26 



a female was about to emerge. With my knife I pried off the piece of bark, and beheld 

 the head of an insect just appearing through the wood. The males had flown away when 

 disturbed, and I was afraid that they might not return before the female emerged, but 

 two came swiftly back and commenced to pay her attentions before much more than her 

 head was visible. As soon as she was out of the burrow she was embraced by one, and 

 copulation apparently followed, but did not last long, as she began to crawl up the trunk, 

 and when I interfered to prevent her getting out of sight, the male flew away. How- 

 ever another was ready to take his place, and the pair were almost instantly in coitu. 

 A few seconds later the female attempted to fly, and fell to the ground ; the male disen- 

 gaged himself and flew away, and his partner then did the same, starting with a strong 

 and rapid flight. 



Visiting another tree not many paces distant, I saw a group of more than a dozen 

 males of lunator in very evident anxiety and excitement, their long antennae quivering, 

 and their whole demeanor evidencing some powerful emotion. I peeled off a piece of 

 bark at the centre of attraction, but found no sign of any insect coming forth. An hour 

 or so later, when returning from my ramble, the group was even larger, and several 

 were probing a crevice within an inch of the space from which I had stripped the bark. 

 Thinking that the female might be here, I cut off another piece of bark, but could find 

 no signs of her, although the males were so excited as even to settle on my hands. 



Proceeding to the tree from which I had previously seen a female emerge, I saw 

 several males clustered about three inches from where she had come out. Two had the 

 abdomen flexed and the tip inserted in a small aperture in the bark. Stripping off the 

 fragment of bark, I found that a female was there, and had gnawed her passage so nearly 

 through the bark as to have pierced the surface. The males fluttered excitedly around, 

 and, as in the first instance, she was embraced before she was wholly emerged, and 

 copulation was effected as soon as she was out. Being in a hurry, and wishing to pre- 

 serve the specimens, I boxed them, the other males flying around me in great excitement 

 until this was achieved. 



Two days later I was able to visit the same locality for the purpose of making 

 further observations on these insects. On tree number one I saw at some distance up 

 the trunk a small cluster of expectant males. By standing on the top of a dilapidated 

 and shaky fence, I was just able to reach the spot and with my knife remove the cover- 

 ing of bark. As my position was too precarious for comfortable observation, I secured 

 the female as she emerged and carried her to another tree upon which were some males. 

 As soon as she commenced to crawl up the trunk, she was eagerly followed and embraced 

 by one of the more active males. Copulation took place with four different males — the 

 female falling to the ground on each occasion, and being again seized as she crawled up 

 — the last union continuing 2^ minutes, after which she flew away unattended. 



On proceeding to tree number two, I found a very large and strongly excited cluster 

 of the males in the immediate vicinity of the spot from which I had cut the bark on the 

 former day. They were about twenty in number, and were packed so closely together 

 that those in the centre could scarcely be seen. Like the inmates of a burning theatre, 

 they trampled over one another in their excitement. Displacing them with some diffi- 

 culty, I hewed off a slice of bark and revealed the female cutting her way to a new life, 

 her head being partially visible. Her ardent admirers immediately swarmed around and 

 endeavored to get their abdomens down the burrow, an undertaking in which they im- 

 peded one another so greatly that the only result was wedging the female in and pre- 

 venting her from emerging. The cluster was soon so dense that she was entirely hidden, 

 and as there seemed no prospect of her getting out for some time under the circumstances, 

 I began to drive off, or rather forcibly to remove one by one, her besiegers. After nearly 

 all were removed, I saw that one of the few remaining had his abdomen inserted its full 

 length in the burrow. As the female was still unable to emerge, I drove off the re- 

 maining males, and as soon as the way was clear she came rapidly out. There was instantly 

 fierce rivalry for her favors, bat eventually one stronger, or more agile, than his fellows, 

 succeeded in his desires, the pair remaining about l-£ minutes in coitu, after which the 

 female ceased apparently to have further attractions. 



The foregoing notes (written upon the second date of observation) show that the 



