456 THE INSECT WOELD. 



industrial occupations is not considerable enough to ensure them 

 a certain extension, which is to be regretted, for agriculture 

 would thus be rid of one of its most formidable scourges. Poultry 

 are sometimes fed on these insects ; pigs are also very fond of 

 them. 



The Melolontha brunnea differs from the common species in 

 having black legs. The Melolontha fullo, twice as large as the 

 common species, is variegated with tawny and white. It is met 

 with on the sea- coasts, and on the downs of the north and south 

 of France ; as its larvae feed on the roots of maritime plants. 



Among the genera very near to the cockchafer we will mention 

 the little Rhizotrogus, light coloured and hairy, which flies in the 

 evening in the meadows, and the Euchloras or Anomalas, of 

 splendid metallic colours. The Anomala vitis is an insect of 

 about half an inch long, of a beautiful green, bordered by yellow, 

 with the elytra deeply furrowed. It sometimes causes extensive 

 ravages in the vineyards. 



After the Cetoniides and the Cockchafers, we come to the Scam- 



Fig. 436. Head of Oryctes nasicornis 

 male. 



Fig. 435. Oryctes nasicornis, male. Fig. 437. Head of Oryctes nasicornis, 



female. 



bceides properly so called. The Oryctes nasicornis (Fig. 435) is 

 very common all over Europe. It is about an inch long, of a 

 chestnut-brown, and perfectly smooth. The male has on the head 

 a horn, which is wanting in the female (Fig. 437). Its larva, 

 which is a great whitish worm, larger than that of the cockchafer, 

 lives in rotten wood and in the tan which is employed in hot- 

 houses and in garden-frames. They were to be found by hundreds 

 in the old hothouses of the Jardin des Plantes at Paris. The 



