30 INJURIOUS AND USEFUL INSECTS 



are no eyes ; the feelers are four-jointed and about as long as 

 the head, the mandibles stout and pointed, the maxillae strong 

 and bristly, with three-jointed palps; the labium consists of two 

 transversely elongate pieces bearing short two-jointed labial 

 palps. In spite of its awkward shape and sluggish habits, the 

 larva can make its way through soft earth with tolerable ease. 

 It can rise to the surface in search of food, or descend to 

 avoid frost. When laid on a hard surface, it rests on its side. 



The pupa is to be found in cavities deep in the ground. It 

 has the attitude and general structure of a Lepidopterous pupa, 

 but the appendages, though shrouded in 

 a pupa-skin, are free, and not glued down. 

 It is of a pale brown colour. The pupal 

 stage lasts only a few weeks, and then the 

 full-formed beetle casts its wrappings, not 

 emerging from the ground, however, till 

 the following spring. 



The general course of the life-history 

 is as follows : — The female beetle lays 

 several batches of whitish eggs, some 

 fifteen or more in a batch, a few inches 

 beneath the surface of the ground. 

 These hatch out in about three weeks, 

 and the larvae begin at once to feed 

 upon the roots of grasses, trees, or field- 

 crops. During the first warm season 

 their ravages are hardly noticed. At 

 the approach of winter they descend 

 deep into the earth, and become torpid. Next spring they 

 resume their activity, and feed voraciously. The second 

 winter, like the first, is passed in a torpid state. Again 

 the larvae come up to feed, but after the third summer they 

 are ready to pupate. In the following spring the beetles 

 come forth. (In northern countries the life-history may extend 

 over five years.) During the day, the full-grown cockchafer 

 commonly hides under the leaves of trees, and flies abroad 

 only at dusk. Like the dor-beetle, it flies heavily, though 

 with tolerable speed, and does not avoid obstacles. It feeds 

 upon foliage, stripping the trees, and especially the elm and 

 the oak, of their leaves. It lives only three weeks or less 

 after emergence, but the beetles appear in succession for about 



Fig. 22. 



Pupa of cockchafer. 



