123 



LAMELLICORNIA ; BCA&ABJEL 



FIG. 445. DYNASTES HERCULES. 



which is one of the commonest of all Beetles in this country. 

 One of the most remarkable amongst foreign species is the Dy- 



nastes Hercules, a 

 native of Brazil, 

 which attains the 

 length of 5 inches, 

 and of which the 

 male possesses 

 an enormous horn 

 projecting from 

 the head, which is 

 opposed by a corresponding protuberance from the thorax. To 

 this group also belongs the Melolontha vulgaris or common 

 Cockchafer ; which is most destructive to vegetation in both its 

 larva and perfect conditions, feeding on the roots in the one case, 

 and on the leaves and young shoots in the 

 other. The larvae live for three or four 

 years beneath the ground ; becoming lethar- 

 gic in winter, but actively voracious in sum- 

 mer. Their excessive multiplication is 

 usually prevented by birds ; but if these be 

 kept away, they increase very rapidly, and 

 become a complete pest to the cultivator. 

 The perfect insects sometimes make their appearance in such 

 swarms, as to devastate an entire forest. This group also in- 

 cludes the Cetonia aurata or Rose-beetle, a very common British 

 insect, of which a figure has been already given (Fig. 435) ; it 

 is about an inch long, of a shining-green colour above, coppery- 

 red beneath, with white marks on the elytra. In its larva state, 

 it lives in the ground feeding upon roots, and is often met with 

 in ants' nests ; but its object in seeking such a dwelling-place is 

 still unknown. After remaining about three years in the larva 

 state, it makes a sort of cocoon of fragments of vegetable matter, 

 glued together by an excretion of its own ; in this it passes the 

 winter in the state of an inactive pupa, from which it emerges 

 in the following summer in its perfect form. The Rose-beetle 



FIG. 446 LARVA OF 

 COCKCHAFER. 



