110 



INTRODUCTION TO ZOOLOGY. 



which they can either ran or fly, renders hopeless any attempt 

 to elude their pursuit"* {Fig. 88). In contrast with these 

 carnivorous Beetles, we may mention some whose powers are 

 exercised on vegetable matter. The best known of these is 

 perhaps the common Cockchafer {Melolontha vulgaris), an 

 insect extremely abundant in England, but in the Korth of 

 Ireland of comparative scarcity. It spends three years in the 

 ground feeding on the roots of gi-ass and other vegetables. In 

 its mature state its attacks are openly made on the leaves of 

 our hedge roses and forest trees. There are others who carry 

 on their proceedings so as to elude our observation. Thus : — 



-" The red-capp'd •worm, that's shut 



Within the concave of a nut," 



is the larva' of a "Weevil. Tlie mother is furnished with a 

 long horny beak {Fig. 89), and while the nut is yet soft, she 



Fig. 88.— CiCINDELA. 



Fig. 89. — NcT Wketil (magnified). 



drills a hole through the shell, deposits an ^^g, and thus fur- 

 nishes her future offspring with a house for its defence and 

 food for its support. 



Much more laborious is the process by which the burying 

 Beetles {Fig. 90) attain the same object. With united 

 industry they excavate the earth from under the dead body 

 of a frog, a bird, or other small animal, untQ at length 

 it is 'interred to the depth of some inches, and covered 



Kirby and Spence, vol. i. page 268. 



