222 NATURE STUDY AND AGRICULTURE 



When do you find the beetles flying around; during 

 the daylight or after night ? They often fly into our houses 

 attracted by the light. Set a lantern or lamp out on the 

 porch and catch a number of these for study next day. 

 These can easily be preserved for fall study by putting 

 them in a wide -mouth bottle and covering them with 

 alcohol. Pour a little melted paraffin or sealing wax over 

 the top and around the stopper to keep the alcohol from 

 evaporating. 



How does the beetle compare with the grub as to 

 length and color? Which has the harder body? Which 

 has longer legs ? Which is stouter and thicker ? Are the 

 beetle's jaws as large as those of the grub? What does 

 the beetle eat? It is hard for the children to determine 

 this since the beetles eat during the night. They feed upon 

 the leaves of various trees, such as cottonwood, cherry, 

 birch, and no doubt many others. Notice their wings. 

 How are the outer wings related to each other ? Do they 

 overlap or just meet? Lift up the outer wings. How are 

 the inner wings folded ? Are they longer or shorter than 

 outer wings ? Which pair is used in flight ? What is the 

 use of the hard, outer pair? Watch a beetle when it 

 alights to see how it succeeds in tucking the inner wings 

 under the outer ones. 



These beetles lay their eggs in the ground very often in 

 the cornfields. After the eggs are laid the beetles die, so 

 that by the last of June most of the June bugs have disap- 

 peared. The egg hatches into a small white grub that 

 begins at once to feed upon decaying matter in the soil and 

 later upon plant roots. When cold weather approaches it 

 burrows down into the ground below the frost line and re- 



