12 BULLETIN 891, U. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE. 



everything grown. Chickens were stated to have refused to eat the 

 grubs. 



August 10, 1904, Mr. Henry Chapman, Saltville, Ya., sent half- 

 grown larvae, stating that they were very abundant in celery and 

 strawberry beds. A dozen of varying sizes were found near one 

 strawberry plant that day. The smaller grubs which had hatched 

 from eggs recently deposited by the beetles remained near the surface, 

 while the larger ones occurred farther below. The grubs were not 

 seen to injure the celery until it was put in the ground in the winter, 

 when a good-sized stalk was observed " eaten through." Strawberry 

 plants were destroyed in the midst of a host of these pests. On 

 September 14 specimens in different stages of growth were found 

 4 to 5 inches below the earth's surface. The beetles were numerous in 

 that vicinity during July. They were observed depositing eggs and 

 soon afterwards larvae were noted developing rapidly. 



October 23, 190T, Mr. Barclay wrote that since 1903, when the 

 Bureau of Entomology had correspondence with him in regard to the 

 occurrence of this insect at Haverford, Pa., it had not appeared at all 

 in 1904, 1905, or 1906. October 26, Mr. P. Haupt, Xew Athens, 111., 

 reported that his vegetable and flower garden and a portion of his 

 lawn were very badly infested. Because of the great numbers of the 

 grubs, especially in the vegetable garden, it was feared that great 

 damage might be done the next spring. Lettuce which had been 

 sown several weeks before was undermined so badly when an inch 

 high that the plants died from drought, the grubs having worked 

 around the roots so much that the soil had become as fine and loose 

 as dust. The grubs also ate off the leaves and gnawed the tips of 

 hyacinth bulbs. The presence of the insects in the vegetable garden 

 was attributed to the use of horse manure from the stable. 



Xovember 16, 1909, Mr. E. G. Smyth reported the following ob- 

 servations on this species from Churchland, Ya. : 



The hard ground between frames of young cabbage is " pepper-boxed " with 

 holes made by these larvse in entering the ground. The grower believes that 

 they come to the surface during the night to obtain moisture, and reenter the 

 soil before daylight. It is evident that they come forth to feed; but as they 

 can not possibly get into the frames of young cabbage, and as there is very 

 little vegetation outside of the frames, it is a question what they find to eat. 

 Plainly none had gained entrance to the frames, for the soil within had none 

 of their holes at the surface. Once inside, they could play consummate havoc 

 with the tender cabbage seedlings. In the preceding spring, beets had been 

 grown in these cold frames, and something working under the ground, presum- 

 ably the same larvse, did considerable damage to the plants. During the inter- 

 vening summer months the frames were in disuse, so only weeds grew in or 

 between them. Before planting the cabbage in the frames the old soil had been 

 replaced by fresh soil from elsewhere, which accounts for there being no grubs 

 in the frames at this time. 



