118 Beetles [CH. 
amount of damage which the cockchafer does during 
the first year of its larval life often leads the farmer to 
suppose that the grubs are not present whilst they may 
be found in the young stage under healthy grass. 
The cockchafer and green rose chafer fly at night, 
and are very sluggish during the day time, when they 
may be found on trees, usually isolated ones, in fields 
and hedges. They rarely go into a wood except in 
very rough weather. The beetles can be beaten from 
trees and shrubs by means of long sticks, collected on 
sheets and then destroyed. The best time for this 
operation is in the morning; the trees must not be 
shaken too much or the beetles will fly away. In this 
way a single farmer in France has collected nearly a 
ton of cockchafers. Pigs will readily eat them if they 
are shaken on to the ground. 
The summer chafer and the garden chafer must 
be attacked in the early morning, in the evening, or 
on very dull days, as they fly about in bright weather. 
On arable land frequent hoeing has been found to be 
useful and in gardens handpicking of the grubs is 
profitable. Gas lime has been found to kill the grubs, 
but it also kills the grass. In gardens the larvae may 
be trapped by placing pieces of turf grass downwards 
just under the soil. 
When badly attacked grass land is ploughed up 
pigs and chickens should be turned into the field as 
they will destroy large quantities of the grubs. Rooks, 
starlings, green plovers, gulls and moles devour a large 
number of them, and the damage to grass land, which 
is often attributed to rooks, is really due to the grub, 
for which they are searching. The chafers themselves 
are said to be eaten by owls and nightjars. 
