INSECTS AFFECTING FIELD CROPS 503 



and adults feed on the foliage and sometimes on the stem of the 

 plant also, so they are capable of doing much injury. The 

 beetles are only a little over one-eighth of an inch long, dark 

 brown, and are covered with short, thick, black and grayish 

 hairs. The snout is short and curved. 



Among the control measures that have been suggested are 

 cutting the first growth when most of the eggs are on the 

 plant, disking the field early in the spring and dragging the 

 field with brush after the crop has been cut. Every effort is 

 being made to prevent the spread of this pest. 



FIG. 237. Alfalfa weevil, Phytonomus murinus. (Much enlarged.) 



Grubs. Grass and pasture lands are often badly infested 

 with large white grubs which feed on the roots of the plants 

 growing there. These may remain in the larval stage two or 

 three years, but finally transform to pupae from which issue the 

 large, brown beetles known as May -beetles, or June-bugs. The ' 

 beetles fly at night and are frequently attracted to lights. As 

 these same insects are common pests of corn and of many other 

 cultivated plants it is not well to let them become numerous in 

 grass lands that are near cultivated fields. Deep plowing late 

 in the fall will destroy or expose to the birds many of the larvae 

 and pupae. Hogs turned into an infested pasture will root 

 out and eat most of the grubs. 



Wire-worms. The long, cylindrical, hard, wire-worms have 

 habits similar to the grubs just discussed. They may remain 

 in the larval stage from three to five years and often do con- 

 siderable damage to corn, wheat, potatoes and other field and 

 garden crops. The adults are the well-known click-beetles, or 

 snapping-beetles. Late fall or eary spring plowing, and crop 

 rotation, are the control measures usually adopted. 



