32 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 



one thirtieth of an inch in diameter, and are hatched twenty 

 days after they are laid. The young larvce begin to feed on 

 such tender roots as are within their reach. Like other grubs 

 of the Scarabaeians, when not eating they lie upon the side, 

 with the body curved so that the head and tail are nearly in 

 contact ; they move with difficulty on a level surface, and are 

 continually falling over on one side or the other. They attain 

 their full size in the autumn, being then nearly three quarters 

 of an inch long, and about an eighth of an inch in diameter. 

 They are of a yellowish white color, with a tinge of blue 

 towards the hinder extremity, which is thick, and obtuse or 

 rounded; a few short hairs are scattered on the surface of the 

 body ; there are six short legs, namely, a pair to each of the 

 first three rings behind the head, and the latter is covered with 

 a horny shell of a pale rust color. In October they descend 

 below the reach of frost, and pass the winter in a torpid state. 

 In the spring they approach towards the surface, and each one 

 forms for itself a little ceU of an oval shape, by turning round 

 a great many times, so as to compress the earth and render 

 the inside of the cavity hard and smooth. Within this cell 

 the grub is transformed to a pupa, during the month of May, 

 by casting off its skin, which is pushed downwards in folds 

 from the head to the tail. The pupa has somewhat the form 

 of the perfected beetle ; but it is of a yellowish white color, 

 and its short stump-like wings, its antennae, and its legs, are 

 folded upon the breast ; and its whole body is enclosed in a 

 thin film, that wraps each part separately. Diuing the month 

 of June this filmy skin is rent, the included beetle withdraws 

 from it its body and its limbs, bm'sts open its earthen cell, and 

 digs its way to the surface of the ground. Thus the various 

 changes, from the egg to the full development of the perfected 

 beetle, are completed Avithin the space of one year. 



Such being the metamorphoses and habits of these insects, 

 it is evident that we cannot attack them in the egg, the grub, 

 or the pupa state ; the enemy, in these stages, is beyond our 

 reach, and is subject to the control only of the natural but 

 unknown means appointed by the Author of Nature to keep 

 the insect tribes in check. When they have issued from their 



