BEETLE. 25 



were driven into the river Severn, that they totally 

 prevented the mills from working, and were with 

 difficulty extirpated by ihe united efforts of the 

 people, and the various kir>ds of hawks, ducks, and 

 other birds, winch preyed upon them with avidity. 

 In Normandy, according to the same author, they 

 generally make their appearance every third year. 

 Jn our own island the county of Norfolk seems 

 occasionally to have suffered most from the ra- 

 vages of the Cockchaffer. In the year 1751 in 

 particular many crops are said to have been de- 

 stroyed by it. 



The larva or caterpillar of this insect is said to 

 be two, and sometimes three years, in passing 

 from its first form into that of the perfect insect. 

 The eggs are laid in small detached heaps beneath 

 the surface of some clod, and the young, when 

 first hatched, are scarcely more than the eighth of 

 an inch in length, gradually advancing in their 

 growth, and occasionally shifting their skins, till 

 they arrive at the length of near two inches. At 

 this period they begin to prepare for their change 

 into a chrysalis or pupa, selecting for the purpose 

 some small clod of earth, in which they form an 

 oval cavity, and, after a certain space, divest 

 themselves of their List skin, and immediately ap- 

 pear in the chrysalis form, in which they con- 

 tinue till the succeeding summer, when the Beetle 

 emerges from its retirement, and commits its de- 

 predations on the leaves of trees, &c. breeds, 

 and deposits its eggs in a favourable situation, 

 after which its life is of very short duration. 



