166 



GARDEN FOES. 



Cockchafer Beetle (Melolontha vulgaris).— The 

 Cockchafer Beetle measures about an incli in length, has 

 a black body covered with grey down, and reddish-brown 

 wing-cases. The female lays her eggs beneath the surface 

 of the soil, and from these are hatched flesh-wdiite grubs 

 with curved bodies. The grubs remain three years in the 

 larval stage, and appear as beetles in May or June. They 

 feed on the roots of plants. 



Eemedy. — The only satisfactory remedy is to pick out 

 and destroy the grubs when digging, and to use one of the 

 soil fumigants previously described. 



Crickets (Gryllus domesticus). — The House Cricket is 

 partial to the fruit of cucumbers, disfiguring them by 

 gnawing the rind. 



/ 



CI0CKOHAFE15 BEETLE (MELOLANTHA VT'LGAin.S). 



Remedy.— Use one of the beetle poisons sold by chemists. 



Cucumber Eelworm — See Tomato Eoot Eelworm 

 in Chapter X., Part IT. 



Leather-Jacket Grub (Tipula olcracea).— Thiis is 

 one of the most insidious of garden pests. Unfortunately 

 it carries on its nefarious work by night, and consequently 

 is rarely caught in the act of gnawing the stems of lettuce, 

 cabbage, carnations, and pansies. The Leather-Jacket, 

 so called because of its tough, leathery skin, is the larva 

 of the Daddy Long-Legs, or Crane Fly (Tipula oleracea). 

 The latter tiy deposits its eggs at the base of the stems of 

 graeses in pastures or lawns, and from these are hatched 



