The White Gbub of the May Beetle. 25 



not attempt to fly. They are most easily collected in a cloth 

 spread under the trees to receive them when they fall, after which 

 they should be thrown into boiling water to kill them, and 

 may then be given as food to swine" {Treat. Ins. Inj. Veg., 

 1862, p. 31). 



Dr. Fitch, in referring to this remedy, gives the time in which 

 the trees may be shaken with the best results, as between midnight 

 and daylight, as would appear from the observations of Mr. MUo 

 Ingalsbe, of South Hartford, WashingtoniSounty, N. Y. " He had 

 seventy plum trees and a number of cherry trees of the choicest 

 varieties, which never gave fairer promise of an abundant yield 

 than at that time. But a swarm of these May-beetles suddenly 

 gathered upon the trees, many of them being then splendidly in 

 bloom, and in two nights, the fifteenth and sixteenth of May, 

 whoUy stripped them of their foliage, so that many of them were 

 as naked as in winter. With their humming notes, these beetles 

 were flying about the trees every evening until about 10 o'clock, 

 when they would settle in clusters of eight, ten, twenty or more, 

 and would thus remain until daylight, when they would tumble 

 down from the trees, flying but little, however, and hiding them- 

 selves wherever convenient to stay through the day {Third Fitch 

 Bept. Ins. N. T., 1859, p. 54). 



Attracting to Light. — The beetles, in their evening flights, are 

 readily attracted to light, as is shown in the frequency with which 

 they fly in at the open windows of our dwellings, public halls, 

 churches, etc., in warm evenings, and the numbers that may be 

 seen circling about the electric lights of our streets, or lying upon 

 the pavements beneath, to which they have fallen. This well- 

 known propensity of the beetle may be utilized to lure them to 

 their destruction. If a lantern be placed above a vessel of water 

 upon which two or three tablespoonfuls of kerosene has been 

 poured, many of the beetles drawn to the light and striking against 

 it will be thrown into the water and killed. Many other noxious 

 insects may at the same time be killed by this method. 



In our eff'orts to destroy the larva, we are met with several 

 difficulties, of which these may be given : 



•1. Applications to the ground of sufficient strength to invariably 

 kiU the grub, of which several might be mentioned, would also 

 be destructive to a growing crop. 

 4 



