l88S.] NEW-YORK MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY. 149 



to be three years. According to Rozel, the European Lncaniis 

 takes six years. My long-continued observations of the larval 

 growth of Colalpa gave me a capacity of determining their re- 

 spective ages among a mixed number of larvae of different sizes- 



You may notice that these larvae of Lucanus, which I have in 

 alcohol, are of three quite distinct sizes. I regard the largest as 

 three years old, and the smallest but one year. The mischief 

 accomplished, therefore, in this combination of insect and fun- 

 gus has been done, I think, in three years. But the most start- 

 ling facts are these. Here is shown, to put it in business form, 

 the existence of four contracts, or agreements to attack these 

 railroad ties — the one-year larvae having five years to run, the 

 two-year larvaj four years, and the three-year larvae three years; 

 while the fungus, the most insidious of them all, has a license 

 of indefinite duration ; or, omitting metaphor, unlimited oppor- 

 tunity for mischief, simply requiring the one condition — 

 dampness. 



There is also an interesting bit of negative testimony here. 

 After long searching. I did not find one pupa. And it is certain, 

 that, as the imago appears in June, none of the larvae, even the 

 oldest, had time to pupate for an imago of this year. Moreover, 

 this passing from the active, feeding state of the larva, into the 

 sleeping, pupal condition, occurs when the summer is over. 

 Hence it is certain that Lucanus dama at three years has not 

 even reached the pupal state. 



An interesting fact too is this versatility of habit. The 

 mother stag-horn deposits her eggs in decayed spots in oak and 

 other trees, as they stand in the forest. In this instance the 

 insect does its work in timber, laid in position and partly sunk 

 into the ground ; over which, at the very season of the ovar 

 positing, namely the summer, immense trains are passing at in- 

 tervals of but a few minutes. And even in the night, at which 

 time the insect probably deposits her eggs, the trains are almost 

 hourly, as the freight then has its opportunity. As respects the 

 larvae too, one would think the action of the passing trains 

 would be against their welfare. 



I regret my inability at this writing to find the fungus in fruit, 

 hence I cannot even hint as yet at its species. 



