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;he central egg-tunnels and offshoot

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D

E

INDIAN FOREST INSECTS

OF ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE

COLEOPTERA

BY

EDWARD PERCY STEERING

of the Indian Forest Service. Head of the Department of Forestry, University

of Edinburgh. Late, Imperial Forest Zoologist and Member of the Forest

Research Institute, Dehra Dun, India. Member of the Permanent

Committee of the International Entomological Congress. Fellow

of the Linnean, Zoological, Royal Geographical, and

Entomological Societies of London

PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF H. M.'s SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA

IN COUNCIL

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UNIVERSITY OF TOROMTC

B

( v )

PREFACE

THE chief aim of this book is the study of the Insect Fauna of the Indian
forests from the economic standpoint. It is probably the first of its kind
attempted for a British Dependency.

In 1898 the Government of India sanctioned the publication of a
small compilation entitled Injurious Insects of Indian Forests. In this
book I had gathered together the information then known on the subject
of the life histories of insects of economic importance in the Indian
forests.* The data included were mainly taken from Indian Museum
Notes, issued from the Indian Museum, under the direction of Colonel A.
Alcock, C.I.E., F.R.S., to whose advice during my early days in India I
owe much. Since that year, chiefly through the interest and keenness
displayed by officers of the Forest Department, both Imperial and Pro-
vincial, in advancing the study of this branch of forestry science, and to
the generous aid extended towards the department by the Government of
India, considerable progress has been made in a knowledge of a subject the
importance of which in the preservation of the Forest Estate cannot be too
strongly emphasized. In the absence of a thorough understanding of the life
histories of important pests it is impossible to attempt to prescribe remedial
or protective measures. Equally undesirable, in the absence of such know-
ledge, is it to take up an attitude of non possum-us when considering the
efficient application of measures of this kind over the large tracts with
which the Indian forester has to deal. It is fully admitted that the stu.lv
is only in the pioneer stage, and this book has no pretensions to be more
than that of a pioneer endeavouring to indicate in some small degree the
lines upon which the further study of the subject should proceed. So vast
is the field opened out that almost of necessity it is likely to prove advisable
to confine future publications to local provincial brochures in which the
important pests of the trees of economic value in the forest areas concerned
will be treated of. In dealing with the great mass of material avail, iNe to

* In this work brief notes, many of them fragmentary, were ;_;iven on some 130 insects.
The important families Scolytidae and 1'latypodidae were represented by 4 and o spi
respectively. I am able to include here 74 and 20 species of these t\\n families.

VI

PREFACE

me it soon became evident that it could not be adequately compressed into
-ingle volume if the request of the Government of India that the book
should be kept within handy reference dimensions was to be complied
with. I have therefore confined myself in this volume to the Coleoptera,
by far the larger part, as it is the most important, of the subject.

The region dealt with is the same as that covered by the Fauna of
British India volumes, viz., India and Burma, including Ceylon. It is
considered probable, however, that the work will have a wider sphere
than that of India and Burma, extensive as is the area of the great
continent, and widely divergent as are its botanical and climatic charac-
teristics. In Ceylon, the Malay States, and the farther East, many pests
identical with or closely allied to those here dealt with, and having in
all probability not dissimilar habits, are either already known to exist
(as the distribution of many of those included in this work sufficiently
illustrates) or are likely to be discovered. The book should therefore
prove of value to planters and those interested in commercial concerns
connected with the growth for profit of rubber, tea, coffee, and allied
industries. The chapters devoted to the Cerambycidae, Curculionidae,
Scolytidae, and Platypodidae, all containing serious pests, a knowledge of
whose life histories may mean a saving of considerable sums of money,
will make this evident.

The study of the insect fauna of the Indian and other Eastern forest
tracts now coming under economic forest conservancy is of peculiar value
to the zoologist interested in preserving, or endeavouring at least to make
an acquaintance with, those more uncommon species of the fauna which
are at present unknown, and which are likely to form important links in a
working classification of some of the more difficult groups. Many of these
links will inevitably disappear under the conversion of the tracts of primeval
forest into areas managed on commercial lines. For the forester masses
on the area a greater number of healthy stems per acre than Nature
attempts to do; while endeavouring at the same time to ensure the
prompt removal of all weakly, diseased, dying, and dead trees. Under
such treatment it is easy to understand that large numbers of small forms
"I insect life now to be found perhaps in fair abundance in dying and dead
stems throughout the primeval tracts of forest will disappear. Also, as is
the case with the shyer mammals, so is it likely to prove with the shyer
or rarer insects. The closing in and cutting up of the large tracts of forest
in which they formerly roamed at will, combined with the heavy toll which
the introduction of the modern rifle has exacted from their ranks, has
resulted in the bison or gaur and the rhinoceros approaching perilously
near to extinction in India. The former operation alone must, however,
in time have brought about the same result. Similarly the changed
conditions introduced with the progress of ordered forest conservancy are

PREFACE

VI 1

likely to prove inimical — in a different manner, perhaps, but still inimical-
to some of the rarer forms of insect life in the struggle for existence, and
they will disappear. If this theory has any solid foundation on fact (and
my own personal observations would seem to indicate that it has), from
the point of view of the zoologist and the systematist it is of the first
importance that the insect fauna of the Indian forests should be collected
and classified. The spade-work that has already been accomplished
affords sufficient evidence, if evidence be required, that this collection is
equally necessary in the economic welfare of the Forest Estate.

That the value of this work is recognized is well illustrated by the
illustrious band of European savants who are so freely and ungrudgingly
giving their valuable time to naming and describing the Indian collections
which are coming to hand.

