INSECT INTRUDERS. 



Cockchafer beetles, those brownish or 

 yellow beetles of square bulky build 

 which often fly into our houses at night 

 and go booming 1 about the room after 

 the fashion of the scavenger beetles. 



The cockchafer beetles themselves 

 mostly feed upon leaves and are by no 

 means so important to the gardener as 

 the grub. The latter spends its whole 

 existence in this stage in the soil and, 

 when full grown, changes into a pupa 

 or nymph in the earth without forming 

 any special covering or^cocoon round it. 

 This nymph gradually assumes the shape 

 and colouring of the beetle and often, 

 in turning over the soil in the spring and 

 summer, one can find all stages of the 

 insect-grub, nymph and beetle, in the 

 soil amongst the roots of plants. 



The best way for the amateur gardener 

 to get rid of these pests is by deep 

 trenching the soil during the winter 

 season and exposing grubs and pupas to 

 the cold which will kill them. Digging 



94 



