FAMILY SCARABAEIDAE 



79 



removed for a considerable distance round the base of several trees and 

 the roots exposed. A series of observations were also carried out in the 

 burnt-over area. I found that all the melolonthid and elaterid f^rubs in the 

 first inch of soil had been carboni2ed, not a living grub of any description 

 being taken. Fully mature Scrica and Lachnosterna beetles were, however, 

 still alive and apparently unharmed. This observation would seem to show 

 that the fires which swept unchecked through the forests before the inaugura- 

 tion of fire protection must have taken a considerable part in keeping down 

 those classes of pests whose grubs live in the soil or who retire to the upper 

 layers of the soil to pupate, as, for instance, the defoliator Boarmia selenaria 

 of these forests. 



Macrochilus bensoni, Hope (p. 95). — The grub of this common carabid 



beetle is predaceous upon the grubs of Lachnosterna 



Predaceous Insect, prohleuiatica, L. clypealis, and Hctcroplia varians (described 



later), and probably also on those of the Serica sp. 



srubs which infest sal roots. 



Beetle. — Elongate. Black, shining, with two orange spots on 

 each elytron, legs yellowish brown, antennae and tarsi brown. Head 

 flat, depressed laterally, strongly punctate; eyes greenish black, large 

 round, placed at sides ; mandibles stout, brown, as are the palpi. 

 Prothorax wider than long, anterior margin straight, sides strongly 

 rounded, base slightly so ; surface convex, strongly punctate. Ely- 

 tra wider than thorax at base, widest near apex and conjointly 

 rounded ; striate-punctate, disk but slightly convex. Pygidium small, 

 black. Under-surface black, shining, densely and finely punctate. 

 Legs long and slender. Length, 12 mm. 



Grub. — The larva is elongate, tapering at both ends, with a 

 large square yellow-brown head and powerful mandibles. The ex- 

 tremity ends in a pair, of elongate processes. 



Fig. 42. — Macrochilus 

 bensoni, Hope. 



United Provinces. 



Life History. — I took a few of these beetles and a 

 larva or two in the soil at the foot of sal-trees in the 



Horai forests. The larva feeds upon the melolonthid one, seizing the 

 grub in its mandibles, and, after piercing a hole through its skin, suck- 

 ing out its body contents. The beetles fl}" at the commencement and 

 throughout the early part of the rains. 



Lachnosterna clypealis, Brenske. 



Referenxe. — Brenske, Ami. Soc. Ent. Belg. p. 159 (1896). 



Habitat. — Garhwal, United Provinces. 



Tree Attacked. — Sal {Shorea robusta). Garhwal Forests, United Pro- 

 vinces Terai. 



