90 BRECK’S NEW BOOK OF FLOWERS. 
on such tender roots as are within their reach. Like other 
grubs of the Scarabeeians, when not eating, they lie upon 
the side, with the body curved so that the head and tail 
are nearly in contact. They move with difficulty on a 
level surface, and are continually falling over on one side 
or the other. They attain their full size in the autumn, 
being then nearly three-quarters of an inch long, and 
about an eighth of an inch in diameter. They are of a 
yellowish-white color, with a tinge of blue towards the 
hinder extremity, which is thick and obtuse, or rounded ; 
a few short hairs are scattered on the surface of the body; 
there are six short legs, namely, a pair to each of the first 
three rings behind the head; and the latter is covered 
with a horny shell of a pale rust color. In October they 
descend below the reach of frost, and pass the winter in 
a torpid state. In the spring they approach towards the 
surface, and each one forms for itself a little cell, of an 
oval shape, by turning round a great many times, so as to 
compress the earth and render the inside of the cavity 
hard and smooth. Within this cell the grub is trans- 
formed to a pupa, during the month of May, by casting 
off its skin, which is pushed downwards in folds from the 
head to the tail. The pupa has somewhat the form of the 
perfected beetle; but it is of a yellowish-white color, and 
its short stump-like wings, its attenne, and its legs, are 
folded upon the breast, and its whole body is enclosed in 
a thin film, that wraps each part separately. During the 
month of June this filmly skin is rent, the included beetle 
withdraws from it its body and its limbs, bursts open iis 
earthen cell, and digs its way to the surface of the groun(. 
Thus the various changes, from the egg to the full de- 
velopment of the perfected beetle, are completed within 
the space of one year. 
“Such being the metamorphoses and habits of these in- 
sects, it is evident that we cannot attack them in the egg, 
