558 



The Cockchafer and Forestry. 



[dec, 



winter is useful in aiding the destruction of several other 

 injurious insects, such as the Codlin Moth and Woolly Aphis. 

 The wash also removes moss and lichens, and thus destroys 

 the favourite quarters of many hibernating insects. (See Leaflet 

 No. 70.) 



The Cockchafer (Alelolout/ia vulgaris) is one of the most 



troublesome insects in forestry, both beetles and grubs being 



harmful. The beetles during their flight- 



The Cockchafer per i oc i devour the leaves of trees, chiefly 

 in its Relation to r } 

 Forestry.* broad-leaved species, but the needles of 



larch and the male cones of pine and spruce 

 are also eaten. The grubs are extremely harmful to the roots 

 of young conifers, e.g., pines of various species, spruce, larch, 

 cypress, and in a less degree to silver fir ; some broad-leaved 

 species, eg. beech, are also attacked. The younger roots may 

 be bitten clean through, while older and better grown ones have 

 their bark gnawed away. The leaves of these attacked plants 

 turn yellow and the whole plant withers away. This dis- 

 colouration of leaf and withering may not appear immediately 

 in young conifers, and the grubs may have moved to other 

 plants before those whose roots have been destroyed show 

 marked signs of withering. That the grubs are at work may 

 also be known by nursery plants being blown over by the wind, 

 owing to their roots being bitten through. 



Description of Insect in its various stages. 



Adult Beetle. — The beetle is often an inch in length, with the 

 head and front portion of the body black, the wing cases being 

 reddish-brown, hairy, and with five raised lines on each ; along 

 each side of the abdomen are five white triangular marks. 

 The abdomen ends in a prolongation downwardly curved and 

 not covered by the wing cases. The end joints of the short 

 antennae form a kind of club or fan, made up in the male of 

 seven leaves and in the female of six. 



* An account of the Cockchafer, one of the Chafer-Beetles, is also given in Leaflet 

 No. 25, entitled, " Chafer-Beetles or White Grubs." 



