FAMILY HOSTRYCHIUAE 149 



but have not definitely ascertained whether the insect passes throuj^h more 

 than one generation in the year. The insect oviposits in the timber, the 

 grubs eating out irregular galleries in the wood, and, when numerous, gradually 

 reducing the latter to powder. They are commonly associated with one or 

 more species of Siiioxylon in this attack. 



The beetle was sent to me from the Economic Section of the Indian 

 Museum in Calcutta by Mr. I. H. Burkhill, Officiating Reporter on Eco- 

 nomic Products, in September 1905, with the information that it had been 

 taken issuing from specimens of Poinciana data timber (origin unknown) 

 in the museum. Whilst acting as Superintendent of the Museum in 1903 

 I took the insect on the wing in the museum compound in June. 



In 1908 Mr. A. J. Gibson, Imperial Forest Economist at the Research 

 Institute, Dehra Dun, obtained specimens of the beetle in the environs of 

 Chakrata, in Jaunsar. 



Heterobostrychus hamatipennis, Lesne. 



Referenxes. — Lesne, .4;n!. Spc. £;ti. Fr. p. 873 ((J 2) (1895); id. /Iwn. Fr. p. 562 (i8g8) ; 7iiponeiisis, Lewes, 

 Ann. Nat. Hist. ser. 6, vol. xvii, p. 339 {$) (1896). 



Habitat. — Kumaun Terai. Also reported from the Jhelum Valley ; 

 Sikkim ; British Bhutan ; Maria Basti ; Sylhet ; Ceylon. 



Tree Attacked. — Acacia catechu. Jaula Sal, Kumaun. 



Beetle. — Parallel, fairly large, robust, dark brown, with femora reddish at times ; upper 



surface covered with a rufous pubescence, very short and sparse, denser near the anterior edge 



of the prothorax and in the $, on the apical declivity of the elytra. 



Description. which often appears as if covered with a yellowish pulverescence ; 



the pubescence on the scutellum is dense, and often appears as a 



well-marked light-coloured blotch. Ventral puljescence less short and more abundant than 



dorsally. Head large, the profile of the upper part forming a regular curve in both sexes ; front 



not depressed, punctate, or rasp-like. Posterior angles of the prothorax straight or obtuse ; 



sculpture of posterior surface fairly large, rasp-like, consisting of scaloidal tubercles, more 



prominent in the J. Apical edge of the elytra not retlexed ; the punctures well marked, 



dense, and arranged in regular series. 



$ Eyes larger ; anterior angles of the prothorax furnished with only one large erect 

 tooth ; apical declivity of elytra with a marginal callosity on either side. 



$ Anterior angles of the prothorax prolonged into upturned horns ; posterior surface 

 covered with scales medianly ; apical declivity less strongly and less densely punctate than 

 dorsal surface of elytra, and has on each side a marginal sub-cylindrical apophysis obliquely 

 truncate on top. Length, 9 mm. to 15^ mm. 



I found this beetle in April boring into the wood and large branches 



of khair {Acacia catechu) trees felled in the Jaula sal 



Life History. forests in Kumaun the preceding cold weather. The 



beetles were egg-laying. For this purpose they tunnel 



down into the wood about :^in. to j in., and then eat out a tunnel at right 



angles both to right and left of the entrance-tunnel. Small ridges and 



