90 breck's new book of flowers. 



on such tender roots as are within their reach. Lil^e other 

 grubs of the Scarabseians, when not eating, they lie upon 

 the side, with the body curved so that the head and tail 

 are nearly in contact. They move with difficulty on a 

 level surface, and are continually foiling over on one side 

 or the other. They attain their full size in the autumn, 

 being then nearly three-quarters of an inch long, and 

 about an eighth of an inch in diameter. They are of a 

 yellowish-white color, with a tinge of blue towards the 

 hinder extremity, which is thick and obtuse, or rounded ; 

 a few short hairs are scattered on the surface of the body ; 

 there are six short legs, namely, a pair to each of the first 

 three rings behind the head ; and the latter is covered 

 with a horny shell of a pale rust color. In October they 

 descend below the reach of frost, and pass the winter in 

 a torpid state. In the spring they approach towards the 

 surface, and each one forms for itself a little cell, of an 

 oval shape, by turning round a great many times, so as to 

 compress the earth and render the inside of the cavity 

 hard and smooth. Within this cell the grub is trans- 

 formed to a pupa, during the month of May, by casting 

 off its skin, which is pushed downwards in folds from the 

 head to the tail. The pupa has somewhat the form of the 

 perfected beetle ; but it is of a yellowish-white color, and 

 its short stump-like wings, its attennae, and its legs, are 

 folded upon the breast, and its whole body is enclosed in 

 a thin film, that wraps each part separately. During the 

 month of June this filmly skin is rent, the included beetle 

 wdthdraAvs from it its body and its limbs, bursts open its 

 earthen ceh, and digs its way to the surface of the ground. 

 Thus the various changes, from the egg to the full de- 

 velopment of the perfected beetle, are completed within 

 the space of one year. 



" Such being the metamorphoses and habits of these in- 

 sects, it is evident tliat we cannot attack them in the egg, 



