FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAK 139 



I think no further argument in favour of the enormous value and efficacy 

 of the water and oil treatment can be required than is afforded by these 

 15,000 bamboos which have remained immune to the beetle-attacks for a 

 period of five years and are as good and sound to-day as they were when 

 the}^ were treated. 



I. Tillus notatus, Klug.(p. 186).— The beetles are slim and slight in l)uild, and exactly 



fit the gallery of the Dinoderus minutus beetle. The head, antennae, and margin of prothorax 



are bhick, shining ; three basal joints of antennae red-yellow, rest black, 



Predaceous Insects. Rest of prothorax dark orange-red ; basal fourth of elytra orange, 



rest yellow, the apices black ; a transverse black band, broadest on 



outside margin, crosses the elytra medianly, and a broader one occupies the major part of the 



apical half. Under-surface yellowish, abdomen black. Head and prothorax finely punctate ; 



elytra coarsely striate-punctate in basal half, finely punctate apically. Length, 8 mm. to 13 mm. 



PL ix, fig. 2, shows the beetle. 



Pupa. — Elongate, narrow. Yellowish-white. The wings and legs pressed against the 

 chest, the antennae to the sides. 1 have taken several pupae from the larval galleries of 

 Dinoderus minutus. They exactly fit the galleries, and wriggle about a good deal when 

 disturbed or removed. 



Life History. — This beetle is predaceous upon the Dinoderus minutus 

 larvae and pupae, and perhaps beetles. Whilst engaged in investigating 

 the attacks of this bostrychid in bamboos in Calcutta in 1903 I first dis- 

 covered this Tillus in the galleries of the Dinoderus inside the bamboos. 

 Towards the end of May I cut out a number of the beetles which had all 

 entered the tunnels, whose circumference their bodies exactlv fit, to prey 

 upon the Dinoderus. 



I first took beetles on 25, 28, and 30 May. Thev lie up in the 

 longitudinal galleries bored by the beetles and Lirvae. The Tillus is 

 extremely active, and runs and flies well. 



During May and a part of June I made some experiments with this 

 predator with the object of discovering whether it attacked the beetles 

 or larvae for its food. In the cases where the beetles only were placed in a 

 box with the Tillus they remained apparently untouched bv the latter. 

 Between 26 and 31 May not one beetle was attacked. On i June 

 I placed some living Dinoderus larvae and pupae in the box, and these 

 were at once attacked by the Tillus. In the case of the larva the clerid 

 beetle invariably attacked it at the posterior end, slightl}- to one side on the 

 tenth or eleventh segment, and appeared to suck out its contents, first firmly 

 clasping it with its mandibles. 



Now, Thanasimus himalayensis (vide p. 508) devours the scolytid beetles 

 it preys upon outside the tree, and does not feed upon the larvae or pupae 

 or enter the tree. It would appear probable, therefore, that the Tillus does 

 not attack the Dinoderus beetles, the hard exterior chitin of which its small 

 mandibles do not appear powerful enough to pierce through, but enters 

 through the beetles' entrance-holes into the bamboo, and then pushes its way 

 through the wood-dust and excreta in the larval galleries inside in search of 

 the larvae and pupae. 



