68 



FAMILY PASSALIDAE 



PLEURARIUS. 

 Pleurarius brachyphyllus, Stolicz. 



REFERENCE. Stolicz, Jour. Asint. Soc. ii, p. 152 (1873^. 



Habitat. Ootacamund Hills, Southern India. 

 Tree Attacked. Rhododendron sp. 



Beetle. A large beetle. Black, shining, clothed with a long dense red-orange pubescence 

 on the posterior ventral parts of prothorax, meso- and metathorax. 

 Description. Head strongly tuberculate, mandibles large, clypeus densely hirsute, 



as are antennal joints and edges of legs. Prothorax very convex, 

 shining, a deep depression medianly on lateral margin. Elytra flat 

 on disk, striate-punctate, the punctures fine. Under-surface black, 

 flat, shining. Length, 37.5 mm. to 45 mm. 



During a visit to the Eucalyptus plantations of the 

 Ootacamund Hills I found this 

 Life History. passalid beetle in considerable num- 

 bers in rotting stumps of Rhodo- 

 dendron sp. The beetles were taken in tunnels in the 

 decaying wood, large orifices being visible on the outer 

 surface and numerous winding galleries inside. The 

 beetles, and a few larvae, were taken about the middle 

 of August. 1902. 



BASILIANUS. 



FIG. 35. Pleurarius 

 brachyphyllus, Stolicz. 

 Ootacamund. 



A species of this genus is common in the Eastern Himalaya. 



Basilianus cantori, Perch. 



REFERENCE. Perch. Mag. Zool. p. 3, t. 134, f. 2 (1844). 



Habitat. Eastern Himalaya ; Loolagaon, 5,000 ft., and elsewhere in 

 the Sikkim Forests. Also reported from Tenasserim. 



Trees Attacked. Sauer (Betula cylindrostachys) ; Musre Katus (Cns~ 

 tanopsis tribuloides) ; Kharani (Symplocos thecefolia). Sikkim. 



Beetle. Large, shining, black. Head set with prominent pointed 

 tubercles, the mandibles large and toothed. Prothorax not very convex, 



very shining, the median longitudinal depressed 

 Description. line not prominent or absent. Elytra strongly 



striate, interspaces smooth, shining. Under- 

 surface black, shining, the lateral edges of thorax with a long bright red 

 pubescence which also clothes the edges of legs. Length, 30 mm. to 34 mm. 



This beetle was first taken in rotting sauer and kharani 

 Life History trees, on 28 April 1896, at Loolagaon, 



in Sikkim. I subsequently took it 

 plentifully in these trees and in decaying musre katus stems E. Himalaya. 



