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CHAFER

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 800 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

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CHAFER , a word used in See also:

MODERN

modern speech to distinguish the beetles of the See also:

FAMILY

family Scarabaeidae, and more especially those See also:

SPECIES

species which feed on leaves in the adult See also:

state. The word is derived from the O. Eng. ceafor, and it is interesting to See also:

note that the cognate Ger. Kafer is applied to beetles of all kinds. For the characters of the Scarabaeidae see See also:

COLEOPTERA

COLEOPTERA. This family includes a large number of beetles, some of which feed on From See also:

Cambridge Nat"ral See also:

HISTORY

History, vol. ii. "See also:

WORMS

Worms." by permission of See also:

MACMILLAN

Macmillan & Co., Ltd. Mature See also:

FEMALE

female of Chaetosoma claparedii, (From Mechnikov.) a, esophagus; b, See also:

INTESTINE (Lat. intestinus, internal, usually in neuter plural intestina. from intus, within)

intestine; c, anus; d, ovary; e, generative See also:

PORE

pore; f, ventral bristles. dung and others on See also:

VEGETABLE

vegetable tissues. The cockchafers and their near See also:

ALLIES, THOMAS WILLIAM (1813-1903)

allies belong to the subfamily Melolonthinae, and the See also:

rose-chafers to the Cetoniinae; in both the beetles eat leaves, and their grubs spend a See also:

long See also:

LIFE

life underground devouring roots. In See also:

BRITAIN (Gr. Hperavuml vi7vot, Bperravia; Lat. Britannia, rarely Britannia)

Britain the Melolonthines that are usually noted as injurious are the two species of cockchafer (Melolontha vulgaris and M. hippocastani), large heavy beetles with See also:

black pubescent See also:

pro-See also:

THORAX (Gr. BWpaE, breastplate, also the part of the body covered by it)

thorax, See also:

brown elytra and an elongated pointed tail-See also:

PROCESS

process; the summer-chafer (Rhizotrogus solstitialis), a smaller See also:

PALE (through Fr. pal, from Lat. palms, a stake, for paglus, from the stem pag- of pangere, to fix; " pole " is from the same original source)

pale brown chafer; and the still smaller See also:

GARDEN (from O. Fr. garden, mod. Fr. jardin; this, like our words " garth," a paddock attached to a building, and " yard," comes from a Teutonic word for an enclosure which appears in Gothic as gards and O. H. Ger. gart, cf. Dutch gaarde and Ger. .garten)

garden-chafer or "-cockerbundy " (Phyllopertha horticola), which has a dark See also:

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-See also:

DEVELOPED

developed legs, and a swollen See also:

ABDOMEN (a Latin word, either from abdere, to hide, or from a form adipomen, from adeps, fat)

abdomen. As they grow, the larvae become strongly flexed towards the ventral See also:

SURFACE

surface, and See also:

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 See also:

PLACE (through Fr. from Lat. platea, street; Gr. IrAar6s, wide)

place in the autumn, and though the perfect See also:

INSECT

insect emerges from the cuticle very soon afterwards, it remains in its underground See also:

CELL (from Lat. cella, probably from an Indo-European kal —seen in Lat. celare, to hide; another suggestion connects the word with Lat. cera, wax, taking the original meaning to refer to the honeycomb)

cell for several months, not making its way to the upper See also:

air until the ensuing summer. After pairing, the female crawls down into the See also:

SOIL

soil to See also:

lay her eggs. The grubs of chafers, when turned up by the plough, are greedily devoured by poultry, pigs and various See also:

WILD, JONATHAN (c. 1682-1725)

wild birds. When the beetles become so numerous as to See also:

CALL (from Anglo-Saxon ceallian, a common Teutonic word, cf. Dutch kallen, to talk or chatter)

call for destruction, they are usually shaken off the trees where they See also:

REST (O. Eng. rest, reste, bed, cognate with other Teutonic forms, e.g. Ger. Rast, Riiste, rest, and probably Gothic Rasta, league, i.e. resting or stopping place)

rest on to sheets or tarred boards. On the See also:

CONTINENT (from Lat. continere, "to hold together "; hence " connected," " continuous ")

continent of See also:

EUROPE

Europe chafers are far more numerous than in the See also:

UNITED

United See also:

KINGDOM

Kingdom, and the rural governments in See also:

France give rewards for their destruction. D. See also:

Sharp states that in the See also:

DEPARTMENT (Fr. departement, from departir, to separate into parts)

department of See also:

Seine-inferieure 867,173,000 cockchafers and 647,000,000 larvae were killed in the four years preceding 1870. The See also:

anatomy of Melolontha is very fully described in a classical memoir by H. E.

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