ioo COMMON BRITISH INSECTS. 



has been completely detached from the ground, and 

 might be rolled up by hand as easily as if the turf- 

 cutter's spade had passed under it. These mischievous 

 grubs do not confine themselves to grass-roots, but 

 eat many of the underground crops, the potato often 

 suffering terribly from them. 



When full-fed, the grub makes for itself a cocoon 

 in the earth, and then emerges, only to work as much 

 destruction above the soil as it did below. In the 

 larval state it fed upon the roots of grasses, and was 

 out of sight ; it now feeds on the leaves of trees, and 

 is out of reach. In this way the Beetles are scarcely 

 less mischievous than they were in their former state, 

 for they will sometimes denude whole tracts of trees, 

 so that, in the full beauty of summer-tide, the trees 

 look as if the season were the depth of winter. In 

 this country we are almost ignorant of the harm 

 which the Cockchafer can do, for, although our crops 

 and potatoes often suffer severely from its attacks, 

 they are not wholly ruined, as is the case on the 

 Continent. 



THE family of the Geotrupidae has eleven joints 

 in the antenna, of which three form the club, and the 

 margin of the head divides the eyes somewhat like 

 the structure of the Gyrini, except that, in the case of 

 those insects, the eyes are divided by a broad, flat 

 band, and in the present family by a narrow ridge of 

 horny substance. The body is very convex and the 

 thorax large, in order to give room for the muscles 

 that move the large wings and the powerful digging 

 fore-legs. 