In this volume I have dealt with Indian forest insects from two
main aspects: firstly, the injurious insects, and secondly, the useful
insects, such as predaceous and parasitic species. As regards classification
I have followed Lefroy's arrangement in Indian Insect Life. The predaceous
and parasitic Coleoptera under this treatment appear therefore in their
correct positions in the system of classification. Each one, however, is
dealt with again and in fuller detail in the section treating of the pest upon
which it is predaceous or parasitic, its life history and other particulars
following that of its host. Each insect considered in the work is dealt
with, so far as possible, under the heads distribution, trees attacked, descrip-
tion of the species, life history, relations to the forest, and, where practicable,
remarks on protective and remedial measures for combating its attacks.

The compilation of the work has proved more intricate than \vas
at first deemed probable, and has been dependent throughout on obtaining
the identification of the insects upon which it is based. Ur. A. E. Shiplr\.
Mr. Guy A. K. Marshall, and Dr. K. Steuart MacDongall, who kindly
looked through the proofs early in 1912, strongly advised my securing the
description of all new species and full identifications (not merely generic
ones) of every insect dealt with. This advice, which was acted upon, lot
to a lengthy but quite unavoidable delay in the publication of the book-
a delay which, I am assured, is fully justified.

Without the unstinted and enthusiastic help that has been accorded
me by a large number of friends, the book, imperfect as all piomvr
works of necessity must be, would never have assumed its pivM-nt shape.

The systematic study of forest insect pests may be said t<> owe its
origin to Sir Thomas Holderness, K. C.S.I., Permanent Under- Srcn-t.iry
of State for India, at the time Revenue-Secretary to tin- Government
of India, and the late Sir Denzil Ibbetson, K.C.S.I., Revenue M.-inl.rr
of Council. It was due to their recognition of the importanr<- .>t the
study of this branch of forest science being undertaken, when the

\ 111

PREFACE

mutter was laid before them by Mr. B. Ribbentrop, C.I.E., at the time

Inspector-! M-ii.-ral of Forests, that the first foundations were laid, the

retary of St. ite sanctioning in 1900 the first appointment, that of the

Author, of a Forest Entomologist for a period of two years. This post

was resanetioned in 1904, as a result of the earnest representations of

Mr. (now Sir) Sainthill Eardley Wilmot, then Inspector-General of Forests,

1 subsequently merged in 1906 in that of Forest Zoologist in the

newly created Imperial Forest Research Institute.

I or the exceptional opportunities afforded me of personally collecting

so much of the information the book contains during extensive tours

made throughout the whole of India and Burma, my thanks and

acknowledgments are due to five successive Inspectors-General of Forests :

Messrs. B Ribbentrop, C.I.E.; H. Hill, C.I.E. ; R. C. Wroughton ;

Sir Sainthill Eardley Wilmot, K.C.I.E.; and Mr. F. Beadon Bryant, C.S.I.

To Sir Sainthill, under whom I had the good fortune to work directly

during six years, I owe a deep debt for advice and assistance at all times

cordially given to me. To the direct representations of Mr. Beadon

Bryant, at the time Inspector-General of Forests, the department owes

the fact that the sanction of the Government of India was accorded

to the preparation of the work, and that I was allowed to have free

access to the collections of the Forest Research Institute at Dehra Dun.

My acknowledgments are also due to the present Inspector-General of

Forests, Mr. G. S. Hart, C.I.E. ; to the President of the Institute,

Mr. L. Mercer, C.I.E.; and to the late Forest Zoologists, Mr. Subramarian

Iyer and Dr. A. I). Imnis, for the valuable assistance afforded me by the

ID ui of such specimens, tour notes, and files as were required for the work.

Allusion has been already made to the great assistance received from

"Hicers of the department. I would like to express my acknowledgments

here to the Service throughout, and more especially to Messrs. J. W.

Oliver, |. H. Lace, C.I.E., 15. B. Osmaston, F. Gleadow, P. M. Lushington,

iVrree, P. H. Clutterbuck, C. G. Rogers, S. Carr, G. M. Ryan,

Monro, T. A. llaux\vell, and the late Mr. H. Slade, Conservators

t.) Messrs. H. G. Billson, R. C. Milward, S. Cox, C. B. Smales,

O. Coventry, C. E. C. Fischer, C. P. Percival, A. J.

Gibson, T. Carr, A. 1C. Osrnaston, and the late A. M. Long and J. Messer,

Deput) Conservators of Forests; and to Bhai Sadhu Singh, Rai Bahadur,

Pandit Gokal Dass, and Messrs. V. Subramarian Iyer, B. Sen Gupta, Rama

s'ath Mukerjee, the late Mr. J. P. Gregson, and Messrs. A. M. Littlewood

and Young, of the Provincial Service.

From officers in other Services I have received great help at various

During my work in Baluchistan in 1905 I received the greatest

\gent to the Governor-General, Mr. A. L. P.

Tucker, C.I.E.; Lieut-General Sir H. L. Smith-Dorrien, G.C.B., D.S.O.,

PREFACE

IX

at the time commanding the Quetta Brigade; Colonel C. Archer, C.S.I.,
C.I.E. (now Agent to the Governor-General in Baluchistan) ; Colonel G.
Chevenix Trench, C.I.E., and Colonel C. A. Kemball, C.I.E., both of
the Political Department; Major (now Colonel) R. E. Roorne, Commandant
of the Z hob Levy Corps; and Captain E. H. S. James, of the Political
Department. My thanks are also due to the Raja of Chamba State
for the facilities kindly placed at my disposal during my tour there in
1909. To the many officers in the Civil Service through whose divisions
and districts I toured throughout the country my thanks are due for the
cordial assistance always afforded me. I would also wish to thank here
my old head clerk Babu A. T. Das, and my tour clerk Babu Nilumbar
Dut, to whom I feel I am greatly indebted.

