176 INSECT PESTS OF FARM, GARDEN AND ORCHARD 



during July, becoming full grown and pupating during the latter 

 part of that month. The larvae will eat out quite a cavity in the 

 interior of the stalk or bulb, and 'then attack the roots, thus often 

 killing a whole clump or stool of small grain or timothy. The 

 pupal stage is passed in a small cell in the earth and lasts from two 



FIG. 129. Sphenophorus ochreus, larva, adult, and work in roots of Scirpus. 

 (After F. M. Webster, "Insect Life.") 



to three weeks, adult beetles emerging from the middle of August 

 to the first of October. 



One of the most injurious species to corn is S. ochreus Lee. 

 The life history is much the same as that of S. parvulus, though 

 eggs have been found as late as July 30th. The natural food-plant 

 of this species, however, is the common club-rush (Scirpus fluvia- 

 tilis), the roots of which consist of bulbs connected by smaller 

 slender roots. The eggs are deposited in or about the roots of this 

 rush, never having been found on corn. The bulbs of the rush are 

 very hard and oftentimes as large as hens' eggs. In them the 



