In Normandy, according to Mouffet, the Cock-chafers make their appearance every third year.[143] In 1785, many provinces of France were so ravaged by them, that a premium was offered by the government for the best mode of destroying them.[144] During this year, a farmer, near Blois, employed a number of children and the poorer people to destroy the Cock-chafers at the rate of two liards a hundred, and in a few days they collected fourteen thousand.[145] The county of Norfolk in England seems occasionally to have suffered much from the ravages of these insects; and Bingley tells us that “about sixty years ago, a farm near Norwich was so infested with them, that the farmer and his servants affirmed they had gathered eighty bushels of them; and the grubs had done so much injury, that the court of the city, in compassion to the poor fellow’s misfortune, allowed him twenty-five pounds.”[146] The seeming blunders and stupidity of these insects have long been proverbial, as in the expressions, “blind as a beetle,” and “beetle-headed.” Cetoniidæ--Rose-chafers. A very pretty species of the _Cetoniidæ_, the _Agestrata luconica_, is of a fine brilliant metallic green, and found in the Philippine Islands. These the ladies of Manilla keep as pets in small bamboo cages, and carry them about with them wheresoever they may go.[147] Buprestidæ--Burn-cows. Many species of the _Buprestidæ_ are decorated with highly brilliant metallic tints, like polished gold upon an emerald ground, or azure upon a ground of gold; and their elytra, or wing-coverings, are employed by the ladies of China, and also of England, for the purpose of embroidering their dresses.[148] The Chinese have also attempted imitations of these insects in bronze, in which they succeed so well that the copy may be sometimes mistaken for the reality.[149] In Ceylon[150] and throughout India,[151] the golden wing-cases of two of this tribe, the _Sternocera chrysis_ and _S. sternicornis_, are used to enrich the embroidery of the Indian zenana, while the lustrous joints of the legs are strung on silken threads, and form necklaces and bracelets of singular brilliancy. The _Buprestis attenuata_, _ocellata_ and _vittata_ are also wrought into various devices and trinkets by the Indians. The _B. vittata_ is much admired among them. This insect is found in great abundance in China, and thence exported into India, where it is distributed at a low price.[152] Mr. Osbeck saw in China a _Buprestis maxima_, which had been dried, and to which were fastened leaden wings so painted as to make them look like the wings of butterflies. This artificial monster, he adds, was to be sold in the vaults among other trifles.[153] The _B. maxima_ is set up along with Butterflies in small boxes, and vended in the streets of Chinese cities.[154]