192 SERRIOORNIA. [Ernobiut. 



ERNOBIUS, Thomson. (Liozoum, Mulsant.) 



The members of this genus are distinguished from Xestobium by the 

 slender last joint of the tarsi, and from our other Anobiina by the 

 absence of punctured strife on the elytra ; they are about thirty in 

 number ; the majority occur in Europe, but a few have been described 

 from North America ; three are found in Britain. Kiesenwetter 

 (Naturgesichte der Insect. Deutsch. vol. v. p. 125) says that the 

 females of Ernobius mollis lay their eggs in spring on the young shoots 

 of newly felled pine and fir trees, especially those that have been 

 attacked by Hylesinus piniperda, Tortrix buoliana, or other insects that 

 injure these trees ; the young larvae bore into the pith, and feed almost 

 exclusively on that substance, which they gradually consume and reduce 

 to frass ; before changing to pupae they bore a round hole to the extreme 

 outer surface, so that the perfect insect can easily emerge into the open 

 air ; the perfect insect appears in the following spring, its transformations 

 occupying just a year for their completion. 



I. Antenna} with joints 5-8 elongate ; colour lighter or 



darker ferruginous, or testaceous. 

 i. Thorax even, or with very obsolete and indistinct 



prominences E MOLLIS, L. 



ii. Thorax uneven, with small raised prominences before 



scutellum E. ABIKTIS, F. 



II. Antennae with joints 5-8 very short, transverse; colour 



pitchy or pitchy-black E. NIGBINUS, Sturm. 



E. mollis, L. Oblong, convex, testaceous-brown or ferruginous, 

 clothed with rather thick pale pubescence, thickly and finely punctured 

 throughout ; head rather large, with eyes large and prominent, antennas 

 slender ; thorax broader than long, narrowed in front, with the posterior 

 angles rounded ; scutellum roundish triangular ; elytra rather long, 

 parallel, sided, subcylindrical ; legs reddish- testaceous, rather slender, 

 with the fifth joint double as long as the fourth. L. 3|-5 mm. 



Male with the antennae longer than in the female, and the joints 

 longer in proportion. 



In old palings, under bark, &c. ; often by sweeping under fir trees ; it is sometimes 

 found in old houses ; somewhat local, but not uncommon and generally distributed 

 throughout England and Wales ; Scotland, local, Tweed, Forth, Tay, Dee, and Moray 

 districts ; it is probably moderately common in Ireland. 



E. abietis, F. (brevicorne, Bach.). Very like the preceding, but on 

 an average smaller, with the thorax less even and the sides of the same 

 less rounded, the anterior angles being almost right angles ; according to 

 Thomson the iifth to the eighth joints of the antennas do not differ much 

 in length, whereas in E. mollis the fifth joint is much longer than those 

 on either side of it ; the fifth tarsal joint is also shorter. Stephens says 

 that it differs from E. mollis " in having the thorax distinctly truncate be- 

 hind, the antennae shorter with the three terminal joints manifestly incras- 



