84 
softness that they had but lately escaped from the pupa case 
Such perfect insects secrete themselves under ground dunnM 
winter, and appear with the rest of their troop m spring. 
Mv own contribution to this history of error was made in| 
' i u a brief account of the white grubs as strawberry m- 
* “The erubs hatch in the course of a month, and, grow- 
1883 
sects 
inw slowly, do not commonly attain full size until the early 
spring of the third year, when they construct an ovoid chamber 
lined "with a gelatinous fluid, change into pupa?, and soon after 
into beetles. Occasionally, however, individuals complete their 
transformation in the ground in autumn, and hibernate m the 
adult condition, without leaving their pupal cells, until the lot 
lowing spring.” 
General accounts of the life history of the white grub consist 
ent with the conclusions of this paper have been published 
without distinction of species or other particulars, by Mr. Italic 
L. Bernard, in the Patent Office Report for 18o2, and by I rof 
G. H. Perkins, in the Second Annual Report of the \ermoni 
Experiment Station (1888).t 
The criticism to be made on most of these statements is subl 
stantially that the rule has been regarded as the exception anc 
the exception as the rule. While the occasional or even freqnen 
transformations of white grubs to the pupa and imago 111 ial 
have been reported by previous observers, as shown m the ex 
tracts given above, the reader of economic entomology \u 
search in vain for any statement or implication that suci 
transformations do not as a rule occur in spring m the genu; 
Lachnosterna. The only white grubs agricultural!} destiiictiv 
which we have so far found to pupate m spring belong to th 
genus Cyclocephala, and are much less common than thosl 
of species of Lachnosterna, all of which, so far as I know, read 
the imago stage in fall. 
The following are the observations on which this statemenl 
is based: 
(11 White grubs obtained from a timothy meadow at bham 
paign March 24, 1886, had formed the pupa July 2J, an 
September 17 were adults of Lachnosterna inversa, m the eait 
of their breeding cage. J 
(21 Others obtained from a corn field at Anna. Ill., April 
1886, were found July 28 still unchanged in their pre-pupa 
earthen cells at the bottom of the breeding cage but Septeirj 
her 17 had transformed into pupa?, and October 9 were ij 
part adult beetles, still in earth, of L. implicit a, the rj 
mainder continuing as pupa?. These pup® were placed m alcohd 
for specific description. | 
* Thirteenth Report State Entomologist of Illinois, p. 145. 
lor We VTata. ateac, 
perfectly colored and matured. 
