370 OBSERVATIONS. 



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 scarab&us solstitialis first appears about 

 June 26 : 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 cock- 

 chaffer, or, as it is called here, the May-bug, (scara- 

 btfus melolonthaj happened this year (1800:) My 

 gardener, in digging some ground, found, about six 

 inches under the surface, two of 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 sum- 

 mer, crawling about as briskly as ever : yet I saw no 

 more of this insect till the 22d 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 ? MARK WICK. 



PTINUS PECTINICORNIS. Those maggots that make 

 worm-holes in tables, chairs, bed-posts, &c. and de- 

 stroy wooden furniture, especially where there is any 

 sap, are the larvce 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 pup& state, 

 and so come forth winged in July : eating their way 

 through the valances or curtains of a bed, or any 



