INJURING THE ROOTS. 243 



resemble 2, Fig. 131. They then form an oval cell in 

 the soil and change to the pupa state, and soon after 

 transform into beetles. The change to the pupa and 

 beetle states generally occurs in fall, the beetles 

 remaining in the ground until the following spring, 

 so that they are often turned up during late fall or 

 early spring plowing. 



Remedies. — This insect is one of the most diffi- 

 cult pests to fight of its class. It breeds especially 

 in grass lands, and often ruins pastures and mead- 

 ows, while crops planted on sod land are very fre- 

 quently destroyed. There is much evidence to prove 

 that with high farming and short rotations its in- 

 juries may largely be prevented. The parent beetles 

 may be destroyed by spraying the trees on which 

 they feed with London purple or Paris green. It 

 will often pay, when land infested by these grubs 

 is to be planted to strawberries or other crops which 

 they are liable to injure, to have boys follow the 

 plow and collect the grubs as they appear in the fur- 

 row. In this way a large amount of damage can 

 frequently be prevented at very slight expense. The 

 grubs in infested meadows may be destroyed by 

 turning swine in the field. 



The Meadow Maggot. 



Tipula bicarnea. 

 Meadows are sometimes injured by large, dark- 

 colored, legless grubs of the form represented at Fig. 

 132, a, which feed upon the roots just beneath the 



15 



