150 SOME SOUTH INDIAN INSECTS, ETC. [CHAP. XVI. 



Beetles, it may be as well to repeat here, are provided with 

 biting mouth-parts both in their immature and adult stages, and this 

 fact immediately distinguishes them from bugs some of which some- 

 what resemble beetles in external appearance. 



Cockchafers of various kinds are common in all districts, usuallj 

 : ing at definite times of the \ ear, often in enormous numbers. 

 .Mid dying in to light at night, though rarely seen in the daytime. 

 Thej are heavily-built beetles, with short legs and stout, rounded 

 bodi( S usually coloured in a uniform shade of brown or grey, with 

 short antenna' terminated by an expansile fan ol elongate-oval, 

 flattened plates. The beetles themselves tl> bj night and may do 

 considerable damage by feeding on leaves of plants, (.'specially of 

 ornamental plants in gardens, such as roses. In such cases they 

 may either be collected by hand at night by shaking the plants 

 over trays or sheets, or the plants attacked may be sprayi 

 Lead Arsi nati r/eetened with a little treacle or jaggery. A light- 

 trap, made by suspending a lantern over a tray of oil-and-water, 

 will oil. n Jin ii t the beetles in large numbers and may be used as 

 a control-measure supplementary to either of the above, but light- 

 traps by themselves will not usually afford protection. It is not, 

 however, only the beetles that are destructive, for the larva; live in 

 the soil and do considerable damage by feeding on the roots of 

 plants. They are white, fleshy grubs, with three pairs of thoracic 

 legs and with the tip of the curved body usually swollen into a 

 blunt 1) rounded extremity. These grubs usually live just at the 

 roots of grass, coming closer to the surface in wet weather and re- 

 ng further down during dry spells. Thej are very difficult to 

 control, as ordinary Hooding will not drown them and the appli- 

 cation of insecticides is impracticable on anj large scale, tho 

 gardens, where flower-beds or grass-lawns are attacked, watering 

 with soap-solution or phenyle or any similar deterrent will drive 

 them away temporarily. Ploughing will often bring them up 

 to the surface when tin iWS ami other 



birds, and as their life-history is usually very definitely limited In 

 seasons, lasting at least a year as a rule, it is possible to arrange an 

 operation such as ploughing to take place during a period when 

 these insects are in the grub stage, with the express purpose of 

 ing as many as possible al thai time. In the Nilgiris 

 espe< i.dly these larvae an- well known under the name of " White- 

 grub," and at certain times of the year the whole countryside, 

 gardens, fields, plantations and grassy downs, is infested In these 

 grubs, which live just below the ground and ica\ upon the roots of 

 plants. The gardens at Ootacamund are much troubled by these 

 pests, whose ravages commence in August and cease in the dry 



