28 
STAG-CHAFFER. 
and under-parts are coal-black, and the wings, 
which, except during flight, are concealed under 
the shells, are large, and of a fine pale yellowish- 
brown. This remarkable insect is chiefly found 
in the neighbourhood of oak trees, delighting in 
the sweet exsudation or honey-dew so frequently 
observed on the leaves. Its larva, which perfectly 
resembles that of the genuine Beetles, is also 
found in the hollows of oak trees ; residing in the 
fine vegetable mould usually seen in such cavities, 
and feeding on the softer parts of the decayed 
wood. It is of very considerable size, of a pale 
yellowish or whitish brown colour, and when 
stretched out at full length, measures nearly four 
inches^. Its general posture however is the curved 
one exhibited in the annexed plate. When arriv- 
ed at its full size, which, according to some, is 
hardly sooner than the fifth or sixth year, it form^, 
by frequently turning itself, and moistening it with 
its glutinous saliva, a smooth oval hollow in the 
earth in which it lies, aud afterwards remaining per- 
fectly still for the space of near amonth, divests itself 
of its skin, and commences pupa or chrysalis. It 
is now of a shorter form than before, of a rather 
* It has been supposed by Roesel, and not without a consider- 
able degree of probability, that these Larvae were the Cossi of 
the ancient Romans, which, according to Pliny, were in high 
esteem as an article of luxury. What renders this supposition 
the more probable is that the larvae of a species of Cerambyx, as 
well as of a Curculio, are well known to be greatly admired by 
the inhabitants of the West Indian islands, and are frequently 
collected at a great expence, as a highly delicate dish, being 
broiled or fried for that purpose. 
