellent and interesting subjects for examination 

 and experiment. 



They remain hidden and dormant during the day, but awake to re- 

 newed activity for several successive evenings. After pairing the 

 male dies and the female burrows into the earth to lay her eggs. 



From the latter are hatched the "white grubs," so well known as 

 among the chief pests of corn fields, meadows, lawns and strawberry 

 beds. The observations of earlier entomologists pointed to the con- 

 clusion that these grubs required at least two years for development, 

 but Prof. Forbes, of Illinois, has demonstrated that under certain con- 

 ditions the insect attains its growth and passes through all its transfor- 

 mations in a single year. 



In the same genus ( Lachno sterna — which means "hairy-breasted") 

 are a large number of other chafers, having essentially the same habits 



