544 



HISTORY OF INSECTS. 



Of all the beetle kind this is the most 

 numerous, and therefore deserves the chief at- 

 tention of history. The numerous varieties of 

 other kinds might repay the curiosity of the 



When the grub changes into a pupa, in the third 

 autumn after it is hatched, it digs a similar burrow about 

 a yard deep ; and when kept in a pot, and prevented from 

 sjoing deep enough, it shows great uneasiness and often 

 dies. The perfect beetle comes forth from the pupa in 



Transformations of the cockchafer (Melolontha vulgaris). a 

 newly hatched larvae, b, larvae, one year old. c, the same larvae 

 at the second year of its growth, d, the same three years old. 

 e, section of a bank of earth, containing the chrysalis of the 

 fourth year, f, the chafer first emerging from the earth, g, the 

 perfect chafer in a sitting posture. 



The following (A) represents the insect flying. 



January or February; but it is then as soft as it was 

 whilst still a grub, and does not acquire its hardness and 



diligent observer, but we must be content in 

 general to observe, that in the great outlines of 

 their history, they resemble those of which we 

 have just been giving a description ; like them 



colour for ten or twelve days, nor does it venture above 

 ground before May, on the fourth year from the time of 

 its hatching. At this time, the beetles may be observed 

 issuing from their holes in the evening, and dashing 

 themselves about in the air as if blind. 



During the three summers then of their existence in 

 the grub state, these insects do immense injury, burrow- 

 ing between the turf and the soil, and devouring the 

 roots of grass and other plants ; so that the turf may easily 

 be rolled off, as if cut by a turfing spade, while the soil 

 underneath for an inch or more is turned into soft mould 

 like the bed of a garden. Mr Anderson of Norwich, 

 mentions having seen a whole field of fine flourishing 

 grass so undermined by these grubs, that in a few weeks 

 it became as dry, brittle, and withered as hay. Bingley 

 also tells us that " about sixty years ago, a farm near 

 Norwich was so infested with cockchafers, that the farmer 

 and his servants affirmed they gathered eighty bushels 

 of them ; and the grubs had done so much injury, that the 

 court of the city, in compassion to the poor fellow's mis- 

 fortune, allowed him twenty -five pounds." In the year 

 1785, a farmer, near Blois, in France, employed a number 

 of children and poor persons to destroy the cockchafers at 

 the rate of two liards a hundred, and in a few days they 

 collected fourteen thousand. 



"I remember," says Salisbury, "seeing, in a nursery 

 near Bagshot, several acres of young forest trees, parti- 

 cularly larch, the roots of which were completely destroyed 

 by it, so much so, that not a single tree was left alive." 

 We are doubtful, however, whether this was the grub of 

 the cockchafer, and think it more likely to have been 

 that of the green rose beetle (Cetonia aurata), which 

 feeds on the roots of trees. 



The grub of an allied genus, the midsummer chafer 

 (Zantheumia Solstitialis, Leach), has for the last two years 

 been abundant on Lewisham Hill, Blackheath, doing 

 considerable injury to herbage and garden plants. This 

 beetle may be known from being smaller and paler than 

 the cockchafer, and from its not appearing before mid- 

 summer. The grub is very similar. 



The best way of preventing the ravages of these insects 

 would be to employ children to collect the perfect insects 

 when they first appear, before they lay their eggs; but 

 when a field is once overrun with the larvae, nothing can 

 be done with it, except paring and burning the surface, 

 or ploughing it up, and turning in a flock of ducks or other 

 poultry, or a drove of pigs, which are said to eat these 

 grubs, and to fatten on the fare. Drenching the field 

 with stable urine by means of reservoir carts, like those 

 used for watering roads, would, if sufficiently done, both 

 kill the grubs, and beneficially manure the land. 



The grub called the wire worm, though not very ap- 

 propriately, is the larva of one of the spring or click 

 beetles (Hemirhipus lineatus, and H. obscurus, Latreille) 

 known by their long flattish body, and their power of 

 springing with a clicking sound out of the hand when 

 caught. In some works on agriculture, the larvae of a 

 common crane fly (Tipula oleracea or T. crocata) is 

 called the wire worm, we suppose by mistake. The 

 g'-ubs of the click beetles, just alluded to, are said by 

 Bierscander and by Mr Paul of Starston, Norfolk, who 

 watched their transformations, to continue five years be- 

 fore producing the perfect insect. During this time the 

 grub feeds chiefly on the roots of wheat, rye, oats, barley, 

 and grass; but seems also sometimes to attack the larger 

 roots of potatoes, carrots, and salads. Its ravages are 

 often so extensive as to cut off entire crops of grain. It 

 appears to be most partial to land newly broken up ; and 

 has not been found so abundant in meadows and pastures, 



