38 



FARM SPIES 



"Why, man/' he said to his little friend Willie 

 Burns, " those beetles were but the skirmishers of 

 the bill-bug army." 



He had forgotten about the eggs the beetles had 



been laying on the corn. 

 He had noticed the egg- 

 laying from June 1 to 

 July 1. The eggs were 

 laid in tiny holes which 

 the mother beetles had 

 made with their beaks, 

 and they had laid any- 

 where from one to ten 

 eggs in a stalk. One 

 reason why he had paid 

 no attention to this was 



(After Kelly, Bur. Ent., U.S. Dept. Agr.) 



FIG. 19. " The eggs were laid in 

 tiny holes." 



(After Kelly, Bur. Ent., U. S. Dept. Agr.) 



FIG. 20. "The eggs had hatched 

 into little whitish, humpbacked 

 grubs." 



because those stalks were not damaged like the 

 others. He had just taken it for granted that 

 these stalks would go through the season safe, but 

 when he found that the eggs had hatched into little 



