4 THE DENIZENS OF AN OLD CHERRY TREE. 



determined little creature, evidently bent on some maternal cares 

 in the interior of the stump. Selecting a hole, it entered, but when 

 it emerged it was to enter again the glass prison from whence it 

 was transferred to the killing bottle, and now graces our collection 

 as one of the first specimens of Pemphredon lugubris we had taken, 

 although specimens of this genus had been observed, in previous 

 seasons, during the hottest sunshine, on the leaves of our fruit 

 trees, moving, with that wonderful activity of wing so characteristic 

 of the Fossorial Hymenoptera, to which these highly specialised 

 insects belong. 



We now desired to remove the stump for careful examination 

 indoors during the winter, but business matters and ill-health pre- 

 vented the carrying out of our intention. However, during March, 

 1893, a high wind broke off the upper portion of the trunk, which 

 we removed indoors, and its examination brought to light such a 

 numerous assemblage of burrows, galleries, and tunnels, occupied 

 by different insects in various stages of their life histories, that, 

 during April, we had the stump cut down, and, after sawing it into 

 suitable blocks, we carefully divided each block into portions with 

 a strong pocket knife, and these portions, with their Hving inmates, 

 were put into a series of large glass-topped boxes, very special 

 pieces being stored in smaller boxes. The careful cutting up of 

 this rotten stump occupied the writer, for several hours each day, 

 for more than a week, but the fascinating pleasure of unveiling 

 these insect marvels was ample reward for any pains that may have 

 been taken in doing so. 



The first inhabitants to attract our attention were several 

 Coleopterous larvae, in unstained tortuous burrows of from one- 

 eighth to a quarter of an inch in diameter. Fig. 2, Plate I., shows 

 a portion of the rotten cherry-wood with a burrow containing a 

 full-grown larva, and near it an active nymph or pupal form of the 

 same insect, while above the wood is seen the perfect insect, a blue- 

 black beetle {Melandrya caraboides). The three stages are drawn 

 from nature and of the natural size, although (as in the case of 

 most wood feeders) the species is very variable in size, specimens 

 of the imago differing in length from seven-sixteenths to over 

 three-quarters of an inch. When first emerged from its pupal 

 form, this beetle is of a very light brown colour, and several hours 



