30 BULLETIN 891, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The importance of the species as a truck-crop pest A\~as further 

 noted by Biley in 1893 (20), when he stated that an acre of celery 

 at Eives, Md., was found fairly teeming with the grubs. No direct 

 injury was noted to the roots, but the heart of the celery became 

 choked with soil, and rot was induced by the acid excrement of 

 the larvae. The great abundance of the larvae on this area was 

 attributed to heavy mulching with rotten straw, the odor of which 

 obviously had attracted the parent beetle to deposit her eggs. The 

 same year Dr. J. B. Smith (25, p. 510-511 ; 26) stated that the larvse 

 in 1896 were more abundant than those of May beetles, and that their 

 work beneath the sod is sometimes so rapid and complete that the 

 whole can be rolled up like a rug, every fiber of the roots having been 

 destro} r ed. Forbes (22, p. 280-281) stated that this grub is normally 

 a grass insect, but also infests strawberry fields. 



From Ruxton, Md., it was reported that in 1897 hundreds of Cali- 

 fornia privet plants were destroyed by the grubs. 



The conviction of the authors engaged in truck-crop insect inves- 

 tigations, that the larva is more injurious than the beetle, is not 

 shared by all entomologists. M. V. Slingerland (24) wrote that the 

 grubs during growth are harmless, feeding largely on vegetable 

 humus, but when they attain growth, they often injure roots of 

 strawberry plants and grasses. 



In 1898 Dr. Howard (28) wrote a somewhat extensive article on 

 the green June beetle in which the statement was made that the 

 actual amount of damage done by the larva was problematical, and 

 in fact that it was doubtful whether the larvae normally do damage 

 at all. In spite of this, numerous records of injury had been made 

 long before this date, some of which Dr. Howard noted, and a con- 

 siderable number of reports have been received since, particularly 

 during recent years, when many complaints have been made of in- 

 jury by white grubs, which proved on receipt of specimens to be 

 Cotinis nitida. 



In 1900 the senior author (29, p. 55), in an account of insects and 

 the weather, stated that this species was less abundant in the Dis- 

 trict of Columbia than usual. The same year J. B. Smith (30, 

 p. 282) gave notes on the habits and occurrences of the species in 

 New Jersey. The following year the senior author (31, p. 76-77) 

 reported injury by the grubs to greenhouse plants, but the injury 

 might have been partly due to cutworms. 



In 1905 Dr. Forbes (35, p. 101-103) published a general account 

 which included notes on the characters of this and other so-called 

 species of " June beetles." 



In 1909 Prof. H. Garman (35), in writing of this species, stated 

 that it was destructive to corn planted near manure heaps and men- 

 tioned injury by the beetles gnawing the tips of ears of corn. 



