108 E. P. Stebbing — Discovery of Thanasimus sp. prox. nigricollis. [No. 3, 



prey, whose struggles are quite ineffectual in that deadly grip. In 

 commencing to devour the scolytid it invariably begins with the head ; 

 it fastens its mandibles round the junction of the head and prothorax, 

 following the parallel of the tiger, and chews and sucks at the head until 

 it has finished this completely. It next goes to work on the prothorax, 

 piercing with ease through . the hard chitinous shell with its powerful 

 mandibles and breaking it to pieces, the contents being entirely cleaned 

 out aud consumed, for the beetle is a neat feeder, and entirely clears the 

 meat off the chitinous bone before rejecting it. Having finished the 

 prothorax, it throws away the mangled shell and turns its attention to 

 the body consisting of the meso- and meta-thorax and abdomen. In a 

 bark beetle this is often in the shape of a blunt elliptical cylinder with 

 a flattish top where it joins the prothorax. The beetle holds this between 

 its front legs, the meso-thoracic end upwards, and proceeds to first pull off 

 the elytra which are rejected : the under wings being consequently re- 

 leased open out to their full extent but remain attached to the trunk. The 

 clerid then entirely cleans out this bottle-shaped cylinder, as neatly as 

 one could clean out a jar with a spoon. When quite empty, it is 

 thrown away and the insect starts off in search of another bark-beetle. 

 A mangled prothoracic shell and the empty chitinous body cylinder 

 with the outspread lower wings attached to it are all that are left of a 

 S. major beetle six minutes from the moment it was captured alive. I 

 have seen three such eaten consecutively, and of 20 beetles put in with 

 four clerids only the above mentioned portions remained when the box 

 was inspected 3| hours afterwards. As has been already mentioned the 

 resemblance between this insect and the tiger in its methods of rushing 

 upon, seizing, and commencing to feed upon its prey is remarkable, the 

 difference being that the insect is more cruel than the mammal since it 

 makes no pretence of killing the bark-beetle, but commences on it whilst 

 it is alive and kicking, often bringing forward its middle pair of legs to 

 assist in holding its struggling prey. As an instance of its tenacity and 

 rapacity I may quote the following. In common with most insects the 

 clerid dislikes being upon its back and when so placed makes violent 

 efforts to right itself. A beetle had been placed in a tube with two 

 Platypus (Platypodee) beetles. It at once seized one and, though shaken 

 violently about, clung to its victim and, falling on its back and finding 

 it impossible to right itself at once, gave up the attempt and consumed 

 its prey in this position, before restarting its struggles to resume the 

 normal position. It then made an effort to seize the second Diapus but 

 was removed as the writer wished to preserve the latter. The insect is 

 polygamous. A d 1 kept in a box with three $ and fed with bark borers 

 for four days, paired with one or other of the three whenever it was not 



