324 



THE lOUNG NATUEALTST. 



it out that I might place it where I could 

 find it again. It was then an inch in length, 

 dead white, with the dorsal vessel showing 

 through the skin ; each segment was thick- 

 est in the centre, but was not rounded as 

 the segments of lepidopterous larvae are, 

 but each segment projected like a A at the 

 sides, and was similar at the back, but 

 flatter. It was not so round as lepidopter- I 

 ous larvs are, being necessarily flatter for 

 feeding between the bark and the wood. 

 The head was brown, and the anal segment 

 was slightly bifid. I placed it under another 

 piece of loose bark, on a stack of timber 

 already piled, and watched its progress for 

 some time. It appeared to eat the outside 

 of the wood, and left a considerable quantity 

 of what looked like coarse sawdust as it did 

 so. Whether this was caused by it biting 

 off and leaving the skin while it ate the 

 wood, I could not say. It seemed to get 

 used to my periodical visits, for at last it 

 ceased to wriggle backwards when I raised 

 the bark. At last it disappeared and I 

 thought I had lost it, but on pulling the 

 bark off I found it had eaten a hole into the 

 ffood, the end of which was filled up with 

 Sniall fragments. In this I suppose it 

 Changed to a pupa. I always proposed to 

 take the piece home, but I could not get it 

 out of the stack, and I waited in vain for 

 the stack being taken down. One day I 

 examined it in going to the office and noticed 

 no change, but on returning at noon the 

 insect had evidently emerged. On looking 

 about the stack I found a specimen cf 

 Monohamma sutor, and concluded it w^as from 

 my larva. I could find nothing else, but, 

 perhaps, the evidence may be consided too 

 doubtful. Monohamma sutov and sartov are 

 both rare here, though commoner some- 

 times. The insects come out to sun them- 

 themselves towards mid-day, and very often 

 climb high up the stack of timber, where it 

 is neither easy nor safe to climb. 5. adilis 

 is sometimes quite abundant ; it varies much 



in size and in the length of its antennae. 

 Last year I had a specimen brought me that 

 measured seven inches acrosss the out- 

 stretched antennae. It was the finest speci- 

 men I had ever seen. Sometimes they are 

 not nearly half that length. The females 

 have them much shorter, and are generally 

 smaller ; they have a projecting ovipositor 

 I that makes them look very different from 

 the males. Pissodes pint is sometimes very 

 abundant. It runs about all over, and is as 

 often on the loose bark on the ground as 

 anywhere else. This year it is very plenti- 

 ful, and varies greatly in size. Clerus formi- 

 cavius was very numerous last year. It is 

 as lively as it is pretty, and if you have far 

 to climb you are more likely to lose it than 

 not. One day I put three of them into a \ 

 box along with three other beetles nearly as 

 large as themselves, and was astonished on 

 opening the box to find each had one of the 

 others in its jaws, nor would they give 

 them up either. Since then I have been 

 more careful. They will seize your finger 

 viciously, and if they do not hurt it 

 is no want of will to do so on their part. 

 The Monohami are also very savage, and " 

 must te boxed separately, or you will 

 find both antennae and legs bitten off 

 when you open the box. They will attack 

 each other, which Formacarius does not. ' 

 Another little long-horn is sometimes seen, 

 it is a Pogonoscharus, but I do not know the 

 species, being only a beginner with Cole- 

 optera, though I have collected these kinds 

 for friends. I have taken besides them 

 Saperda carcharius and scalaris, Clytus rusticus 

 (not in the British list, I believe), Coccinella 

 ocelJata and oblongo-guttata, but only one or 

 two of each. This season I have taken at i 

 least half-a-dozen species I do not know. 

 A systematic search would certainly add^ 

 largely to the numbers. One word more in 

 conclusion. Nearly all this timber is sent' 

 off inland to the various mines and works. 

 Many of these places are near fir and other , 



