68 DR. HARRIS’S REPORT. April, 
amounts to 20,000 in one season. But as the grub continues in that 
state 4 seasons, this single pair, with their family alone, without reck- 
oning their descendants after the first year, would destroy 80,000 
grubs. Let us suppose that the half, viz. 40,000, are females, and 
it is known that they usually lay about 200 eggs each, it will appear, 
that no less than 8 milions have been destroyed or prevented from 
being hatched by the labors of a single family of jays. It is by rea- 
soning in this way, that we learn to know of what importance it is to 
attend to the economy of nature, and to be cautious how we derange 
it by our short-sighted and futile operations.”” Our own country 
abounds in insectivorous beasts and birds, and without doubt the more 
than abundant Melolonthe form a portion of their nourishment. 
In the year 1817, the Fabrician genus Melolontha contained 305 
known species, 226 of which still retained that name, and 79 were 
separated into 5 distinct genera. A great number of new species 
have since been added to this list, which it has become necessary still 
further to subdivide. Having myself, in a paper on the noxious in- 
sects of this genus, published in 1827, indicated some new genera, 
and pointed out their types, I would, in my own justification, observe, 
that, (as I have since ascertained,) about the same time, there were 
established by European entomologists, similar genera, from a con- 
sideration of the same types. 
We have several allied species of MMelolontha whose injuries in 
the perfect and grub state’ approach to those of the European cock- 
chaffer. Melolontha quercina of Knoch is our common species. 
In its perfect state it feeds on the leaves of trees, particularly of the 
cherry-tree. It flies with a humming noise in the night, from the 
middle of May to the end of June, and frequently enters houses, at- 
tracted by the light. In the course of the spring, these beetles are 
often thrown from the earth by the spade and plough, in various states 
of maturity, some being soft and nearly white, their superabundant 
juices not having been exhaled; others exhibit the true color and 
texture of the perfect insect. The grubs devour the roots of grass 
and other vegetables: in many places the turf may be turned up like 
a carpet in consequence of the destruction of the roots. The grub 
is a white worm with a brownish head, and, when fully grown, nearly 
as thick as the litle- finger. It is eaten with avidity by crows and 
