Vol. XXVi] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS 53 



New Fragments on Some Well-known Insects (Col., 



Orth., Hem.). 



By A. A. GiRAULT, U. S. Nat. Mus., Washington. D. C. 



The Method op Handling and Rearing Scarabaeidae op 



THE Tropics. 

 The so-called white gnihs of North .\nierica (larvae of 

 Lachnosterma sf>p.) are well known to entomologists of the 

 United States, and it is notorious that the larvae are exceed- 

 ingly difficult to rear antl that they require very careful hand- 

 ling in confinement. Indeed it may be stated that rather pro- 

 loni^ed efforts have been made in some places to rear the insects 

 iMit^ ' >rs and out, hut without notable tiiccess. Recent 

 ex] ' with larvae of the same family (but of various 



genera) in North Queensland has inclined me to think that the 

 failure to >. !!y handle them in North America was due 



rather to li.. , ...: than to the substance, though I may be 

 mistaken. The lar\'ae I have in mind all feed upon the roots 

 of various grasses and U|x>n sugar cane. They do not differ in 

 structure from those of I tuhnostrrna yet they are very hardy. 

 For instance when olitainin^ ni.itt-rial for the laboratory, we 

 sim|)ly go out with a small satchel full of empty tin boxes 

 (oi ' pipe tobacco boxes of the market) and dig around 



in \ i»laces with a small hamlpick ; or else follow a plow- 



man. The larvae obtained arc placed into the boxes which are 

 fdlcd with soil and brought back. When convenient, say the 

 next morning, they are transferred to pots, boxes and glasses 

 filled with soils of various kinds and thus kq)t until maturity. 

 Some remained in bare earth for months and throve, and they 

 cortaitjiy extract nourishment from the soil like earthworms. 

 ( )tliers ail- u-.l u|x)n the roots of com sprouted in the cages 

 while others again are placed with deoompottng vegetable mat- 

 ter upon which they thrive. Their growth is very rapid. Thus, 

 merely handling them is iinpunitive. There is a big advantage, 

 however. The life cycle is only about one year, and larval 

 growth seems to occur the first three or four months following 

 hatching, so that thereafter they can stand any amount of 



