422 RIIYNCHOPHORA. [Xylechinus . 



sides towards apex, evenly pubescent ; scutellum small, subtransverse ; 

 elytra more than double as-long as thorax, parallel-sided, with the suture 

 thickly clothed with greyish-white pubescence, punctured striae regular, 

 interstices furnished with short erect whitish setae; abdomen clothed 

 with thick greyish pubescence, second segment about tAvice as long as 

 third. L. 2|-3 mm. 



Under fir-bark ; very rare j near Scarborough (R. Lawson) ; it does not appear to 

 have been taken in any other British locality. 



This insect superficially resembles Hylastinus obscurus and more 

 closely Polygraphus pubescens, from both of which it may be separated 

 by its generic characters ; from C. hederce it may be known, apart from 

 its 5-jointed funiculus and not bilobed third tarsal joint, by being 

 usually darker, and by its more elongate form, and by having the elytra 

 less abruptly rounded behind, with the punctured strire less clearly 

 denned and the setae on the interstices not so stout or long ; the anterior 

 tibiae, moreover, are more triangularly dilated and have only two or 

 three teeth at the apex, and the antennae are stouter and shorter. 



The species has been placed in our British catalogues under the genus 

 Caiyhoborus, Eichhoff, but Eichhoff includes under the latter only the two 

 species 0. minimus and C. pini, and adopts the genus Xylechinus for 

 pilosus ; the characters of the two genera are as follows : 



Antennae with five-jointed funiculus and short oval nou-com- 

 presscd club. Anterior coxae placed apart. Eyes with 

 outline almost entire in front. Third tarsal joint simple . XYLECHINUS, 0/iap. 



Antennae with five-jointed fuuiculus and narrow compressed 

 club. Eyes reniform, deeply hollowed in front. First tar- 

 sal joint very short, the third slightly cordiform. Thorax 

 entire in frout CARPHOBORTJS, EicJi. 



PKXiCEOPHTHORUS, Miiller. 



Only four or five species have been described as belonging to this 

 genus ; two occur in Europe, one fn North America and one in Madeira 

 (the latter perhaps being synonymous with our species) ; the single 

 British species is a very small pitchy-black insect with reddish tarsi ; the 

 club of the antennae is rather loose and consists of three joints, the 

 funiculus being 5-jointed ; the prosternum is very short before the 

 anterior coxae ; the abdomen is not raised towards apex ; the episterna 

 of the met'asternum are elongate and rather narrow, and the intermediate 

 and anterior coxae are rather broadly distant ; the third joint of tho 

 tarsi is bilobed and scarcely broader than the preceding. 



The life history of P. rhododactylus has been most carefully worked 

 out by Dr. Algernon Chapman and described by him in the Entomologist's 

 Monthly Magazine, vi. (1869), p. 6; his remarks on. the species are here 

 quoted at length : "In May, and earlier or later, according to the 

 season, Phloeophthoruf rhododactylus makes the galleries in which its 

 eggs are deposited in the bark of furze ( Ulex Europccus). That the 



