240 [October, v 



than one occasion. His results are almost exactly the same as minej 

 except that he has failed to take Quedius brevicornis, Th., but ha 

 added XantJiolinus glaher, Nordm.,to the list of birds' nest species. 



I shall now enumerate the species of Coleoptera I have taken ii 

 these nests, dividing them as in the case of the mammals' nest beetlei 

 into three Classes, although it will not be necessary to mention th( 

 accidental visitors, and Classes A and B are far more difficult t( 

 difEerentiate. 



MiCROGLOSSA PULLA., Gjll. — This species 1 discovered last yea 

 is specially attached to the nests of tits, flycatchers, &c., and this yea 

 I have been able to trace its life-history, at any rate in pari. I hav' 

 taken it also on several occasions in the fresh nest of the starling 

 The beetle enters the nest as so ni as the bird begins to build, abou 

 the middle of April, and when the full clutch of eggs is laid, abou 

 three weeks later, as many as thirty or more specimens may often b 

 found in a single nest. It is in fact quite a common species, a 

 I have only once failed to find it in the nest of a tit, a bird familia 

 enough in any wooded district. I have not succeeded in finding tlj' 

 beetles pairing, but no doubt the eggs are laid soon after the nest 

 entered, for when it is examined immediately after the young hr 

 flown a large number of fully grown larvae may be shaken out of 

 this would be about a month after the last bird's egg is laid. Shorts 

 after this the larvse congregate into a suitable spot (under the lid ( 

 a nesting box in one case, and at the very bottom of a nest in another) 

 and there spin small whitish cocoons packed together in the sam 

 plane. The insect remains in the pupal stage for about sixtee. iayj 

 and then, when properly mature, eats its way out of its cocoon 

 immediate!}' leaves the nest. It is hard to guess what is the hist 

 of the imago after this. Certainly it is found not very rarely 

 carrion, &c., and there may be a second brood produced in such sii? 

 tious ; but I am inclined to think that this is not the case, but tl 

 the beetles hibernate till the following spring. 



MiCROGLOSSA MARGiNALis, Gyll., has evidently a different li 

 history from the last, only haunting the nest of the starling, and ne\ 

 entering a perfectly fresh one ; as will be seen in the history of 

 starling's nest given below it did not enter the nest until some t\\ 

 after the young had flown. In old starlings' nests it is not rare ; 

 have taken it on at least nine occasions here and once in a nest fro 

 near Uugby. Mr. Chitty records it from five of his nests, as mar 

 as 69 occurring at one time. 



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