. Injurious and useful insects; an introduction to the study of economic entomology. Insects; Beneficial insects; Insect pests. 30 INJURIOUS AND USEFUL INSECTS are no eyes; the feelers are four-jointed and about as long as the head, the mandibles stout and pointed, the maxillae strong and bristly, with three-jointed palps; the labium consists of two transversely elongate pieces bearing short two-jointed labial palps. In spite of its awkward shape and sluggish habits, the larva can make its way through soft earth with tolerable ease. It can rise to the surface in search of food, or descend to a
. Injurious and useful insects; an introduction to the study of economic entomology. Insects; Beneficial insects; Insect pests. 30 INJURIOUS AND USEFUL INSECTS are no eyes; the feelers are four-jointed and about as long as the head, the mandibles stout and pointed, the maxillae strong and bristly, with three-jointed palps; the labium consists of two transversely elongate pieces bearing short two-jointed labial palps. In spite of its awkward shape and sluggish habits, the larva can make its way through soft earth with tolerable ease. It can rise to the surface in search of food, or descend to avoid frost. When laid on a hard surface, it rests on its side. The pupa is to be found in cavities deep in the ground. It has the attitude and general structure of a Lepidopterous pupa, but the appendages, though shrouded in a pupa-skin, are free, and not glued down. It is of a pale brown colour. The pupal stage lasts only a few weeks, and then the full-formed beetle casts its wrappings, not emerging from the ground, however, till the following spring. The general course of the life-history is as follows :—The female beetle lays several batches of whitish eggs, some fifteen or more in a batch, a few inches beneath the surface of the ground. These hatch out in about three weeks, and the larvae begin at once to feed upon the roots of grasses, trees, or field- crops. During the first warm season their ravages are hardly noticed. At the approach of winter they descend deep into the earth, and become torpid. Next spring they resume their activity, and feed voraciously. The second winter, like the first, is passed in a torpid state. Again the larvae come up to feed, but after the third summer they are ready to pupate. In the following spring the beetles come forth. (In northern countries the life-history may extend over five years.) During the day, the full-grown cockchafer commonly hides under the leaves of trees, and flies abroad only at dusk. Like the dor-beetle, it flies heavil
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectinsects, bookyear1902