During the compilation of the work I have received valuable counsel
and advice from Dr. A. E. Shipley, F.R.S., Master, Christ's College,
Cambridge; from Mr. Guy A. K. Marshall, of the Entomological Research
Committee ; and Dr. R. Steuart MacDougall, Lecturer in Forest Zoology
at the University of Edinburgh, and a Member of the Entomological
Research Committee. Mr. Marshall has added to the obligations under
which he has laid me by undertaking a considerable amount of identifi-
cation work besides working out the Curculionidae and describing several
new species.

In the Insect Department of the Natural History Museum, South
Kensington, I have received unstinted help. Mr. C. J. Gahan, Keeper
of the Department, identified the Cerambycidae ; Mr. Gilbert Arrow some
of the lamellicorns ; Mr. K. G. Blair described several new Tenebrionidae,
and Mr. R. Meade-Waldo dealt with the Hymenoptera. Mr. Claude
Morley kindly undertook the Ichneumonidae, describing new species. For
several years past my friend Mr. G. Lewis, F.L.S., has been good enough
to determine Histeridae for me.

My sincere acknowledgments are also due to Monsieur P. Lesne,
of the Paris Museum, who named the Bostrvchidae, and to Monsieur G.
Severin, Conservator of the Brussels Museum of Natural History. In
Brussels Monsieur Severin undertook to get named a considerable portion
of the collections, and to have drawings prepared where required. 1 he
following gentlemen, to whom my grateful acknowledgments are dm-.
helped in this work: MM. Fleutiaux, F. Ohaus, H. Gebien, K. Gcstro.
A. Grouvelle, S. Schenkling, M. Maindron, A. d'Orchymont, M. Pic.
M. Burr, and C. Kerremans, who described a new buprestid.

In connection with the work on the Scolytidae and Platypodidae,
two families which occupy considerably over a fourth ot the hook, my
intention had been to deal with the whol-j collection myself,
appointment as Head of the Department of Forestry at 1 idinbui ;.;li
University resulted in my having reluctantly to give up this id. To

x PREFACE

Colonel F. Winn Sampson I owe a deep debt of thanks for so kindly
coming to my assistance and undertaking to deal with the identification
work connected with the Xvtcl»ri and the Platypodidae for me, several
new species of which he has described. To Dr. Max Hagedorn, an
authority of world-wide reputation in these families, I owe thanks for
his kindly help and advice.

To Sir William Schlich, K.C.I. E., F.R.S., my old Professor of
Forestry at the Royal Indian Engineering College, Coopers Hill, and to
Mr. Walter F. H. Blandford, Lecturer in Forest Entomology at the college,
my acknowledgments are due for the encouragement I received at their
hands to prosecute my studies in this branch of forest science. I retain
the liveliest feelings of gratitude to Sir William for the interest he has
evinced in me, and for the praise and congratulations he has given me
in my forestry career.

As * regards the illustrations, the frontispiece and coloured plates
Nos. xxviii, liii, and Iviii are from the able brush of my wife; Nos. xi
and xxv by Mr. A. Descubes ; No. xv and a considerable proportion
of the figures in the text by Mr, Horace Knight, to whom my thanks
are due for his excellent work. Most of the uncoloured plates were
drawn by the artists J. Singh, S. B. Mondul, and S. C. Mondul. The
greater number of the photographs were taken by Mr. Chitrakar, Photo-
Xiapher to the Research Institute.

Lastly, my most cordial acknowledgments are due to Mr. William
Foster, C.I.E., Registrar and Superintendent of Records at the India
Office; to Mr. H. Mitchell, Assistant Registrar; and to Mr. E. W.
Jolliffe, for the great trouble they have taken in matters connected with
the preparation of the book. To Mr. Foster it would be difficult to
express my recognition of the cordial and unwearying interest he has
taken in the work.

To Messrs. Eyre & Spottiswoode, the printers, to their staff, and to
the reproducers of the plates and figures I would tender an expression of
my admiration and praise for the workmanlike manner in which they have
dealt with the work, and for the very high efficiency of their proof-readers.

EDWARD PERCY STEBBING,

University of Edinburgh,

1 8 Mny 1914.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1.
,
On a Study of the Distribution of the Insect Fauna of Indian Forests ... ... ... i

CHAPTER II.
Remarks on Injurious and Beneficial Insects ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 9

CHAPTER III.

On some Methods by which the presence of Insect Pests in the Forest may be

ascertained, and their Life Histories and Modes of Attacking Trees studied ...... 23

CHAPTER IV.

On Methods of preventing Insect Attack in the Forest, and of combating those taking

place ................................. 35

CHAPTER V.
Coleoptera — Characters, Habits, and Classification ... ... ... 56

CHAPTER VI.
LAMELLICORNIA — Families Passalidae, Lucanidac, Scarabaeidae

CHAPTER VII.
ADEFHAGA — Families Cicindelidae, Carabidae ......

CHAPTER VIII.

POLYMORPH A— Families Hydrophilidae, Silphidac,

Nitidulidae, Colydiidac, Trogositidae, CiicujiJac, l-'.rotylidcie, ( ',>ccin?llidii<\
Endomychidae, Ih'rmestidae

CHAPTER IX.
POLY. MOK I'll A .continued} — Families l}ost>-ycliid<ii\ /' tiiii </<!<•

!1< \.
; emit inued}— Families Malacodermidae^ ' leridae,

CHAITKK XI.
I'OLY.MORPHA (continued} — Family Hurcstidtic

xii CONTENTS

CHAPTER XII.

