60 COSSUS LIGNIPERDA. 



finger, one or two a little smaller, all of them quite 

 black, in great contrast to the pale cream colour of 

 the touchwood in which they were excavated. Those 

 which turned off to the external orifices were wrought 

 at a very slight obliquity through the fibres of the 

 wood. In no instance were the fibres or the grain of 

 the wood cut across at right angles, and in two places 

 the mines had intersected each other. Of course 

 woodlice and centipedes infested these old mines, and 

 they were all very damp from the rain having found 

 its way into them. I also observed that the black 

 lining of these mines was tough like cuticle and could 

 be stripped from them entire of the thickness of stoutish 

 brown paper. 



After further subdivision of the touchwood, I at 

 length found in the least rotten part the before-men- 

 tioned larva, though not without wounding it on the 

 second segment ; the mine it lay in was very smooth 

 and just fitted the larva, its surface slightly coloured 

 a pale brown and rather moist, smelling strongly of 

 the odour peculiar to the species. For the space of 

 half an inch behind the larva it was empty, but thence 

 was loosely stopped with " frass," like rather coarse 

 sawdust, but very friable. It was working in a 

 perpendicular direction downwards. Five and a half 

 inches behind the larva this mine communicated with 

 a larger old black chamber, whence I was able to trace 

 it by degrees smaller to the top of the piece of wood 

 scarcely at all discoloured and loosely filled with " frass," 

 not at all different in colour from the untouched 

 portions of the wood. 



In 1871 two larvae were dug up in a potato ground, 

 in their earthern cocoons, one of which was badly 

 broken the other slightly damaged, just enough to 

 show me the tenant coiled round within. I placed 

 them in separate pots with a little additional earth over 

 them. In the latter case the larva repaired the damage 

 to its cocoon but the former was unable to do so, or 

 to construct a new one, though it made fruitless 



