52 8 FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 



Tribe CRYPHALINAE. 

 Differs from the Crypturginae as follows :- 

 Head round. Elytra not truncate. 



This tribe includes the genus Cryphalus, containing a number of very 

 minute forms feeding in the bast layer of small branches and twigs of trees, 

 and in the upper portions of saplings. 



CRYPHALUS. 



Cryphalus (Cosmoderes) deodara, Stebbing. 

 (The Deodar Branchlet Cryfrhalus.) . 



REFERENCE. Stebbing (Cryphalusl deodara), Depart. Notes, vol. i, 274. 



Habitat. North-West Himalaya. 



Tree Attacked. Deodar (Cedrus deodara). Kotgarh, Bashahr State 

 (;;zz7z/) ; Konain, Jaunsar (R. Mclntosh). 



Beetle. Oblong, rather shining, dark red-brown to almost black in colour, covered with 

 sparse stiff whitish-yellow hairs. Head black, concealed by prothorax, which forms a hood 



over it. Antennae the same colour and of usual Cryphalus form. 



Description. Prothorax not broader than long, the anterior portion rather thickly 



studded with raised projections, the posterior half being punctate. 



Hlytra about twice the length of prothorax, sides straight, declivous at apex ; a longitudinal 

 channel on either side of suture, most marked in apical portion ; punctate-striate, the punctures 

 largest and most numerous on basal three-fourths, becoming obsolete apically ; the basal 

 portion with irregular transverse striations medianly. Under-surface black. Legs rufous 

 brown. Length about 1.8 mm. (see fig. 340, a}. 



Larva. A minute, white, curved, fleshy grub of the usual scolytid appearance. 



The insect would appear to pass through the winter in the beetle 

 stage. The beetles issue from the trees and oviposit 



Life History. early in the spring some time towards the end of April. 

 To perform this operation the beetle seeks out a small 



green twig and girdles it at or near its base, the girdle being, in every case 

 examined, complete (see fig. 340, b (i) ). 



The insect was discovered in all the stages of larva, pupa, and beetle at 

 the beginning of June in deodar branchlets. The beetles, just about mature 

 and apparently ready to leave the tree, were by far the most numerous. 

 Although the twigs contained these mature beetles, yet externally there were 

 no entrance-holes visible on the bark, and a close inspection showed that the 

 branchlet was girdled at or near its base. This girdle was made by the 

 spring mother-beetle with the object of preventing further sap proceeding up 

 the branchlet, which accordingly begins to die and thus provides a suitable 

 supply of food for the young larvae hatching out from the eggs laid by the 

 beetle in the branch above the girdle. The reason why I think it probable 

 that the branch is girdled and the eggs laid in the spring is that the 

 young new needles of the year had developed on the ringed twig to a 



