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from disturbance; but when she is engaged in 
discharging the duties of maternity, her whole 
nature is changed. She fiercely and vigorously 
attacks all aggressors, watches over the safety of 
her young with the utmost jealousy, neglects the 
demands of her own appetite to divide the food 
she may obtain among her nurslings, and labours 
with untiring diligence to provide them sufficient 
sustenance. ‘The limits within which we are re- 
stricted forbid the attempt to give a complete 
history of this valuable species, which is, in every 
point of view, interesting. To detail all that 
would be necessary to illustrate it, as an object 
of natural history and domestic economy,—the 
modes of breeding, rearing, preparing for the 
table, &c., would require a small volume. For- 
tunately, almost every one, who will employ his 
own observation, may readily arrive at such 
knowledge. 
COCKCHAFFER. A species of coleopterous 
insect, belonging to the genus melolontha of Fabri- 
cius, remarkable for the length of its life, in the 
worm or larve state, as well as for the injury it 
does to vegetation, after it has attained its per- 
fect condition. By Linnzeus, this species, which 
is also known by the trivial names of may-bug, 
dorr-beetle, &c., was placed in the genus scara- 
bzeus, or beetle; and it is true, that the melolon- 
tha have the general aspect, conformation and 
habits of the beetles. They differ from them, 
however, in having the body less depressed, 
swelling out above and below into a sort of hump. 
The head is encaged in the corselet, which is 
slightly narrowed in front, and most commonly 
attached to the elytra behind. The antenne, 
which are foliated in a mass, are composed of 10 
joints, the last of which terminates the mass like 
a plume, which the insect displays at will, some- 
times to the number of seven plates, larger and 
more perfectly developed in the males than fe- 
males. ‘The bodies of melolontha are very often 
velvet-like, and covered with hairs and imbrica- 
ted scales, differently coloured, like the butter- 
flies. Some species are very highly adorned in 
this way, and present combinations of brilliant 
and beautiful colours. 
The may-bug (Melolontha vulgaris) is hatched 
from an egg which the parent deposits in a hole, 
about six inches deep, which she digs for the 
purpose. Her eggs are oblong, of a bright yel- 
low colour, and are placed regularly side by side, 
though not included in any common envelope. 
At the end of about three months, the insects 
come out of the eggs as small grubs or maggots, 
and feed upon the roots of vegetables in the vi- 
cinity with great voracity. As they increase in 
size and strength, they become abie to make 
their way with ease under ground, and continue 
their ravages upon the roots of plants. When 
the worm has attained its greatest size, it is an 
inch and a half long by more than half an inch 
thick, perfectly white, with a red head, having a 
semi-circular lip, and a strong pair of jaws, with 
term cockchaffer, applied to the common species, 
COCKCHAFFER. 
which it cuts the roots, for the purpose of suck- 
ing out their fluids. It has two antenne, but is 
destitute of eyes. The subterranean existence of 
these animals is extended to four years, and, as 
their food is not accessible during the cold sea- 
son, they bury themselves sufficiently deep in the | 
soil to be safe from the frost, and pass the winter 
in a state of torpidity.. When the spring restores 
them to animation and activity, they revisit the 
upper stratum of the ground, having, at each 
annual awakening, undergone a change of skin. 
—At the end of the third year, they have ac- 
quired their full growth as larves; they then 
cease eating, and void the residue of their food, 
preparatory to the change or metamorphosis 
which they are about to undergo. If opened at | 
this period, their strongly muscular integument 
is found to be completely filled with a mass of 
white, oily matter, resembiing cream, apparently 
destined as a reserve for the alimentation of the | 
insect during the period of its remaining in the | 
form of a nymph, which is scarcely less than six | 
months. To undergo their final change, these | 
larves bore into the earth to the depth of two 
feet or more, where they form a rounded cavity, 
the sides of which are smoothed and consolidated 
by the application of a fluid disgorged from their 
mouths. The larve being thus secured, it soon 
begins to contract in length, swells, and bursts 
its skin, coming therefrom as a soft, whitish 
nymph, having all the members shrunk and 
folded, uniformly arranged in the same manner, 
exhibiting the rudiments of elytra, antennx, &c. 
The insect then gradually acquires consistence 
and colour, becoming of a brownish hue. This 
state continues about three months, by the end 
of which time, the insect disengages its wings, | 
limbs, and antenne, and assumes its rank as a | 
perfect coleopterous insect. It isin the month | 
of February that the larve changes to nymph. 
During the months of March and April, it ap- 
proaches the surface of the earth, and about the 
beginning of May, escapes from its grovelling 
mode of life to soar through the air, disporting in 
sunshine and shade. From this circumstance, 
the German trivial name of Mavkaefer, and the 
English may-bug or beetle, have been given. The 
is evidently made up from the German. 
Cockchaffers, in their perfect state, pass the 
greater part of the day in a state of slumber or 
quietude, on the leaves of the trees which they 
feed on, unless disturbed by the too great heat of 
the sun, which arouses them to fly to the shade. 
At eventide, the whole of this drowsy population 
take wing, for the sake of procuring food. Their 
flight is loud, humming, and generally with the 
wind; and so little is the insect capable of di- 
recting its course, that it strikes violently against 
every object in the way. This peculiarity has 
given origin, in France, to a proverbial expres- 
sion, applied to a thoughtless, blundering person, 
who is said to be “as stupid as a may-bug.” The 
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