COLKOPTERA. 33 



corn, and even the trees of the forest and the grass of the fields, 

 have been laid under contribution by these indiscriminate feeders, 

 by whom leaves, flowers, and fruits are alike consumed. The 

 unexpected arrival of these insects in swarms, at their first com- 

 ing, and their sudden disappearance, at the close of their career, 

 are remarkable facts in their history. They come forth from the 

 ground during the second week in June, or about the time of the 

 blossoming of the damask rose, and remain from thirty to forty 

 days. At the end of this period the males become exhausted, 

 fall to the ground, and perish, while the females enter the earth, 

 lay their eggs, return to the surface, and, after lingering a few 

 days, die also. The eggs laid by each female are about thirty in 

 number, and are deposited from one to four inches beneath the 

 surface of the soil ; they are nearly globular, whitish, and about 

 one thirtieth of an inch in diameter, and are hatched twenty days 

 after they are laid. The young larvae begin to feed on such ten- 

 der roots as are within their reach. ' Like other grubs of the 

 Scarabaeians, when not eating, they lie upon the side, with the body 

 curved so that the head and tail are nearly in contact ; they move 

 with difficulty on a level surface, and are continually falling over on 

 one side or the other. They attain their full size in the autumn, 

 being then nearly three quarters of an inch long, and about an eighth 

 of an inch in diameter. They are of a yellowish white color, with 

 a tinge of blue towards the hinder extremity, which is thick and ob- 

 tuse or rounded ; a few short hairs are scattered on the surface of 

 the body ; there are six short legs, namely a pair to each of the first 

 three rings behind the head ; and the latter is covered with a horny 

 shell of a pale rust color. In October they descend below the 

 reach of frost, and pass the winter in a torpid state. In the 

 spring they approach towards the surface, and each one forms 

 for itself a little cell of an oval shape, by turning round a great 

 many times, so as to compress the earth and render the inside of 

 the cavity hard and smooth. Within this cell the grub is trans- 

 formed to a pupa, during the month of May, by casting off its 

 skin, which is pushed downwards in folds from the head to the 

 tail. The pupa has somewhat the form of the perfected beetle ; 

 but it is of a yellowish white color, and its short stump-like wings, 

 its antennae, and its legs are folded upon the breast, and its whole 



