OBSERVATIONS ON INSECTS AND VERMES. 411 



" Thick in yon stream of light a thousand ways. 

 Upward and downward, thwarting and convolv'd, 

 The quivering nations sport. " THOMSON'S SEASONS. 



WHITE. 



CHAFFERS. 



Cockchaffers seldom abound oftener than once in three or four 

 years; when they swarm, they deface the trees and hedges. 

 Whole woods of oaks are stripped bare by them. 



Chaffers are eaten by the turkey, the rook, and the house- 

 sparrow. 



The scarabceus solstitialis first appears about June 2 6th : they 

 are very punctual in their coming out every year. They are a 

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

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



A singular circumstance relative to the cockchaffer, or, as it is 

 called here, the May-bug, scarabceus mclolontha, happened this 

 year (1800). My gardener, in digging some ground, found, about 

 six inches under the surface, two of these insects alive and per- 

 fectly formed, so early as the 24th 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 May, when it 

 began to make its appearance. How comes it, that though 

 it was perfectly formed so early as the 24th March, it did not 

 show itself above ground till nearly two months afterwards ? 

 MARKWICK. 



PTINUS PECTINICORNIS. 



Those maggots that make worm-holes in tables, chairs, bed- 

 posts, etc., and destroy wooden furniture, especially where there 

 is any sap, are the larvae of the ptinus pectinicornis. This insect, 

 it is probable, deposits its eggs on the surface, and the worms eat 

 their way in. 



