STYLOPIDiE. 
395 
The life-histories of many species are known and something is known 
of Indian species. Works on forest insects must be consulted for 
details. The chapter on Scolytidse in Gillander’s ‘‘Forest Entomo¬ 
logy 55 (1908) should be consulted as giving an excellent resume of the 
family. Over 50 ‘ Indian ’ species have been described by Motschulsky, 
Blandford, Eichhoff and others. 
"The family is divided into two according to the tarsi :— 
First tarsal joint shorter than the remainder together .. Scolytince. 
First tarsal joint — the remainder .. .. Platypince. 
The Scolytince are divided into three sub-families, Scolytini, Hyle- 
sini, Tomidini ; all are represented in Indian forests. We may mention 
Xyleborus perforans, Woll., reported some years ago as attacking beer 
casks in India and which is known to live in sugar-cane in the West 
Indies, where it however attacks only diseased cane. The mother 
beetle makes a tunnel in which she lays eggs, the larvae feeding 
on fungus hyphae in the cane and not boring themselves. (See Bland¬ 
ford, Kew Bulletin, September, 1890, April, 1892.) X. fornicatus, Eichh., 
attacks tea in Ceylon (Indian Museum Notes, III, 57), and Assam ; its 
presence is associated with a fungus and there is reason to believe it is 
also an “ ambrosia ’ ’ beetle, cultivating the fungus for its own food 
and for that of its larvae. Of the Platypince, Platydactyclus (Eccotop- 
terus) sexspinosus, Motsch., was reported as burrowing in the stalk of 
rice in Burmah. This observation has not been confirmed. The 
species is described by Blandford in Indian Museum Notes (III, p. 64). 
Platypus pilifrons, Chap., and P. sordidus, Wlk., occur in the plains. The 
Platypince are in some cases known to be ambrosia beetles. 
Stylopim;. 
These aberrant Coleoptera are of uncertain position. We are not 
aware that any are definitely recorded, but Horne, in his notes on 
the habits of Indian Aculeate Hymenoptera, states that many females 
of Polistes kebrceus contain Stylops in the second abdominal seg¬ 
ment. It is recorded that the genus Polistes is the host of Xenos, a 
genus in which the female is wingless and larviform, the male winged 
and active ; that Xenos occurs in Polistes kebrceus in India has been 
