316 



THE MICROSCOPE. 



The common Blaclc-leetle {Blatta orientalis, fig. 146) is not, strictly- 

 speaking, one of the beetle tribe, but more nearly allied to the cricket 

 and grasshopper. All the insects belonging to this class are very de- 

 structivCj as they continue eating through all their transformations. 

 The female black-beetle does not lay her eggs singly, but always sixteen 

 at a time ; and these eggs are enclosed in a capsule, which resembles a 

 small oblong box (see upper part of cut). The mother carries this 

 capsule about with her, until the sides of it have attained a proper 

 firmness, and become changed from white to brown. If this recep- 

 tacle for the eggs is more closely examined, it will be seen that one of 

 the two longer margins is very finely toothed, and is composed of two 



layers, and so constructed that 

 the teeth of one of the layers 

 easily go into the spaces between 

 the teeth of the other. This 

 margin is also so firmly united by 

 means of a gummy substance, 

 that it might be easier opened at 

 any other part than at the 

 toothed edge. As soon as the 

 young are hatched, and have 

 quitted the egg, they emit a fluid 

 from their mouths, by which they 

 soften the cement that united the 

 two layers of the capsule toge- 

 ther, and thus contrive to open 

 the door of their prison-house. 

 Melolontha Vulgaris, or Cockchafer, is very abundant in our island, 

 and it has a variety of names, — the brown tree-beetle, blind-beetle, 

 May-bug, chafier. May-bob, or oak-web, jack-horner, geffry-cock, acre- 

 bob, as it is termed in different parts of the country. The larva is soft 

 and grey, with the head and legs protected by a shelly covering of a 

 yellow-brown colour. While in the larva state, which continues for a 

 space of two or three years, it devours the roots of corn, grass, and 

 other vegetables. 



The eggs are laid in small detached heaps, beneath the surface of 

 some clod ; and the young, when first hatched, are scarcely more than 

 one-eighth of an inch in length, gradually increasing in their growth, 

 occasionally changing their skins, until they are of the size of two 

 inches or more. At this time they descend to the depth of two feet, 

 where they construct an oval cell, very smooth in the inside ; and after 



fig. 146. 

 Male and female Blatta orientalis. 



