ceafor_, and it is interesting to note that the cognate Ger. _Kafer_ is
applied to beetles of all kinds. For the characters of the
_Scarabaeidae_ see COLEOPTERA. This family includes a large number of
beetles, some of which feed on dung and others on vegetable tissues.
The cockchafers and their near allies belong to the subfamily
_Melolonthinae_, and the rose-chafers to the _Cetoniinae_; in both the
beetles eat leaves, and their grubs spend a long life underground
devouring roots. In Britain the Melolonthines that are usually noted as
injurious are the two species of cockchafer (_Melolontha vulgaris_ and
_M. hippocastani_), large heavy beetles with black pubescent pro-thorax,
brown elytra and an elongated pointed tail-process; the summer-chafer
(_Rhizotrogus solstitialis_), a smaller pale brown chafer; and the still
smaller garden-chafer or "cocker-bundy" (_Phyllopertha horticola_),
which has a dark green pro-thorax and brown elytra. Of the Cetoniines,
the beautiful metallic green rose-chafer, _Cetonia aurata_, sometimes
causes damage, especially in gardens. The larvae of the chafers are
heavy, soft-skinned grubs, with hard brown heads provided with powerful
mandibles, three pairs of well-developed legs, and a swollen abdomen. As
they grow, the larvae become strongly flexed towards the ventral
surface, and lie curled up in their earthen cells, feeding on roots. The
larval life lasts several years, and in hard frosts the grubs go deep
down away from the surface. Pupation takes place in the autumn, and
though the perfect insect emerges from the cuticle very soon afterwards,
it remains in its underground cell for several months, not making its
way to the upper air until the ensuing summer. After pairing, the female
crawls down into the soil to lay her eggs. The grubs of chafers, when
turned up by the plough, are greedily devoured by poultry, pigs and
various wild birds. When the beetles become so numerous as to call for
destruction, they are usually shaken off the trees where they rest on to
sheets or tarred boards. On the continent of Europe chafers are far more
numerous than in the United Kingdom, and the rural governments in France
give rewards for their destruction. D. Sharp states that in the
department of Seine-inferieure 867,173,000 cockchafers and 647,000,000
larvae were killed in the four years preceding 1870.

The anatomy of _Melolontha_ is very fully described in a classical
memoir by H.E. Strauss-Durckheim (