Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 1, 1802).djvu/516

482] feelers, which serve to direct their motions under ground.

At the expiration of four years, these destructive insects prepare to emerge from their subterraneous abode. About the latter end of autumn, the grubs begin to perceive their transformation approaching; when they bury themselves deeper in the earth, sometimes even six feet below the surface, where they form capacious apartments, the walls of which become very smooth and shining, by the excretions of their bodies. Soon after, they begin to shorten themselves, to swell, and burst their last skin, preparatory to their change into a chrysalis. This appears at first to be of a yellowish colour, which gradually heightens, till at length it becomes almost red. Its external figure clearly displays the characters of the future winged insect, all the fore-parts being distinctly seen; while, behind, the animal seems as if wrapped in swaddling clothes.

In this state, the young Cock-chafer, or May-bug, continues for about three months longer; when, towards the beginning of January, the aurelia divests itself of all its impediments, and becomes a complete, winged insect. But it has not attained its natural health, strength, and appetite: unlike all other insects, which arrive at their state of perfection as soon as they become flies, the cock-chafer continues feeble and sickly. Its colour is much brighter than in the perfect animal; all its parts are soft, and its voracious nature appears suspended. In this state, it is frequently found, and is erroneously supposed by those who are ignorant of its real history, to be an old one, of the former season, which has buried itself during the winter, in order to re-visit the sun, the ensuing summer. The fact is, the old one never survives the season, but perishes, in the same manner as every other species of insects, from the severity of the cold, during winter.

Towards the latter end of May, these insects burst from the earth, the first mild evening that invites them abroad; after having lived from four to five years under ground. They are then seen to emerge from their close confinement, no longer to live on roots, and imbibe only the moisture of the earth, but to choose the sweetest vegetables for their food, and to sip the evening dew. An attentive observer will, at that time of the year, see even path-way strewed with them; and, in warm evenings of May, myriads of them are buzzing along, flapping against every thing that impedes their flight. The heat of the mid-day sun, however, seems to be too powerful for their constitution; they, therefore, conceal themselves in clusters, under the foliage of shady trees, but particularly of the willow, which appears to be their most favourite food, and which they seldom quit, till they have consumed all its verdure. In seasons favourable to their propagation, they are seen in an evening, in considerable swarms; their duration, however, is but short, as they never survive the summer. They begin to pair, soon after they have emerged from their subterraneous prison; and the female then carefully bores a hole in the ground, with an instrument for that purpose, with which she is ed