\ 
COMMON WHITE GRUBS.’ 
The common white grubs (fig. 1), or grubworms, as they are often 
called, have for years been recognized as among the most serious 
pests to farm crops, notably corn and timothy, while strawberries, 
potatoes, and nursery plantings, particularly of conifers, have all 
been frequently and seriously affected. 
These pests have never been given extended economic study, ex- 
cept by Dr. S. A. Forbes, State entomologist of Illinois, to whom 
we are indebted for nearly all of our practical knowledge of the 
parent May beetles (fig. 2) and their progeny, the white grubs. 
Fic, 1.—White grub working in a potato tuber, Tabor, S. Dak., 1912. (Original.) 
THE OUTBREAK OF 1912. 
Probably the most serious outbreak of white grubs in the his- 
tory of American agriculture occurred in 1912, following an abun- 
dance of beetles in 1911. Injury was reported from almost every 
section of the country north of the Ohio River and westward to 
South Dakota. (See fig. 3.) In the West the center of abun- 
dance was in southwestern Wisconsin, while in the East it seemed 
to be in northeastern Pennsylvania and southeastern New York. 
1 Lachnosterna spp. 
2 Insect Life, vol. 3, no. 5, pp. 239-245, 1891; 18th Rept. State Ent. Ill., pp. 109-144, 
/1894; Ill. Agr. Exp. Sta., Bul. 116, 1907. 
543 
