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



record of the identification of the larva from Holyoke, Mass., a lo- 

 cality not shown in the map. 



Although the green June beetle has a considerable range, its natural 

 preference for a rich soil, either sandy or loam, renders it important 

 economically in the southern trucking regions. The sandy coast 

 region affords ample opportunity for the increase of this species in 

 trucking regions, and for the same reason it has been able to obtain a 

 foothold in the vegetable-growing sections of Long Island. Indeed, it 

 is evident that the cutting down of forest growth for the settlement 

 and cultivation of the trucking regions of tidewater Virginia and 

 Long Island has been the means of affording the green June beetle 

 ideal conditions for its multiplication. The accumulation of humus 

 following the destruction of the forests and the abundant manuring 

 of these tracts furnish the requisite amount of food for the develop- 

 ment of the insect. 



NATURE OF INJURY. 



For upward of a half century the green June beetle has been 

 known to entomologists of this country, and its economic status has 

 frequently been discussed. From the literature on this subject it is 

 evident that the majority of our entomologists concede it to be an 

 occasional pest, and that locally, at least, it becomes seriously in- 

 jurious. Xone, however, had given this insect very careful study, 

 particularly in regard to the feeding habits of the larva, until the 

 past few years. Since about four-fifths of the life cycle of the insect 

 is passed in the larval form, it is in this stage that the most serious 

 injury is accomplished. Frequent mention is made of this insect 

 as injurious in the parent or adult form, but it has received com- 

 paratively little notice as being injurious in the larval state. Recent 

 reports and observations indicate a reversal of conditions, since it 

 has been reported more frequently injurious in the larval or grub 

 stage. Indeed, many such reports are received by the Department 

 of Agriculture every year. 



Its habit of breeding in rich loam or rich, more or less sandy soil 

 renders it, at least locally, a serious pest to trucking industries not 

 only of the southern States but also in the East and westward to the 

 Mississippi Valley. 



In tidewater Virginia the larva of this insect has done consid- 

 erable damage intermittently for a number of years. With a view 

 to determining a method for its control in that region a study of its 

 life history and habits was begun there in the fall of 1913. 



While the larvae feed normally and largely on soil rich in humus 

 or organic matter and on manures, rootlets of succulent plants and 

 other vegetable matter on the surface of the ground doubtless formed 

 a part of the insect's natural food before it had acquired the habit of 



