Soil Moisture and Its Relation to the Mortality of Hypoderma Pupae

Abstract

Pupae of cattle grubs, H. bovis and H. lineatum, failed to develop in soils containing moisture in excess of 20% (by weight). This accounts for the scarcity of cattle grubs in the Red River Valley of the North; the soils of ihis level valley are exceedingly wet during the spring, when the cattle grubs normally drop from the backs of cattle to pupate in the soil.-W. G. Bruce.