452 



FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE 



at tlieir base ; tarsus short, filiform ; third joint not longer than the others and not bilobed ; 

 fourth long, with small claws. Intercoxal joint large and rounded anteriorly. Body long 

 parallel, and more or less cylindrical, thickening to a certain extent posteriorly. Rostrum, 

 head, prothorax, and body above and below densely punctured, the punctures being lighter 

 on dorsil surface of head. Elytra channelled by longitudinal deep striae, and punctured. 

 Length, 3.9 mm. to 4.8 mm. 



This beetle is a wood-borer, and appears on the wing in the spring 



about the second week in May, from which date it may 



Life History. be found till the end of June in considerable quantities 



boring into the wood of blue pine and spruce to lay its 



eggs. The resulting beetles form the first generation of the year. The beetles 



attack the trees in swarms, and may be found during these months either in 



or beneath the bark, or on or in the sapwood. They bore either horizontally 



or at an angle into the dead bark of the standing tree, and on reaching the 



sapwood either continue their burrow into it or more usually move about 



for a time between the sapwood and bark, cutting a long groove in the 



latter before going into the wood. Having selected a suitable spot, they 



then bore into the sapwood, usually at an angle. This tunnel is carried for 



about an inch or less into the wood, and the insect then turns and burrows 



up the long axis of the tree for as much as a couple of inches. The 



eggs appear to be laid at the end of this long gallery. 



The latter is not always straight, but may bend yet 



again and go farther into the solid wood. The figure 



shows a curved boring of this beetle. 



There is at least one other generation in the 

 year, as I have taken the beetles tunnelling into trees 

 at the end of September and in the first weeks in 

 October. 



I first discovered this insect at Kathian in Jaunsar 

 in 1901 in dead blue-pine. The 

 Relations to the ^^^^^^^- i took it plentifully 



Forest. " -^ ' , 



in blue-pme and spruce at eleva- 

 tions between 5,500 ft. and 7,500 ft. in the same locality. 

 In later years I took the insect in the Simla and Naini 

 Tal divisions, and also in Chamba. 



The information on the life history of this beetle 

 is at present too meagre to enable its relation to the 

 trees it attacks to be definitely stated. That it is 

 capable of swarming in large numbers has been ascer- 

 tained, and the value of the wood attacked is con- 

 ''''^^' siderably diminished, so far at least as its external 



Piece of bluc-pinc wood ^ ^^^^^^^ ^gs, by the tunnelling work of the insect, 

 showmg a galkrv of /^^ r , ,• j ■ t-u u j /.. 



Rhyncholiis hima- It IS often to be found m company with Hylastes 



layensis, .Steb. Ininalaycnsis (p. 47^). 



