140 



flight readily when disturbed, or dodging round to the other side 

 of the plant. 



Four-lined Plant-bug. This is much the same size and shape 

 as the preceding, but is yellow in color, with dark lines down the 

 back and four black dashes along the thorax. Its attacks are most 

 noticeable in early spring, when it may be found on mint, sage, cur- 

 rant and gooseberry bushes, and often also on potatoes. It sucks the 

 juices of the tender terminal leaves, causing them to shrivel up and 

 turn back, and frequently severely injuring the plant. The stand- 

 ard remedy for these and other sucking insects is spraying with 

 strong kerosene emulsion ; where this cannot be applied, as in the 

 case of many flowering plants, dusting with pyrethrum insect po\v- 

 der has been found quite effective. Much may be done by knocking 

 off the bugs with a stick into a pan containing a little water covered 

 \vith a film of coal-oil; this should be performed in the cool of the 

 morning when the insects are less lively than during the heat of 

 the day. 



White Grubs. These are the larvae of May-beetles or June- 

 bugs which breed for the most part in old pastures. The beetles 

 appear about the end of May or early in June and attack the tender 

 foliage and buds of fruit and ornamental trees, often inflicting a 

 considerable amount of damage. They come out at night and 

 swarm about the trees, making a loud buzzing noise: many are at- 

 tracted by lights in houses and cause some consternation among the 

 inmates through their clumsy flight about the room and the noise 

 that they produce ; as they can neither sting nor bite no alarm need 

 be caused by their presence. During the night they feed and by 

 morning all disappear, hiding underground where the soil is loose 

 and under grass or rubbish about fences and buildings. At this 

 period boys might be employed to search for and kill them ; trap- 

 lanterns have sometimes been used with advantage, and spraying the 

 trees they frequent with Paris green will destroy large numbers. The 

 beetles deposit their eggs on the stems or roots of grasses just below 

 the surface of the soil ; from these the grubs hatch out and feed for 

 two or three years underground. During the summer of their third 

 season they change to the pupal state and transform to beetles about 

 September, but do not come out until the following spring. This 

 long larval stage accounts for the fact that in some localities the 

 beetles only appear once in three years. 



The grubs, when fully grown, are thick, fat creatures, white in 

 color hence their name with the body partially curled up and the 

 last segments discolored from the food showing through the skin. 

 When an old pasture is broken up they live for a time on the grass 

 and roots that have been turned under and then attack whatever 

 plant may be grown. The first and second crops usually suffer most, 

 especially strawberries and corn ; clover is least affected by them and 

 may be seeded down with rye, then small grains followed by corn or 

 potatoes. Late and deep plowing will break up the winter quarters 

 of the grubs and beetles and expose them to frost and also to the 

 various animals that prey upon them. Pigs and poultry greedily 



