NATURE NOTES 
1 68 
Clapham presented us with a fine specimen of a male stag- 
beetle, cervus. Lucanns had been investigating our friend’s 
house, and had caused the cook an involuntary shock by appear- 
ing on the window curtains of the kitchen. This led to the 
transfer to us of Lucanus in a lucifer match box. 
A fine, handsome fellow he was ; his horns, head and thorax 
were chestnut-coloured, with a high polish, while his legs and 
wing cases were a dull black. He looked as though he could 
pinch hard, but we did not test his mandibles. 
The question arose, “ how are we to feed him ? ” On con- 
sulting the best natural history books to hand, we learned from 
one that he lived on the decayed wood of the oak ; from another, 
that he subsisted by lapping the sap which exuded from the 
wounds made by his mandibles on trees. We tried him with 
every kind of twig and leaf our garden afforded, but he would 
have none of them. We made a special excursion into the 
country to get some decayed oakwood, but from this he backed 
slowly in evident disgust. As we could not feed him we set him 
free in the garden, hoping he would find for himself. Two days 
later we noticed our cat playing with something. The victim 
was our poor Lucamts, who had fallen on evil times. We rescued 
him from his tormentor and brought him indoors once more. 
The notion that the creature was starving haunted us, and 
at dinner-time the idea occurred to try him with some tapioca 
pudding. Eureka ! ! ! The beetle ate and ate, his jaws moving 
in a comical way, but most business-like withal. We were so- 
delighted we gave him a second helping. 
Now of all those natural history books we had consulted 
not one had menixoned pudding in any form. The next morning, 
alas, we found Lucanus stretched out stiff and stark in death. 
He had finished his second helping, but at what a cost ! He 
had gorged himself to death. We placed his dead body in the 
box which contained the ground-wasps’ nest, and put box and 
contents aside. 
Three weeks later we had occasion to open the box again, 
and to our surprise found it a veritable cemetery. In spite of 
the treatment we gave it, many of the wasps had matured and 
emerged from their cells full grown. They had eaten almost 
the whole of the comb, and the poor stag-beetle they had torn 
to pieces and picked his armour clean. The tapioca pudding 
had not been wasted. 
Later, from the little Scottish village whence the wasps’ 
nests came, ominous rumours reached us. The children were 
neglecting their lessons and hunting after wasp binks to send 
to some person in London. They appeared in school with 
lop-sided cheeks, swollen lips, and eyes that were positively not 
respectable looking. 
The schoolmaster’s wrath had been so roused that he 
threatened punishment to the very next pupil who made his 
appearance in school with a damaged physiognomy. 
S. D. W. 
