THE BEETLE. 



145 



FIG. 79. 



the female, guided by wonderful instinct, deposits in 

 places best adapted for their hatching. After a certain 

 time there bursts from each egg a soft creature, whose 

 form is ordinarily that of a worm. This creature is never 

 winged, often has no feet, and is very different from the 

 insect that gave it birth. It is called a larva. It eats, 

 grows, and regularly accomplishes all the acts of its life, 

 but in a manner often strangely different from that ob- 

 served later, when the same insect has arrived at com- 

 plete maturity. Thus, the May-bug, which lives in the 

 air, on trees and plants, and which eats leaves, has for its 

 larva a white maggot that lives deep in the ground and 

 feeds on roots. 



At the end of a second interval of time, varying ac- 

 cording to the species, the larva, after having several 

 times changed its 

 skin, ceases to 

 feed, and becomes 

 motionless ; its 

 form becomes 

 obliterated, and 

 the worm be- 

 comes a nymph or 

 chrysalis. While 

 in this condition 

 it begins to show 

 the various parts 

 that character 

 ize the individual 

 when fully devel- 

 oped. 



At last, at the end of the third lapse of time, the 

 perfect insect appears, and does not long delay in pro- 

 a k 13 



COCKCHAFER (Melolontha vulgaris).a, full-grown 

 larva ; b, pupa ; c, perfect insect. 



