INSECT PESTS OF TIMBEE 119 



Cockchafer beetle, Melolontha vulgaris. It is 

 doubly obnoxious because, unlike many insect 

 pests, it is dangerous in the larval and adult 

 forms. There are few broad-leaved trees which 

 it will not attack, though it appears partial to 

 Beech, Oak, Sycamore and Elm. The larvae 

 feed on the roots of seedling trees and nursery 

 stock, the adults upon the leaves of older trees. 

 Briefly the life history of this beetle is as follows : 

 the female lays her eggs, to the number of 

 nearly fifty, six inches or so below the ground 

 and near the roots of some convenient sapling. 

 In about six weeks the larvae hatch and at once 

 commence to feed upon the roots near by, 

 selecting their feeding points at or near the 

 tender growing tips. 



For from three to four years the larvae con- 

 tinue to feed underground, doing incalculable 

 damage the while. When fully fed they descend 

 lower into the soil in the autumn, make for them- 

 selves earthen cocoons and emerge as perfect 

 insects in the spring, ready to carry destruction 

 to the young leaves just as they unfold. 



In Scotland and the North of England, the 

 closely related June Bug, Melolontha hippo- 

 castani, is the commoner insect. It has earned 

 its scientific name from its supposed destructive- 

 ness to the Horse Chestnut. As a matter of fact 

 it wiU attack practically any tree and is especially 



