OF THE FARil AND GARDEN". 



75 



spring of the third year (some say the fourth), and is 

 then sometimes as large as one's little finger, of the shape 

 shown in figure 45. It is soft, dirty-white, and has a ma- 

 hogany-colored head, and is usually found with its body 

 curved in a semicircle, though it can straighten itself out 

 and crawl slowly. In the third year they form a some- 

 what egg-shaped chamber, by sticking the particles of 

 earth together by means of an adliesive fiuid, within 

 which they assume the pupa state. These earthen co- 

 coons are shown in figure 46, entire, and in figure 47 

 cut open, showing the pupa wdthin. In May, or in 

 many localities not until June, the change into the per- 

 fect beetle is completed. Such is, in brief, the natural 



Fig. 40.— COCOON. Fig 47.— pupa. 



history of the White Grub, which in most respects resem- 

 bles that of a related insect, equally destructiye to the 

 vegetation of Europe, Melolontha vulgaris^ known in 

 England as Cockchafer, and in France as Hanneton, 

 which in the last-named country causes such losses that 

 various prizes for efficient means for its destruction have 

 been offered, but not awarded. 



It should be stated that a larva of similar size and ap- 

 pearance to the White Grub is often found in manure 

 heaps, and farmers, supposing them to be identical, fear 

 to cause trouble by using the manure. This grub, known 

 as the Muck- worm, is the larva of a different beetle 

 (Li gyrus), and as it feeds only upon decayed vegetable 

 matter, can do no damage to the crops; at most it can 

 only consume a little manure. It has a lead-colored ap- 



