THE TIMBERMAN. 199 



This is essentially a northern insect, being seldom seen alive 

 south of Scotland. Rannoch Wood is the best known locality 

 for this wonderful Beetle, and in that favoured spot the ex- 

 perienced entomologist will generally manage to capture it. 

 Indeed, it is plentiful enough to have gained a popular name, 

 that of TiMBERMANJ uot ouly because it frequents timber, but 

 because its long antennee present, when spread, a curious resem- 

 blance to a pair of compasses, these being used by the timber- 

 men in calculating the cubic contents of a tree-trunk or lo": of 

 wood. The specific name, cedllis, is that of the otficer who in 

 ancient timas had charge of houses and public buildings. 

 When the insect flies, the long antennae trail behind it, and 

 present a very curious appearance. 



Unfortunately for the entomologist, the males are exceed- 

 ingly quarrelsome, and when two of them meet together they 

 are sure to fight, especially if one of the opposite sex be at 

 hand. Their combats are so fierce that mutilation is sure to 

 be the result to one or both, so that a perfectly complete 

 specimen is of no small value for the cabinet. 



In its larval state the Timbermau Beetle lives in the in- 

 terior of pine stumps, its tunnels being of considerable size. 

 When it is full-fed, it makes a nest near the bark, in which it 

 changes to the pupal state. The pupa of a male Timberman 

 presents a very ciuious sight. All insects with long antennse have 

 some remarkable mode of packing them away while they still 

 retain the pupal form. In this Beetle they are brought down 

 by the sides, along the body, and then curled back again over 

 the head, so as to make two large loops, one on eacli side. 

 The larva changes to the pupal form somewhere about the end 

 of May, changes again to the perfect form in about a month, 

 but does not leave its nest until the following summer, its 

 surface gradually gaining consistence and hardness during the 

 time of its long repose. 



It has been already mentioned that this is a northern insect. 

 Only the day before writing this account I was in the British 

 Museum, and asked whether the Timberman had ever been 

 taken in any of the southern parts of England. The answer 

 was, that the only southern place where it had been captured 

 alive was the British Museum. The insect had been discovered 

 within the walls of the JNIuseum, having evidently escaped 



