COLEOPTERA. 27 . 



each wing-case has two or three slightly ekn-ated kingitn(liii;il 

 lines; the breast is clothed with yellowish down. The knob of 

 its antennjD contains only three leaf-like joints. Its average 

 length is nine tenths of an inch. In its perfect state it feeds 

 on the leaves of trees, particularly on those of the cheiTy-tree. 

 It flies with a humming noise in the night, from the middle of 

 May to the end of June, and frequently enters houses, attracted 

 oy the light. In the course of the spring, these beetles are 

 often thrown from the earth by the spade and plough, in 

 various states of maturity, some being soft and nearly white, 

 their superabundant juices not having evaporated, while others 

 exhibit the true color and texture of the perfect insect. The 

 grubs devour the roots of gi-ass and of other plants, and in 

 many places the turf may be turned up like a carpet in cons,e- 

 quence of the destruction of the roots. The grub* is a white 

 worm with a brownish head, and, when fully grown, is nearly 

 as thick as the little finger. It is eaten greedily by crows and 

 fowls. The beetles are devoiu-ed by the skunk, whose beneficial 

 foraging is detected in our gardens by its abundant excrement 

 filled with the wing-cases of these insects. A writer in the 

 "New York Evening Post" says, that the beetles, which fre- 

 quently commit serious ravages on fruit-trees, may be effectually 

 exterminated by shaking them from the trees every evening. 

 In this way tvvo pailfuls of beetles were collected on the first 

 experiment; the number caught regularly decreased until the 

 fifth evening, when only tAvo beetles were to be found. The 

 best time, however, for shaking trees on which the May-beetles 

 are lodged, is in the morning, when the insects do not attempt 

 to flv. They are most easily collected in a cloth spread under 

 the trees to receive them when they fall, after which they should 

 be thrown into boiling water, to lull them, and may then be 

 given as food to swine. 



* There is a grub, somewhat resembling this, which is frequently found under 

 old manure heaps, and is commonly called muck-worm. It differs, however, in 

 some respects, from that of the May-beetle, or dor-bug, and is transformed to a 

 dung-beetle called Scarabccus relldus by Jlr. Say. 



