Hyl sinus.'] imYXCHOPnoRA. 419 



whitish circle near apex ; legs more or less ferruginous with the femora 

 darker and the tarsi lighter. L. lf-2 mm. 



In dccavinp: elms ; also rarely in ash ; local, but common where it occnrs ; Forest 

 Hill ; Brockley ; Greenwich ; Wickbam j Compton Wynniatt, Somerset, in ash and 

 elms in numbers in April (Power); Cowley, Gloucestershire; Monmouthshire and 

 Herefordshire, abundant (Chapman) ; Salford Priors, Evesham ; Needwood, Stafford- 

 shire ; Bepton, Burton-on-Trent ; Northumberland and Durham district ; Scotland, 

 Solway district ; " Raehills, Rev. W. Little, Murray's Cat." 



MVEZiOPHIZiUS, Eichhoff (Hylurgus, pars Brit. Cat.). 



This genus contains a few species which are found in Europe, 

 Xorthern Asia and North America ; they have usually been included 

 under Hylurgus, but are now separated off througli having the anterior 

 coxae scarcely distant from the cephalic margin of the prosternum 

 (which is also excavated as far as the coxae), the club of the antennae 

 ovate, and the upper side of the body shining and clothed -with scanty 

 hairs ; in Hylurgus proper the anterior coxae are situated at some distance 

 behind the cephalic border of the prosternum, the club of the antennae 

 is globose, and the upper side of the body is dull, granulate or shagreened ; 

 the funiculus of the antennae is six-jointed, the anterior coxae are 

 narrowly separate, and the thorax is furnished with long villose hairs 

 at the sides ; the eyes are entire, and the tarsi have the third joint 

 broader than the preceding. 



The life history of H.piniperda is discussed by Miss Ormerod in the 

 Manual of Injurious Insects, p. 217 ; the beetles are destructive to pine 

 plantations in all stages of growth by boring through the sides of the 

 tender shoots into the pith, and eating their way for an inch or two 

 along the centre ; this is done in the summer, and in the following 

 spring, during high winds, the affected shoots are blown off; if the 

 leading shoot, as is often the case with young trees, is thus lost, the 

 tree as it grows becomes bushy headed, its growth is retarded, and its 

 ultimate value is reduced ; in April or May the female beetle bores a 

 parent burrow through and beneath the bark in which she lays her eggs; 

 the young larva?, when hatched, as in the case of Hyle$inus and other 

 genera, bore galleries at right angles to the parent burrow and form a 

 " typograph " ; at this stage, however, they do but little harm as the 

 eggs are nearly always laid in felled or decaying trees ; it is in the 

 perfect state that they commit the greatest ravages, by boring into the 

 young shoots as before stated. The best method for the prevention of 

 the damage done by the beetle is to remove and burn all brushwood 

 and old trunks in young plantations as the beetles propagate in 

 these in multitudes ; and all standing trees that are sickly should be 

 observed, and, if found to be infected, should be felled and removed. 



I. Second interstice of chtra flattened and without 



tubercles at apox M. PTNIPBRDA, L. 



E e 2 



