o o 
Furthermore, if the first account were correct, a farmer who 
finds his crop destroyed by full-grown grubs in spring need not 
hope to raise anything not grub-proof on that ground that 
year; while the truth is that he may expect to see his field 
practically deserted by his enemies by July or even by late 
June, and may consequently plant some time previous to that 
without fear of harm. 
The current and most authoritative statements of the life 
history of the white grubs are incomplete and more or less con¬ 
tradictory. 
Dr. Harris says that “the habits and transformations of the 
common cockchafer of Europe have been carefully observed, and 
will serve to exemplify those of the other insects of this family, 
which, as far as they are known, seem to be nearly the same,' 7 
and continues with a compiled account of the history of the 
European species* * * § to the effect that the larva gets its growth 
at the close of its last summer, penetrates about 2 feet into the 
earth, remains a pupa there until February, at which time it 
transforms to the beetle, and three mouths afterwards emerges 
to the light.! Referring to one of our most common species, 
now known as Lachnosterna fusca ,, he further says:! “In the 
course of the spring these beetles are often thrown from the 
earth by the spade and plow in various states of maturity, 
some being soft and nearly white, their superabundant juices 
not having evaporated, while others exhibit the true color and 
texture of the perfect insect.” 
In a long account of the same species. Dr. Fitch remarks^ 
that “early in spring, in spading or plowing the ground, these 
beetles are frequently exhumed, or sometimes in turning over a 
large stone one of them will be found beneath, lying in a 
smooth cavity or little round hollow in the dirt, like a chicken 
in its shell. This cavity or cell is formed by the grub the pre¬ 
ceding autumn. Turning itself around and around, it presses 
upon and compacts the dirt and molds it into this cell for its 
winter residence; and in this cell it changes first to a pupa, in 
which the legs and wing-cases of the insect are seen in their 
rudimentary state, and afterwards to a beetle, such as we have 
above described. This beetle lies dormant in its cell until the 
ay arm tli of the incoming summer penetrates the ground suffi¬ 
ciently to awaken it into actHity. It then breaks from its 
prison and ivorks its Avav out of the ground.” On another page 
he adds, II “The history" of our May beetle and its transforma- 
* Several standard European authorities give quite a different account of the transf^- 
mations of the European cockchafer from that quoted by Harris. Ratze burg, Maurice 
Girard, and Taschenberg give for it a life history essentially like that of Lachnosterna, as 
here established. 
+ Insects Injurious to A'egetation, 2d ed. (1862), pp. 27, 28. 
+ ibid, p. 31. 
§ Third Report on the Noxious and Beneficial Insects of New York (1859), p. 53. 
H ibid., p. 55. 
