one family called MELOLONTHADE, or Melolonthians. The following are the general characters of these insects. The body is oblong oval, convex, and generally of a brownish color; the antennæ are nine or more commonly ten jointed, the knob is much longer in the males than in the females, and consists generally of three leaf-like pieces, sometimes of a greater number, which open and shut like the leaves of a book; the visor is short and wide; the upper jaws are furnished at base on the inner side with an oval space, crossed by ridges, like a millstone, for grinding; the thorax is transversely square, or nearly so; the wingcases do not cover the whole of the body, the hinder extremity of which is exposed; the legs are rather long, the first pair armed externally with two or three teeth; and the claws are notched beneath, or are split at the end like the nib of a pen. The powerful and horny jaws are admirably fitted for cutting and grinding the leaves of plants, upon which these beetles subsist; their notched or double claws support them securely on the foliage; and their strong and jagged fore-legs, being formed for digging in the ground, point out the place of their transformations.

The general habits and transformations of the common cockchafer of Europe have been carefully observed, and will serve to exemplify those of the other insects of this family, which, as far as they are known, seem to be nearly the same. This insect devours the leaves of trees and shrubs. Its duration in the perfect state is very short, each individual living only about a week, and the species entirely disappearing in the course of a month. After the sexes have paired, the males perish, and the females enter the earth to the depth of six inches or more, making their way by means of the strong teeth which arm the fore-legs; here they deposit their eggs, amounting, according to some writers, to nearly one hundred, or, as others assert, to two hundred from each female, which are abandoned by the parent, who generally ascends again to the surface, and perishes in a short time.

From the eggs are hatched, in the space of fourteen days, little whitish grubs, each provided with six legs near the head, and a mouth furnished with strong jaws. When in a state of rest, these grubs usually curl themselves in the shape of a crescent. They subsist on the tender roots of various plants, committing ravages

among these vegetable substances, on some occasions of the most deplorable kind, so as totally to disappoint the best founded hopes of the husbandman. During the summer they live under the thin coat of vegetable mould near the surface, but, as winter approaches, they descend below the reach of frost, and remain torpid until the succeeding spring, at which time they change their skins, and reascend to the surface for food. At the close of their third summer, (or, as some say, of the fourth or fifth,) they cease eating, and penetrate about two feet deep into the earth; there, by its motions from side to side, each grub forms an oval cavity, which is lined by some glutinous substance thrown from its mouth. In this cavity it is changed to a pupa by casting off its skin. In this state, the legs, antennæ, and wing-cases of the future beetle are visible through the transparent skin which envelopes them, but appear of a yellowish white color; and thus it remains until the month of February, when the thin film which encloses the body is rent, and three months afterwards the perfected beetle digs its way to the surface, from which it finally emerges during the night. According to Kirby and Spence, the grubs of the cock-chafer sometimes destroy whole acres of grass by feeding on its roots. They undermine the richest meadows, and so loosen the turf that it will roll up as if cut by a turfing spade. They do not confine themselves to grass, but eat the roots of wheat, of other grains, and also those of young trees. About seventy years ago, a farmer near Norwich, in England, suffered much by them, and, with his man, gathered eighty bushels of the beetles. In the year 1785 many provinces in France were so ravaged by them, that a premium was offered by government for the best mode of destroying them. The Society of Arts in London, during many years, held forth a premium for the best account of this insect, and the means of checking its ravages, but without having produced one successful claimant.

In their winged state, these beetles, with several other species, act as conspicuous a part in injuring the trees, as the grubs do in destroying the herbage. During the month of May they come forth from the ground, whence they have received the name of Maybugs, or May-beetles. They pass the greater part of the day upon trees, clinging to the under-sides of the leaves, in a state of

repose. As soon as evening approaches, they begin to buzz about among the branches, and continue on the wing till towards midnight. In their droning flight, they move very irregularly, darting hither and thither with an uncertain aim, hitting against objects in their way with a force that often causes them to fall to the ground. They frequently enter houses in the night, apparently attracted, as well as dazzled and bewildered, by the lights. Their vagaries, in which, without having the power to harm, they seem to threaten an attack, have caused them to be called dors, that is darers; while their seeming blindness and stupidity have become proverbial, in the expressions, “blind as a beetle," and "beetle-headed". Besides the leaves of fruit-trees, they devour those of various forest-trees and shrubs, with an avidity not much less than that of the locust, so that, in certain seasons, and in particular districts, they become an oppressive scourge, and the source of much misery to the inhabitants. Mouffet relates that, in the year 1574, such a number of them fell into the river Severn, as to stop the wheels of the water-mills; and, in the Philosophical Transactions, it is stated, that in the year 1688 they filled the hedges and trees of Galway, in such infinite numbers as to cling to each other like bees when swarming; and, when on the wing, darkened the air, annoyed travellers, and produced a sound like distant drums. In a short time, the leaves of all the trees, for some miles round, were so totally consumed by them, that at midsummer the country wore the aspect of the depth of winter.

