438 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY , Vol XVII. 



Fig. 103. 



larger plates (lamellfe) on the antennae. The grubs are straight when 

 young but curve ; and end in the thick bag as shown in Fig. 89a as they 

 grow older. All the Indian ones at present known feed upon the roots 



of plants and trees and are probably 

 a source of considerable loss throughout 

 India every year to ryot, planter and 

 forester alike. The larval life often ex- 

 tends over several years, the time being- 

 spent by the grubs, except during the 

 winter months when they retire deep into 

 the earth and more or less hibernate, in 

 feeding voraciously and growing in size. 

 The pupal stage is short but the beetles 

 may remain a considerable time in the 

 ground after leaving the pupa before 

 emerging. This is to allow of all the 

 outer chitinous parts hardening. 



The Indian Museum collections con- 

 tain some 150 odd Indian species of this 

 group, but it is exceedingly improbable 

 that this number represents any thing- 

 like the number of species existing on the Indian Continent. 



The Melolonthini include one of the best known and most destruc- 

 tive of the insects of this group, the Lachnosterna impress a or Indian 

 Cockchafer par excellence, a thickish brown beetle of which the larva, 

 pupa and beetle are shown in natural size in Fig. 103. The larvse of 

 this beetle live in the ground and feed upon roots of all kinds so far as 

 present observations have shown. It moults its skin at intervals until 

 it reaches full size, but never comes to the surface. The time spent in 

 this stage is at present unknown, but it probably exceeds a year and may 

 be several.* The larva is the well-known ' white grub ' of Planters in 

 whose nurseries it has long been known to commit considerable 

 havoc amongst the young plants. As an illustration of the damage this 

 insect is capable of it ma}' be mentioned that in 1891 it appeared in vast 

 quantities in some of the Darjiling tea gardens and committed great 

 havoc amongst the young tea plants. In 1888 it did great damage to 



* The European species Mdolontha vulgaris spends more than '6 years in the grub stage 

 whilst the American species Alacrodactylus subspinosus spends the greater part of a year 

 as a grub. 



-Lachnosterna impressa. 

 Larva, pupa, beetle and 

 antenna (la'ter en- 

 larged'). 