PAGE

j'.iMMokniA continued)— Ya.m\\y Elateridae 223

CHAPTER XIII.

ikoMikA — Familio I'nichrionidac, Cistelidae, Lagriidae, Monommidae,
J'\'t/ii,/,ie. Cantharidtii- 232

CHAPTER XIV.
\ —Families Umcliidae, Chrysomelidae ... ... ... ... ... 250

CHAPTER XV.
PHVH u'HAiiA continued)— ¥ami\y Cerambycidae ... 268

CHAPTER XVI.

PHY i ' H'li At , \ continued — Family Cerambycidae (continued) ... ... ... ... 357

CHAPTER XVII.
RHVNCHOPHORA — Family Anthrib idae 386

CHAPTER XVIII.
KlivxcHOPHORA (continued) — Family lirenthidae 389

CHAPTER XIX.

Rin •\cnornokA ^continued ; — Family Cnrcitlionidae ... ... ... ... ... 393

CHAPTER XX.
J<n\\ i'n< IK A Lontiniicd) — Family Scolytidae (Ipidae) 457

CHAPTER XXI.
RHYNCHOPHORA continued }— Family S col ytidae (Ipidae) (continued) 568

CHAPTER XXII.

-Family /'lalyfxxfidae ... 611

( "ill )

LIST OF PLATES

Frontispiece. Scolytus major, Steb., in deodar (coloured}.

PL I. i. Galleries of blue-pine Tomicits, To/nicus ribbentropi,

Steb., in blue-pine bark. 2, 3, 4. Galleries of Poly-
graph us pint, Steb., in blue-pine bark ... ... ... To face page 6

PI. II. Bamboos tunnelled into by the bamboo-borer (Dinoderus

minutus) ...... , .............. „ „ i4

PI. III. Galleries of Coelosterna ? sp. in sandalwood ...... „ „ 18

PI. IV. Larva and beetles of Hoplocerambyx spinicornis, Newn.,

in sal ..................... „ „ 26

PI. V. Galleries of Capnodis indica, Thorns., in Pinus longifolia ,, „ 41

PI. VI. Entrance-holes of Tomicus and Polygraphus bark-borers

and of the saw-fly Sir ex imperial is in spruce bark ... „ „ 44

PI. VII. Outflow of sap in a poplar-tree caused by attacks of

sEolesthes sarta, Solsk. ... ... ......... ,, ,, 54

PI. VI II. Poinciana regia stems girdled by XylotrHpes gideo/i, Linn. ,, ,, 90

PI. IX. i. Dinoderus minutus, Fabr., larva, pupa, and beetle ;

entrance-holes of beetle and larval galleries in a
bamboo. 2. Tillits notatus, King. 3. Hectarthrum
heros, Fabr .......... „ „ 133

PI. X. Entrance and exit holes of Sinoxylon crassiim, Lesne, and

Lyctus spinifrons, Lesne, in Terminalia tomt'titosii
wood ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ,, ,,

PI. XI. Psiloptera fastuosa, Fabr.. a-d, beetle; <•, /, portions of

Acacia aralica seedlings with the bark stripped off

11 XII. i. Capnodis indica, Thorns., larva and beetle ; i /', I'iuits

longifolia stem showing galleries of both beetles.
2. Antha.via osinaxttini, Steb., larva and beetle

PI. XIII. Larval galleries of Sp/i,'ii<>/'/<T,i a!<'rrii/ni, Ki-rr., in deodar ,.

PI. XIV. Portion of deodar pole showing pad lies of bark remo\rd

by woodpeckers to get at the grubs ot Sphenoptera
ate rr him ..... ,, -OS

xiv LIST OF PLATES

VI xv. i. AcmaeoderaKerremansijS\da.,sv.TM>v. 2. Sphenoptera

tit<-rrima. Kerrcni.. sp. nov. 3. Lampra assamensis,
Stcl).. sp. nov. 4. Bnpreslis kashmirensis, Fairmaire.
Int/iti.viii dsniastoHi, Steb. 6. Anthaxia mar-
shtilli. Steb., sp. nov. 7. .l^riliis salweenensis, Steb.,
sp. nov. (cohntr.d ..." To face page 212

Tl. XVI. Tunnels of /4/rtw.f piitridus, Candeze, in Dalbergia cul-

trtita ••• » » 22°

!•]. X\'ll. I.ophosternns hiigelii, Redtenb. I. Larva. 2. Beetle.

3. Larval gallery in oak ... ... ... ••• ••• » » 274

I'!. X\'III. .\otlwrrhina miiricata, Dalny, larva, pupa, beetle, and

larval and pupal chambers in Finns longifolia ... „ ,, 281

I'i. XIX. Hard-cickia binata stem damaged by sEolesthes holo-

sericea, Fabr ••• ,» •>•> 3°4

Pi. XX. JLolesthcs sartd, Solsk., egg, larva, pupa, and beetle „ 3^7

Tl. XXI. Willow-tree infested by grubs of sEolesthes sarta, Solsk. „ „ 314

J'l. XXII. I l«f>lc(i'raml>vx spiniconiis, Nevvn., larva, pupa, and

beetle ,, » 32°

Tl. XX I II. Larval galleries of Hoplocerambyx spinicornis, Newn., in

sal ... „ „ 326

Tl. XXIV. Larval galleries of Trinophyllnm cribratiim. Mates, in the

bark of deodar ... ... ... ... ... ... „ „ 343

J'l. X.\\". Coelosterna scabrata, Fabr., <7, /;, c, larva, pupa, beetle;
i/, e,f, portions of roots of Acacia arabica tunnelled
by the insect (coloured] ,, „ 358

