THE AGKICl'LTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. 77 



Forsteri, L. Kafflesii, L. Spencii, L. curvidens, L. bulbosus, 

 arid L. punctiger. The Lucanus cervus, when in felled 

 logs, are easily killed by immersion in cold water, or 

 by pouring scalding water into their hole. No grub can 

 withstand this operation. 



The stag-beetles in India are numerous, and common 

 as to individuals, and are, of the whole order of wood- 

 beetles, the most destructive to living trees. Their larvae 

 live for three or four years in the interior of trunks of 

 oak, and about Nairn Tal barely one in ten of the trees 

 escape their ravages. These and the larvae of Prionus 

 beetles seem exclusively to attach themselves there to 

 the oak as their habitation. They bore to the heart of 

 the stern, in winding passages. Male stag-beetles have 

 been found feeding on the renewed bark (after shaving) 

 of Cinchona succirubra trees, in Maskeliya, Ceylon. 

 The female has much shorter mandibles, and is said to 

 use them in forming a hole in the trunks of trees for the 

 reception of its eggs. Mr. Westwood says (i. p. 187) the 

 perfect insect feeds on the honey-dew upon the leaves of 

 the oak ; they also feed upon the sap exuding from the 

 wounds of trees, which they lap up with their finely- 

 ciliated maxillae and lower lip. It has been supposed 

 that the larva of this insect, which chiefly hides in the 

 willow and oak, remaining in that state several years, 

 is the animal so much esteemed by the Eomans as a 

 delicacy, and named cossus. The injury which it causes 

 is often very considerable, boring not only into the solid 

 wood, but also into the roots of the tree. A stag-beetle 

 received from Maskeliya was a male with immense 

 mandibles, and greatly resembled Lucanus cervus, the 

 common stag-beetle of Europe. E. T. 



Lycosa tarantula. Tarantula spiders are poisonous. 



