8 WHEAT CHAFER. 



soil while ploughing. I was advised to sprinkle with 

 salt. This has been tried by a man living in Nanaga, 

 but has not succeeded. They appear in great numbers. 

 Nov. 3, 1885." 



This beetle is found throughout Caffraria ('Insecta 

 Caffraria?,' Part II., p. 9). 



Of this beetle, namely, the Heteronychus arator, Burm., 

 it is noted by Mr. T. Vernon Wollaston that it is found 

 in St. Helena, "and it has much the appearance of 

 being truly indigenous, though found equally in Southern 

 Africa. It occurs at intermediate and rather lofty 

 altitudes, its normal range being from about 2000 to 

 3000 ft. above the sea." .... "It is more particularly 

 along the sides of the roads that it is practically to be 

 met with, ' in the neighbourhood,' as Mr. Melliss well 

 observes, ' of grass-lands and hay-fields,' where it may 

 often be seen lying dead in considerable numbers, or 

 crawling sluggishly about amongst the loose, friable, 

 dusty soil."* . . . 



The above notes point to this " Keever Beetle " being 

 a grass as well as corn-pest, and may give some clue as 

 to where to look for the grubs, as in common course of 

 things beetles die just after having laid their eggs. 

 Judging by the observations respectively of Mr. Bairstow 

 and Miss Glanville, it is the habit of these beetles, when 

 in what may be called active life, to fly about trees on 

 hot nights, and to go down a little below the surface of 

 the ground during the day. 



The appearance of the grub is not mentioned, but it 

 may be presumed not to vary from the others of the 

 family of the Dynastidce, to which it belongs, in any im- 

 portant point, and it might be expected to be a long, thick, 

 whitish, fleshy grub, generally resembling those figured 

 at pp. 4 and 13, but of a much smaller size. The three 

 pairs of stout legs, the definite head furnished with 

 jaws, and the habit of lying on one side when in 

 repose, are some of the points by which the grubs 



* ' Coleoptera Sancta Helenoe,' p. 64. 



