COLrEOPTERA. — MELOLONTII ID.^:. 219 



14,000 Cockchafers were collected in a few days near Blois in France 

 by children, at two liards per 100. In Hungary, according to INI. 

 Farkas (Afin. Soc. Ent. France, vol. ii. p. 339.) an oily matter is ob- 

 tained by boiling numbers of the Cockchafers, and which is employed 

 in greasing the wheels of carriages. (See also Kollar's Obnoxiozis 

 Insects.^ 



Dr. Suckow lias published a valuable little treatise upon the 

 Natural History and Anatomy of the Melolonthac, entitled, Nattirges' 

 chichte des Maykafers, Carlsr. 1 821', 8vo. 3 pi. 



M. De St.Leu.Taverny has recently communicated to the Academic 

 des Sciences the result of experiments, proving that the most violent 

 poisons (to man) have no effect upon the larva2 of the Cockchafer, 

 whilst alkalies (Cyanuses) are the most speedy, certain, and eco- 

 nomical mode of destroying them without injuring vegetation 

 {^L Hermes, Feb. 1837.) See also Observations sur les Mans, (larvae 

 of M. vulgaris) et ks Hannetons par M. Lefebvre Act. Soc. Roy. 

 (T Agriculture Mai, 1791. Kleemaiis Preisschrift, von den Mayhdfern, 

 in JBermerkung cler Churfu, Phys. CEkon. Gesellsch. t. ii. 1770, likewise 

 many articles in Loudon's Gardeners Magazine, Encyclopcedia of 

 Agriculture, and Arboretum Eritann. p. 1 822. 



Both sexes of this insect are distinguished by having the extremity 

 of the abdomen produced into a long and deflexed cone. Its internal 

 anatomy has been investigated with very great labour by Strauss 

 Diuckheim, {^'■Considerations Generales sur I'Anatomie Comparte des 

 Animaux Articules." 4to. Paris, 1828, with an atlas of plates,) L. Du- 

 four and Chabrier, (" Sur le Vol des Insectes " in the Mem. du 3Tus. 

 vols. vi. and vii.). Germar has given an account of the injury done 

 to wheat by the larvae of Mel. ruficornis in company with those of 

 Zabrus gibbus, in the proportion of about one-fourth {Mag. dcr Ent. 

 vol. i p. 1 — 10.) Many of the other species fly together in swarms, 

 some, as the male Hoplia?, preferring the morning, and others the 

 twilight. They appear to be very generally distributed over the globe ; 

 several of the groups are, however, restricted in their localities ; thus, 

 whilst the thirty-eight species of Melolontha mentioned by Dcjean, 

 are almost exclusively European, his forty-seven Ancylonychoe (Mel. 

 Quercina Knock, &c.) are chiefly North American. Plcctris, Philo- 

 chlsenia, and Ceraspis are chiefly Brazilian ; Diphucephala, and several 

 other small groups from New Holland, and Monochelus, Dichelus, 

 &c. from the Cape of Good Hope. 



