Notice of the Melolontha, or May- Bug. 269 
As Ihave nothad an opportunity more than cursorily to | 
examine the vicinity of Easton, 1 am conscious that the 
above is a very imperfect list. But very few of the plants 
it contains are unusually rare. 
With great respect. &c. 
L. De SCHWEINITZ. 
ENTOMOLOGY. 
-—-—Le— 
Art. XIV. Notice of the Melolontha, or May Bug. By 
Jacos Cisr. 
Communicated by Col. GEorGE Gizss. 
|See Plate IV.] 
Tus is a very common insect in Pennsylvania. It is 
nearly one inch in length; head, thorax and shells of an 
uniform dark chesnut brown colour; abdomen and hair on 
the breast, of a pale yellow brown. ‘The shells are shorter 
than the abdomen, thin and flexible, and have a club shap- 
ed ridge on each. 
Its larva, which is one and an half inch in length, is the 
grub so common in our meadows, and so destructive in 
particular seasons to the grass, corn, andother crops. In 
a wet season, the damage done is trifling compared to what 
they produce ina dry one. They feed on the succulent 
roots of these plants. In a moist season, however, the 
plant is enabled to recover by pushing out young fibres; 
but in a dry season the damage they cause is very great. 
i have known one third of our corn* crops destroyed by 
them: from ten to fifteen of them may sometimes be found 
in asingle corn-hill. The withered plants may be rais- 
ed without much effort, and will be found to have all the 
* Indian Corn, Zea Mays. Ep. 
