THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST. 173 
stout jaws, three pairs of legs and usually a pair of horny pro- 
cesses on the anal segment. These bore through and follow up 
the burrows of the wood borer larvae. Other Clerids hunt the 
beetle borers themselves while they are cutting their way into 
the bark or sap-wood and devour the helpless beetle in its 
burrow before it has had time to lay its eggs. 
Some years ago I worked out the life-history of our 
largest clerid Trogodendron fasciculatum the description being 
published in the Agric. Gag. N.S.W., and in “Forest Insects 
of Australia.” This beetle is a very important check on the 
longicorns belonging to the Phoracantha group, and in the 
Moruya district in the spotted gum forests I found its host was 
chiefly Epithora dorsalis, the slender bodied longicorn. 
During the last month I have collected a large series of 
this handsome beetle on the freshly fallen logs of the spotted 
gum (#£. punctata) in our southern forests. The beetles fly 
about in the hottest sunshine, walk over the logs with their 
bright yellow antennae constantly moving from side to side and 
are absolutely fearless, never attempting to fly, but when one 
attempts to pick one up it turns round and bites with its 
powerful jaws. This habit is so well known to the timber 
getter that he will not touch the beetle. The bright yellow an- 
tennae and shining black wing covers are doubtless warning 
colours for protective purposes, even causing birds to pass them 
by. ‘ 
The Powder-post beetles (Lyctus sp.) are heavily parasi- 
tised by the larvae of the “White-barred clerid” (Paratillus 
carus) which are very numerous in the parallel tunnels of the 
wood borers. The handsome little beetles with their reddish 
head and thorax and blue-black wing covers crossed with.a fine 
white transverse bar, just above the base of the hind legs, can 
be bred out in numbers from any infested sapwood. They are 
not only common in the forest, but are frequently met with in 
the city timber yards running over the sawn timber. The “Shot- 
hole borers” (Tomicus and Bostrychus) are also considerably 
reduced in number on the tree trunks by the active ferret-like 
Clerids belonging to the genus Cylidrus. Two species are com- 
mon in our hardwood forests and I have on several occasions 
found them both actively engaged devouring the helpless thick- 
set little Tomicus solidus while he is excavating his burrow and 
cannot turn round. Cyliderus nigrinus the largest, is of a uni- 
form shining black, slender in form with the usual clubbed 
antennae and large powerful jaws. Cyliderus basalis is of a 
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