FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 



grubs ; also to discover where the eggs are laid, and whether the genera- 

 tions of the beetle coincide with those of its hosts. 



Platysoma sp. (p. 106). Thishisteridis predaceous upon the Sphaerotrypes. 



Beetle. A compact, shining, black beetle, squarish in build, with a hard integument : 

 elongate, pointed mandibles. Head and thorax very smooth and shining. Elytra smooth. 



shining, with a few longitudinal striae placed wide apart. They 

 leave the last two segments of the abdomen exposed, the last 

 ^> being constricted behind. These segments are thickly and deeply 

 punctate. Length, 6.5 mm. 



Life History. Only a few specimens were taken. 

 They were found beneath the bark of the sal-tree 

 felled on 13 May in the Kachugaon forests which 

 was subsequently infested by the bark-borer. The 

 histerid attacks the Sphaerotrypes beetles, and their 

 grubs probably feed upon the larvae also. 



Use in the Forest. These two insects are of 

 considerable use, provided they exist in sufficient 



abundance to exercise a salutary check on the bark- 

 Platysoma sp., predaceous , . _,. T , , . 



upon Sphaerotrypes borm g P est ' ThlS T have not >' et ascertained. Any 

 assamensis, Steb. Goalpara. insect predaceous upon a pest is, however, of great 



value, and the life history of the Platysoma requires 



working out. The number of generations in the year, period passed in larval 

 stage, and food eaten by larvae, etc., all require to be studied. 



FIG. 320. 



Habitat. 



Sphaerotrypes globulus, Blandford. 



REFERENCE. Blandf. Trans. Ent. Soc. Loud. 63 (1894). 



-Central Provinces Sal Forests. 



Trees Attacked. Sal (Shorea robusta) ; Terminals tomcntosa. Mandla, 

 Central Provinces. 



Beetle. Squat, ovate, black, elytra black with a suggestion of a 

 dark reddish tinge, under-surface with a silvery pubescence ; antennae 



orange, legs dark red. Vertex of head reticu- 

 Description. late and punctate, more punctate laterallv, 



front reticulate-punctate, with a short median 



longitudinal raised line reaching from level of base of eyes to near lower 

 margin of front, in other cases stretching to about level of middle of eyes; 

 a semicircular fringe of whitish hairs stretches along anterior edge of 

 vertex between eyes. Prothorax constricted in anterior portion and 

 much depressed, the median line terminating anteriorly at the depressed 

 part ; surface finely reticulate and punctate, slightly shining, with 

 fine short white setae, densest laterally. Klytra striate punctate, 

 the scales black, large, and prominent, intervals smooth and tineK 

 punctate. I 'nder-surface \\ith lateral portions of thorax and anterior abdominal segments 

 reticulate and clothed with a rather dense short silvery pubescence; the legs clothed with 

 same silvery pubescence. Length, 2.6 mm. to 3.2 mm. 



FIG. 321. 



Sphaerotrypes 



, lll.indford. 

 Central Provinces. 



