114 INSECTS AT HOME. 



meddle with it, probably finding that it remains in one spot, 

 and does not interfere with the conduct of their nest. 



The reader will notice that the larva is represented in a 

 curved attitude. This is done because it is the natural, and 

 indeed the needful, attitude of these larvae. Their legs are so 

 small, and the end of the body is so large, that they cannot 

 support themselves by their legs ; and, if laid on a flat surface, 

 immediately roll over on their sides. This clumsiness — if we 

 may so call it — of form is not peculiar to the Eose Beetle, but 

 is found in all the group. 



After it has remained in the larval state for the full period, 

 it makes for itself a cocoon from the wood-chips or other 

 materials on which it has been feeding ; and it sometimes 

 happen^ that when a decayed tree-trunk is suddenly blo^vn or 

 cut down, a great quantity of these cocoons roll out from 

 among the ruins. Even when the larva has taken up its abode 

 in an ants' nest, it makes a cocoon from the surrounding 

 materials.. A group of these cocoons is shown on the same 

 plate. Fig. 7. 



A somewhat similar but rarer Beetle also inhabits England. 

 It is called Gnorimus nobilis, and may at once be recognised by 

 a glance at the elytra, which are not waved at their edges. 

 Otherwise, in habits, colour, and general shape, it is very much 

 like the Eose Beetle, and the body is shining green-gold. The 

 elytra, however, are wrinkled, and there are white spots scat- 

 tered over them. There are also white spots on the edges of the 

 abdomen, and the breast is covered with hairs. It is generally 

 found on umbelliferous flowers. 



We must say a word or two respecting the well-known 

 insect, the Phyllopertha horticola, which is called indifferently 

 Bracken Clock or June Bug, and is known to anglers by its old 

 "Welsh name of Coch-t-bondhu, often corrupted by them into 

 the rather ludicrous word Cockerbundy. It is about half an 

 inch in length, and- has reddish-brown elytra and dark-green 

 head and thorax. It is found in great abundance — often too 

 great abundance for any except anglers — busily engaged in 

 devouring the leaves, blossoms, and even the young fruit of our 

 orchard-trees. In its larval state it does much harm to the 

 grasses, of which it devours the roots, much after the fashion 



