M LO N M E M E C L YO N, 



233 



their fulling, and fed and fattened upon them ; and 

 "even the poorer sort of the country people, the country 

 then labouring under a scarcity of provisions, had a 

 way of dressing them, and lived upon them as food." 

 Smoke also was employed, and by burning heath, 

 fern, c., the gardens were partially saved. And 

 Mouft'elt, in his Theatre of Insects, informs us, that 

 in 1574 so great a number of cockchaffers were driven 

 into the river Severn that they hindered the mills 

 from working, and were with difficulty destroyed by 

 the united efforts of the people, and the different 

 kinds of hawks, ducks, and other birds, which devoured 

 them with eagerness. In 1751 also the county of 

 Norfolk suffered greatly from their ravages, a great 

 many crops being totally destroyed by these voracious 

 insects. Various plans have been proposed for their 

 destruction when they happen to abound. Torches 

 held for a few minutes under the bushes stupify them, 

 and they fall to the ground on beating the bushes 

 with a stick, when the cockchaffers are collected 

 and killed. Children are also employed to follow 

 the plough and collect the larvae, or white worms 

 as they are called, as they are turned up. This, 

 however, can only be done at certain seasons of the 

 year, and after the end of the autumn it would be 

 ineffectual, as the larva; burrow deeper into the ground 

 to avoid the rigour of winter. Pigs and poultry may 

 also be similarly employed, and rooks are too well 

 aware of the dainty treat which awaits them to be far 

 behind the plough ; they will also even pull up the 

 dead roots of grass where the larvae harbour ; and 

 hence they are mistaken by ignorant persons for the 

 real cause of the mischief, and scarecrows are placed 

 to drive these useful auxiliaries away, of which au 

 instance is given by Mr. Spence, in the Introduction 

 to Entomology, who endeavoured to convince one of 

 these self-willed farmers that the rooks were his 

 friends but who only replied that " he couldn't beer to 

 see d' nasty craws pull up all d' gress, and sae he'd set 

 d' bairns to hing up some aud clouts to flay em awey. 

 Gin he'd letten em alean they'd scan hev reated up 

 all d' close." The planting of various vegetables to 

 which they are more especially partial, in the neigh- 

 bourhood of plants which it is desirable to preserve, 

 and the spreading of soot around the roots of the 

 latter, have also been suggested, but the benefit result- 

 ing from these modes must be very partial, even if 

 they could be adopted to any extent. The most 

 advisable plan, as suggested by the abbe Rosier, is to 

 keep a strict search for the insects for several seasons, 

 by children and women, and to destroy as many of 

 them as possible, and as soon as they make their 

 appearance. The larvae of these insects are thick 

 curved fleshy grubs, differing so slightly from those 

 of the Cetoniidee, of which we have given a figure, that 

 a more minute description may be dispensed with. 

 At the commencement of the spring they quit their 

 winter retreats at a depth in the earth, and 

 come within a few inches below the surface of the 

 ground ; and when full grown, at the end of the sum- 

 mer of the third year, they again descend to the 

 depth of two feet, where they become pupae, having 

 previously constructed an oval cell, very smooth on 

 the inside. In the month of February, or even earlier, 

 they assume the perfect state, but remain for a con- 

 siderable time in a weak state, not venturing into the 

 air until the fine days of May or the beginning of June. 

 The genera belonging to this family of insects are 

 numerous, including Mdolontha, Amplrimalla, Serica, 



Omaloplia, Hoplia, Anomala, Anisoplia, all of which 

 are British ; Dcphu cephala, Euchlora, Monochela, and 

 numerous other exotic genera, of whose habits no 

 particulars have been furnished. 



The genus Melalontha is distinguished by its ten- 

 jointed antenna?, having the club of the male seven- 

 leaved, and that of the female six-leaved. There are 

 three British species, 1. Mel. Fullo, a large species, 

 handsomely mottled with white, on a dark brown 

 ground, found but very rarely on the coast of Kent, and 

 by some authors considered as a species which only 

 accidentally finds its way from the opposite coast of 

 France. 2. McL vulgaris ; the common cockchaffer, 

 brown tree beetle, blind beetle, chaffer, Jack Horner, 

 Jeffry cock, May bug, brown clock, dor, miller, acre 

 bob, May bob or oak web, as it is variously termed 

 in different parts of the country ; and 3. Mel. Hippo- 

 castani, Fabricius. See Steph. 111. Mand, vol. v. 41-2. 



The June bug or fern web, Melolontha solstitialis, is 

 of small size, and belongs to the genus Ampliimalla, 

 Latreille, having the antennae only nine-jointed. 



MELON. Is the Cucumis Melo of Linnaeus, a well- 

 known cultivated fruit belonging to Cucurbitaccee. 



The melon is chiefly cultivated in hotbeds or in 

 pots, and requires a considerable degree of skill 

 and incessant attention to grow it in perfection. 

 The gardener's aim is to have ripe fruit about the 

 first of June, to do which requires the constant labour 

 of at least three or four months. 



The varieties of the melon are numerous ; but very 

 few of them are M-orthy of cultivation, the larger 

 varieties being particularly deficient in flavour. Mr. 

 Knight recommends the green fleshed and Salonica or 

 white fleshed variety. The seeds of the melon should 

 be sown early in March, in middle-sized pots, previ- 

 ously netted with hay so as to secure the removal of 

 the entire ball ; a rich, sandy, and adhesive loam is 

 placed upon the hay, and a single seed planted in 

 each pot, which is then plunged to the rim in a 

 moderate hotbed. In April the plants will be ready 

 for transplanting, with the ball entire, either into the 

 frame or into a larger pot, at least ten inches broad 

 at the rim, if it is intended to fruit in one ; this pot 

 being first filled with a soil composed of five parts of 

 chopped turf with its herbage, and one part of the 

 recent poultry dung well incorporated together. 

 About the beginning of June the fruit, if successful, 

 will have attained a considerable size ; but it requires 

 very great care and skill to ripen it before the month 

 of August. Great care should be taken to water 

 the plant at the roots whenever the soil becomes dry, 

 or the leaves begin to droop. 



MELONIA (De Blainville; MKLONITES, La- 

 marck). A fossil mollusc of microscopic size, classed 

 by Fichtel with the Nautili. 



MELYRIDjE (Leach). A family of coleopterous 

 insects belonging to the section Pentamera, and sub- 

 section Serricornes, having the palpi short and filiform ; 

 the mandibles emarginate at the tips ; the body gene- 

 rally long and narrow, with the base of the head con- 

 cealed by the broad shield-like and sub-convex 

 thorax ; the tarsal joints are entire, with the claws 

 unidentale or margined with membrane ; the antennae 

 are serrated and pectinated in the males of some 

 species. The species are of small or but moderate 

 size ; they are very active, elegantly coloured, and are 

 found upon the flowers or leaves of plants, where they 

 evidently subsist upon other insects which frequent 

 the same situations. The family is but of small extent, 



