ON THE LAMELLICORNES. 521 



without making the least movement. They issue from their 

 retreat, and mount to the depth of about half a foot on the 

 approach of the fine season, to feed anew on the roots of ve- 

 getables. They moult, or change their skin once every year, 

 at the commencement of spring. Finally, when these larvae 

 have acquired their full growth, at the end of the summer of 

 the third year, they cease to eat, bury themselves in the earth 

 to the depth of a foot and a half, or two feet, construct a very 

 even sort of lodge, very smooth within, and line it with their ex- 

 crements, and with some silken threads. Their bodies become 

 shortened and inflated, they quit their skin and change into 

 a nymph, through the covering of which all the parts of the 

 perfect insect are easily distinguished. The antennas, the 

 feet, the wings, the abdomen — in a word, all the parts are 

 perfectly designed under the general envelope which covers 

 them. In the month of February, the cock-chafer tears its 

 envelope, pierces the shell, and issues forth under its final 

 form. But the insect is then yellowish, and rather soft. It 

 still remains for some time under ground, and gets rid of its 

 superfluous humidity. It approaches by little and little to 

 the surface of the earth, from which it does not issue forth 

 entirely until it is attracted by the influence of a mild heat. 

 The contact with the air completely fortifies it, and gives to 

 its external parts their proper colour. 



The ravages which the larva of the cock-chafers, and the 

 cock-chafers themselves commit, would appear almost incre- 

 dible, were they not attested by the most undeniable autho- 

 rities. They sometimes produce mischief, nearly to as great 

 an extent as those committed by the locust tribe. It appears 

 from a paper printed in the Philosophical Transactions for 

 1697? from the pen of Mr. Molineux, that some particular 

 districts in Ireland were infested by this insect in a very ex- 

 traordinary manner. We shall here cite the account given 

 by that gentleman. 



