84 A. COTTAM — PUPATION OF THE STAG-BEETLE. 



beginnin<? of June, so that for about five months they would have 

 been buried, though perfect and apparently ready to emerge. This 

 may account for the capricious appearance of some insects which in 

 early seasons appear earlier than usual, tempted out by the unusual 

 warmth. 



I intend to keep the specimen I have, in (as nearly as I can) its 

 natural condition, and see how long the beetle will be before it 

 works its way out of its case. 



Postscript, Oetoher, 1880. I kept the cocoon in the box in a 

 room in which a fire is never lighted, and one morning at the 

 beginning of May (I did not note the exact date) I heard a scraping 

 in the box that induced me to look into it, and there I found my 

 beetle out of its case. It was very sluggish, and, until I took it 

 into a warm room, hardly moved. The opening in the cocoon, by 

 which it had emerged, was only just large enough to allow the 

 insect to pass thi'ough. 



