FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 535 



branches and twigs of older trees, the cambium layer being entirely riddled 

 by the borings of the beetles themselves and by the subsequent minings of 

 the larvae, which practically girdle the top or twig attacked, consequently 

 ensuring its death. As I have already mentioned, it is often accompanied 

 lower down the top or branch by the Polygraphus and by Cryphalus major, 

 both more serious scolytid pests. 



All young saplings infested should be cut out and burnt. In nurseries 

 and small plantations, attacked branches should be 

 pruned close to the stem and burnt. The attack is 

 easily discernible when the beetle is present in numbers 



(more especially when in company of either of the above-mentioned beetles), 

 as the needles turn yellow and there is an exudation of resin from the 

 entrance-holes. 



Cryphalus morinda, Stebbing. 



REFERENCE. Stebbing, Depart. Notes, i, 265. 



Habitat. North-West Himalaya. 



Tree Attacked. Spruce (Picea morinda). Simla-Tibet Road, Bashahr. 



Beetle. Very small, cylindrical. Really black in colour, but so thickly set with a dense, 

 close, golden pubescence as to have the latter colour. The upper three-quarters of the prothorax 



slopes rather abruptly in front, and is 

 Description. thickly studded here with prominent tuber- 



cular prominences. Posterior quarter is 



finely pitted. Elytra finely punctate. Antennae and legs yellow- 

 brown. Under-surface black, set with long white hairs. The 

 ordinary characteristics of a Cryphalus as given under C. boswelliae 

 are present. Length, T ^ in. 



The flight-time of this beetle is from about the 



second to the third week in June. 



Life History. The beetle commences work by 



boring in through the bark of a 



twig till it reaches the cambium layer. In this it then 

 bores a small chamber which also goes slightly into the I IG. 343. 



sapwood. Whilst this is being prepared another beetle Cryplutlns //i,-iii,{ t i, 



joins the first, and in the narrow, small, elliptical cham- Steb ;' in s p I ruce -. North - 

 u u -11 u u r West Himalaya, 



ber two beetles will generally l>e round at work as soon 



as the boring is sufficiently large to hold both. In this elliptical chamber 

 the eggs are laid. The beetle is apparently monogamous in its habits, 

 the male pairing with but one female. The grubs on hatching eat out a 

 shallow gallery away from the chamber, this joint larval gallery gradually 

 increasing in breadth with the development in growth of the grubs. 



The insect infests the twigs and smaller branches only of old spruce, 

 the twigs drying up and the needles turning yellow under the attack. This 

 is as far as the life history of this minute' insect has been carried. 



