188 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Equally voracious in its winged and grub siate. 



deplorable nature. These creatures, sometimes 

 in immense numbers, work between the turf and 

 the soil in the richest meadows, devouring the 

 roots of the grass to that degree that the turf 

 rises, and will roll up with almost as much ease 

 as if it had been cut with a turfing-spade: and 

 underneath the soil appears turned into a soft 

 mould for about an inch in depth, like the bed 

 of a garden. In this the grubs lie, in a curved 

 position, on their backs, the head and tail upper- 

 most, and the rest of the body buried in the 

 mould At the end of four years they are about 

 to undergo their change, dig deep into the earth, 

 sometimes five or six feet, and there spin a 

 smooth case, in which they change into a chry- 

 salis. They remain under this form all winter 

 till the month of February, when they become 

 perfect beetles, but with their bodies quite soft 

 and white. In May the parts are hardened, and 

 they then come forth out of the earth. This ac- 

 counts for our often finding the perfect insects 

 in the ground. 



Cock-chafers fly in the evening towards sun- 

 set, and particularly about places where there are 

 trees. They eat the leaves of the sycamore, the 

 lime, the bjeech, the willow, and those of all 

 kinds of fruit-trees. In its winged state this in- 

 sect exhibits not less voracity on the leaves of 

 trees than it before did in its grub state in the 

 earth; for, such is the avidity with which it de- 

 vours its food, and so immense are sometimes 



