68 



FAMILY PASSALIDAE 



Pleurarius. 

 Pleurarius brachyphyllus, Stolicz. 



Reference. — Stolicz, Jour. Asint. Soc. ii, p. 152 (1873^. 



Habitat. — Ootacamund Hills, Southern India. 

 Tree Attacked. — Rhododendron sp. 



Beetle. — A large beetle. Black, shining, clothed with a long dense red-orange pubescence 

 on the posterior ventral parts of prothorax, meso- and metathorax. 

 Description. Head strongly tuberculate, mandibles large, clypeus densely hirsute, 



as are antennal joints and edges of legs. Prothorax very convex, 

 shining, a deep depression medianly on lateral margin. Elytra flat 

 on disk, striate-punctate, the punctures tine. Under-surface black, 

 flat, shining. Length, 37.5 mm. to 45 mm. 



During a \'isit to the Eucalyptus plantations of the 

 Ootacamund Hills I found this 

 Life History. passalid beetle in considerable num- 



bers in rotting stumps of Rhodo- 

 dendron sp. The beetles were taken in tunnels in the 

 decaying wood, large orifices being visible on the outer 

 surface and numerous winding galleries inside. The 

 Fig. ■^j.^ Pleurarius beetles, and a few larvae, were taken about the middle 



o:^:T' '•°"°- "f August 190.. 



Basilianus. 



A species of this genus is common in the Eastern Himalaya. 

 Basilianus cantori. Perch. 



Reference. — Perch. Mag. Zool. p. 3, t. 134, f. 2 (1^44). 



Habitat. — Eastern Himalaya ; Loolagaon, 5,000 ft., and elsewhere in 

 the Sikkim Forests. Also reported from Tenasserim. 



Trees Attacked. — Sauer {Bctula cylindrostachys) ; Musre Katus {dis- 

 ianopsis tribnloidcs) ; Kharani {Syiiiplocos theccfolia). Sikkim. 



Beetle.— Large, shining, black. Head set with prominent pointed 

 tubercles, the mandibles large and toothed. Prothorax not very convex, 

 very shining, the median longitudinal depressed 

 Description. line not prominent or absent. Elytra strongly 



striate, interspaces smooth, shining. Under- 

 surface black, shining, the lateral edges of thorax with a long bright red 

 pubescence which also clothes the edges of legs. Length, 30 mm. to 34 mm. 



This beetle was first taken in rotting sauer and kharani 

 trees, on 2S April 1896, at Loolagaon, 



Life History. 



plentifully in these trees and in decaying musre katus stems E. Himalaya 



in Sikkim. I subsequently took it ^'';;J^^- J^^^J'J^l 



