The White Gbub of the May Beetle. 17 



The Raccoon. — Dr. Thomas (Sixth Bept. Ins. III, p. 98) names 

 the raccoon as one of the carnivorous animals that prey upon this 

 insect, but does not state to what extent it destroys it. 



In the report from North Pawlet, Yt., page 9, it is mentioned 

 as one of the animals that had been digging in the dry turf for the 

 grubs that had caused the death of the grass. 



The Fox. — In the same report, this animal is also included 

 among those which had been, rendering good service to the farmer, 

 and the following suggestion is added : " There is now a bill before 

 the Legislature authorizing the State to pay one dollar a head for 

 all foxes killed in the State. Now, if these grubs continue with 

 their sad havoc from year to year, I should think it a wise legis- 

 lative act to pass a law prohibiting the killing of all wild beasts 

 and birds which subsist in part on these grubs." 



The Mole. — Professor Claypole, a careful observer of the habits 

 of insects and other animals, permits us to claim the mole as an 

 auxiliary in our warfare against the white grub. The following is 

 what he saw, writing from Yellow Springs, Ohio : "In digging 

 potatoes this year, I observed the runs of a mole in all directions 

 through the ground. It was a piece of old sod, and very much 

 infested with white worms, the larva of the cockchafer, Lachnos- 

 terna fusca. Many of the potatoes had been partly eaten, by these 

 worms, but I observed that wherever a mole-run traversed a hill 

 of potatoes no white worm could be found, even though the half- 

 eaten potatoes were proof of his former presence. The inference 

 is fair that the mole had found him first and eaten him, and very 

 likely the mole's object in so thickly tunneling this piece of ground 

 was to find these grubs" (Canadian Entomologist, xiv, p. 17). 



A writer in the Indiana Farmer says : " Last year I put twelve 

 moles in my strawberry patch of five acres to catch the grubs, and 

 they did the work. I never had a dozen plants injured during the 

 summer, either by the grubs or moles. I know some people do 

 not care for moles on their farms, but I want them in my straw- 

 berry patch." 



The Gopher. — In Michigan, upon some new land badly infested 

 with white grubs, and where the gopher was also abundant, the 

 attempt was made to exterminate th»ese animals, until they were 

 observed, in the autumn, busily engaged in digging up and eating 

 the grubs. 



