COCKCHAFER, PILt-CHAFER. 201 



THE COCKCHAFER 



Is well known in England ; and, in the larva state, is very 

 voracious and destructive. The egg is laid in the earth ; 

 and from it proceeds a white worm with six legs, a red 

 head, and strong claws : it lives four years before it as- 

 sumes the chrysalis form. During this time, it does great 

 damage by feeding on the roots of trees and plants, which 

 in consequence die. It spins a case, on assuming the pupa 

 form, and continues in it through the year. The perfect 

 Cockchafers eat the green leaves of trees, and do almost 

 as much harm in this state as in the other. Immense 

 swarms of these insects have occasionally appeared in 

 different places, doing great injury to vegetation in general. 

 The Rose-chafer is a very beautiful insect, found in Eng- 

 land, of a burnished green or copper colour, about an inch 

 long. The larvae eat the roots of garden plants, and live 

 four years. 



THE PILL-CHAFER 



Is rather more than an inch in length, and of a dusky black 

 colour or greenish above, and brilliant blue below. It is 

 found in both hemispheres, and provides for the eggs it 

 lays round and minute balls of dung, placing an egg in 

 each. These pellets the parent deposits three feet under- 

 ground. In this last operation the Chafers mutually 

 assist each other. 



THE SCORPION. 



There is scarcely an insect without wings that is not 

 obnoxious to man : the smallest have the power of annoy- 

 ing him, either by biting or stinging him : though each is 

 in itself contemptible, they become formidable from their 

 numbers. But of all this class, there is none so terrible as 

 the Scorpion, whose shape is hideous, whose size among 

 the insect tribe is enormous, and whose sting is generally 

 fatal. Happy for England, the scorpion is entirely a 