PI. XXVI. liatocera ntbra, Linn., larva and beetle ... ... ... „ ,, 362

Tl. XX VI!. Part of the base of a fig-tree infested by Batocera rubra,

Linn. ., ,, 364

\VI1I. Hra< hy.\-ystns .•iubsigiiatas, Fst., male and female beetles
and branches of deodar, spruce, and silver fir attacked
bj the beetle (olonred) ,, ., 408

N'oiiii- silver tir attacked by Hrachyxystits sie/>sig>ia/its ... ,, ,, 4°9

Pterocarpus dalbergioides unattacked by the padauk

\\ccvil, Trtgonocolus sut>fasciatus,l:s\.. ... ... „ „ 4-5

J'l. XXXI -I Leading shoot of padauk Pterocarpus

to shotting successful and unsuccessful girdling by the

padniil, \\revil, 'J'r/^ounii'li/s sit/ifasiiatits, Fst. ... ,, ,, 426

Leading shool of a padauk sapling showing malformation

ii in. i i. 'in repeated attacks of the padauk weevil ... „ „ 426

i. Cryptorhynchits brandisi, Steb., larva, cocoon, pupa,
lit-ctle. and pupating-chamber in rinnx longifolia.
2. Cuckoo wasp. 3. Elannon bipartitits ,, ,, 429

LIST OF PLATES xv

PL XXXVII. Attacks of Cryptorhync/ius brandisi, Steb., in Finns

longifolia ... ... ... ... ... ... ... To face page 430

PL XXXVIII. Cyrtotrachelus longipes, Fabr., egg, larva, beetle, young

Melocanna bambitsioidcs shoot, and pupal coverings... ,, ,, 440

PL XXXIX. To-micns ribbentropi, Steb., in spruce bark ... ... ... „ „ 462

PL XL. Egg-galleries of Tomicns ribbentropi in sapwood of spruce ,. „ 466

PI. XLI. Bark of Finns gerardiana showing the "weeping" pro-

duced by resin oozing from the entrance-holes of
Polygraph its trenchi, Steb. ... ... ... ... ,, „ 470

PL XLI I. Galleries of Sphaerotrypes globulus, Blandford, in Termi-

nalia tomentosa ... ... ... ... ... ... „ „ 478

PL XLI 1 1. Entrance and exit holes of Sphaerotrypes globieliis, Bland-
ford, in sal bark ... ... ... ... ... ... „ „ 487

PL XL1V. Galleries of Sphaerotrypes globulus, Blandford, in sal ... „ ,, 488

PL XLV. 1-3. Sphaerotrypes querci, Steb., larva, beetle, and larval

galleries. 4. Chramesits globulus, Steb. 5. Diapns
impress us, Janson. 6. Crossotarsus fairmairei,
Chap.,var. ... „ 494

PL XLVI. i. Polygraphits major, Steb. 2. Polygraphus pini, Steb.

3. Tomicns ribbentropi, Steb., larva, pupa, beetle ... „ „ 501

PL XLVII. Polygraphus major, Steb., in deodar bark „ „ 504

PL XLVI II. i. Polygraphus trenchi, Steb., larva, pupa, beetle. 2.
Fhloeosimis zhobi, Steb., egg and beetle. 3. Fityo-
genes coniferae, Steb., female and male beetles „ 511

PL XLIX. Galleries of Polygraphus trenchi, Steb.. in the bark of

Pin// s gerardiana ...... .,516

PI. L. ( Galleries of Polygraph us />////. Steb.. in the bark of blue

pine ... ... ... ... » 524

PL LI. Polygraph/is longifolia, Steb., larva, pupt, beetle, and

entrance-holes and larval galleries in bark of Pi nits
longifolia ... ... ••• ••• ..526

I'l. LLI. Galleries of Dryoioetes hewetti, Steb., in (htcrcu ., ;

PL L11I. Galleries of Tomicns ribbentropi, Su-b.. in spruce bark

(coloured)... ... •• ^ ^ -

PL LI\'. Egg and larval galleries of Toinicii s ri/>/x-n/ropi.

blue pine bark

PL LY. 7'omitus longifolia, Stel)., larva, pupa. be<-il'-. enll

holes in bark, ami a pairing-chambei in the sapwood
of Finn s longifolia

PL LVI. Galleries of Tomicns longifolia. Steb.. in the sapumul .

/'inns longifolia ...

PL LY1I. I. Siolytus major. Steb., larva, pupa, and be<

Scolytus minor. Steb.. larva, pupi. and b

xvi LIST OF PLATES

(Galleries of St-<>h'///s major, Steb., in a deodar sapling

......... To face page 570

Egg and larval galleries of Scaly t us major, Steb., and

'colytiis minor, Steb., in the sapwood of a deodar pole „ „ 577-

i. -horns »i,ij,ir, Steb., a, beetle; /;, boring in sal

wood. 2. /)ryo,-<>(-(t-s minor, Steb. 3. Xyleborus
tengalensts, Steb. 4, 5. Xylebonts fallax, Eichh.
6. Xyleborus schlichii, Steb. 7. Xyleborus pcr-
forans, \V. S. Platypus curtus, Chap. 9. Diapus
guinquespinatus,Cha.T[>. 10. Zemioses sp., beetle an I
wood-boring. n. Platysoma? sp. 12. Hemiptcra „ „ 590

Egg-tunnels of Scolytoplatypus himalayoisis, Steb., sp.
ii(iv., in silver-fir wood

Crossotarsus conifcrac, Steb., male and female beetles,
and tunnels of beetles in deodar wood .

» ,, U1U

, Chap., male and female beetles, and
tunnels of beetles in Finns longifolia wood ...

INDIAN FOREST INSECTS

OF ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE.

CHAPTER I.

ON A STUDY OF THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE INSECT
FAUNA OF INDIAN FORESTS.

