6o4 FAMILY SCOLVTIDAE 



dying or dead condition of the branch being the only external evidence 

 of the beetle's work. Branches attacked by a previous generation of 

 beetles showed, however, in the cases where the dead portion above the 

 girdle had not already dropped off or been knocked off, a small round hole 

 of exit communicating with the outside from the pupal chamber, and it is 

 evident that the matured beetle leaves the branch by boring horizontally 

 through the bark above it. 



I am at present unable to state whether this beetle has more than one 

 generation in the year. I found on 5 July 1901 two newly ringed branches, 

 and it is probable that the beetle lays her eggs soon after issuing, about 

 the middle of the month. The July insects may be the beetles of the first 

 generation of the year laying the eggs of a second generation. 



The damage done is to the side branches of the silver fir. The beetle 



rings these at a point generally about two-thirds to 



Relations to three-quarters up from where they leave the main 



the Forest. ^, . , 1 ■ t j ^1 rr i. 



trunk. The portions above the rmgs die, and the ettect, 



whilst causing a certain loss of branches and consequently leaf-area to 



the tree, gives it a scraggy appearance, the ends of numbers of the branches 



being in a dead or dying state. 



The power of the insect for harm will, however, be far greater if it 

 attacks the leading shoots of seedlings, saplings, and young poles. 



When attacks of this nature take place in nurseries, plantations, etc., 

 a feasible plan of getting rid of the beetles is to collect 



^'"Remld^r'^ carefully all the portions of the twigs and branches 

 above the rings and burn them. If this operation is 

 done carefully and at the proper time, i.e. when they contain larvae or 

 pupae, it will stamp out the pest. 



Sub-Family 4.— MlXTODENTATAE. 



Edges of middle jaw fringed with pubescence and bristles. The sub-family contains the 

 curious tribe Spongocerinae. 



Tribe SPONGOCERINAE. 



This tribe appears to link up the Scolytidae (Ipidae) with the Platy- 

 podidae. It includes the genus Scolytoplatypns, of which the greater number 

 of the seventeen species known come from Japan and the Himalaya. 



Scolytoplatypus himalayensis, Stebbing, sp. nov. 



Habitat. — North- West Himalaya. 



Tree Attacked. — Silver Fir {Abies wcbbiana). Chamba State, North- 

 West Himalaya, 8,500 ft. 



