256 



THE BOOK OF CORN 



The adult beetles of the more abundant forms 

 spend the winter in the earth in cells where they orig- 

 inated, emerging in spring and early summer. Warm 

 and genial days in spring often bring them suddenly 

 out in myriads where previously only scattered 

 individuals have been seen, and their flight at night 

 is free when the weather is warm. The grubs feed 

 only during the season of growing vegetation, usu- 



Fig 62— Adult of White Grub 



May or June beetle, male; enlarged (after Forbes) 



ally going down into the earth from the middle ^ to 

 the last of November to a depth varying according 

 to the severity of the winter weather, and coming 

 up again within reach of food commonly sometime 

 in March or early April. Full-grown white grubs 

 will live an active life in the earth, feeding freely 

 from March to June or July, during which months 

 they change to the pupa a few inches under ground 

 in oval cells. At least some species of the white 

 grub may be freely and abundantly bred in fields 



