14 Bulletin of the New York State Museum. 



Dr. Packard records his having found the pupae " in little rude 

 cells or chambers, about six inches under the mould * 

 in Maine, late in May" (3d Report Ins. Mass., 1873, p. 7). 



I will here quote, from its obscure resting place, where it seems 

 to have been overlooked, a somewhat circumstantial histoiy of the 

 transformations of this insect, which from the absence of techni- 

 calities and its general character, would seem to be the personal 

 observations of the writer, and, therefore, of considerable value. 

 It is from the Patent Office Report for the year 1852, Pt. ii, Agri- 

 culture (p. 219), and is a portion of a report upon the crops of 

 Ulster county, N. T., made by David L. Bernard, of Clintondale. 



Corn is extensively cultivated in this county, and is considered 

 most remunerative at present. It seldom fails with us to pro- 

 duce a fair yield, except in seasons when the larvce of a beetle are 

 present with us. When these grubs prevail to a considerable 

 extent, neither good husbandry nor high manuring can secure us a 

 crop ; and perhaps no other county has for the past twenty years 

 suffered more loss from this, than Ulster. This formidable enemy 

 to agriculture seems gradually to be leaving us, in all probability 

 to appear in some ■ other place, and there to renew the same 

 destructive process practiced on us. In order to give this beetle a 

 slight introduction to whom it may concern, I will give a brief 

 description of its general appearance and habits. The bug or 

 beetle is about three-fourths of an inch in length, of a dark brown 

 color, and may be seen in large numbers flying through the air, in 

 the early part of the evening, about the last of April or first of 

 May. They deposit their eggs generally in the month of June, 

 on grass land, on soil that is light or loamy. The larva is hatched 

 from the egg during the month of August, and feeds upon the roots 

 of vegetables until the ground becomes frozen ; it then descends 

 below the frost, and there remains in a state of torpidity until the 

 following spring. As the frost leaves the ground it ascends to the 

 surface (exhibiting no increase of growth during the winter), and 

 again resumes its former mode of living, carefully secluded from 

 the rays of the sun ; feeding on the roots of almost all kinds of 

 grasses and vegetables. Its movements are slow and sluggish ; its 

 color nearly white, with the exception of the head, which is red ; 

 it has six legs, three on each side ; it is at this age about one inch 

 in length. It continues its destruction of all green vegetable 

 matter with which it may come in contact, until the ground 

 becomes frozen again. This is its most destructive season through 

 its progress of change. As the ground becomes frozen, it again 

 descends below the frost (in some instances six feet below r the sur- 

 face), as before remains torpid until the next spring, when it again 

 appears at the surface, being now about one and one-quarter inch 

 in length. It continues to feed as usual upon vegetable substances 



