100 ZOOLOGY. 



curved ; head hard, brown ; rest of the body thin- 

 skinned and yellowish white. The first three segments 

 of the body bear legs. The curved larvee can move 

 about in the soil, but not on the surface. The beetles 

 and larvse devour vegetable substances ; a com- 

 paratively small number of species feed on dung. 



The Common Cockchafer {Melolontha vulgaris) will 

 serve as a type of the lamellicorns (Fig. 65). The 

 last segment of the body forms a gradually tapering 

 process. The club of the antennae with seven large 

 leaflets in the male, and six smaller leaflets in the 

 female (Fig. 72). Head, neck-shield, entire ventral 

 surface, and legs, black ; although these parts, with the 

 exception of the head, may be reddish brown. Many 

 specimens are thickly clothed with numerous white 

 hairs ; others are almost hairless. The beetles usually 

 appear during May, but sometimes by mid April, and 

 sometimes not till the beginning of June. In the 

 evening they leave the soil and seek the neighbour- 

 ing trees. They devour the leaves and especially 

 the buds of oak, horse-chestnut, beech, poplar, willow, 

 cherry, and other forest and fruit-trees, but spare the 

 lime and generally the morel cherry. Of coniferous 

 trees it only devours the needles of larch and the 

 young shoots of pine. Among 

 ^^ ^ cabbage-like plants it only devours 

 d^2^2 — ^ rape. In " chafer years " the cock- 

 a ^"'^Slgl chafer becomes a veritable scourge 



to the farmer. For the purpose 

 of laying her eggs (about forty in 

 number), the female selects by 

 preference a fertile soil rich in 

 Fio. »3.-(i, abdomen of humus, but will also put up with 

 chSSiocLohafer- a dry sandy soil. The grubs de- 

 vour the grass and clover-roots m 

 meadows, and, in cultivated fields, the roots of grain- 

 plants, peas, and beans, rape, cabbage, etc., also turnips 

 and potatoes ; in gardens the roots of many vegetables. 



