COCK-CHAFER, 
SPECIFIC CHARACTER. 
Scaraba;us Melolontha. S. scutellatus muticus testaceus, tho- 
race villoso, cauda inflexa, inci- 
suris abdominis albis. Linn. Syst. 
Nat. Gmel. 1 . p. 1562. 
Testaceous escutcheon, the thorax 
downy, tail inflected, white notches 
on the abdomen. 
Cock-ciiafer. .... Allin. Ins. 60. Degeer. Ins. 4. 
pi. 10. f. 14. Merian. Europ. 1. 
p 2. f. 4. Shaw Gen. Zool. 6. 
p. 21. pi. 3. 
This well known insect is by far the most nu- 
merous of all the beetle tribe, and is highly de- 
serving of attention on account of the ravages which 
it sometimes commits : we shall therefore trace its 
history from the egg, and conclude with some ac- 
count of its calamitous visitations. 
The female, at the appointed season, bores a hole 
in the ground, in which she deposits her eggs, which 
are of an oblong shape, and are generally placed 
with great regularity by the side of each other. 
After this very necessary operation is performed, she 
concerns herself no further about the eggs, but 
