206. [September, 



probable that tliey assume the perfect form in July or August : if so, they pro- 

 bably live iu the perfect state till the following spring. — D. Sharp, Brocken- 

 hurst : Angust bth, 1920. 



[Erichson, in Wiegmann's Archiv, 1836, i, pp. 50-51, separates H. at- 

 tenuatiis from the very closely allied anf/ustatus Herbst mainly by the elytral 

 sculpture — " interstitiis leviter couvexis granulorum elevatorum setaruinque 

 serie regulari " in the former, and " interstitiis granulis basi creberrimis 

 apicem versus subseriatis, setulisque instructa" in the latter. H. ang listed us 

 occurs at Woking (sometimes iu numbers), Chobham, and Esher, Surrey, and 

 there are similar specimens from Bournemouth in the British Museum, all 

 probably from Finns sylvestris. Messrs. Laing and Munro have recently taken 

 numerous examples of H. attenuatus at Oxshott, Surrey, from the same 

 conifer, and 1 have a single specimen of it from Woking, these insects agreeing 

 with those captured on spruce in the New Forest and with others found during 

 the present month bj^ my second son, F. W. C, at Lyons-la-F6ret, Enre, 

 France. The more elongate H. linearis Er., not jet recorded from Britain, 

 may also occur here in spruce ? — G. C. C] 



Tiresias serra F. and its Larva. — In a short note on the larva of Tirexias 

 serra, Dr. N. Joy {antea, p. 163) mentions that he is unable to discover what 

 the creature feeds on. He also says that he has no idea, as to the cause or 

 object, why it rapidly vibrates the tail hairs. I am able to answer both these 

 queries from my personal observation. 



The larva feeds on the remains of insects, dead flies, etc., and, as will be 

 seen later, also devours spider's-web, paper, dry crusts, eg^s of Lepidoptera, 

 wood-lice, small caterpillars, etc. The rapid vibration of the tail hairs is to 

 protect it when approached and attacked in the rear by an enemy. 



In 1912 I introduced a Tiresias larva into one of my ants' nests to see 

 what would happen. It lived there for about a fortnight, feeding on the 

 remains of dead ants, and other insects given to the ants for food. When an 

 ant endeavoured to attack it from behind, it rapidly vibrated its tail hairs in 

 the ant's face, and thus drove it off. It was eventually killed and cut uj) 

 by the ants ; but the value of the defence given by the tail hairs, apart from 

 the erection of the abdominal hair bunches, was clearly demonstrated. 



The larva of Tiresias has always been an object of great interest to the 

 Coleopterist, both on account of its curious appearance and its porcupine-like 

 habits. It may be useful to recapitulate briefly what has been written about 

 this insect during the last eighty-six years. Be'fore doing so, I may mention 

 that it is a matter for congratulation that one frequently fiuds the first obser- 

 vations on any particular species have been made by British Entomologists. 

 In a recent very interesting paper on " The Phoresy of Ant/ierophai/ns " 

 [" Psyche," xxvi, 145-52 (1919)], my friend, Professor W. M. Wheeler, shows 

 that the earliest observation of this habit was made by our countryuian T. J. 

 Bold. Many other instances might be cited. 



G. R.. Waterliouse, in 1834, very carefully described and figured the larva 

 of Tiresias serra. He pointed out that the power which it possesses of erecting 

 the abdomiiuil hairs when molested, as the porcupine does its quills, is re- 

 markable. He found that this object was attained by an oblique movement of 



