REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST I9II II5 



spots and on the broader posterior annulet a distinctly larger, 

 quadrate or irregularly quadrate, black spot. The color of this 

 posterior annulet is a deep orange and gives the impression of 

 a partially transverse band bounded sublaterally with an 

 irregular, rather large, black spot. Sublaterally there is a broad, 

 fuscous yellow stripe and laterally a yellowish white stripe, the 

 boundary between the two being marked by an irregular line 

 of black spots arranged much as those on the dorsum. Venter, 

 true legs and prolegs (the latter, sixteen in number, being located 

 on the second to the ninth and fourteenth segments, respec- 

 tively) whitish. At the base of each proleg there is a short, 

 oblique stripe of yellowish. 



June beetles. Last spring. May or June beetles were excep- 

 tionally abundant here and there in the Hudson valley, attract- 

 ing notice by invading lighted dwellings and feeding upon 

 various forest trees, especially oak and chestnut. In the 

 vicinity of Albany were taken several species, namely Lach- 

 nosterna grandis Sm., L. fusca Froh., L. hirti- 

 c u 1 a Knoch, L. h i r s u t a Knoch, while the usually rare P o 1 y- 

 p hylla variolosa Hentz, was very common at Schenectady 

 in early July, though no damage was observed, according to Richard 

 Lohrmann. The above list of species should not be considered as 

 exhaustive, since it includes only those forms taken in connec- 

 tion with other collecting. 



The young or larvae of the May or June beetles are the well- 

 known white grubs of our grasslands, which are sometimes 

 rather injurious to strawberries, potatoes and some other crops 

 planted upon sodland badly infested by these pests. Occa- 

 sionally the grubs become so numerous in old seedings as to 

 eat ofif practically all the roots and make it comparatively easy 

 to roll up the sod with a potato hook or similar implement. 

 The life history of the species may be summarized as follows: 

 The eggs are laid by the parent beetles in loose soil and hatch 

 about a month later; the grubs slowly increase in size for at 

 least two years, and from the middle of June till the middle of 

 .September of the second or third year, construct earthen 

 cells in which the transformation to the pupa occurs and from 

 which the beetles emerge the following spring. Fall plowing 

 is frequently advised since the breaking up of the earthen 

 cells containing the soft, white pupae is invariably followed by 

 the death of the insect. Injuries to crops can be avoided in 

 large measure by refraining from planting those susceptible to 

 attack upon badly infested sodland. A well-planned rotation 



