THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 157 



r, i crop on the land that is now fall of them. They have ruined 

 all the meadow in tnis vicinity." 



It is characteristic of the beetle to appear in vast swarms during 

 the month of May— earlier or later, according to season or latitude. 

 The beetle is quite voracious, and often greatly injures both fruit and 

 ornamental trees. I have known the Lombardy poplar to die, in con- 

 sequence of the utter denudation they caused; while last June cer- 

 tain groves of both Pin and Post oaks on the farm of Mr. Flagg, of 

 Alton, Illinois, were so thoroughly and suddenly denuded by them, 

 that Mr Flagg could not at first the cause. Their existence in 



1 1 eetle state is however short, and as they are confined to the foliage, 

 their injuries are exceedingly small compared with those which their 

 la :ictupon us. Oar meadows, strawberry beds, corn, vegetables, 



and. even young nursery stock, are all subject to the attacks of these 



lbs, and often mined by them. Soon after pairing, the female 



beetle creeps into the earth, especially wherever the soil is loose and 



positing her eggs, to the number of forty or fifty — ■ 



These hatch in the course of a month, and,^he grubs growing 



not attain full size till the early spring of the third year, 



when they construct an ovoid chamber, lined with a gelatinous fluid ; 



change into pupre, and soon afterwards into beetles. These last are 



at first white, and all the parts soft as in the pupa, and they frequently 



remain in the earth for weeks at a time till thoroughly hardened, and 



thi . oil some favorable night in May, they rise in swarms and fill 



the : 



is their history, though it is very probable, as with the Eu- 

 . k-chafer (a closely allied species), that, under favorable 

 Conditions, some of the grubs become pupse, and even beetles, the fall 

 quent to their second spring; but growing torpid on approach 

 of winter, remain in this state in the earth, and do not quit it any 

 sooner than those transformed in the spring. On this hypothesis, 

 their being occasiohly turned up in the fresh beetle state at fall plow- 

 ing, becomes intelligible. 



ES. — As natural checks and destroyers of this grub, may be 

 mentioned the badger, weasel, skunk, marten, the crow, and the differ- 

 ent hawks, but especially the Ground beetles among insects, some of 

 have been figured on page 115. Hogs are fond of them, and a 

 gang may be turned into an infested meadpw, which is to be cultivated 

 the next year, with good advantage. The grub sometimes so thoroughly 

 destroys the roots of meadow grass that the sward is entirely severed ; 

 in such cases a heavy rolling would doubtless kill great numbers of 

 them. Applications of ashes and salt have been recommended, but I 

 think thev are of doubtful utility, unless sufficiently applied to saturate 

 the ground to the depth of more than a foot. A field or meadow is 

 badly injured during a certain year by the full grown grubs. 

 The following spring the owner, ignorant of the insect's history, applies 

 some substance to the land as a remedy, and finding no grubs during 



