428 The Natural History of Selborne 



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 Scarabs us solstitialis first appears about June 26th : they 

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

 species, about half the size of the Maychaffer, 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, (Scarab<eus melolontha\ 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 summer, crawling about as briskly as ever : yet I saw 

 no more of this insect till the 22nd of 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 ? MARK WICK. 



PTINUS PECTINICORNIS. 



THOSE maggots that make worm-holes in tables, chairs, bedposts, 

 &c., and destroy wooden furniture, especially where there is any 

 sap, are the larvae of the Ptinus fectinicornis. 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 pupae state, and so come forth 



