FAMILY SCARABAEIDAE 83 



experience to find that the whole of these patches fail. The seed may 

 germinate and the young plants come up and then apparently damp off. 

 This apparent damping off is very often entirely due to the attacks of 

 this cockchafer grub or the other root pests to be described in this work. 

 In the past it has, however, almost invariably been ascribed to drought 

 or frost or bad seed. The following description of a patch of deodar sowing 

 examined by myself is typical of what occurs and of what took place in 

 Mr. Billson's infested sowings : 



There were probably twenty-five seedlings originally in the patch. At 

 the time of inspection five green unattacked ones were all that remained 

 standing in the soil. Of the rest a few dead ones remained standing, and 

 these came away in the hand, being cut through below the surface, or the 

 roots came away with the dead upper part and were seen to be girdled. The 

 rest had been cut off either at the apex of the stalk just beneath the crown 

 of needles or below in the stem somewhere above-ground. This latter work 

 was that of the Agrotis caterpillar, which was also present here. The 

 work below ground was mainly that of the Melolontha grub, though an 

 elaterid larva (see p. 230) was also found. 



The girdling of the young plants is a serious matter, especially where 

 several of these large larvae infest a patch of seedlings. Their presence 

 practically means that the whole of the patch is doomed. 



Before making sowings of seed out in the forest it is advisable to turn 



up the soil for a couple of feet in selected spots to 



Protection and ascertain whether these root-feeding larvae are abun- 



Remedial Measures, dant on the area or not. If they are very abundant 



it is almost useless endeavouring to restock the area 

 by means of sowings. 



In nurseries matters are simpler, and Mr. Billson introduced with 

 success one or more of the following remedies in the attack experienced in 

 Jaunsar in 1909. Under certain circumstances one or more of the nine-lies 

 might be attempted in the forest : 



(1) Before the young seedlings have come up place bundles of an\ 



succulent crop plant which may be growing in the neigh- 

 bourhood (in America cabbage, turnips, and clover h,i\e been 

 found most effective) at intervals on the see<l-l>e<ls, first sprink- 

 ling the bundles with paris-green water. The \<MIH- larvae 

 will feed on these and be killed off before ilie 

 come up. 



(2) Crows, mynas, starlings, the cattle egret, and man\ other nesting 



birds all eat the grubs whenever thev can liml them, and the\ are 

 particularly active in this respect in damp weather and after 



irrigation. Thus, whenever possible, the beds attacked by tile 



pest should be flooded with water in the daytir The water 

 will fill the tunnels and force out the insects, which, it birds are 



I 2 



