26 COKN AND GRASS. 



of August, but it was not until the 2nd. of September that my gardener 

 brought me some specimens to show me the cause of the havoc wrought 

 by the fowls, and of which I had been complaining." 



On Oct. 12th. Mr. Longbourne further wrote : — " I have seen less 

 of the grubs since the recent rains, and they have probably gone down 

 deeper into the soil." 



Maresfield Park, near Uckfield, in Sussex, was another of the 

 localities at which the presence of the beetle in great numbers early in 

 the season was followed by presence of the grubs beneath the turf in 

 autumn. On May 25th, Mr. Mark Sandford, writing from the Estate 

 Office, Maresfield Park, remarked : — " This year we have a plague of 

 beetles, some enclosed herewith " (these proved to be specimens of the 

 Eose Chafer, the Phyllopertha Iwrticola) ; " they eat up our Roses, and 

 are in shoals on the Grass of the Park here." 



On Oct. 2nd, Mr. Sandford, in reply to my enquiry whether the 

 beetle larva were to be found in the ground on which the Rose Chafers 

 had been noticeable, further mentioned : — " We have just been searching 

 in the turf in the park at places where the turf is dug up by the rooks, 

 and find grubs which I think you want. I have often wondered what 

 the rooks were searching for, and now I suppose we know ; I send you 

 some by this post. For years we have found the rooks doing this, 

 generally in one portion of the park. The bailiff searched other places 

 not touched by the rooks, and could find no grubs." 



Another communication, also showing the prevalence of the infes- 

 tation in the neighbourhood of Haslemere, was sent me on the 19th of 

 September, from Longdene, by Mr. Wm. Jackson, as just a short note 

 pending possible fuller observations: — "At present we only suffer from 

 a slight disfigurement of our lawns, and from an uneasy feeling that 

 the worst is yet to follow, and is unknown. The birds are doing good 

 service in removing the grubs, but they do not do so very tidily." 



Near Eickmansworth (through favour of a friend), I heard of severe 

 presence of this same infestation at Grass roots in one locality, the 

 ground being exceedingly infested with the grubs, of which samples were 

 sent me, notwithstanding crowds of birds of all kinds which were to be 

 seen greedily feeding all day. 



Other observations, which were of unusual interest, inasmuch as 

 they referred to presence of the same kind of grubs as those previously 

 mentioned a little below the surface, and the grubs of the Cockchafer 

 (the Meloluntha vulyaris) deeper down, were sent me from Detmore, 

 near Cheltenham, by Miss Dobell. 



The first of these was sent me on the 4th of September, and noted 

 that on the previous day, September 3rd, one of their fields of six 

 acres was observed to be infested in large patches by Cockchafer grubs. 

 These were in colonies under the Grass, which was dying off, and in 



