538 



FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 



beetles were found together gnawing out irregular-shaped chambers beneath 

 the bark in the bast and sapwood. These beetles had apparently only 

 just matured, and had at once commenced egg-laying, the eggs being those 

 of a second or third (?) generation. This is all that has been at present 

 observed about this insect. 



The smaller green branches of Boswellia serrata are bored into by 

 the insect for the purpose of laying its eggs in them. 



The larvae ' on hatchirj g out > feed u P n the surrounding 

 cambium layer and destroy it. If at all plentiful, the 

 bark is eaten right round, and the twig, being girdled, dies. 



Further observation is required to ascertain whether the insect is at all 

 numerous, and whether it infests young plants. In this latter case it might 

 on occasions become a serious pest. 



Cryphalus strohmeyeri, Stebbing. 



REFERENCE. Stebbing, Cryphalus indicus, Depart. Notes, i, 403. 



Habitat. North-West Himalaya. 



Tree Attacked. Silver Fir (Abies webbiana), Jaunsar, North- West 

 I linuilaya. 



Beetle. Cylindrical, black, with a pubescence varying from yellow to silvery and reddish. 

 Head hidden beneath thorax. Antennae reddish yellow, angled, the scape club-shaped, the 



funiculus four-jointed, the first joint thick, 

 Description. others subequal ; club oval, divided into 



four divisions by three transverse lines. 



Thorax not longer than broad, very convex, narrower in 

 front than behind, the anterior three-fourths furnished with pro- 

 minent, acute, tubercular projections set backwards, the basal 

 portion, especially laterally, clothed with long yellow hairs. 

 Elytra cylindrical, constricted and rounded posteriorly, very 

 slightly wider than thorax ; coarsely and irregularly rugulose and 

 punctate, and covered with a squamulose pubescence consisting 

 of longitudinal rows of short silvery and reddish hairs. Legs 

 reddish brown, pubescent ; tibiae curved, and toothed on outer 

 edge, clothed with a dense yellow pubescence ; tarsi yellowish, 

 first three joints equal. Length, 2.3 mm. 



I find C. indicus is preoccupied, so have pleasure in naming 

 this species after Herr Oberforster Strohmeyer. 



Egg. White, oval, translucent. 



Larva. Small, white, curved, and legless, with a yellowish 

 head and brown mandibles. 



X12 



6 



FIG. 346. 

 strohmeyeri, 



silver i'r. 

 Himalaya. 



Cryphalus 



Steb., in 



North - West 



The flight-time of the first beetles of the year is about the middle of 



May, at elevations of 8,000 ft. I took the beetle in the 



Life History. fourth week of the month laying eggs in green silver- fir 



branches. Either masses of eggs or young larvae were 



found in the egg-chambers, the beetles having evidently been some days at 



