INSECTS AND DISEASES. 81 



forth from the ground, whence they have re- 

 ceived the name of May-bugs or May-beetles. 

 They pass the greater part of the day upon trees, 

 clinging to the under sides of the leaves in a state 

 of repose. As soon as evening approaches, they 

 begin to buzz about among the branches, and 

 continue on the wing till toward midnight. In 

 their droning flight they move very irregularly, 

 darting hither and thither with an uncertain aim, 

 hitting against objects in their way with a force 

 that often causes them to fall to the ground. 

 They frequently enter houses in the night, ap- 

 parently attracted as well as dazzled and bewil- 

 dered by the lights. Their vagaries, in which, 

 without having the power to harm, they seem to 

 threaten an attack, have caused them to be called 

 dors, that is, darers ; while their seeming blind- 

 ness and stupidity have become proverbial in the 

 expressions ' blind as a beetle' and ' beetle-head- 

 ed.' After the sexes have paired the males per- 

 ish, and the females enter the earth to the depth 

 of six inches or more, making their way by means 

 of the strong teeth which arm the forelegs ; here 

 they deposit their eggs. . . . From the eggs 

 are hatched, in the space of fourteen days, little 



