OF Xlii: WATKll-BEKTLE PELOBIUS TAUDUS. 93 



too-etlier by string or narrow adhesive tape. Tlie cell was formed 

 between these two glasses, a strip of cotton-wool filling up the 

 open ends between the two plates and a similar strip being pushed 

 down into the nairow angle where the two plates came together, 

 and this cell was tlien filled up with sand (v. PJ. III. tig. 5). 

 By keeping the cotton-wool moist by occasional wetting, the sand 

 was also kept moist and in a suitable condition for the require- 

 ments of tlie larva or pupa of Felohius. 



An artiticial burrow was then made perpendicularly downwards 

 in the sand with a pencil, which, of course, after penetrating the 

 sand for about 2 inches, came into contact on either side with the 

 o-lass plate ; and into this burrow a larva was pushed uncere- 

 moniously, the entrance to the burrow being then closed by 

 covering the surface of the sand with a narrow strip of glass. 

 The larva was thus in such a position that whichever way it 

 worked it was compelled to form its cell in contact with 

 the glass. 



These olass cells were kept in the dark so that the larva should 

 not be worried by the light, but I found that when once the larva 

 had accepted the situation, the light did not affect it unless it was 

 very intense. 



In starting its burrow, the larva digs itself in head first, and 

 having reached the depth at which it is going to make its cell, 

 a depth which varies from 2 inches to at least 5 under different 

 soil conditions, it moves its head from side to side and, with its 

 jaws, chews up the pellets of earth, causing the grains topack 

 more closely, and in this way it forms a space around itself. 

 Practically the whole space of the cell is produced by this re- 

 arrangement of the minute particles of soil, though the entrance 

 from the tunnel becomes closed during the operation. 



At first the larva, in a straight tunnel, is rather confined in its 

 movements, but, as soon as space permits, it changes its position 

 and sits up, alternately chewing up the pellets of soil and 

 pressing them into the walls, using its head as a ram. The three 

 " tail "' processes, which one would expect to be very much in the 

 way in the confined space, become very useful. They are bent 

 over the back, like a Squirrel's tail, and wedged against the wall 

 of the cell, and on them the body turns about freely ni all 

 directions (v. PI. III. figs. 1 & 2). . , , 



The work of constructing the cell usually took from twelve to 

 fifteen hours, though sometimes two or three days seemed to be 

 necessary ; but in these cases the larva seemed to work inter- 

 mittently and without enthusiasm, whereas in most cases great 

 energy was shown and no rest taken until the cell was completed. 

 After the completion of the cell the larva rests for from six to 

 eleven days (v. PI. HI- fig- 3) before it changes into a white 

 pupa of the usual Coleopterous type. The pupal period lasts 

 about sixteen days, and the imago, white at first, take,:, twelve 

 hours or longer to attain its colours, and remains m the cell for a 

 week or more before breaking out. 



