Note 693 — LETTER XXXII.

Insects of the beetle tribe, especially such as undergo their metamorphosis under ground, in the trunks of trees, &c., are often a considerable time after quitting the puparium before their organs acquire the requisite hardness to enable them to make their way to the surface. Thus, the newly-disclosed imago of Cetonia aurata remains a fortnight under the earth, and that of Lucanus Cervus, according to Rösel, not less than three weeks.