THE work of investigation into the life histories of the insect pests of the
extensive Indian forests, forests covering an area whose climate varies from
tropical to sub-arctic, is yet in its pioneer stage. It will be readily under-
stood that the character and composition of forests growing under such
varied climatic conditions must of necessity differ enormously : from the
coniferous and broad-leaved (oak, chestnut, etc.) forests of the Himalaya,
through the forests of the hot dry zone, to those of the hot moist, finally
merging into the mangrove forests of the seaboard. And this change in
the vegetation is accompanied by a difference in the species and genera-
in some instances, it may be said, families — of the insects which infest the
trees growing in a particular area.

. Gamble has stated * that the Indian forests contain some five thousand
different species of trees, shrubs, climbers, and bamboos, covering about
one-third of the Indian flora. With this large number of species in the
forest to deal with, the investigator into the life histories <>f the insects
infesting them would also expect to find, with each change in the forest
flora, a corresponding change in the species or group of species of insects
infesting the trees of a particular locality. And this, to a certain extent, so
far as present investigation work has been taken, has proved to be the case.
It is too early yet to draw out a distribution list of the chief important
pests of the different classes of forest throughout the countrx, but .1 com-
mencement in this direction may be attempted.

The work of the past decade and a half has made it possible to ^ive
broadly the limits within which some of the insect pests of the different
kinds of forest commit their depredations, i.e. the area within \\h
boundaries their attacks must be leaivd as those of dangerous foes. It
will be useful, therefore, as a preliminary to an account of the injurious
insects at present known, to glance briefly at the distribution of 3 few of

* J. S. Gamble, Manual of Indian /'/w/'v/rv, lmn>. p. \\ii.
9003 I 1592/10 2000 — 5/1914 H \ S

INDIAN FOREST INSECTS

tin- families or genera or individual species which are already, or are likely
to become in the future, of chief importance to the executive forest officer.

When a distribution list of forest pests was first attempted it was con-
sidered possible that the forest tracts might be divided for this purpose
broadly into those of the hot dry region, those of the hot moist region, those
of the regions intermediate between these two, and those of the Western and
t.in Himalaya and contiguous mountain ranges. Or that, failing such
a rlassiriratioii, a distribution could be based on the classes of forest, i.e.
the areas occupied by the chief species of trees at present economically
useful to the forester. A distribution list based on either of these factors

has been found to be impracticable. Whilst
some genera or species, it is true, seem to be
confined to the hot dry localities or the hot
moist ones, others appear to flourish in both.
We know that the habitat of the same species
of tree may vary from a comparatively hot
dry climate to a hot moist one, as, e.g., the
sal (Shorea robnsta) in the Central Provinces
and in Assam. It would therefore perhaps
be natural to expect that an insect which
infested the tree in the hot dry climate
could also adapt itself to the hot moist one.
And this is true of some species, but not of
others. For instance, the sal longicorn beetle
Hoplocerambyx spinicornis infests this tree both
in the Central Provinces and Assam, but the
beetle also extends down into the Shan Hills
far beyond the distribution limit of the sal,
and here attacks the Duabanga sonnatioides
and Pcntacme suavis. On the other hand, the
sal-tree extends into Northern India and
^\G.i.—Hoplocerambyxs'pinicornis. forms forests in the Terai in the foothills of

(F.B.I.) the Western Himalaya. The Hoplocerambyx

does not, however, follow the sal into this

locality, its place being taken by another longicorn, sEolesthes holosericea.
i logical sequence to the distribution of this and other species, which will
be dealt with later, it would appear that the distribution of forest insects is
limited more by cold and elevation than by heat and moisture.

Or, to put it in another way, beyond a certain elevation in the Himalaya
and other elevated mountainous tracts to the south the forest pests of the
plains are rarely found, whereas south of the Himalaya below a certain
slevation some pests may have a very wide distribution, both in hot dry and
hot moist localities, whilst others will be confined either to the forests in
hot dry localities or be restricted to the hot moist areas. We will briefly
consider this distribution in the plains.

DISTRIBUTION OF INDIAN FOREST INSECTS

FIG 2. — Section of wood of Pentacme suavtt showing boi n sol //-</</", ,-><n>;

spiiiiio/ nis, \c\vn. Southern Sli;in St.ites.

A _'

4 INDIAN FOREST INSECTS

As a first case, a tree may have a wide distribution, and its particular
pest may accompany it throughout. This is true of the tun-tree (Cedrela
toona} twig-borer, Ilv^ipyla rolnistd, which appears to be as widely dis-
tributed as th.' tree itself. I have personally taken the insect from twigs and
branches at ("hanga Manga in the Punjab, in the United Provinces, Central
Provinces, I'.engal. and at M ay my o in Upper Burma. Similarly the two
well-known defoliators of teak, the caterpillars of the moths Hyblcea puera
and /'vnf/.'.s/if machacralis, appear to be found wherever the tree exists as a
forest in India, i.e. in Bombay, Central Provinces, Madras, and Burma.

Or a pest may infest a variety of trees occupying very different climates,
and have itself a wide distribution. Amongst the family Bostrychidae
instances are common. Both Sinoxylon crassum and S. anale infest several
-pecies of trees, tunnelling into and riddling their timber. These beetles
occur as a serious pest in the Changa Manga plantations, where they infest
sissu (Dalbergia sissoo) and Acacia modest a. I have also taken one or other
or both of the insects in sal, Terminals a tomentosa, Acacia catechu, Ano-
ifcissiis, Pterocarpus, Albizzia, Prosopis, etc., in the forests of the United
Provinces, Bombay, Sind, the Central Provinces, Assam, and Burma.
\x ain, the genus Dinoderus includes two species, Dinoderus pilifrons and
I), milt ut us, one or other or both of which are to be found infesting
bamboos throughout the length and breadth of India.

