104 E. P. Stebbing — Discovery of Thanasimus sp.pm\ nigricollis. [No. 3, 



A note on the discovery of Thanasimus sp. l prox. nigricollis in the N.-W. 

 Himalayas with some remarks on its life-history. — By E. P. Stebbing. 

 [Received May 27th, 1903— Read June 3rd, 1903.] 

 In June 1902, whilst touring in the Tehri Garhwal forests in the N.-W. 

 Himalayas, the writer discovered and took a number of specimens of 

 both larvae and beetle of a species of Thanasimus prox. nigricollis Lewis, 

 a beetle belonging to the family Cleridse. The insect was submitted to 

 the well-known specialist, the Rev. H. S. Gorham, who has reported that, 

 with the exception of a few minute differences which will require com- 

 parison with the types to settle, the insect is identical with G. Lewis' 

 T. nigricollis^ taken by the latter in Japan and described in the Ann. 

 Soc. Nat. Hist., Vol. X (1892), p. 187. It is owing partly to these 

 minute differences to its greater size and perhaps to a certain extent 

 to the fact that there appears to be a curious close relationship between 

 the insects found in parts of Japan and some of those of the N.-W. Hima- 

 layas, that I at present put the species as prox. nigricollis. In the case 

 of another predaceous insect a Niponius (the first species of which genus 

 were found by Lewis in Japan) the N.-W. Himalayan one has proved to 

 be a different species to Lewis' Japanese ones. 



I think it may be shown that the discovery of this Thanasimus is 

 one of very considerable importance, since it is predaceous upon several 

 bark and wood boring Scolytidse which have been recently discovered to 

 commit serious damage in the coniferous forests of the N.-W. Himalayan 

 area. My observations tend to prove that it takes the place in this 

 region of the well-known Thanasimus formicarius of the European coni- 

 ferous forests. This latter clerid preys upon (to mention but two) the 

 larvae and adults of Myelophilus piniperda and M. minor which are 

 amongst the principal scolytid enemies of the European pine forests, 

 and is in consequence very rightly looked upon as an insect ally of 

 the greatest value to the forester in those regions. So great, in fact, is the 

 value attached to its predaceous habits that it was imported into some of 

 the coniferous forests of North America in 1892. The initiation of 

 this experiment, the first of its kind to be undertaken on a larger scale 

 (in forest areas), came about in the following manner: — Between 1900 

 and 1902 the pine trees in portions of Hampshire, Hardy, Grant, 

 Pendleton, and Mineral counties, West Virginia; Bath, Highland, 

 Augusta, and Rockingham counties, Virginia and also in portions of 

 Maryville, died off in large numbers, the destruction being widespread 

 and in some places universal. This wholesale mortality was soon traced 

 to its origin, as countless numbers of small bark-beetles were found 

 1 Clerus sp. Steb. Depfc. Notes Ins. aff. For. No. 2, p. 213 (1903). 



