432 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XV I L 



manner (Fig. 89a), and lives in decaying wood and roots, spending 

 several years of its existence in this stage. The pupal stage is a short 

 one, but the perfect insect may remain quiescent some time after 

 assuming the imago form before it becomes active. 



According to Sharp there are at present between 500 and 600 species 

 of stag-beetles known, the Indo-Malayan and Austro-Malayan regions 

 beino- richest in them. The common stag-beetle of India, to be found 

 all through the Himalayas, and along the tracts at the foot of these 

 mountains, is Lucanus lunifer of which Fig. 94 depicts the male and 

 Fig. 96 the female beetle. They are dark green in colour, the male 

 larger than the female. 



In the outer Himalayas the mature beetles are to be found in June 

 and July. It is probable that they issue irregularly during the summer 

 months, as the writer has taken fully- developed larvae just pupating 



and also mature beetles in July. 

 Some years ago Lucanid larvse 

 were reported as tunnelling into 

 green living cak trees in ITaini 

 Tal.* Owing to their queer 

 swollen bag-like extremities it is 

 extremely improbable that these 

 larvse are capable of tunnelling 

 into green hard wood. It is 

 probable if boring was done in 

 hard oak timber, that longicorn 

 larv?e were responsible, and the 

 Fia. 96,-Lucanus lunifei— female, stag-beetles may have taken ad- 

 vantage of the galleries to lay their eggs in the ones whose edges 

 were rotting and thus becoming softer. The writer has found 

 numerous instances of decaying oak, etc., stumps being full of these 

 larvse, but no instance of hard green wood being infested. The grubs 

 take several years to reach their full growth. They then pupate in a 

 cocoon constructed of chips of wood. 



Another common lucanid beetle in the Himalayas is Lucanus 

 cantoris. This insect is to be found in fallen and decaying trees in 

 the Himalayan forests in considerable numbers when searched for. 



* Thompson— Report of insects destructive to woods and forests, published by the 

 N.-W. Provinces Government (1868). 



