18 



Although thousands of these summer-evening tormentors are yearly, yea, nightly, trodden 

 to death during their brief season, yet thousands of others rise to supply their places, and 

 sometimes they are reinforced by armies of tens of thousands. Then it is tiiat%ftiine« 

 serious damage is done to trees whose foliage they consume, their powerful and horny jaws 

 being admirably adapted for cutting and grinding the leaves. Cherry trees are frequently 

 injured in this way ; indeed, these beetles are not at all particular as to what they eat— 

 the oak, the Lombardy poplar, and many other kinds of trees, are just as readily attacked, 

 if in their way. 



The Canada Farmer for July, 1866, contains an excellent article on this subject, by 

 our esteemed friend. Rev. C. J. S. Bethune, Port Hope, with details of the habits and 

 history of this insect, which we cannot do better than re-produce : — 



"A friend in Cobourg has recently mentioned to us, that his strawberries have been 

 very much injured by a large white grub which attacks the roots, and thvis destroys at 

 once the vitality of the plants. From his description of the marauler, we have no doubt 

 that it is the larva of the common May-beetle or Cockchafer — Lachnosterna Quercina, Knoch 

 — which is so abundant just now. In the western part of Cobourg, and, indeed, almost 

 all over the neighbourhood, these beetles may be seen on any fine evening, in perfect 

 myriads flying about the trees, the leaves of which they devour in this stage of their 

 existence. 



" This insect has been long and most unfavourably known as very destructive to 

 vegetation, both in its larval and winged state. In the former, it is commonly called the 

 ' white grub ;' it is then a soft, white worm, with a brownish head, and six legs, becom- 

 ing, when fully grown, about as large as one's little finger. It is usually found partially 

 coiled up, near the root of the plant on which it is feeding. Unlike many of our destruc- 

 tive insects, the devastations of each individual are not confined to a single year, but it 

 continues several years in the grub state, and, finally, changes early in the spring into a 

 'lark chestnut brawn beetle, nearly an inch long, w'itli rather long legs, and its breast 

 covered with yellowish hairs. It flies about at night with a loud buzzing noise, and in a 

 most clumsy manner, as if it had very little control over its movements, to the great 

 <liscomfort and ])erturbation of nervous persons, especially when attracted into houses, 

 as it often is, by the light. Its period of flight is usually limited to the months of 

 May and June, though it is sometimes met with a little later in the season. The 

 grubs are very commonly dug uj), early in the spring, in gardens, in various stages 

 of maturity ; the plough, too, brings many more to the light of day. It is hardly 

 necessary, we suppose, to tell our readers that in such cases they should be destroyed 

 at once, and without mercy, by treading under foot. The perfect insects may be 

 collected and put an end to, ])y shaking them from the trees they infest, into a cloth 

 spread beneath for their reception, and then throwing them into boiling water ; tlie 

 si)ecimens thus cooked will be readily eaten by pigs, which, in fact, root up and devour 

 multitudi'S of the grubs without waiting for any jirevious culinary operations. The 

 best time to shake them from the trees is early in the morning, when they become 

 sluggish ami stationary, their flight being confined to the hours of darkness." 



The larva <if this May-bug does nut by any means confine its attention to strawberry 

 roots, but devours potatoes, corn and other vegetables, also the roots of grass, and this to 

 such an extent tliat at times meadows are utterly ruined by them, so that the turf may be 

 turned up like a carjiet, so utterly are the roots consumed. 



After the pairing of the sexes, the males soon die, wdiile the females burrow into the 

 ground some six inches or more, where they deposit their eggs from fifty to a hundred in 

 number, after which they come out again from the earth, but their mission having now 

 1,een accomplished, they soon die. The eggs soon h.atch into white grubs, which begin 

 at once to feed on the roots of any plants within their reach. During the summer, 

 they burrow aliout and feed not far from the surface ; but as winter approaches, they 

 dive <leeper into the soil, below the reach of frost, where they remain torpid until spring. 

 At the close of the third summer, they cease feeding, and bury, themselves sometimes 

 two feet deep in the earth, and there, iii an oval cavity, formed by the motions of the 

 larva from side to side, the change to chrysalis takes place, the beetle digging its way 

 through and appearing at the suiface in due season. Sometimes the transformation to 



