326 
COLEOPTERA. 
Scolytids, are their prey and the larvse have the same habits. Little 
is known of the habits of the larvae as a whole, some being predaceous, 
Fig. 204.— Necrobia rufipes. 
some scavengers and some being known to live in the nests of bees and 
in locust egg masses. With the exception of those that prey upon wood¬ 
boring beetles none appear to have been reared in India. 
The family is a large one, the latest monograph (Genera Insecto- 
rum) giving nearly 2,000 species, of which 109 are Indian. They are 
less common in the cultivated plains than in the hill forest areas and 
the warmer moist parts of India. Gorham describes Doherty’s Indian 
and Burmese species (Proc. Zool. Soc., London, 1893, p. 566), and Fea’s 
(Ann. Mus. Genova, 1892). 
Few are likely to be found unless they are specially looked for, and 
there are probably many species to be found in the plains. The fol¬ 
lowing are noteworthy :— Necrobia rufipes , F., a bright blue insect, is cos¬ 
mopolitan and is, with N. violacea , L., a household pest feeding on 
animal produtcts (horn, etc.). N. ruficollis , F., in which the thorax 
and base of the elytra are red, is known to be destructive to the dry 
cured fish prepared in Sylhet. Corynetes cceruleus , de G., is also cos¬ 
mopolitan and carried by commerce. Ommadius indicus , Cast., is a 
larger dark-banded brown insect, found in Southern India. Tillus 
notatus, Klug., is found in abundance in the burrows of bamboo-boring 
