330 OBSEEVATIOIfS ON INSECTS AND TEEMES. 



The scardbceus sohtitialis first appears about June 26tli 

 they are very punctual in their coming out every year. iTliey 

 are a small species, about half the size of a May-chafFer, and 

 are known in some parts by the name of the fern-chaffer. 



AVhite. 



A singular circumstance relative to the cockchaifer, or, as 

 it is called here, the May-bug (scarabceus oneloJonfJid), hap- 

 pened this year (1800) : — My gardener, in digging some 

 ground, found, about six inches under the surface, two cf 

 these insects alive and perfectly formed, so early as the 24th 

 of March. When he brought them to me, they appeared to 

 be as perfect and as much alive as in the midst of summer, 

 crawling about as briskly as ever : yet I saw no more of this 

 insect till the 22nd of May, when it began to make its 

 appearance. How comes it, that though it was perfectly 

 formed so early as the 24th of March,* it did not show 

 itself above ground till nearly two months afterwards ? 



Maekwick 



Ptinijs Pectinicoenis. — Those maggots that make worm- 

 holes in tables, chairs, bed-posts, &c., and destroy wooden 

 furniture, especially where there is any sap, are the larvjs 

 of the ptinus pectinicornis. This insect, it is probable, 

 deposits its eggs on the surface, and the worms eat their 

 way in. 



In their holes, they turn into their pupce state, and so 

 come forth winged in July : eating their way through tlie 



state, but when they have arrived at maturity, for I liave frequently observed 

 them in search of them on trees and hedges. Mr. White recommends that a 

 ruwk should be shot weekly the year tlirough, and its crop examined in order 

 to discover whether upon the whole they do more harm or good, from the con- 

 tents at various periods. Though his experiment might show that tliese birds 

 occasionally injure corn and turnips, yet their continual consumption of grubs, 

 and wire-worms, and other noxious insects would greatly preponderate in their 

 favour. In fact, I believe rooks to be great fiiends to the farmer, and it is to 

 te regretted that they are often so wantonly destroyed. — Ed. 



■* I have often observed this fact, and also ascertained that the perfectly 

 formed chaffer never comes forth till the leaves are on the trees, which they 

 are not so early as the 24ih of March. This is an interesting fact, and shcwt 

 how kindly Providence has instilled even into insects the means of self- 

 prescrva 'ion. — Ed. 



