20 Lloyd: The Pupation of a Water Beetle. 
untidy grooves run along the lower side of the body. It places 
its head and tail firmly against the ends of the chamber, and 
with backwardly directed jerky blows of its body, causes the 
sides of the burrow to take on the smooth consistency of kneaded 
clay. The work of completing the chamber occupies about 
four days, and at the end of eight more days the larval skin is 
cast, and the insect remains as a milk-white pupa, in strange 
contrast to its former state. It gradually becomes darker in 
colour ; the eyes, as usual, developing the pigment first, and in 
about twelve more days it casts its pupal sheath and becomes. 
a beetle. It was disappointing that at this stage the insects, 
unable to inflate their wings, used to die. The reason for this 
was that while one observed them, small particles of soil 
unavoidably used to fall into the burrows. These particles 
stick on to the moist new skin, and prevent the inflation of the 
wings and elytra. The difficulty may be surmounted by care- 
fully lifting the white pupa from its chamber and laying it 
on damp grass in a vessel from which there can be no evapora- 
tion. The insect then hardens its skin, and takes happily 
to the water, where it is as interesting as the larva. 
This method has been found to be successful with other 
water beetles, and, with modifications, would probably be so 
with most. 
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FIELD NOTES. 
BIRDS. 
Little Auks in Yorkshire.—In November Igro one of 
the periodically great immigrations of Little Auks occurred. 
Mr. Nelson informs me that on the 19th hundreds were passing 
Redcar in flocks. There was a strong N.E. wind, with heavy’ 
sleet and hail showers at the time. Mr. W. J. Clarke writes. 
that a few were seen at Scarborough on the 19th, more on the 
20th, and on the 21st they were passing in hundreds; some of 
the flocks would contain between two hundred and three hun- 
dred birds, There was a moderate N.E. wind on this date, 
with a rough sea, and a strange fact is that all the flocks were 
going north. On the 24th Mr. Booth tells me that one was 
obtained inland in the Aire drainage area at Mountain, Queens- 
bury. On the 27th one was picked up alive on the reservoir 
at Bullcroft Colliery, near Doncaster. This bird was taken 
to Major Anne of Burghwallis Hall, who sent it to the Zoo. 
It would be interesting to know if any other specimens have been 
observed inland in the county; several have been recorded 
in the south of England. Two specimens were obtained 
inland, in the North Riding, one was shot at Kirby Wiske and 
another was captured alive near Osmotherley,—R. FORTUNE. 
Naturalist, 