Caryoborus gonagra again (one of the Bruchidae) infests the seeds of a
variety of trees, and appears to be equally at home in Bombay, the Central
Provinces, and Madras. The common noctuid caterpillar Ingura snbapicnlis
defoliates the sal in Ganjam, and also in the United Provinces Terai and
Oudh forests in the monsoon months.

On the other hand, to come to our other case, there is an assemblage
of moths belonging to the families Lasiocampidae and Noctuidae which
di-loliate the sal-tree in the Central Provinces and Chota Nagpur (species
of 'I'raualti, In^iii'ii, etc.). In the sal forests of the United Provinces Terai
the Central Provinces species are replaced by others (Suana, Boar mi a] ;
whilst again in Assam an entirely different set of defoliating cater-
pillars are met with on the sal, several species of Lymantria, Dasychim,
Lcimniui, etc.

Jo quote one more instance amongst plains insects, a genus of bark

Splnici-otiypcs, which infests the sal-tree, has this local distribution.

S/U'<(//AY;/S/S is found infesting the sal of the Siwaliks and United Provinces

A second species. .S'. ^lobuliis, is found in the Central Provinces

on th.- same tree; whilst a third species, 5. assamensis, infests the sal in

A fourth species attacks the Anogeissus latifolia in Coimbatore in

It is unnecessary here to dwell on further instances of the anoma-

ln-s in the distribution of some of our forest species in the plains, as they will

In- alluded to at length later on.

Turning now to the insects of the Himalayan forests, investigation has
shown that the assemblage of insect pests present in the Western Himalaya

DISTRIBUTION OF INDIAN FOREST INSECTS

differs greatly from that in the Eastern portions of the range. And this
is only what might be expected, since the composition of the forest in the two
localities is entirely different. In the Western Himalaya, as compared with
the broad-leaved assemblage
of species characteristic of
the Eastern, the coniferous
forests predominate, and we
find classes of pests more
resembling those of the
European, American, or
Japanese coniferous areas.
Here again anomalies are
found in the distribution of
genera and species, and
even families. The impor-
tance of the families Bos- FIG. i.—SfAenoptera aterrtma, Kerrem.
trychidae, Buprestidae, and d i natural size, d e enlarged.
Cerambycidae, all powerful

groups in the plains, has disappeared. Serious pests, small in size, there
are in the two latter families, as witness the deodar buprestid Sphenoptera
atcrriina and longicorn Trinophyllum cribyatum, and the long-leaved pine
Nothorrhina. But the great importance of the families as evidenced in the
plains forest has been outclassed here by the Scolytidae. This family in
the Western Himalaya contains an assemblage of pests who have at their
mercy the whole of the coniferous species, and in even" instance, so far
as present investigations go, the species affecting a particular tree accom-
panies it from the centre to the limits of its habitat. Another point
about the distribution of some of these genera, which is known to be
the case in other parts of the world, is that one or more appear to be
confined to a particular species of tree. There are, e.g., three species
of Scolytus known in the Western Himalaya (5. nntjor, S. minor, and
S. deodar a), and they all infest the deodar. I have never yet taken the

genus from any other tree in the
Himalaya, nor have I found it at all
in the plains. And \ et in Europe the
genus is confined to broad -leaved tree- '
\\'e must look to America lor analo-
goiis instances of its infesting com!
There is a / Wv^n//>//;rs (!'. W it is

true, \\lneh will also infest the de. idar,
-.. 4.— Polygraph i« major, Steb. X 16. but only wlit-n it is unabl*

sufficiency of its own real host, the

blue pine. The important genus Fomicus, on the other li.m.l
appear to infest the deodar. One species (T. n/>
blue pine (often in company with I'oly^niplins />/;//) and spruce ibut not

INDIAN FOREST INSECTS

thr silver fir); whilst a second confines itself to the long-leaved pine (Pinus

la] ;.t tli. lower elevation at which this latter tree grows.
A family oi wood-borers, the Platypodidae, closely allied to the Scoly-
tidae, has a similar distribution, one species being confined to the deodar, a
„,<! to thr spruce and blue pine, whilst a third restricts its attacks to the

1 o n g - 1 e a v e d
p i n e, whose
wood it fre-
quently so rid-
dles with shot-
holes as to
render it use-
less as timber.
The bark-
borers of the
silver fir are,
on the other
hand, totally
dissimilar to
those of the
other conifers
growing either
with it, as does
the spruce, or
in its vicinity
(deodar and
blue pine). The
curious genus
Scolytoplatypus
(p. 604) infests
the wood ofthis
tree; whilst the
gen us Xyle-
bonis infests
the branches
(p. 582); a spe-
cies of Dryo-
coetes infests
the bast and
sapwood of the
spruce (p. 549).

Some of the true scolytid wood-borers and those of the Cossonidae
have not this restricted distribution so far as their host-trees are concerned,
for species of Hylnstcs and Khyncliolus infest equally the spruce, deodar,
and blue pine. A genus of weevils, the well-known Cryptorhynchus, infests

'in. v -K.^ and l;irv;il galleries of Tomicus longifolia, Steb.,
in inner hark of J'IHHX longifolia. North-West Himalaya.

Flalel.

L.

4.

r.H.Lace Photo.

'

ftg.l. GALLERIES OF THE BLUE PIN] "

Figs. 2.3.4. GALLERIES OF POLYGRAPHUS PINI STEB. Ill

p, PAIRING CHAMBER-, e, EGG GALLERY; I, I

DISTRIBUTION OF INDIAN FOREST INSECTS

the Himalayan pines, but two different species of the genus infest the
three pines— the blue pine, long-leaved pine, and the Pinus khasya of
Assam and Upper Burma.

