Packaki>.] 



IN"SECTS OF THE GARDEN. 



29 



parent that the air vessels and viscera can be seen through 

 it, and though it has three pairs of rather long legs, it is so 



Fig. 18. 



May Beetle ami young. 



gross and unwieldy that it lies flat on its side when dug o;it 

 of its retreat in the soil. 



In this state the grub lives three j-ears. The series of 

 changes the insect passes through in its whole existence is 

 as follows : in the months of May or June the yig. 19. 

 beetles pair, and the females lay from forty to 

 fifty eggs in loose dirt below the surface. 

 These eggs, according to Mr. Riley, hatch in 

 the course of a month, and he adds that the 

 grubs growing .slowly, do not " attain full size 

 till the early spring of the tliird year, when they 

 construct :\n ovoid chamber lined with a gela- 

 tinous fluid." This fluid hardens, we may add, 

 forming a glazed inner wall. The chrysalis, 

 or pupa (Fig. 19), may be found in these cells about six 

 inches under the surface in May, and rarely in the autumn. 



29 



