SCARABMIDm 



183 



The Egyptian scaraljs belong here. The tumble bugs 

 simply enclose their eggs in little masses of refuse matter. 

 This is to serve as food substance for the larvse, and the}' 

 shape it in a ball and roll it along until it becomes coated 

 with earth. The balls are finally buried in the earth. The 

 eggs hatch here and the larvae develop and get their sub- 

 sistence from the material in the ball. 



Fig. 1.30. — Corpris Carolina, under side. Enlarged. (From photo.) 



May Beetles or June Bugs. — Important economic species 

 are the leaf-eating species. These are species of the genus 

 Lachnosterna — Lachnosterna fvsca in particular. These are 

 known as May beetles or June bugs. They are distributed 

 all through the country. There are perhaps twenty-five or 

 thirty common species which occur in great abundance 

 about the same time of the year, but these differ in minute 

 characters of genitalia. They were formerly all grouped 



