34 THE entomologist's record, 



the time in theii" curious economy. Another species of the same 

 genus, JJ. jialliatus, is by no means a dainty feeder, attacking beech in 

 addition to all kinds of Coni/crac, and is noted for hitting upon the 

 pines immediately they are felled, and entering at the sawn end at the 

 point of junction of the bark and wood. Hijlaatinm obsrunis is any- 

 thing but a common insect, and I have only taken it in January, in an 

 old stool, where it was probably hybernating. Pldoeopliorus. rhodo- 

 (larti/liis is said to occur in the spruce, which, however, can hardly be 

 the case in England, where this tree is not found in the wild state ; 

 the beetles may sometimes be swept from herbage on the outskirts 

 of woods. Occasionally one finds Hylesinus crenatus — I once took a 

 great many, making use, together with ]\iir/iimis rora.r and Jii/pniildneus 

 hicolur, of deserted (Vm».s borings — in a line oak, which seemed as yet 

 quite unconscious of the presence of so deadly an enemy, but more 

 often it may be taken from weak ash trees, which it never fails, having 

 once established a colony, to reduce to tinder. H. fra.vini is far more 

 often taken on the wing, and upon the water of horse troughs, than in 

 timber, and I once found a specimen sitting contentedly upon a 

 ScKiittaria-leai, floating at the margin of a river. Of Scolytm 

 (Ii'strnctur little need be said, it being familiar to every coleopterist, 

 except to mention the unusual number of dead specimens that are 

 invariably found in its burrows, Avhich make it appear that the ? , 

 after depositing her eggs, dies, and so provides an additional 

 protection, by blocking the hole with her body, to the young larvre ; 

 in fact, I am by no means sure that the whole genus does not do this, 

 since I have taken S. intiicatus in Epping Forest, and S. ^ndtistiiatiifi 

 at Barham, under similar circumstances. A borer that appears to 

 make no regular burrow is Cri/phalus abietifi, which simply eats the 

 bark from beneath in irregular patches at the base of the branches. 

 The most omnivorous species in England is, probably, Xi/leboriifi 

 Ka.irscvi, which attacks spruce, pine, beech, birch, and poplar with equal 

 avidity, and is, also, though more rarely, found upon oak, maple and 

 lime. Another little species, by no means rare in fir woods, but which 

 appears to do no more than eat the dead and fallen twigs in all its 

 stages, is J'iti/djihthonis microiirapJnis, and numbers may be bred by 

 collecting these twigs in the autumn and laying them by till the 

 following spring, when the tiny brown beetles, never more than a 

 twelfth of an inch long, will emerge. The species which is the 

 greatest pest on the Continent is Tomicus t;/p()(/rajiJ(Us. It occurs, 

 however, on spruce only, and is consequently fortunately rare in 

 Britain. Their main bore is vertical, and the beetles are very careful 

 where to commence it, and will walk round the stem for some time 

 before arriving at a satisfactory determination, and during which pro- 

 cess they are often snapped up by Clenis formicariun, Carabidae and 

 Libiilulidac. Bo abundant was this species in 1783, in North 

 Germany, that 2,000,000 standing trees were killed by them in the 

 liartz Mountains alone. 



There is little doubt that these insects were originally beneficial in 

 ridding the ground of iiseless encumbrances, such as fallen twigs, 

 branches, and trunks, and still carry on the good work in the tropical 

 forests of Bouth America, and elsewhere, but civilisation has dubbed 

 tliem injurious, since, requiring the fallen timber for its own uses, it 

 forces the beetles, which can no longer subsist upon dead trees, to 



