132 



FARM FRIENDS AND FARM FOES 



LAMELLICORN 

 BEETLE 



LAMELLICORN BEETLES 



Only a few of the great number of beetle families can 



be considered in these pages. One of the most important 



of these is the great group of Lamellicorn Beetles (Scara- 



baeids). These have curious enlargements on the ends of 

 the feelers or antennae, each swollen part 

 consisting of a number of thin plates rest- 

 ing upon one another. The May Beetle is 

 a typical example of this group. 



In both its adult and its larval condition, 

 the May Beetle or June Bug is only too 

 familiar to most people. From the advent 

 of the first warm days in spring until sum- 

 mer is well along, the brown beetles are 

 likely to be seen flying about trees or lights 



or crawling along the surface of the ground. These beetles 



feed freely upon the leaves of a great variety of fruit 



and shade trees, sometimes doing much injury in this way. 



They deposit their eggs about the bases of grass stems, 



And the eggs soon hatch 



into small larvae that feed 



upon the roots of grasses 



and gradually develop 



into the well-known white 



grubs, which are almost 



always to be found in 



abundance when grass 



lands are plowed. It is 



believed that these white 



grubs require at least 



three years to complete their development, becoming large 



toward the end of this period and able to destroy the roots 



POTATO INJURED BY WHITE GRUB 

 Reduced 



