^ ( xc ) 



found in the stomach of the mummy of an Ibis, the date 

 of which was reckoned to be about 1500 B.C. For comparison 

 a modern specimen of the same species was shown, no 

 difference between them being visible. 



Pupation of Geotrupes typhoeus. — Mr. Hugh Main 

 exhibited a series of lantern slides illustrating the metamor- 

 phoses of Geotrupes typhoeus (Plates G, H, J). 



He said that as he had wished to observe the life-history 

 of G. typhoeus he collected a number of the beetles in the 

 autumn of 1915. They were more easily dug up in their 

 usual localities before hibernation, as in the spring they were 

 generally at a much greater distance below the surface of 

 the ground. After remaining quiescent through December, 

 they showed signs of activity in January (191G), and were 

 separated into pairs, which were placed in Subterraria filled 

 with fresh sand, together with some food consisting of horse- 

 or cow-dung at the top. Although rabbits' pellets or those 

 of the sheep or deer are perhaps the usual food, he had fre- 

 quently found the beetles under the droppings of horses and 

 cattle. The " Subterrarium " is an observation cage which 

 he had devised for the purpose of following the life-history 

 of insects whose activities were carried on under the surface 

 of the earth. It consists essentially of two vertical sheets of 

 glass fixed half an inch, or more or less as required, apart, 

 the intervening space being filled with earth or sand, into which 

 the insects burrow. 



Before the end of January 1916 a number of shafts were 

 made by the beetles in several of the cages. A quantity of 

 food was carried down and packed into each shaft, an egg 

 having previously been deposited in the sand about half an 

 inch from the first layer of the food. Each food-mass was 

 about five inches long, and was followed by a plug of sand 

 about two inches long. After the first was completed, a 

 second shaft was sunk from just above the first plug of sand, 

 and then a third and fourth. 



Three such shafts are shown in Plate G, fig. 2, that on the 

 right being the first made, then the middle one, and finally the 

 left one. The beetles were then removed, so that their further 

 excavations should not disturb the work already completed. 



