COMMON COCKCHAFER. 



201 



(2 to 4 inches), she lays about 70 dirty white subspherical 

 cfifjs in little heaps containing from 12 to 30 each. She then 

 returns to the surface to die. 



The curved larvae appear from 4 to G weeks afterwards, in 

 June or July, feed in the first year on humus in the neighbour- 

 hood of their l)irth-place, and eventually disperse in the 

 second summer in all directions in the ground, in order to 

 feed on the roots of plants. In the autumn they burrow deeper 

 into the ground, returning near to the surface in April. 



Fig. 74. — Melolotithn vulgcnix, Fabr. 



a Imago (^). h Anteima of male with 7 lamellae, c Antenna of female with 



6 lamellae, d Grub, e Pupa (ventral surface). 



The larvae also go deeper down when about to imitate -, this 

 change takes place in July or September of the 4th (rarely the 

 3rd) year of larval life in an oval hole in the ground, the walls 

 of which are internally smooth and water-tight. In certain 

 isolated cases, pupation is deferred until the following spring. 



The iiiiafjos generally imerge from the pupa from four to 

 eight weeks later, but pass the winter in the ground, a few 

 occasionally appearing on the surface. From the month of 

 February in the 5th or 4th calendar year, the cockchafers 

 come up from below and take flight, leaving holes in the 

 ground as if made by a stick. The favourite flight- time is on 



