SAMOUELLE S 



like the bed of a garden. In this the grubs lie in a 

 curved position, on their backs, the hend and tail 

 uppermost, and the rest of the body buried in the 

 mould. Mr. Arderon, of Norwich, mentions his 

 having seen a whole field of fine nourishing grass, 

 in the summertime, become in a few weeks withered, 

 dry, and as brittle as hay, by these grubs devouring 

 the roots, and gnawing away all those fibres that 

 fastened it to the ground, and through which alone it 

 could receive nourishment. 



The larva?, as I have said, continue four years in 

 the ground ; and when, at the end of this period, 

 they are about to undergo their change, they dig 

 deep into the earth, sometimes five or six feet, and 

 there spin a smooth case, in which they change into 

 a chrysalis. They remain under this form all winter 

 till the month of February, when they become 

 perfect beetles, but with their bodies quite soft and 

 white. In May the parts are hardened, and they 

 then come forth out of the earth. This accounts 

 for our often finding the perfect insects in the 

 ground. 



Cock-chafers fly in the evening towards sunset, 

 and particularly about places where there are trees. 

 They eat the leaves of the sycamore, the lime, the 

 beech, the willow, and those of all kinds of fruit- 

 trees. In its winged state this insect exhibits not 

 less voracity on the leaves of trees than it before 

 did in its grub state in the earth ; for, such is the 

 avidity with which it devours its food, and so im- 

 mense are sometimes the numbers, that, in particular 

 districts, they have become an oppressive scourge, 



