THE BEETLE. 377 



rising from their long imprisonment, from living only upon roots, 

 and imbibing only the moisture of the earth, to visit the mild- 

 ness of the summer air, to choose the sweetest vegetables for 

 their banquet, and to drink the dew of the evening. Wherever 

 an attentive observer then walks abroad, he will see them burst- 

 ing up before him in his pathway, like ghosts on a theatre. 

 He will see every part of the earth, that had its surface beat in- 

 to hardness, perforated by their egression. When the season is 

 favourable for them, they are seen by myriads buzzing along, 

 hitting against every object that intercepts their flight. The 

 mid-day sun, however, seems too powerful for their constitu- 

 tions ; they then lurk under the leaves and branches of some 

 shady tree ; but the willow seems particularly their most favour- 

 its food ; there they lurk in clusters, and seldom quit the tree 

 till they have devoured all its verdure. In those seasons which 

 are favourable to their propagation, they are seen in an evening 

 as thick as flakes of snow, and hitting against every object with 

 a sort of capricious blindness. Their duration, however, is but 

 short, as they never survive the season. They begin to join 

 shortly after they have been let loose from their prison, and 

 when the female is impregnated, she cautiously bores a hole in 

 the ground, with an instrument fitted for that purpose, which 

 she is furnished with at the tail, and there deposits her eggs, 

 generally to the number of threescore. If the season and the 

 soil be adapted to their propagation, these soon multiply as al- 

 ready described, and go through the noxious stages of their con- 

 temptible existence. This insect, however, in its worm state, 

 though prejudicial to man, makes one of the chief repasts of the 

 feathered tribe, and is generally the first nourishment with which 

 they supply their young. Rooks and hogs are particularly fond 

 of these worms, and devour them in great numbers. The in- 

 habitants of the county of Norfolk, some time since, went into 

 the practice of destroying their rookeries, but in proportion as 

 they destroyed one plague, they were pestered with a greater ; 

 and these insects multiplied in such an amazing abundance, as 

 to destroy not only the verdure of the fields, but even the roots 

 of vegetables not yet shot forth. One farm in particular was so 

 injured by them in the year I75I, that the occupier was not able 

 to pay his rent, and the landlord was content not only to lose 

 his income for that year, but also gave money for the support of 



