9 
South Kensington Museum, but I was informed that it is one of the 
Tachinidce —Sub-fam. Tachinince. 
Imago. —Habits of the imago :—It seems most natural to commence 
this section with the emergence of the perfect insect. The Rev. 
Bernard Smith ( Entomologist , xx., 290) says that it usually emerges 
at about 10 p.m., and advises keeping the imago till the following 
evening, in order that its wings may dry thoroughly. The next 
question which arises is, where does fagi hide during the day ? Mr. 
Holland wrote in 1891 {Eat. Record, ii., 227) that “it was found at all 
hours of the day, from early morning till dark, on all sides of the tree 
and at all heights from the ground.” As to the first point our experience 
entirely agrees with that of Mr. Holland. The next point is as to 
the height from the ground. In the Entomologist's Monthly Magazine 
(2nd series, vol. ii. [vol. xxviii.] 236-7), Mr. Holland continuing his 
former notes on the subject of this species says that “ the moths 
generally rest comfortably within reach, sometimes, however, they are 
high up,” and continues, “ occasionally they are found at the foot of the 
tree.” I have made a few notes from our specimens, and the heights 
from the ground are, I think, fairly correct. They ranged from a mini¬ 
mum of about 6 in. (on a projecting root) to a maximum of 20 to 25 ft. 
The instance in which the distance was only 6 in. was, however, in the 
case of a specimen which, unfortunately, had one hind wing quite un¬ 
developed. The usual height was from 3 to 6 or 7 ft. We now come 
to a question which seems to have excited a good deal of interest. 
On what size of tree does fagi most often rest? In his Record 
article, Mr. Holland stated that three out of four moths were found on 
small trees, but he did not attach much importance then to this fact, 
the beech woods at Reading being, he says, “ cut severely, and there 
are 20 small trees to one of fair size.” However, in the August number 
of the Ent. Mo: Mag., Mr. Holland returns to this question, and says: 
“ Last year I thought it was accidental to find Stauropus fagi resting so 
often on small trees, because we have a large proportion of small trees 
in our close-cut beech woods. This year, however, it has been my 
fortune to see more of this species than I have ever seen before, 
and I find it is not a matter of accident where they rest. They 
decidedly make a selection of the smaller trees and saplings to sit upon. 
It is unusual to find them—the males in particular —on anything larger 
than a small scaffold pole, and the more favourite tree is from the size 
of a hop-pole to that of a walking stick. The small tree need not be a 
beech—a young ash, thorn, nut-bush, dead stick, in fact, anything 
which stands upright in the beech-wood will do for fagi, so that it is 
not too large. The females are not found quite so constantly on young 
trees, perhaps because they are less active than the males, but when once 
they have flown, they also seem to prefer the smaller trees.” In Epping 
Forest (at least, in those parts most frequented by this species), the 
conditions as to size of trees, are almost the exact opposite of those pre¬ 
vailing at Reading. The woods are not cut, the trunks are mostly very 
large and old, and have been polled, though now many years ago, and 
small saplings are quite the exception. Still we find that 9 out of 19 
occurred on small trees, i.e., trees smaller than a scaffold pole. Of these 
nine specimens, six were £ s, and three 2 s; two of the latter being 
worn. Mr. Holland, in his article (E. M. M.) still speaking of the 
preference shown by S. fagi for the small trees, goes on to say “ This 
c 
