156 FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF 



seed, before planting-, in gas-tar or copperas, and hope thai the ex- 

 periment will be tried next spring by those of our Eastern friends who 

 suffered from this maggot. 

 The larvae of the genus A.nthomyia live, for the most a 



table matter, and seem to prefer it in a state of decay. Some, 

 however, breed in excrement. Besides this corn species and I a 



_.>t already spoken of, there is one in this country that attacks 

 ties, and another that attacks the stem of cabbages. Specimens 

 of this last species have been sent to me by Professor A. JSf. Pre -, 

 of Michigan Agricultural College, with the statement that they were 

 proving very injurious to this esculent, around Lansing, in th e, 



and the llies produced from them seem to'be identical with 1 1. 

 that attacks the cabbage in Europe (Anthomyia IrassiccB, Bou 



THE WHITE GRUB. 

 Larva of the May-beetle, Lachnosterna quercina, Knoch. 



(Coleoptera, Melolonthid;e.) 



£ Fi s- 88 d The "White Grub is one of 



the very worst and insidious of 



the farmer's foes. To give its 



,$'." metamorphoses at a glance, 



CS ^J^^\^^%^~ anc ^ *"° °' jv ^ a1e tne necessity of 



L.J 



) 



verbal descriptions of so com- 

 mon an insect, I have pre] I 

 the annexed figure (88) ' 

 illustrates the full grown larva 

 (2), the pupa (1), and side and 

 back views ol the beetle (3 &4). 

 1 The following letter from 

 ij Mr. Jno. P. McCartne^y, of Oam- 

 * eron, is a sample of numerous 

 accounts of its depredations 

 which I have received during the year. 



" Cameron, Missouri, Sept. 21, I 

 "Mr. C. V. Riley, Bear Si?> : The White grub worms have done 

 us in this part of the State a great deal of damage. Will you please 

 give us a history of the insect's habits. The grubs are now i\\'' grown, 

 fine fat fellows. Two years since (1866), during the last of May, the 

 beetles were very plenty. After sundown they came in great num- 

 bers and swarmed around the tops of the trees on the lawn, making 

 a noise like the coming up of a storm of wind and rain. Last year 

 (18G7), the grubs did but little damage. What we want to know is, 

 when will they leave the ground again as beetles '( If they spend 

 another summer in the ground it will be of but little use to tr. 



