THE COMMON ROSE-CHAFER. 
37 
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 
transformed to a pupa, during the month of iMay, 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 per¬ 
fected beetle ; but it is of a vellowish-white color, and its 
short stump-like Avings, its antennae, and its legs are folded 
upon the breast; and its Avhole body is enclosed in a thin 
film, that wraps each part separately. During the month of 
June this filmy skin is rent, the included beetle withdraws 
jfrom its body and its limbs, bursts open its earthen cell, and 
digs its way to the surface of the ground. Thus the various 
changes, from the egg to the full development of the per¬ 
fected beetle, are completed within the space of one year. 
Such being the metamorphoses and habits of these insects, 
it is evident that Ave cannot attack them in the egg, the grub, 
or the pupa state; the enemy in these stages is beyond our 
reach, and is* subject to the control only of the natural but 
unknoAvn means appointed by the Author of Nature to keep 
the insect tribes in check. When they have issued from 
their subterranean retreats, and haA^e congregated upon our 
vines, trees, and other vegetable productions, in the complete 
