Cockchafers. 



21 



larvae. Jn the case of the locust, all its stages 

 after the egg being passed above-ground, it may be 

 watched and warred upon throughout life ; but 

 until the warm da\-s of May tempt tlie cockchafer 

 into the air he carries on a destructive work 

 out of sight, because underground. During this 

 period of congregation around trees the sexes 

 pair, and a few days later the female returns 

 temporarily to the ground. 



The cockchafer is about an inch and a quarter 

 in length, and of a light brown colour, with a 

 series of little, white, triangular marks along the 

 sides, just showing below the edge of the wing- 

 cover. These wing-covers are not long enough 

 to cover the whole of the hind-body. As in the 

 stag-beetle, the scarabs, and others, the end 

 joints of the antennae are greatly developed to one 

 side, so as to form a kind of brush ; but here this 

 particular form of antenna reaches its maximum. 

 The joints in question are long, broad, and thin, 

 and very mobile, so that they can be packed 



closel}' together 

 or separated. 



Photo by] H. Mam, F.i:.S. 



The Common Cockchafer. 



The photograph is that of a female, as will be evident 

 from the small size of the antennrr, and the develop- 

 ment of the hind part of the body into a stout boring 

 implement with which the eggs are thrust into the 

 ground. 



The sexes can be at once distinguished by 



The Cockchafer Chrysalis. 



A portrait of the white-grub of the cockchafer will 

 be found on th(- ne.Kt page. .After four years or so 

 of destructive work underground the grub ni:ikes 

 itself a cell, in which it becomes a chrysalis, 

 and awaits its fmal change. Here the earthen cell 

 has been broken open to reveal the form of the 

 chrysalis. Note that the legs and undeveloped 

 wings are free. 



lancing 



at these antenn.-e, for whilst those of the female 

 have each six leaves, those of the male have seven. 

 Even in nature the male is sometimes favoured 

 more than the female ! This is more evident in 

 the large mottled-chafer ^ of the Continent, where 

 the antennae of the male reach an extravagant 

 development, as compared with those of the female. 

 When the female seeks the earth she burrows 

 into it to a depth of several inches (four to six), 

 ])artlv bv boring with her pointed hind-body, 

 and partly by scraping with her fore-feet. .At 

 what she considers a suitable depth, she deposits 

 from fifteen to forty whitish eggs. The depth 

 de]>ends upon the nature of the soil. She likes 

 humus or vegetable soil, as that is light and suit- 

 able for the food and the dispersal of her grubs 

 w lull they emerge from the eggs about five weeks 

 later. These grubs are in form much like those of 

 the rose-chafer and the stag-beetle, with greatly 

 distended hinder parts. When young they are 

 more slender, and can make use of their six weak 



1 IMclolontha fullo 



