They live in this way for three years. Then they make a round or egg-shaped ball. They make the ball of grains of earth, bits of dead leaves, and grass. Or, they use the wood or sawdust they have cut up with their jaws. They fasten all this stuff together with glue from their mouths.
When the larvæ are shut up in this ball, they change very quickly. At first the ball, or case, seems full of a milky fluid. Then the legs and wings grow. After a few weeks the white worm has changed to a fine beetle that looks like a jewel.
Some of these beetles are so fine that they are put into hoops of gold for ear-rings and brooches. In the island of Manila ladies keep rose beetles in tiny cages for pets!
There is a beetle much like the rose beetle. It is called the May or June bug. These June bugs come in great numbers. They eat the leaves of trees, and even kill trees in this way. They fly by night; and they like to get into a room where a lamp is burning. They are a golden brown color.
They blunder about, making a great buzz with their horny wings. They hit their heads on walls and panes of glass. Some people are afraid of them. That is foolish, for they can do no harm to them.
These June bugs hide all day in the shade. They do not like the sun. It is no wonder there are so many of them, as each mother lays forty eggs. The larvæ do much damage by eating plant roots.
Watch June beetles to see how they lift their wing-covers when about to fly. Look well at the folding of the inner wings.
If you open a door or window on a warm night and set a light in the room, you may soon catch very many pretty beetles which fly about to feast on the sweet white flowers that open after dark.
LESSON XXVI.
PRINCES AND GIANTS.