Fig. 202.—Beetle and young: A, tiger beetle; B, larva of same, enlarged; C, water beetle.
The June bug, the beetle which dashes into rooms, blindly charging lights of all kinds, is a familiar example. Its larva is white and very destructive. On my lawn in California the Bermuda grass often turns white, and sections a foot square can be lifted, having been cut off from the roots by this destructive larva of the June bug, which during this stage of its existence lives underground, eating roots and plants of various kinds. For two years this beetle (Fig. 203) lives a subterranean, marauding life, growing and shedding its skin. It is often considered a complete animal, but at the end of this period it changes into what is called the pupa stage, which does not move; the pupæ are white, soft, helpless creatures which are found around the roots of rose bushes in great number, and which are so appreciated by mocking birds that they and the blackbirds invariably follow me about the garden when I am overturning the soil with the trowel. Finally the pupa changes into the perfect insect.
Fig. 203.—June bug, showing wings and wing covers.
The larvæ of some of the spring beetles remain in the "grub" stage five years, and are known as wire worms, doing a vast amount of damage.
Fig. 204.—Bark-boring beetle.
The girdler beetle bores holes in tender limbs of the hickory, then systematically girdles the limb below the eggs, so that by the time the young hatch they have soft, dead wood to feed upon. The bark borer (Fig. 204) penetrates the bark of trees, and cuts winding tunnels here and there, in which are placed its eggs. Among the most attractive of the beetles are the carnivorous sexton beetles. They find dead bodies with all the skill of a vulture, burrow beneath them and deposit their eggs within the body, where the young feed. The work these beetles accomplish in destroying animals and even burying them renders them valuable scavengers. Among the destructive beetles are the buffalo bugs (Fig. 205), which have been introduced from Europe; the larva of these is a strange, fuzzy little creature (a).
Fig. 205.—Buffalo bug and various stages of young.