The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1875-05-20
Written Tor the star
A Word About the Beetles.

huoHS VIC WV OC0'Oo, VhooO
commonly called chafers, May-bugs,
and rose-bugs are the most inter-
esting to the farmers and garden
ers, on account of their extensive
ravages, both in the winged and
larvae state. They were included
by Fabricius in the genus Melolan-
tia, a word used by the ancient
Greeks, because they were supposed
by them to be produced from or
with the flowers of the apple trees,
as the name itself implies.
The following are the general
characteristics of these insects:
The body is oblong, oval, convex,
and generally of a brownish color;
the antenn@ are nine or more, COM
monty ten jointed; the knab is much
longer in the male than in the fc-
male, and consists generally of three
leaf-like pieces, sometimes ola great
err number, which open and shut
like the leaves of book; the upper
jaws are furnished at the base, on
the inner side, with an oval space,
crossed by ridges, like a milestone
for grinding. The wing cases do
not cover the whole body, the hind
err extremity of which is exposed.
The legs are rather long, the first
pair armed externally with two or
three teeth, and the claws notchcd
beneath, or, are split at the end,
like the nib of pen. The power
full and horny jaws are admirably
fitted for cutting and grinding the
leaves and plants upon which these
beetles subsist; their notchcd or
double claws support them securely
upon the foliage; and their strong
and jagged forelegs, being formed
for digging in the ground, point out
the place of their transformation.
This insect dcvours the leaves
of trees and shrubs. The duration
in the perfect state is very short,
each individual living only about
a week, and the species entirely
disappearing in the course of a
month. The females enter the earth
to the depth of six inches or more,
and deposit their eggs, amounting,
according to some writer's, to near
ly one hundred; or, as others assert,
two hundred from each female.
From the eggs are Matched, in
the space of fourteen days, little
whitish grubs, each provided with
six legs, near the head, and a mouth
furnished with strong jaws. They
subsist on the tender roots of var
ious plants, sometimes destroying
whole acres of grass by feeding on
the roots. They do not confine
themselves to grass, but cat the
roots of wheat, and other grain, and
also, of young trees. During the
Summer they live under the coat of
vegetable mold, near the surface,
but, as Winter approaches, they 60
below the reach of frost, coming to
the surface in the Spring for food.
At the close of the fourth Summer
they cease eating,and 60 down about
two feet, where, in February follow
ing, it changes to the perfect bee
tie.
The ones VIC have here arc of a
chestnut-brown color, smooth, but
finely punctured, that is, covered
with little dots, as if pricked with a
pin. The breast is covered with
ycllowish down. The average length
is 9-10ths of an inch. In its per-
feet state it feeds on the leaves OF
trees, particularly those Of the cher
ry tree. Its time is from the mid
die Of May to the end of June, and
it flies in the night. A writer in
the New York Evening Post says
that the beetles which frequently
commit serious ravages on fruit
trees, may be effectually extermin-
ated by shaking them from the trees,
in the evening. In this way, two
psilfuls were caught the first eve-
ming; the number caught regularly
decreased until the fifth evening,
when only two beetles we're to be
found. They are most easily cap
tured in the morning, when they do
not attempt to fly. They are most