232 



Yankee pony*, allowance being made for their dif- 

 ference in size. If I am not much deceived, I saw 

 some of them actually making their way through the 

 egg-shell. I put a lot of them into a glass jar, with 

 some ranunculus leaves and some flies, principally 

 Syrphi, and Muscce ; to these latter they soon attached 

 themselves, just at the base of their posterior legs, 

 remaining fixed so long as their victims lived. I 

 supplied them with fresh food for some days, but 

 \viih all their feeding they grew none the bigger, and 

 in about three weeks they were all dead. A friend 

 of mine, not an entomologist, but a lover of natural 

 history, has since told me that he tried to rear the 

 larva from the egg, but met exactly with the same 

 fate as myself." Of the fact, then, that the Triunguli- 

 nus, as it has been called, issues from the egg of the 

 meloe, there is abundance of evidence ; and hence, 

 taking it for granted that these little active animals 

 are the real larvae of the meloe, Latreille and some 

 other recent authors (including Drs. Brandt and 

 Erichson, who have lately published a valuable mono- 

 graph upon the genus in the Nova Acta Naturce 

 Curiosorum) have endeavoured to account for the 

 curious circumstance connected with its economy, 

 by considering that it attaches itself to bees in order 

 to be by them carried into their provisioned nests, 

 where, like some of the other genera of Canlharidee, 

 it is supposed to attach itself parasitically to the 

 larva of the bee. It must be admitted, however, 

 that this is but conjecture, and that direct observa- 

 tion is needed as to the matured state of the larva 

 and pupa. 



Mr. Stephens has divided the British species into 

 two genera, from the structure of the antennae ; but 

 if this character were allowed to influence the generic 

 distribution of this group, there would be a great 

 number of similar groups required. There are nine 

 British species, including the type Meloc proscarabceus 

 (Linnaeus), Proscarabczus vulgaris (Stephens), which 

 is of a black colour, shining and punctured, with the 

 sides of the head, thorax, antennae, and legs, violet. 

 The elytra are slightly rugose. It is advisable that 

 chemical experiments should be made, to ascertain 

 the medical properties of these insects. 



MELOLONTHID.E (MacLeay). A family of 

 Coleopterous insects, belonging to the section Penta- 

 mera, and sub-section Lamellicornes, having the upper 

 lip composed of a transverse plate, and generally 

 deeply emarginate beneath. The rnentum is as long 

 as, or longer than, wide, somewhat narrowed in 

 front. The maxillae are horny and truncate at the 

 extremity, with several (generally five or six) strong 

 teeth ; the legs are slender, and the tibiae rather nar- 

 row ; the antenna nine-or ten-jointed, and terminated 

 by a large lamellated club, varying in the number of 

 its joints from three to seven, and the plate being 

 very large in the males of the typical species ; the 

 body is oval and sub-convex ; the elytra shorter 

 than the abdomen, and the clypeus divided by a 

 strong suture in front of the eyes. 



This is a very extensive family, comprising many 

 handsome species, which cannot, however, vie in 

 splendour with the CetoniidtE. In the perfect state 

 these insects are eminently phyllophagous, that is, 

 feeding upon the leaves of trees, for which the struc- 



MELOLONTHID^. 



* Your readers cannot fail to recollect the " very severe 



pony," which was chased three times round a field by a flash 



of lightning whiqh at last gave : up the pursuit, " not being 



able to come within a rod of it." 



ture of the mouth is conveniently adapted, the 

 maxilla:, as represented in our article INSECT, p. 853, 

 fig. 105, being fitted for cutting the leaves by their 

 confined action, whilst the internal basal structure of 

 the mandibles, fig. 97, p. 852, are equally adapted for 

 chewing them when cut. It is, however, in the larva 

 state that these insects are most especially injurious 

 to the agriculturist and horticulturist, feeding upon 

 the roots of various plants ; and as they remain three 

 or four years under the latter form, and acquire con- 

 siderable size, it may be easily conceived that in 

 seasons when they abound, they are capable of 

 inflicting real injury. 



Of these insects, the most common is the cock- 

 chaffer, constituting the type of the family, and which, 

 from our earliest years, we have been taught to look: 

 upon as one of the most despised of the insect tribes ; 

 and yet this insect, in several interesting particulars, 

 is not behind many of its more showy brethren. The 

 peculiar structure of the mouth, the very beautiful 

 fanlike antennae of the males, and the curious pointed 

 extremity of the body, through which children are in 

 the cruel practice of running a pin, round which the 

 insect whirls in its endeavours to escape, are charac- 

 ters which ought to rescue these insects from the 

 tortures which are inflicted upon them, even without 

 any regard being paid to their natural history. It is 

 advisable, indeed, that means should be resorted to 

 for the destruction of these insects when they happen 

 to abound to an injurious extent ; but this ought 

 surely to be effected in the most summary manner. 

 During the day they remain inactive in the trees and 

 hedges ; but no sooner is the sun set, than they 

 emerge from their retreats, and fly, humming, round 

 the trees, in search of their mates. Their existence 

 in this state is but short, and their motions exhibit 

 but little energy ; they fly with heaviness and irre- 

 gularity, and strike at whatever object may happen 

 to be in their way. After coupling, the male soon 

 dies, and the female deposits her eggs in the ground, 

 digging six or eight inches into the earth. At times, 

 and in favourable seasons, these insects swarm to a 

 very great extent ; and there are various statements 

 on record, in which their numbers are described as 

 incredible, and the damage which they committed not 

 yielding to that caused by the locust. Of these accounts 

 perhaps the most remarkable is that given in one of 

 the early volumes of the Philosophical Transactions, 

 by Mr. Molineux, in which their appearance in certain 

 districts in Ireland is narrated. They were first 

 noticed in Galway, and thence penetrated inland 

 towards Heddford. They were seen in the daytime 

 hanging from the boughs in clusters, like bees when 

 they swarm, dispersing towards sunset " with a strange 

 humming noise, like the beating of distant drums, and 

 in such vast numbers that they darkened the air for the 

 space of two or three miles square. In a short time 

 they entirely ate up the leaves, stripping the trees as 

 bare as in the depth of winter ; they also entered the 

 gardens, and attacked the fruit trees in the same way. 

 Their multitudes spread so exceedingly that they 

 infested houses, and became extremely offensive and 

 troublesome. Their numerous young also, when 

 hatched, did still more damage than all the swarms of 

 the perfect beetle, eating up the roots of corn and 

 grass. This plague was happily checked in several 

 ways. High winds and wet mizzling weather destroyed 

 millions of them in a day ; and during this weather 

 the swine and poultry watched under the trees for 



