80 KING OF THE ANTS. 







when these are over, constructs fofhimself, about the month of 

 March, a still more straitened cell, an earth-formed case re- 

 sembling a pigeon's egg. He proceeds, tinder its cover, to the 

 second stage of Pupa from thence to the third and last 

 estate; and after remaining yet another fortnight under 

 ground, for his enamelled mail to acquire hardness, comes 

 forth in all his splendor to meet the opening roses. The an- 

 tennas of this as well as of the common cock-chafer, are of 

 curious and very elegant formation. They each terminate in a 

 knob composed of several laminse or plates, opening or shut- 

 ting like the leaves of a book, and which also like a book can 

 be put away at the pleasure of their insect owner, on a shelf 

 or deep cavity on either side its head. They are always thus 

 put carefully away when the chafer is inactive, or asleep. 



It has been noticed as a singular fact that the rose beetle 

 has been found not unfrequently, while in its two first stages, 

 the tenant of an ant-hill, and that, without being attacked by 

 its carnivorous inhabitants. It is hence called, in some 

 countries, "king of the ants ;" and it is said also that German 

 cattle dealers invest it with supernatural powers, and feed it 

 carefully in boxes as a means of insuring prosperity to their 

 herds and fortunes. 



Had the above superstition been Irish instead of German, it 

 might have been readily enough explained. Ant-hills were 

 formerly if they are not still called in Ireland "fairy mounts," 

 and held, as such, in profound veneration by the common 



