No. 2.3 Notes. 91 



following references to the works of naturalists who have previously 

 described it: Fabrieius, Mant. Ins. I, p. 135; Olivier, Ent. IV, No. 67, 

 p. 14, t. 17, fig. 127. In the latter work it is described as follows : — 



" Cerambyx hoioserieeus, caput griseum antennis corpore paulo longioribus. 

 Thorax inermis ru^osissiruus, obscurus. Elytra unispinosa, holosericea fusco-cinereo- 

 que micantia, nitida. Corpus subtus raicans." 



The specimens vary a good deal in size, those in the Indian Museum 

 ranging from seven eighths of an inch to one and a half inch in length 

 of body. The relative sizes of the autennse in the two sexes is shown in 

 the figure. The insect is chiefly remarkable for the golden brown 

 pubescence with which its entire body is covered; this giving it a golden 

 sheen, first in one part of its body and then in another, as it is turned 

 round in a strong light. 



IV.— PLOCEDERUS PEDESTRIS. 



f Plate V, Fig. 4; a, imago !j? nat. size ; b, imago $ head and thorax, nat. size; 

 c, calcareous pupa cell, nat. size. ] 



This insect has already been noticed (see No. 1 of these Notes, 

 page 60) as found in Debra Dun in sal (Shorea rohusta) and in Jingham 

 {Odina wodier). The larva forms a calcareous egg-like case (fig. 4 c. ),in 

 which the pupa is formed. It is, no doubt, the insect described by 

 Mr. R. Thompson in his Report on Insects injurious to Woods and Forests 

 (1867), from page 415 of which the following extract is taken :— 



"A third Monochamus beetle was found under circumstances of extraordinary 

 development. The pupae were discovered in solid cocoons, made of a substance 

 resembling lime. The shell was fully the sixteenth of an inch in thickness, quite hard 

 and firm, offering in fact more resistance to the pressure of the fingers than would a 

 pigeon's egg. They were discovered underneath the bark, imbedded between it and 

 the wood, in a felled tree of the Butea frondosa, or Dhak. The larvae had apparently 

 only lived on the sapwood, and underwent the second metamorphosis on the site of 

 their original operations ; another remarkable fact was that these beetles are in the 

 perfect state as early as March." 



In a foot-note Mr. Thompson adds— 



" I have since obtained numerous specimens of these beetles and their cocoons, 

 imbedded to the depth of eight inches in logs of Odina wodier and Bombax hepta- 

 phyllum. They are the commonest and earliest variety of the Monochami out, the 

 perfect insects having been obtained as early in the season as November." 



The species was originally described by White in the British Meseum 

 Catalogue of Coleoptera, Part VII, page 127 (1853), under the name of 

 Hammaticherus pedestris. The type specimen was from North India, 

 and measured but one inch in length of body. The Indian Museum 

 contains specimens from Calcutta, Maldah, Jalpaiguri, Sikkim, Sibsagar, 

 Naga Hills, Dehra Dun, Ceylon, and the Andaman Islands ; the length 

 of body ranging from a little over an inch in the smallest specimens to 



