74 



INSECTS INJURIOUS TO GARDEN AND ORCHARD CROPS. 



REMEDIES. 



Hand methods are about the only available remedies for the beetles 

 when they occur in sufficient abundance to be troublesome. The use 

 of insecticides on ripening fruit that is soon to be eaten is practically 

 out of the question. During the heat of the day, particularly in the 

 bright sunlight, the beetles are active, but in the shade when feeding 

 they can readily be captured by jarring tbem from, the trees or other 

 plants upon which they occur into bags or nets. A. simple screen of 

 mosquito netting applied over drying fruit will afford ample protection 

 against these insects and others liable to be attracted. 



Fortunately, the species is one of many that are only periodically 

 numerous enough to be troublesome, and therefore it is not an insect 

 that need often be the cause of serious alarm. 



BIOLOGIC NOTES ON THE MAY BEETLE, LACHNOSTERNA 

 ARCUATA SM. 



It is a matter of common knowledge that until within the last decade 

 the common white grub of the Northern and Middle States was very 

 generally believed to be the offspring of that species of May or June 



Fig. 16. — Lachnosterna arcuata: a, beetle; b, pupa; c, egg; d, newly-hatched larva ; e, mature 

 larva; /, anal segment of same from below, a, b, e, enlarged one-fourth; c, d, /, more en- 

 larged (original). 



beetle known as Lachnosterna fusca Frohl. About ten years ago, how- 

 ever, chiefly through the studies of Dr. J. B. Smith, 1 it was ascertained 

 that only the common Northern species of white grub belonged to L. 

 fusca, while that found most abundantly in the Middle States, and 

 particularly in and about the District of Columbia, was an unde- 

 scribed species, to which was given the name arcuata, from the arcuate 

 process on the penultimate segment of the abdomen of the male beetle. 

 A few years later a very careful and elaborate study of white grubs of 

 certain species of Lachnosterna and of Cyclocephla immaculata was 

 carried on at Champaign, 111., by Dr. S. A. Forbes, 2 official entomolo- 

 gist of that State. Through the researches of the two entomologists 

 mentioned and some others much has been gained that leads toward a 

 more complete knowledge of these insects and their modes of life. 



» See Insect Life, vol. i, pp. 180-185 ; Proc. IT. S. Nat. Mus., vol. xi, pp. 481-525. 

 2 Eighteenth Rep. State Eutom. 111. for 1891 and 1892 (1894), pp. 109-145. 



