PEACH INSECTS 



297 



the sides of the thorax and 

 wing-covers brownish-yel- 

 low; the males are smaller 

 and have the yellowish 

 markings more diffuse. 



The beetles frequentl}^ 

 appear in large numbers 

 about the time the fruit is 

 ripening and cause much 

 damage by breaking the 



skin of the fruit, after which they feed on the juicy pulp 

 within. The large, thick-bodied dirty white grubs (Fig. 253), 

 nearly two inches in length, from which the beetles develop, 

 hve in the ground and feed on decaying vegetable matter, not 

 on the roots of living plants, as was formerly supposed. They 

 are especially abundant in heavily manured gardens, about 



f^iG. 252. — The green June beetle, 

 empty cocoon and one containing a newly 

 transformed beetle. 



Fig. 253. — Full-grown grubs of the green Fig. 254. — Pupa of the green 

 June beetle. June beetle in its cocoon. Knight 



photo. 



manure heaps and in fields that have been heavily mulched 

 with straw. When they come to the surface, as is often the case 

 after heavy rains, they have the curious habit of crawling on 

 their l^ack, advancing with a wave-Hke motion of the ridges 

 of the body, which are armed dorsally with short, stiff bristles. 

 The female beetle deposits her white, nearly spherical eggs 



