COLEOPTERA. 25 



among these vegetable substances, on some occasions of the most 

 deplorable kind, so as totally to disappoint the best founded 

 hopes of the husbandman. During the summer they live under 

 the thin coat of vegetable mould near the surface, but, as winter 

 approaches, they descend below the reach of frost, and remain 

 torpid until the succeeding spring, at which time they change 

 their skins, and reascend to the surface for food. At the close of 

 their third summer, (or, as some say, of the fourth or fifth,) they 

 cease eating, and penetrate about two feet deep into the earth ; 

 there, by its motions from side to side, each grub forms an oval 

 cavity, which is lined by some glutinous substance thrown from its 

 mouth. In this cavity it is changed to a pupa by casting off its 

 skin. In this state, the legs, antennae, and wing-cases of the 

 future beetle are visible through the transparent skin which en- 

 velopes them, but appear of a yellowish white color ; and thus it 

 remains until the month of February, when the thin film which 

 encloses the body is rent, and three months afterwards the per- 

 fected beetle digs its way to the surface, from which it finally 

 emerges during the night. According to Kirby and Spence, the 

 grubs of the cock-chafer sometimes destroy whole acres of grass 

 by feeding on its roots. They undermine the richest meadows, 

 and so loosen the turf that it will roll up as if cut by a turfing 

 spade. They do not confine themselves to grass, but eat the roots 

 of wheat, of other grains, and also those of young trees. About 

 seventy years ago, a farmer near Norwich, in England, suft'ered 

 much by them, and, with his man, gathered eighty bushels of the 

 beetles. In the year J 785 many provinces in France were so 

 ravaged by them, that a premium was ofl'ered by government for 

 the best mode of destroying them. The Society of Arts in 

 London, during many years, held forth a premium for the best 

 account of this insect, and the means of checking its ravages, but 

 without having produced one successful claimant. 



In their winged state, these beetles, with several other species, 

 act as conspicuous a part in injuring the trees, as the grubs do in 

 destroying the herbage. During the month of May they come forth 

 from the ground, whence they have received the name of May- 

 bugs, or May-beetles. They pass the greater part of the day 

 upon trees, clinging to the under-sides of the leaves, in a state of 

 4 



