DOSSIL A BOSTRICHID^I. 



569 



India. There is no obvious chain of connexion 

 leading from the one to the other ; and there is a 

 very considerable difference in the nature of their 

 haunts, as well as in their appearance and disposi- 

 tions. The Cape bnH'alo does like the waters, but 

 ho can subsist in much more arid places than those 

 of the East. No conclusion can, in the present state 

 of our knowledge, be drawn from it ; but it is not a 

 little singular that the gnu of Southern Africa should 

 hold among antelopes nearly the same place in 

 respect of shagginess, production of horn, and vio- 

 lence of disposition, that the buffalo of the very same 

 part of the world holds in the genus bos. It is pro- 

 bable that there may be varitties of this species, or 

 even other species of buffaloes in the interior of 

 Southern Africa ; and some museum specimens, or 

 at all events painted representations, have been men- 

 tioned ; but these we are not warranted in admitting 

 into the catalogue of real animals. This genus is, for 

 obvious reasons, one of the most interesting about 



by these minute insects upon our standing timber 

 trees is lamentable; indeed, it would probably be 

 impossible to find any other objects of so small a 

 size, capable of producing greater destruction. Pro- 

 bably there is no species of tree which is exempt 

 iron) the attacks of some one or other particular 

 species ; moreover it does not unfrequently happen 

 that several other species are found upon the same 

 tree. It is to the ravages of one of these insects, 

 that the elms,* the pride of our metropolitan parks, 

 have suffered so severely as to have caused a parlia- 

 mentary inquiry upon the subject. This insect is 

 the Scofytus destructor, distinguished generically by 



the truncate extremity oi the body and the bifid 

 penultimate joint of the tarsus ; and specifically by 

 its shining black colour, with the elytra reddish or 

 pitchy, and the antennas and tarsi of a pale reddish 

 colour; the elytra are marked with longitudinal lines 

 of raised dots. It is to be observed, that the destruc- 



which the attention of mankind can be occupied, and tion of the elms has not been attributed to these 

 the analogies of its history are peculiarly worthy of j insects by several writers, who have considered them 

 attention ; but the very same causes which render the , as consequent upon some previous indisposition in 



knowledge of it so very desirable, heighten the diffi- 

 culty of obtaining that knowledge in a satisfactory 

 manner. Some notice of the musk bull, which has 

 been improperly considered as belonging to this 

 genus, will be found in the article OVIBOS. 



BOSSLEA (Ventenat). A genus of ornamental 

 Botany Bay shrubs belonging to the natural order 

 Jjcgitminosce. Generic character : calyx of two lips, 

 the upper one broad, round, bifid. Pod on a foot- 

 stalk, flatly compressed, the margins thickened ; seeds 

 like beads. Several of these plants are elegant, and 

 well worthy a place in every green-house collection. 

 BOSTRICH1D.E (Leach). A family of insects 

 of the order Colcojitem, and section Xylophaga, or 

 wood-eaters, of Latreille. In the recent works of the 

 hitter author, the family is considerably restricted ; 

 but in his early works it comprised the Scoh/tidcc, a 

 group of very destructive insects. As the arrange- 

 ments of Dr. Leach and Mr. Stephens are founded 

 upon the latter method of distribution, being, in fact, 

 an adaptation of the classification contained in the 

 onsiderations generales" of the French author, we 

 shall tread in their steps, observing only that the 

 Scofyt.idf.-s are intimately allied to the wood-boring 

 weevils (Co.'ixomts), and that the Bostrichidcs are 

 apparently allied to the death watches (Anobium, &c.) 

 The family then, in its extended sense, is characterised 

 by an oblong and cylindrie body, the tarsi are sim- 

 ple, or with the third joint bilobed, the antennae never 

 with more than ten distinct joints (often with fewer), 

 terminated either by a large solid mass, formed by 

 the union of several of the terminal joints soldered 

 together, or by three large distinct joints ; the first 

 joint is generally long and bent ; the palpi are often 

 very short, and the tibiae are flattened and toothed 

 at the edges. The family is divisible into two sec- 

 tions, 1st, the Scalytidcs, and 2nd, the Bostrichidcs. 



The Scofytidcx are distinguished by their antennas 

 terminating in a large compact oval club ; the palpi 

 are very minute, the body is convex and cylindrie. 

 and obliquely truncate at the extremity : the head is 

 globose, with the front produced somewhat into the 

 shape of a muzzle. This division comprises the 

 genera Ilylurgim, Sco/ytus, Hyfcxiiuis, Tomicus, and 

 Platypus, all of which are British, and Camptoccrus, 

 which is an exotic genus. The ravages committed 



the tree, rather than as the actual cause of the injury. 

 We must refer our readers to numerous papers 

 relative to this part of the subject, contained in the 

 early numbers of Mr. London's Gardener's Magazine, 

 observing only, that it is quite impossible to suppose 

 that the facts subsequently to be noticed, can war- 

 rant any other conclusion, than that the insects must 

 tend in a most material degree to the destruction of 

 the trees, even if some already existing indisposition 

 be admitted. 



Who would believe, asks the German author Wil- 

 helm, in his " Recreations of Natural History," that 

 the little Scolyttis typographic (another species 

 nearly allied to the instructor, but belonging to .the 

 genus Toinicus} is capable of totally destroying the 

 finest fir trees, to which it restricts its attacks save in 

 the last extremity? This insect lias been long known 

 in Germany, under the name of the black-worm. 

 The great consistence of its envelope, enables it to 

 withstand a degree of cold sufficient to kill millions 

 of other insects. In the month of May, they make 

 their way through the bark of the trees, beneath 

 which they have passed the winter and acquired their 

 full developement, and in certain favourable seasons 

 they are so numerous, that in a warm evening when 

 they take wing, they appear in swarms, and rise to a 

 height in the air exceeding that of the trees ; being 

 carried away by the wind, and alighting at the dis- 

 tance of several miles from their native place. It is 

 at the period of the emigration of these swarms, that 

 the impregnation of the female takes place. On 

 alighlina-, each couple goes in search of the rotten 

 parts of trees newly felled, or, in default of these, they 

 select perfectly sound and standing trees, hi the cre- 

 vices of the bark of which they commence gnawing 

 a domicile, the situation of which is indicated not 

 only by the powder which they produce, but by the 

 noise which they make while at work. Latreille has 

 observed on this part of Wilhelm's statement, that as 

 the impregnation of the female has already taken 

 place, it.is probable that the male takes no share in 

 the construction of a place for the deposition of the 

 eggs. This indeed is a circumstance of such com- 

 mon occurrence amongst insects, although the reverse 

 takes place in the majority of the higher aninnls. 

 that the observations of Wilhelm have need of direct 



