Note o — BOOK IV. (continued 2)

I have in Chap. 13. Note (u), and Book VIII. Chap. 6. Note (c), (f), taken Notice of the Nidification and Generation of some Insects on the Leaves of Vegetables, and shall therefore, for the Illustration of this Place, chuse an uncommon Example out of the Scarab-kind (the Generation of which Tribe hath not been as yet mentioned) and that is of a small Scarab bred in the very Tips of Elm-Leaves. These Leaves, in Summer, may be observed to be, many of them, dry and dead, as also turgid; in which lieth a dirty, whitish, rough Maggot. From which proceeds a Beetle of the smallest kind, of a light, Weesle Colour, that leapeth like a Grashopper, although its Legs are but short. Its Eyes are blackish, Elytra thin, and prettily furrowed, with many Concavities in them; small club-headed Antennæ, and a long Rostrum like a Proboscis.

The same, or much like this, I have met with on Tips of Oaken and Holly-Leaves. How the Scarab lays its Eggs in the Leaf, whether by terebrating the Leaf, or whether the Maggot, when hatched, doth it, I could never see. But with great Dexterity, it makes its Way between the upper and under Membranes of the Leaf feeding upon the parenchymous Part thereof. Its Head is slenderer and sharper than most of Maggots, as if made on purpose for this Work; but yet I have often wondered at their Artifice in so nicely separating the Membranes of the Elm-Leaf, without breaking them, and endangering their own tumbling out of ’em, considering how thin and very tender the Skins of that Leaf (particularly) are.