The bushes should be visited morning, noon and night, and
thoroughly shaken (killing the caterpillars) and sprinkled with ashes.

[Illustration: 246. May Beetle and Young.]

Among multitudes of beetles (Coleoptera) injurious to the crops, are the
May beetle (Lachnosterna fusca, Fig. 246), whose larva, a large white
grub, is injurious to the roots of grass and to strawberry vines. The
Rose beetle appears about the time of the blossoming of the rose. The
Fire-flies now show their light during mild evenings, and on hot sultry
days the shrill rasping song of the male Cicada, for "they all have
voiceless wives," cuts the air: The Chinch-bug, that fell destroyer of
our wheat crops, appears, according to Harris, in the middle of the
month, and "may be seen in their various stages of growth on all kinds
of grain, on corn and herds-grass during the whole summer." So widely
spread is this insect at present, that we have even detected it in
August on the summit of Mount Washington.

[Illustration: 247. Pemphigus.]

The Diptera, or two-winged flies, contain hosts of noxious insects, such
as the various Cecidomyians, or two-winged Gall flies, which now sting
the culms of the wheat and grasses, and various grains, and leaves of
trees, producing gall-like excrescences of varying form. Legions of
these delicate minute flies fill the air at twilight, hovering over
wheat fields and shrubbery. A strong north west wind, at such times, is
of incalculable value to the farmer. Moreover, minute flies, allied to
the house fly, such as Tephritis, Oscinis, etc., now attack the young
cereals, doing immense injury to grain.

[Illustration: 248. Apple Bark Louse.]

Millions of Aphides, or Plant lice, now infest our shade and fruit
trees, crowding every green leaf, into which they insert their tiny
beaks, sucking in the sap, causing the leaves to curl up and wither.
They also attack the stems and even the roots of plants, though these
latter (Pemphigus, Fig. 247) differ generically from the true Plant
lice. Fruit trees should be again washed and rubbed to kill off the
young Bark lice, of which the common apple Bark louse (Aspidiotus
conchiformis, Fig. 248), whose oyster-shaped scales may be found in
myriads on neglected trees, is a too familiar example. Another pest of
apple trees is the woolly Blight (Eriosoma lanigera). These insects
secrete from the surface of the body a downy, cottony substance which
conceals the animal, and when they are,