NEW ENGL.AND FARMER. 



Published by John B. Russell, at JVo. 52 JVonh Market Street, (over the ,']grindtiifal Warehouse). — Thomas G.; Pf.ssendf.n, Editor. 



VOL. VI. 



BOSTON, FRIDAY, AUGUST 3, 1827. 



No. 2, 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



convex above, not cmbracinn; the siilos of the Tliey do not confine tliemselvcs to grass, but ea' 



_ ! body, and ieiiving the posterior extremity exposed: also the roots of vvho;;t and other grains 



ftheToilowiii" essiiy upon the natural history of the I legs of moderate length ; the middle part or (tiice | In their perfect state these, with several other 



Rose Bu- was prt pared by Dr T. W. Harris of Mil 

 tun, with a view to the premium offered by the Mas- 

 «.K;hus('tls Society for promoting Agricullure, for the 

 '"st essay on this subject ; but the professional avo- 

 (itiuns of the amiable and learned writer having pn- 

 venled the completion of it within the period fixed by 

 ;he Trusti e?, lu- had rrsolved to suppress it. The 

 progress which he had made bavin? come to the 



of the anterior ones armed with two or three? lat- species, act as conspicuous a part in injuring th 

 eral teeth ; and each foot, or tarsus, consisting of trees as thtir grubs do in destroying the herbage 

 five small joints, and terminated by two strong Besides the leaves of fruit trees they devour those 

 claws or nails. of the sycamore, the lime, the beech, and the elm 



The general habits and metamorphoses of these Mouffet relates that, in the year 1574, such anum 

 insects are invariable ; a description of those of ber of them fell into the river Severn, as to stop 

 l!ie common cock-chaffer of Europe, (Melolon- I "'O wheels of the water-mills ; and, in the Philo 

 TiiA vulgarisF.) will serve to elucidate those of 



,,_.,. , the whole genus. Piiese are detailed by Latreille 



•rowled<'e of the E'resiieut of that Society, he urged ... , r i n- . • m . n 



.iioviieuj,e ui ii.c I .t-i u J. o , ^ tenth volume of his Ilistono Nat'irallc, 



Dr Harris to lay it before the Trustees in its present 

 ,tatr, and thtv were pleased to award the Society's 

 premium to the author. We think the readers of this 

 jour'-al will feel obliged to us for inserting it.]— £rf. 

 Miiss..Jg. Rtyos. — 



.Minutes towards a history of some Auierican speeies 

 o/Mei,olontii.e particularly injurious to Vege- 

 tation. 



Ncmpe jl/f/u/oH/Ztadicitur, quia pomorum est pernicies. 

 The Linna^an genus Scarab-eus is very abund- 



ombodicd in Sonnini's Buffon,) and by Olivier, in 

 liie first volume of his Entomology. 



This insect devours the leaves of trees and 

 slirubs. Its duration in the perfect state is very 

 nliort, each individual living only about a v.'eelc, 

 uiid thespeoios entirely disappearing in tl:o course 

 of a month. After the se.xual union has taken 

 place the males perish, and the females enter the 

 earth, to the depth of six inches, or more, making 

 their way by moans of the strong teeth which arm 

 their anterior tibias : here they deposit their eggs, 



anf in soecies. and exceedingly numerous in indi- i ,. , , i i j- u r 



am HI speLico, uiiu o.^v,^,!, o J amounting to nearly one hundred in number, from 

 viduals of some species. These insects are c.isily „__ f„,°^i„ „,,,;„•;. _„ ^ „f,„, „„o.^.„„,i 



recogniied by their moveable horns, or a7i<eii»ic;, 

 projecting above the mouth, and terminated by sev- 

 eral lamellatcd, or leaf like joints, whence they 

 liave recei'.ed the name of Lamellicorn beetles. — 

 This genus contains insects differing much in ex- 

 ternal appearance, and in their modes of life, .T.id 

 has therefore been subdivided into several smaller 

 ■renera by the Entomologists who have succeeded 

 Linne. Dc Geer distinguished three families, ac- 

 cording to their habits, which ho called Scarabts 

 de terre (Earth-beetles,) Scarabes des arbres (Tree 

 beetles,) Scarabee des fleurs, (Flower- beetles).— 

 Those of the second family are most interesting 

 to the agriculturalis*, because of their extensive 

 ravao-es. They are included by Fabricius in his j 

 "cnus Melolomha, a word used by the Greeks 

 to distinguish these same insects, and which sig- 

 nified, according to Eustathius, that they were 

 produced from or with the flowers of apple trees.* 

 The MELOLOJiTHi; are called in England dorrs or 

 zhaffers. 



The genus Melolontija may be characterised 

 as having the body oblong, oval, and convex; the 

 mouth covered above by a thin plate, called ctype- 

 us, beneath which are situated the antenna, con- 

 sisting generally of ten joints, the terminal ones 

 united by one end to a common centre, and ex- 

 panding like the leaves of a book : the thorax 

 'situated behind the head) convex, more or less 

 quadrate or trapezodical ; immediately behind 

 this, and between the wing-cases, a small triangu- 

 lar piece called scnltllum ; wing-oases or elytra 



every female, which are soon after abandoned, 

 and the females ascend to the surface, and, after 

 languishing a few days, perish also. 



