54 Mr. G. Lewis on Erotylidge from Japan. 



Edible mushrooms are an article of commerce, and are largely 

 exported to China, being at the same time one of the sources 

 of revenue to the government, which in many districts has 

 the monopoly of the forests where they grow. In May 1880, 

 when I first went into the forests in the Hakone district, I 

 found large oaks felled for the purpose of mushroom- culture ; 

 the horizontal trunks were covered with mushrooms through- 

 out their length from spawn sown, purposely I believe, in the 

 suinmer previous. I had filled several large sheets and cap- 

 tured as many new species before I was warned that govern- 

 ment property was being destroyed and the penalties for such 

 conduct severe. But in the wilder forests, which are rarely 

 trodden even by the native peasants, fungi are equally plen- 

 tiful, and there is no lack of hunting-ground for the ento- 

 mologist. 



Most of the Erotylidge in Japan are imagos before the 

 middle of June, and very few survive at the end of the year 

 to hybernate. An exception is Dacne picta, which may be 

 found under Planera-h&xk any day in January close to the 

 bund at Yokohama. In the second and fourth stages they are 

 all fungivorous, and during pupation are dependent on the 

 moisture in the plants in which they remain imbedded for 

 their preservation. . In temperate climates the Erotylidas often 

 appear to be of periodical occurrence ; but if this is not strictly 

 true the collector is at any rate greatly dependent on fortui- 

 tous circumstances, such as season and place, for the capture 

 of the rarer species, and these contingencies sometimes occur 

 only at long intervals. In Kioto, within the temple compound 

 of the Nishi Honwanji, I found on the 17th June, 1881, 

 AulacocMlus japonicus in the greatest profusion on fungi on 

 some upright cherry-poles, and numerous specimens were 

 crushed on the pathways ; and this was not a remarkable 

 phenomenon considering the habits of the family. 



There is one character in the family to which it is neces- 

 sary specially to allude. In a long series of specimens the 

 largest examples ai-e invariably males. I have one example 

 of Encaustes prcenohilis which measures 35 millim., and the 

 smallest male measures 30 millim. The first is perhaps the 

 largest Erotylian in any cabinet, and I can still remember 

 the muscular sensation its weight caused as it feigned death 

 in my hand when I took it oflf an old beech at Nikko. The 

 largest female measures 31 millim., and there are several 

 only 16. In Eudcemonius tuherculifrons and Neotriplax 

 atrata the larger size of the males is conspicuous, and it is 

 evident from the material in hand that this characteristic is a 

 family trait. In the Languridae the females are the larger, 



