﻿1 30 [November, 



size of the beetle, is also much shorter than theirs, being often only 

 about an inch in length. The eggs are laid along the sides and covered 

 by a layer of frass, which is continuous over the roof of the burrow. 

 The eggs are fewer than in the other species, seldom exceeding 60, 

 and averaging much less. The larval burrows often lie perfectly parallel 

 with the fibres of the wood, for nearly their whole length of about six 

 inches. The larva does not follow the usual instinct of the genus of 

 burrowing into the wood to hybernate, but is satisfied with making 

 a tolerably deep depression, so that it is exposed on removing the bark, 

 and I observed last winter that the birds did not wait for the weather 

 to remove the bark, but picked it off themselves to secure the dainty 

 morsels within. I have only observed it in oak branches broken off 

 by the wind (and not in all these), and I have never seen it in felled 

 timber or in growing trees. It is probable that, to suit S. intricatus, 

 the wood must have been cut (or blown down) for some particular time ; 

 and, as the beetle oviposits in the middle of June, only that wood is 

 attacked which was separated from the tree at a later period than that 

 at which oak is usually felled. An aberration of instinct of this species 

 in confinement is worthy of notice. I placed a number of beetles with 

 some oak sticks, and several of them formed galleries of oviposition, 

 but one of them formed the gallery longitudinally as the other species 

 of the genus do, which it never does naturally, and another assumed a 

 habit of still more widely separate species of the Hylesinidcd, by making 

 its burrow in the solid wood, the eggs and frass were disposed as in the 

 normal burrow, excepting that several eggs were placed beneath the 

 frass of the roof. In no case did I observe both beetles in a burrow, 

 and, from what I saw, I have no doubt that pairing occurs after the 

 burrow is commenced, but without the male entering it. 



In conclusion, I may observe, that in all the species the female 

 beetle dies in the burrow after oviposition is completed. All the Bpecies 

 have a fashion of placing their foreheads against other individuals and 

 giving a thrust by pushing forwards the jaws. They employ this pro- 

 cess to remove another beetle from a station they desire to occupy : 

 it appears, also, to be an expression of anger, sometimes two beetles 

 having an encounter in this way, and they use the same movement in 

 recommending themselves to the other sex. 



S. destructor, intricatus, and pruni, are able to squeak audibly, 

 by a rapid movement of the abdomen against the elytra, intricatus 

 making the loudest sound. 



The Scolyti are much infested by parasites, especially by Hymenop- 

 tera of the family Chalcididee ; 8. pruni and intricatus lose a large 



