76 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[March 1, 1897. 



disappeared below in a moment. The fly was sucked dry, its 

 old skin taken to the top, and shot away. Thinking that the 

 larva caught flies on the wing, I tied a dead blowfly to a 

 piece of silk, which I dangled backwards and forwards over 

 the holes, until it swung within half an inch of one, when 

 the occupant sprang up and seized it. I then watched day 

 after day, until I was rewarded by seeing a larva spring up 

 and catch a blowfly as it flew over the bos. 



The larvfE continue feeding until the beginning of 

 October, when they deepen their burrows, using the sand 

 excavated for blocking up the holes. The larva then 

 retires to the bottom, remaining there in a semi- 

 dormant condition, and entirely without food. The 

 approach of spring soon rouses it to activity again, and 

 the hole is reopened. Another six months' useful work 

 is passed away, and once more the hole is blocked 

 up during the second winter, to be reopened in March 

 or April. At the end of July it excavates at the 

 bottom of its burrow a very large cavity, one inch and a 

 half long by three-quarters of an inch iu diameter. This is 

 sometimes in a slanting position, but more frequently 

 horizontal ; the large amount of sand is used for blocking 

 up almost the entire length of the vertical hole. The 



i'la. i. — I'ul'a. 



larva then rests upon its back, keeping the head under the 

 original burrow, while the body is supported by the thoracic 

 plate. This, and the large protuberance on the fifth, so 

 raise it that no part of the delicate skin can touch the 

 rough particles of sand. 



Here it rests some seven to ten days, when the larval 

 skin splits at the back of the head, and is quietly cast or 

 slipped ofl' towards the tail, the thorax again protecting 

 the body, and in place of the prominence and spines on the 

 fifth abdominal segment are two fleshy processes pro- 

 jecting somewhat from each side, surmounted by a brush 

 of stiff" spines. Smaller and similar processes are evolved 

 on the first to fourth abdominal segments, which act in 

 conjunction with the main pair, so that when the larval 

 skin has been cast, the delicately white and flaccid pupa is 

 hoist well up and clear from injury by any contact with 

 the sand (Fig. 5). When seen from the end the pupa 

 looks much like a ship on the stocks. 



When first evolved every organ is pure white, but in the 

 course of a week the eyes change to a yellowish colour — 

 the mandibles, too, are clearly defined beneath the delicate 

 membrane in which each part is enclosed. In another 

 few days a most exquisitely delicate green colour spreads 

 over the head, legs, and elytra ; this increases in another 



week, until the creature somewhat resembles a lovely opal. 

 The legs soon change to dark green, and the tiny bifid 

 claws begin to twitch ; this is followed in the third week 

 by the legs showing some impatience to be doing some- 

 thing. Towards the end of the fourth week they commence 

 to kick against the roof of the sepulchre, until the mem- 

 brane splits and very gradually is worked off the head and 

 thorax, the latter taking the weight of the now fast 



Fig. 6. — Beetle just evolved from Pupa. 



maturing beetle. As the pupal skin is shrivelling up, it 

 reaches the first pair of prominences on the abdomen and 

 sweeps them clean away, one after the other, until the 

 large fifth segment is reached ; and though during two years 

 and a half it played such an important part in the life of 

 the larva — and in a modified form in the pupa — the beetle 

 has no need of such a marvellous apparatus, which is 

 entirely suppressed and cast away as a worn-out garment, 

 though they are frequently economically disposed of by 

 being eaten by the owner. The beetle, after several 

 attempts, manages to turn itself over upon its legs ; the 

 wings are stretched out to their full length beyond the 

 tips of the half-open elytra (Fig. G). Three or four days 

 are passed before the beetle 

 assumes its full colours and 

 markings ; then it begins to 

 show its hereditary temper 

 and dislike to being looked at, 

 for my attempts to examine 

 it were frequently frustrated 

 by the tiger plastering up the 

 glass. However, in spite of 

 such interruptions, I managed 

 to observe and draw every- 

 thing in order. 



The beetle does not (as one 

 would imagine) proceed to 

 ascend to the surface, but it 

 remains in its sepulchre a 

 third winter. 



The approach of spring can 

 be felt even ten or twelve 

 inches below the ground, and 

 the beetle commences to 

 extricate itself from its living 

 tomb by ascending the ori- 

 ginal burrow, which is enlarged (Fig. 7), and all the 

 sand removed by endless labour, the mandibles penetrating 

 into the hard sand, which is simply dropped down into the 



Fig. 7. — Beetle exeavatmg 

 asceucliug to Siu'face. 



and 



