The Cockchafer 
89 
is busy, though he mostly confines his flights 
to the late evening time he often will be 
seen crawling rather helplessly about the 
hedgerows, banks and lawns, as if either 
he had been injured or had lost his way the 
previous night. These are most readily 
eaten by a great variety of animals — 
foxes will seek them, pigs devour them 
greedily, some dogs eat them, while many 
cats seize them and, hardly waiting to 
crush the hard wing cases, swallow them 
up with avidity. Fowls will not often let 
go an opportunity to pick one up. 
In all probability, if we looked into this 
matter we should find that either the 
cockchafer has a medicinal virtue or a 
pleasing and alluring flavour, and also 
we observe that it is free from any kind of 
poison or pungent odour as a means of 
defence, or it would not be acceptable as a 
food to so wide a range of creatures. 
7— (2267) 
