OF INSECTS AND REPTILES. 365 



34. The chefnut-broivn Beetle, or Hedge-Chafer fij, in very warm 

 fummers appears in fhady vales, by the fides of brooks and 

 ftreamlcts, and fometimes is heard buzzing againft the windows 

 of our houfes, Alls tonans. Hence it is called by the French, All- 

 ton. The Elytra, or cafe-wings, are a chefnut-brown, the late- 

 ral fegments of the wings white, the thorax hairy, the tail cur- 

 vated. By the direction of Providence, Chafers were frequently a 

 Scourge to the Jeivljlj nation, difrobing the trees and fields of 

 their verdure, blofibms and fruits, leaving defolation and deitruc- 

 tion behind them *. They appeared in formidable numbers in 

 Ireland in a hot fummer, and committed great ravages f. Their 

 Eruce are frequently as deftrudcive. Whole meadows and corn- 

 fields were deftroyed by them in Suffolk, -in 1747. The decreife 

 of rookeries in that country was thought to be the occafion of it ; 

 thole hexapods being the favourite ' food of rooks, which they 

 fearch after with indefatigable pains .' The many rookeries 

 \vith us is partly the reafon why we have fo few Chafers, even in 

 the hotted fumrners ; feldom more than one or a pair being feen 

 at a time. 



35. Th&fmall Beetle 'with red Ely trie, dnd a black head and thorax (k)i, 

 is frequent in woods. 



; 



(i) Scarabseus arboreus vulgaris major. Raj. Inf. p. 104. n. 1. Scarabsus arboreus ma- 

 jor caftaneus. Petiv. Gaz. p. 29. t. 19. f. 2. Scarabaeus maximus rufus urhopigio deor- 

 fum inflexo. Lift. loqu. p. 379. n. I. mut. t. 18. f. 16. Lift. Goed. p. 265. f. iii. Sca- 

 rabseus teftaceus ; thorace villofo ; abdominis tncifuris lateralibus albis ; cauda inflcxa. Linn. 

 Faun. Succ. p. 130. n. 345. Albln. Inf..t. 60. 



* Prophet. Nabum. c. 3. v. 16, 17. t Ph. Tr. No. 234. 



J j .. No. 484. Vol.44. Par. 2. 1747. 



(k) Scarabaeus capite thoraceque nigro ; antennis elytrifque rubris. Linn. Faun. Suec. 

 p. 134. n. 355, Scarabaeus parvus niger, elytris antennifque rubris. A6t. Upf. 1736. 



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