1 66 THE WOODLANDS. 



not confine themselves to grass, but eat the roots of 

 wheat, of other grains, and also those of young trees. 

 About seventy years ago a farmer near Norwich 

 suffered much by them, and, with his man, gathered 

 eighty bushels of the beetles. In the year 1785 many 

 provinces in France were so ravaged by them, that a 

 premium was offered by Government for the best 

 mode of destroying them. The Society of Arts in 

 London during many years held forth a premium for 

 the best account of this insect, and the means of 

 checking its ravages, but without having produced one 

 successful claimant. 1 



The largest beetle we possess is called the " Stag- 

 Beetle," 2 because its large mandibles, projecting in 

 front of the head, resemble the horns of a stag. If 

 any one should find it crawling over the ground in a 

 wood, he may test the strength and importance of 

 these mandibles or horns, and discover that they have 

 a considerable nipping power. Professor Bradley has. 

 given a remarkable instance of the strength of one of 

 these creatures. He asserts that he saw the beetle 

 carry a wand a foot and a half long, and half an inch 

 thick, and even fly with it, to the distance of several 

 yards. Linnaeus observes that if the elephant was as 

 strong in proportion as the stag-beetle, it would be 

 able to tear up rocks and level mountains. 



Such an insect would have a caterpillar of corre- 

 sponding size, and it is the belief of some authors that 

 the famous " Cossus," a caterpillar which was fatted 

 and eaten by the ancient Romans, was the larva of 



1 Harris's " Injurious Insects." 2 Lucanus cemus. 