From the eggs are hatched, by the warmth of 

 t!ic earth, little whitish grubs, called, in France, 

 V •)•« blancs, each provided with six legs, situated 

 near the head, and the mouth furnished with two 

 strong jaws. 'I'liey live on the roots of plants and 

 other vegetable substances found in the ground ; 

 gradually increase in size, and change their skins 

 once a year, about the commencement of spring, 



sophical Transactions it is stated that, in the year 

 JG38, they filled the hedges and trees of Galway 

 in such infinite numbers, as to cling to each other 

 like bees when they swarm ; and when on the 

 winij darkened the air, annoyed travellers, and 

 produced a sound like distant drums. In a short 

 time the leaves of all the trees for some miles 

 round were so totally consumed by them, that at 

 midsummer, the country wore the aspect of the 

 depth of winter. 



Another chaffer (Meloloktha vitis F.) is 

 sometimes exceedingly injurious to the vine. It 

 prevails in certain provinces of France, where it 

 strips the vines of their leaves, and also devours 

 those of the willow, poplar, and fruit trees. 



The animals and birds, appointed to check the 

 ravages of these insects, are, according to Latre- 

 ille, the common dung hill fowls, different species 

 of owl, the European goat-sucker or niglit hawk, 

 (Capeimulgus Enropavs,) bats, rats, the weasel, 

 (Mustela vulgaris.) the martin, fMusTELA/otna^ 

 and the badger, ^Ursus meles.) To this list may 

 be added ti: 3 common crow, which devours not 

 only the perfect insect but their larvse, for which 

 purpose it is often observed to follow the plough. 

 Our own country abounds in insectivorous beasts 

 and birds, and, without doubt, the more than 



after which they approach nearer the surface in , , . m f. ,. r .u • 



, £■ i- 1 1- 3 ■ »• • . I > abundant Melolonth-E forma portion of thei 



search of lond ; tor during the winter they do not ... ^ 



° ' nourishment. 



We have several allied species of Melolontha 



eat, but, having penetrated below the reach of 

 frost, remain torpid until the succeeding spring. 

 At the close of their third summer they cease eat- 

 ing, and penetrate about two feet deep into the 

 earth : there by its motions from side to side the 

 grub forms an oval cavity, which is lined by its 

 excrements, and some glutinous fibres, in which it 



is changed to a pupa by casting its last larva skin. . ...,,. ,. . j 



T ., • . . .1 1 . J I'ous, punctate ; the breast pubescent ; and 



In this state the legs, antennae, and wing-cases , . -.i ., , . , ,■ , .l 



t? ' ' o oMrtrnn with fhroo olai-ot/iH linAc. • lonrrth 



* The French name is hanneton, probably a cor- 

 ruption of ahton from ali and iono ; to make a 

 loud noise with the wings. By several critics the 

 Jelek of the Hebrews, translated canker-worm, was 

 considered as some insect of this genus. The 

 words of Nahum, III. 17, appear particularly char- 

 acteristic of the manners of the nocturnal species; 

 " which camp in the hedges in the cold day, but 

 when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their 

 place is not known where they are." 



are visible through the transparent skin which 

 envelopes them, but appear of a yellowish white 

 colour ; and thus it remains until the approach of 

 the ensuing spring, when the thin film which en- 

 closes its body and limbs is rent, and the perfect 

 insect digs its way to the surface of the ground, 

 where the superabundant moisture with which it 

 is imbued, is exhaled, and it expands its wings 

 and takes flight. 



According to Kirby and Spence the grub of the 

 cock-chafier sometimes destroys whole acres of 

 grass, by feeding on its roots. It undermines the 

 richest meadows, and so loosens the earth that it 

 will roll up as if cut by a turfing spade. About 

 seventy years ago, a farmer near Norwich in Eng- 

 land, suffered much by them, and, uitb his men, 

 gathered eiglity bushels of the beetle. In the 

 year 1785 many provinces in France were so rav- 

 aged by them, that a premium was offered by gov- 

 crniaent for the best mode of destroying them. — 



whose injuries in the perfect and grub state ap 

 proach to those of the European cock-chaffer. — 

 The most common one is the M. quercina of 

 Knoch ; (in Melsheimer's catalogue ;) it is not 

 described by any author to which I have had ac- 

 cess. It is of a dark chestnut-brown colour, glab 



eacli 

 elytron with three elevated lines ; length eight 

 tenths, breadth nine twentieths of an inch. This 

 insect agrees very well with the figure and des- 

 criptions of M. Fervida of Olivier ; but, on the 

 authority of Mr Say, it is considered as the spe- 

 cies described by Knock (in his Neuv. Beitrage 

 ^ur Insectenkunde) by the name of quercina. In 

 its perfect state it feeds on the leaves of trees, 

 particularly of the cherry-tree. It flies with !i 

 humming noise in the night, from the middle of 

 May till the end of June, and frequently enters 

 houses, attracted by the light. The grubs de 

 vour the roots of grass and other vegetables ; in 

 many places the turf may be turned up like a 

 carpet, in consequence of the destruction of the 

 roots. The grub is a white worm, with a brown- 

 ish head, and when fully grown nearly as thick 

 as the little finger.* It is eaten with avidity by 



* There is a grub, somewhat resembling this, 

 which is frequently found beneath manure-heaps, 



