DESTRUCTION OF LAWNS BY THE WHITE 



GRUB. 



Laclniostcnia nifjosa and fusca. 



Fig. 7:^, "White Grubs,"' L. /('Spa, larvii, pupa and beetle. After Riley. 



Never before has this pest been so troublesome as in 1908. Com- 

 plaints have been nimierous and frequent. 



The grub is the larva of a robust brown beetle, commonly spoken 

 of as "June Bug," or May Beetle, the big. clumsy fellow which buzzes 

 into open windows and about the lighted lamp in early summer. This 

 insect, shown in our illustration, I.elongs to the genus LacJinosterna, 

 and the species we have commonl}- with us appears to be pretty evenly 

 divided between f\isca and riigosa. Not only do the young of these 

 beetles work havoc on lawns, but the adults are active at night, they 

 work "while you sleep," feeding upon the leaves of fruit and shade 

 trees, and capable, wlien very numerous, of stripping the trees of their 

 foliage. Eggs are laid amongst the roots of grass, and the young grubs 

 when hatched begin to feed upon the rootlets, sometimes killing patches 

 many square feet in extent, and leaving the grass brown and dead, easi- 

 ly separated from the ground below ; in fact, it can be lifted and rolled 

 up with tlie hands. It takes two years, or longer, it is believed, for this 

 larva or grub to become mature, hence a lawn laid waste in 1908 would 

 not, if all the grubs which caused the injury were full grown at that 



