THE COCKCHAFER. (Melolontha vulgaris.)
The Cockchafer is one of the lamellicorn beetles. The female lays her eggs in the ground, and the grubs, when hatched, are soft, thick, and whitish. It is from its white appearance that the grub of the Cockchafer is called le ver blanc by the French. These grubs, sometimes in immense numbers, work between the turf and the soil in the richest meadows, devouring the roots of the grass to such a degree that the turf rises, and will roll up with almost as much ease as if it had been cut with a turfing knife; the soil underneath appearing, for more than an inch in depth, like the bed of a garden. In this the grubs lie, on their backs, in a curved position, the head and tail uppermost, and the rest of the body buried in the mould. It is also said that a whole field of fine flourishing grass has become, in a few weeks, withered, dry, and as brittle as hay, in consequence of these grubs devouring the roots.
In the year 1688 great numbers of Cockchafers appeared on the hedges and trees of the south-west coast of the county of Galway, in clusters of thousands, clinging to each others’ backs, in the manner of bees when they swarm. During the day they continued quiet, but towards sunset the whole were in motion; and the humming noise of their wings sounded like distant drums. Their numbers were so great that, for the space of two or three square miles, they entirely darkened the air. Persons travelling on the roads, or who were abroad in the fields, found it difficult to make their way home, as the insects were continually beating against their faces, and occasioned great pain. In a very short time the leaves of all the trees, for several miles round, were destroyed, leaving the whole country, though it was near midsummer, as naked and desolate as it would have been in the middle of winter. The noise which these enormous swarms made, in seizing and devouring the leaves, was so loud, as to be compared to the distant sawing of timber. Swine and poultry destroyed them in vast numbers; waiting under the trees for the clusters of insects to drop, and then devouring such swarms as to become fat upon them alone. Even the native Irish, from the insects having eaten up the whole produce of the ground, adopted a mode of cooking them, and thus used them as food. Towards the end of the summer they disappeared so suddenly that in a few days there was not one left.
Rooks are very fond of eating these grubs, and often, when they are seen in a newly-sown field, apparently devouring the grain, they are, in fact, rendering the greatest service to the farmer, by destroying his great enemy, the white worm.
THE DOR, OR BLIND BEETLE.
(Geotrupes stercorarius.)
This well-known insect, which is sometimes also called “the shard-borne beetle,” has been often noticed by the poets. Amongst others, Shakespeare makes Macbeth say: