186 NATURAL HISTORY OF 



and living vegetation are frequently adorned with 

 very beautiful and brilliant colours, but those that 

 derive their nourishment from decomposed vegeta- 

 bles are usually of a sombre hue. 



The larvae of these insects are long, soft, semicy- 

 lindrical worms, divided into thirteen segments in- 

 cluding the head, which is of a scaly texture, and pro- 

 vided with powerful mandibles. The feet are six 

 in number, and placed on the three segments im- 

 mediately behind the head. Nine of the rings or 

 segments have a conspicuous stigmatic opening, or 

 air hole, on each side. The hinder portion of the 

 body is much thicker than the other parts, and is 

 usually curved inwards beneath the belly, even when 

 the insect is in motion. Its movements are conse- 

 quently slow and awkward, and the short scaly feet 

 proving inadequate to support the equilibrium of 

 the arched back, it frequently rolls over, or falls on 

 one side. The general 

 appearance of these grubs 

 will be better understood 

 from the annexed figure of 

 that of the common Cock- 

 chafer. Many of them live 

 among excrementitious 

 substances, or decomposed 



vegetables ; others consume the roots of plants, and 

 often occasion very great injury to agricultural pro- 

 duce. Before undergoing the metamorphosis by 

 which they are converted into perfect beetles, the 



