74 ORDER COI.EOPTERA. 



the male soon dies, and the female perforates the soil to the depth of a foot, where she 

 deposits her eggs : they are then abandoned, and she returns to the surface to remain a 

 short time, when she also perishes. The eggs are said to hatch in about fourteen days. The 

 grubs are whitish, and provided with six legs situated near the head, and a pair of strong 

 jaws : tlieir heads are brown. These are the grubs that are frequeutl} ploughed u|) in old 

 fields, of a grayish white color, an inch or more in length and a quarter of an inch thick : 

 they lie flexed in the form of a circle. They live during the summer near the surface, 

 subsisting upon th'^ roots of plants, which they devour in large quantities : as winter 

 approaches, they descend below the reach of frost, where they Ijecome torpid. Three or 

 four seasons are spent in this way, till finally they form a ball of an oval shape, in which 

 they enclose themselves and undergo their transformation. 



The ravages of this grub may be much diminished by allowing crows and jays to 

 frequent tlie grounds infested by them : indeed it is the most feasible way of getting rid 

 of them ; and although most farmers and gardeners carry on an exterminating war with 

 crows and blackbirds, yet these blackcoated vagabonds, as Wilson calls them, are by no 

 means such great rascals as they are represented : they have redeeming qualities, and the 

 destruction of grubs and wircworms are real benefits which tliey confer upon the farmer. 

 The beetles themselves are devoured by skunks. 



The beetles of this genus have been very abundant at distant intervals : almost in- 

 credible accounts are given of their numbers, especially of the European speci* s. 



Among the numerous remedies recommended for destroying the larva, ploughing, no 

 - doubt, would have the effect of thi-owing many of them within the reach of frost ; but if 

 d >ne too early, they would have time to bui-y themselves again. The larvse and jierfect 

 iasects are frequently seen when the ground is broken up in the spring ; and many are 

 then destroyed by crows and blackbirds, which follow the ploughman to gather whatever 

 may be exposed suitable for their sustenance : they are also destroyed by foxes, weasels, 

 owls, and, according to Dr. Harris, the skunk. 



The following extracts are from Loudon's Magazine of Natural History, Vol. vi, p. 

 142 - 4 : the rook is a species of crow. 



'A strong prejudice is felt by many persons against rooks, on account of their destroying 

 grain and potatoes ; and so far is this carried, that I know persons wlio offer a reward for 

 every rook that is killed on their land ; yet so mistaken do I deem them, as to consider 

 that no living creature is so serviceable to the farmer, except the live stock he keeps on 

 his farm, as the rook. In the neighborhood of my native place is a rookery in which it is 

 estimated there are ten thousand rooks ; that 1 lb. of food a week is a very moderate al- 

 l>wance for each bird ; and that nine-tcnihs of their food consist of worms, insects, and 

 thsir larvffi : for although they do considerable damage for a few weeks in seedtime and a 

 few w^-eks in harvest, particularly in backward seasons, yet a very large pi-oportion of 

 their food, even at these seasons, c )nsis*sof insects and worms, which (if we except a few 



