8 Bulletin of the New York State Museum. 



notices appear of its serious injuries. It was first described nearly 

 one hundred years ago — in 1792. Unfortunately, its depredations 

 are evidently upon the increase, particularly within our own State, 

 as appears from the following extract, and from the numerous 

 inquiries received by me, of late, for approved and effectual means 

 for the arrest of its ravages. 



From Washington county, N. Y., in 1881, we have this statement : 

 " The widespread havoc which this insect has caused this year, and 

 the fact that its ravages are increasing with alarming rapidity, is 

 my excuse for referring to the subject. The damages in this 

 county amount to, probably, thousands of dollars annually, and 

 are increasing." 



The extent that these depredations have already attained is a 

 sufficient warrant for this present notice of them. In their con- 

 sideration, those committed in the early stage of the insect — that 

 of the grub — will first be referred to. 



Injuries from the Grub. 



Dr. Harris writes: "They subsist on the tender roots of various 

 plants, committing ravages among these vegetable substances, on 

 some occasions of the most deplorable kind, so as totally to disap- 

 point the well-founded hopes of the husbandman." 



To Grass. — Dr. Fitch thus notices it : " These grubs feed upon 

 the roots of grass and other plants, which they cat off a short 

 distance beneath the surface ; and when they are numerous they 

 advance under ground like an army, severing the turf as smoothly 

 as though it were cut with a spade, so that it can be raised up in 

 large sheets, and folded over or rolled together like a carpet. Often 

 from a dozen to twenty grubs will be exposed in every square foot 

 when the turf is thus raised. Large patches of this kind will 

 occur in the middle of a meadow or pasture, every blade of the 

 grass being brown and dead " (3d, Mix and 5th Repts., 1859, p. 53). 



In some pasture lands near London, Ontario, throughout entire 

 fields " the roots of the grass had been so eaten that the turf could 

 readily be lifted hy the hand by the yard, and underneath were 

 thousands of the grubs feeding on the remaining fragments of the 

 roots. In one instance, a field had been so completely destroyed 

 that the farmer had set fire to the withered grass, with the hope of 

 scorching the enemy to death" (Canadian Entomologist, xiii, 1881, 

 p. 200). 