Another chafer, Anomala vitis F. is sometimes exceedingly injurious to the vine. It prevails in certain provinces of France, where it strips the vines of their leaves, and also devours those of the willow, poplar, and fruit-trees.

The animals and birds appointed to check the ravages of these insects, are, according to Latreille, the badger, weasel, martin, bats, rats, the common dung-hill fowl, and the goat-sucker or night-hawk. To this list may be added the common crow, which devours not only the perfect insects, but their larvæ, for which purpose it is often observed to follow the plough. In "Anderson's Recreations," it is stated that "a cautious observer, having found a nest of five young jays, remarked, that each of these birds,

while yet very young, consumed at least fifteen of these full-sized grubs in one day, and of course would require many more of a smaller size. Say that, on an average of sizes, they consumed twenty a-piece, these for the five make one hundred. Each of the parents consume say fifty; so that the pair and family devour two hundred every day. This, in three months, amounts to twenty thousand in one season. But as the grub continues in that state four seasons, this single pair, with their family alone, without reckoning their descendants after the first year, would destroy eighty thousand grubs. Let us suppose that the half, namely forty thousand, are females, and it is known that they usually lay about two hundred eggs each; it will appear, that no less than eight millions have been destroyed, or prevented from being hatched, by the labors fa single family of jays. It is by reasoning 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 shortsighted and futile operations." Our own country abounds with insect-eating beasts and birds, and without doubt the more than abun 'ant Melolonthæ form a portion of their nourishment.

In the year 1817, the Fabrician genus MELOLONTHA contained three hundred and f.ve known species, two hundred and twentysix of which still retained that name, and seventy-nine were separated into five distinct genera. A great number of new species have since been added to this list, which it has become necessary still further to subdivide. In a prize essay on the noxious insects of this genus, written by me in 1826, and published in the tenth volume of the Massachusetts Agricultural Repository and Journal, several new genera were proposed, and the principal insects they were designed to include were pointed out. Several years afterwards it became known to me, that similar genera, founded on a consideration of the same insects, had been made by European naturalists, some of whom published the result of their investigations before, and others after mine had appeared. Those of my names, therefore, that had been anticipated in point of time, must be dropped; the others, I have thought proper to retain in the present essay.

We have several Melolonthians whose injuries in the perfect and grub state approach to those of the European cock-chafer.

Phyllophaga* quercina of Knoch, the May-beetle, as it is generally called here, is our common species. It is of a chestnutbrown color, smooth, but finely punctured, that is, covered with little impressed dots, as if pricked with the point of a needle; each wing-case has two or three slightly elevated longitudinal lines; the breast is clothed with yellowish down. The knob of its antennæ contains only three leaf-like joints. Its average length is nine tenths of an inch. In its perfect state it feeds on the leaves of trees, particularly on those 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, attracted 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 evaporated, while others exhibit the true color and texture of the perfect insect. The grubs devour the roots of grass and of other plants, and in many places the turf may be turned up like a carpet in consequence of the destruction of the roots. The grubt is a white worm with a brownish head, and, when fully grown, is nearly as thick as the little finger. It is eaten greedily by crows and fowls. The beetles are devoured by the skunk, whose beneficial foraging is detected in our gardens by its abundant excrement filled with the wing-cases of these insects. A writer in the "New York Evening Post" says, that the beetles, which frequently commit serious ravages on fruit-trees, may be effectually exterminated by shaking them from the trees every evening. In this way two pailsful of beetles were collected on the first experiment; the number caught regularly decreased until the fifth evening, when only two beetles were to be found. The best time, however, for shaking trees on which the May-beetles are lodged, is in the morning, when the insects do not attempt to fly. They are most easily collected in a cloth spread under the trees to

* A genus proposed by me in 1826. It signifies leaf-eater. Dejean subsequently called this genus Ancylonycha.

There is a grub, somewhat resembling this, which is frequently found under old manure heaps, and is commonly called muck-worm. It differs, however, in some respects, from that of the May-beetle, or dor-bug, and is transformed to a dung-beetle called Scarabæus relictus by Mr. Say.