206 



THE PROTECTION OF WOODLANDS. 



antenna) and legs rusty-red ; rostrum with fine groove along middle. It 

 has no flying wings, but crawls up stems, pairing and egg-laying about 

 June. Prevention and Extermination. In nurseries beetles may be 

 shaken down and collected. They drop to the ground with slight shak- 

 ing, and crawl quickly away ; but grease-banding stems with patent tar 

 prevents their reascending. 



C. LAMELLICORN BEETLES (Scarabceidce). 



* The Cockchafer, May -Beetle, or White -grub, Mdolontha vulgaris 

 (Fig. 47), as a beetle feeds on the leaves and flowers of Oak chiefly, and 



Fig. 47. 



The Common Cockchafer (Melolomha vulgaris). 



. Beetle (male natural size). 



6. Feeler of male (7 lamellae 



magnified four times). 



c. Feeler of female (6 lamellae magnified four times). 



d. Grub (natural size). 



e. Pupa (seen from below natural size). 



other broad - leaved trees, sometimes almost defoliating them, while 

 among Conifers it mainly eats soft tufts of Larch-needles and male 

 flowers of Pine. But it is most destructive as a voracious grub in 

 loose soil, from the second year onwards gnawing the roots of young 

 plants, and especially of perennial grasses, weeds, and Conifer seedlings, so 

 that the last soon die off, while older plants sicken when attacked. 

 In seed-beds the well-prepared soil attracts the ? when laying eggs, and 

 on falls of Scots Pine on sandy soil grubs are often very destructive. 



Beetle, 1 to 1 in. long; thorax black or reddish-brown; elytra and 

 legs ruddy -brown ; the elytra with 5 longitudinal ridges, the 4 hollows 

 between which are covered with fine hairs ; abdomen black, with 5 



