1903. E. P. Stebbing — Discovery of Thanasinms sp. prox. nigrieollis. 109 



feeding or searching for its prey. In pairing the d 1 rushes at the ? from 

 behind with the same impetuosity with which it pounces upon its prey, 

 mounts on her back and thrusts the tip of his very flexible abdomen down- 

 wards, curling it round till it reaches the tip of the abdomen of the 9 . 

 The latter is at times larger than the c? though it may be of the same 

 size. She walks about carrying the male whilst pairing lasts. I have 

 not yet ascertained how long the beetles spend in the adult stage of 

 their life-history. It is evidently several days and may extend to a 

 week or two. We have seen that larvae of all sizes (and consequently 

 probably ages) are to be found in the scolytid larval tunnels during 

 the spring and summer months (they have been so found in May, June, 

 July, August, and September) and therefore with the long life of the 

 beetle it is probable that the generations overlap, this meaning a con- 

 tinuous supply of larvoa and beetles throughout the spring, summer, and 

 autumn. It will bo shown later on how excessively important this 

 fact is. 



To sum up my observations on the habits of the <?, I may say that 

 when not eating or searching for bark-beetles it is pairing or vice versa 

 and the 9 , at any rate up to the time she commences egg-laying, appears 

 to be an equally large and voracious feeder. Since the insect is fully twice 

 as large as its European confrere, being from 8 to 10 millim. and more in 

 length, whilst the bark-beetles are much of the same size as the European 

 ones, from 25 to 55 millim., it is naturally capable of consuming in its 

 lifetime a far larger number of beetles and it will therefore be readily 

 understood that the beetle is a valuable ally to have in forests where 

 bark-boring insects may assume the form of serious pests in seasons 

 favourable to themselves. 



Food. With the exception of one specimen taken on the wing in the 

 middle of June, which was probably feeding upon Biapus impressus 

 Jans., the insect may be said to have been first discovered feeding upon 

 Scolytus major and minor in Deodar on the 24th June. From the 

 study of the life-histories 1 of \ these latter beetles, which I have been 

 able to make, it is certain that they are to be found in the adult state 

 from the end of April (the beginning of spring when insect life com- 

 mences to re-awake in the N.-W. Himalayas after its winter hibernation) 

 to the end of June, or perhaps as late as the end of the first week in 

 July. The beetles from the eggs laid at the end of April and beginning of 

 May, begin to appear on the wing at the end of July or early in August 

 and are to be found throughout that month and on into September. It 

 is thus evident that with but a short interval of three weeks or so this 

 form of food-supply is available for the clerid from its resumption of 



I Vide Sfceb. Depart. Notes on Ins. aff. For., No. 1, p. 45. Id., No. 2, pp. 203-212. 

 J. ii. 16 



