30 



ffphsintis crenatus appears to be generally distributed in this district, h\x\ 

 is hardly likely to prove vei-y destructive ; if found to be so, the tree on which 

 it has formed a settlement cannot be rescued without a process of barking— as 

 serious as the beetle. They are not likely to attack the neighbouring trees till 

 driven out of their strongholds, on the fall of an affected tree therefore, they 

 should be destroyed, or they will establish themselves in others. At the same 

 time I would enter a protest against waging war with any species that is to be 

 regarded as scarce or local. 



fij/toiHi/s i';<to<«5 is about half the length of Hiiksinux Fraxini, and very 

 simihar in general appearance ; it is very prettily marked and rather variable ; 

 most specimens present a distinct dark spot towards the base of each elytron, 

 surrounded by a paler cinereous area ; though feeding on elm it is much more 

 closely allied to Hi/lesiniis Fraxini than ITiiIesinus crenatus is ; its habits are just 

 the same, it attacks fallen elm as Hylcsinv.s Fraxini does the ash ; its burrows 

 are shorter, and the two branches are veiy uniformly of equal length, rarely 

 exceeding f of an inch long ; the number of eggs laid are seldom as many as 20, 

 and being usually i^laced more widely apart than those ot ffiilesinus Fraxini; 

 the burrows of the larvie are nearly parallel, giving little of that fan form seen 

 in the bxirrows of that species. It appears much leas common than Hiilesinus 

 Fraxini, though I find their burrows abimdantly in a piece of elm fallen about 

 the end of ApriL The opercuhim of frass which closes the mouth of the burrow 

 is more complete than in Htjlesinus Fraxini. They complete their changes in 

 one year. I have been unable to find any evidence of their attacking living 

 trees so that from an economic point of view they must be regaided as very 

 unimportant. 



The decay and destruction of fallen timber is much facUitated by these 

 beetles. They partially or wholly destroy the bark ; their frass-filled burrows 

 absorb and retain much moistme, which is almost essential to decay, and usually 

 the bark is so much loosened that, after a longer or shorter time, it falls off. 

 This rarely takes place before the wood is much injured by the funguses, for 

 which the damp-destroyed bark has been the nidus and by the various subcortical 

 species of insects for. which the beetle-burrows have opened a way. The wood 

 is then easily attacked by the numerous wood-feeders, various Longicorns, and 

 Anobia, Sinodcndron, &c., who soon complete its destruction. But the necessity 

 for a natural method of clearing the ground of dead and dying timber has so long 

 ceased in this country, that we have diffioidty in regarding these insects as other 

 than noxious pests. 



My thanks are due to the President, Dr. M'Cullough, for several of my 

 specimens, and to Mr. Eye, to whom I. owe the accuracy of the names of species. 



[This excellent paper was admirably illustrated throughout by specimens 

 of all the different beetles themselves, and numerous pieces of bark and wood to 



