ENTOMOLOGICAL CABINET. 



MELOLONTHA VULGARIS. Fabr. 



Scarabaeus Melolontha. Linn. 



Common Cockchafer. 



Antennae, elytra and legs testaceus or of a brick 

 red : thorax and seutellum black and villous : the 

 body black and covered with grey hairs. 



The larvae or grubs of this species of Beetle, so well 

 known in England by the name of Cock-chafer, are 

 more voracious, and more destructive to vegetation, 

 than those of almost any of the insect tribes. 



The eggs are deposited in the ground by the winged 

 insect, whose fore-legs are very short, and well 

 calculated for burrowing. From each of these pro- 

 ceeds, after a short time, a whitish worm with six 

 legs, a red head, and strong claws, and about an 

 inch and a half long, which is destined to live in the 

 earth under that form for four years, and there 

 undergo various changes of its skin, until it assumes 

 its chrysalid form. It subsists, during its subter- 

 raneous abode, on the roots of trees and plants, 

 committing ravages often of the most deplorable 

 nature. These creatures, sometimes in immense 

 numbers, work between the turf and the soil in the 

 richest meadows, devouring the roots of the grass 

 to that degree that the turf rises, and will roll up 

 with almost as much ease as it it had been cut with a 

 turfing-spade : and underneath the soil appears 

 turned into a soft mould for about an inch in depth, 

 5-2 



