70 PLUM. [1900 



also found beneath Plum tree bark (and sometimes in company with 

 S. prion), as well as in decaying Apple, Pear, Cherry, and other 

 trees. 



On examining the beetles sent, however, I found that they were 

 certainly specimens of -S^. pruni, which are distinguishable from ntiiu- 

 losus by being longer [pntni being about a sixth of an inch in length, 

 whilst nu/iilosm, the smallest of our British kinds, is only about the 

 twelfth of an inch) ; also by the wing-cases being rusty-coloured ; and 

 also, and very especially, by the thorax, or fore body, being very finely 

 punctured on the upper part or disc. 



Described more in detail, the ^\ pruni beetle varies from rather 

 more than an eighth to a sixth or rather more of an inch in length 

 (3-4-4-5 mm., Eichhoflf) ; the general colour shining black, with the 

 antennre (horns), which are clubbed, and the greater part of the legs 

 red, or reddish brown (in specimens sent me I found the thighs 

 were of a deep brownish colour). The wing-cases rusty or brown ; 

 " the punctured strife much less strongly impressed, and the punc- 

 tures of the interstices not much finer than those of the strife, 

 and arranged in single rows " ; and also " the thorax is very 

 finely punctured on disc, and less finely but not very closely at 

 sides, and the ventral segments of the abdomen are simple in both 

 sexes." ■-' 



By the above characteristics (with the help of a strong magnifier) — 

 that is to say, by the depth, form, or arrangement of punctures on the 

 fore body — pruni may be distinguished from nujulosus, of which the 

 thorax is comparatively coarsehj punctured on the disc (the punctures 

 being elongate), and strongly and more or less confluently punc- 

 tured at sides, and also the wing-cases are more or less red towards 

 the tip. 



In the hope of being able to give a precise description of the larvae 

 of this species, I studied them very carefully, but found nothing in 

 those which I saw dift'ered from the much magnified figure of the 

 larva of S. riigidosus (at p. 76 of my Nineteenth Annual Report accom- 

 panying observations of S. riKjiiIosiis given me by Mr. E. Newstead), 

 excepting that the colour of the heads of my specimens accompanying 

 S. pruni beetles was paler than that of the figure. 



My specimens, which lay in the brown powdery layer of decayed 

 matter beneath the outer coating of bark, were whitish in colour, soft, 

 and legless, and customarily lay with head and tail curved to meet 

 each other, so as to form an arch, or rather a portion of a circle. 

 Head small, pale yellowish, jaws dark brown ; the segments next to the 

 head inflated, so as to be noticeably larger than the abdominal seg- 



* For description, see ' Coleoptera of the British Islands,' by the Kev. Canon 

 Fowler, p. 409. 



