1 84 FAMILY CLERIDAE 



Family CLERIDAE. 



This family of beetles must be looked upon as a most important one to 

 the forester, since it contains members which are predaceous upon some of 

 the worst of tree-pests, such as the bostrychid borers of bamboos and the 

 numerous scolytid bark- and wood-borers of coniferous and broad-leaved 

 trees. The clerid beetles in question are predatory in both the larval and 

 beetle stage, the beetle in some cases following its prey into the interior of 

 the tree, in others seeking it outside. 



The clerid beetle has a superficial resemblance to a cerambyx or longi- 

 corn beetle, the head and prothorax being prominent 

 Beetle. and narrower than the elytra, the latter having well- 



marked "shoulders." The antennae are fairly long, with 



a knob at the end, and the legs moderately long and developed for quick 

 movement in the predaceous forms. The beetles are often brightly coloured, 

 resembling buprestid beetles in this, metallic blues and reds appearing, 

 or, as commonly in some predaceous forms, the elytra are banded with 

 bright bands or spots and patches of red, yellow, black, white, etc. The 

 largest of the forest predaceous forms known is about three-quarters of an 

 inch in length. 



The grub is elongate, white or pinkish-red in colour in the case of 



predaceous forms ; the head is large, the prothoracic 



Larva. segment of less breadth than the head, and hard and 



chitinous dorsally, the following segments broader than 



prothoracic, and increasing in size to the middle and then decreasing to the 



last, which is constricted abruptly and terminates in two small hooks, 



probably used in moving about in the tunnels of its prey. 



The only clerid pupa I have seen I bred from the grub of the clerid 



beetle. This pupa was elongate, narrow, with a 



Pupa. curious resemblance to -the longicorn pupa, the head 



being vertical as in the lamiid longicorns, white to 



pinkish-white in colour, the wings and legs pressed against the chest and 

 the antennae on the sides, all these parts white and translucent ; rest of 

 pupa a deep reddish-pink, slightly lighter-coloured below; the abdominal 

 segments, eight in number, being broadest medianly and constricted sharply 

 behind, the small spiracles distinctly visible on the sides ; the last abdominal 

 segment ends in two minute white processes (see fig. 125). 



I am concerned here with the forest predaceous clerids only, but it 

 should be mentioned that some forms of the family are scavengers, whilst 

 others live in the nests of bees, etc. 



In the forms here dealt with, the eggs of the beetle are laid by her 

 either in the orifice of the entrance-hole of the bark- or wood-borer or 