But whilst such marked limits can be placed upon the distribution
and host-plants of many of the coniferous bark-boring pests in the Western
Himalaya, the same limits cannot be assigned to the distribution of some
of the predaceous pests infesting them. For instance, the clerid Thanasimus
himalayensis preys equally upon all the various
species of bark- and wood-borers infesting the deodar,
spruce, blue pine, and long-leaved pine in the
Western Himalaya, appearing equally at home
between elevations of 2,500 ft. and 8,000 ft. A
Niponius also (N . canalicollis, of the family Histeridae)
preys upon the larvae and pupae of these bark-
borers, and is to be found not only in the above-
enumerated conifers, but also in the Pinus gerardiana
in the Suliman Mountains in Baluchistan, where
it preys upon the Polygraphus (P. trenchi) which
infests the pine in this locality. A curious distribu- FlG 6-
tion, since the genus is a Japanese one. canalicollis, Lewis.

It may be mentioned that another member of

this genus (N. andrewesi) is to be found preying upon the sal-tree Sphaero-
trypes both in the Siwaliks and United Provinces Terai, in the Central
Provinces sal areas, and again in Assam, whilst in Coimbatore it attacks the
Sphaerotrypes of the Anogeissus.

Although I would not be understood to say that they do not occur, I
have not found the genera Polygraphus and Tomicus in the plains forest, their
places being, apparently taken by the genus Sphaerotrypes.

Per contra, I have not found that the bostrychid genera D moderns
and Sinoxylon extend to a great elevation, beyond 4,000 ft. probably, in the
Western Himalaya. A species of Sinoxylon has been reported from the
Darjeeling district in the Eastern Himalaya, but the locality is not recorded,
and the district extends down to the plains. These two genera appear
to be particularly addicted to great heat requirements, either dry or
moist.

From the above brief resume of the distribution of a few of the more
typical forest pests it will be apparent that it would be difficult to base a
distribution of certain groups of insects or of certain families, genera, or
species, either upon the species of trees they infest or upon certain classes of
mixed forests in which they attack the predominant species and some
of those others which are normally found in mixture with it ; for it has
been shown that the distribution of the particular insect may extern! far
beyond the limits of the predominant tree. Nor is it possible to base
distribution, in the light of our present knowledge, on particular /ones «>|
vegetation, such as a hot dry one, hot moist, etc.; for certain specie^

8 INDIAN FOREST INSECTS

appear to be at home both in a hot dry climate and in a hot moist one.
Finally, it is not possible to base a distribution list on the species of
trees attacks!. In the coniferous areas of the Western Himalaya it is
apparent to some extent that certain species of one or more genera are
confined to certain species of tree ; in some cases a genus may be con-
fined to a particular tree ; or another genus and certain species in it may
infest more than one species of tree ; or, lastly, to one or two species of
trees one or more species in one or more genera may confine their attacks.

In the case of predaceous insects instances are known where a par-
ticular species is found throughout the plains forests attacking a certain
genus of bark beetles, its distribution apparently depending on the distri-
bution of the genus upon which it preys.

( 9 )

CHAPTER II.

GENERAL REMARKS ON INJURIOUS AND BENEFICIAL

INSECTS.

I.— GENERAL REMARKS ON THE DIFFERENT METHODS BY WHICH INSECTS ATTACK AND
DESTROY TREK GROWTH AND THE DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE TREE AFFECTED.
—Damage done to (a) Roots ; (b) Stems : (i) Young Trees, (2) Poles, (3) Old
Stems ; (f) Branches ; (d) Young Twigs : (<?) Buds ; (/) Leaves ; (g) Inflorescence ;
(h) Fruits and Seeds ; (/) Timber.

II.— GENERAL REMARKS ON THE METHODS BY WHICH THE INSECTS OF USE TO THE
FORESTER ACCOMPLISH THEIR WORK.— (a) Predators, or insects which prey directly
upon injurious insects, which they consume at once as food ; (b) Parasites, or insects
which live parasitically upon injurious species, slowly killing them.

I. — General Remarks on the Different Methods by which Insects
Attack and Destroy Tree Growth.

SPECIFIC ACCOUNT OF THE KINDS OF DAMAGE THAT MAY BE DONE.

THE tree may be injured or killed in various ways by the insect. The
nature of the injury done depends upon two principal things—

(1) The nature of the aggressor, whether it belongs to the great group

of biting insects or to the equally dangerous section which live
by suction.

(2) The method of growth of the tree and the nature of its parts,

whether more or less resistant to insect life or favourable for
its sustenance.

1. The Nature of the Aggressor.

As we have seen, for our purpose insects may be divided into t\v<>
groups, the biting insects and the sucking insects.

It will be obvious that whereas it is a simple matter for an insect
provided with a strong pair of biting jaws or mandibles to bore through tin-
old, dead, thick outer bark of a tree to get at the cambium layer beneath,
such a procedure would be quite impossible for an insert like an aphis or
plant blight, which takes its sustenance through a soft tubular lx-ak and is
without strong biting jaws.

Therefore, the nature of the month-parts present in the insei t determines
to a great extent the part or parts of the tree it is able to attack.

(a) Biting Insects. — An insect furnished with biting mouth-parts is able
to attack every part of the tree from root to fruit or seed. As \\v shall see,

io INDIAN FOREST INSECTS

insects so formed commit serious damage to the bast and wood of the
roots, main stem, and branches of the tree. To mention but a few
instances, m.-mhers of the families Siricidae (Hymenoptera) ; Buprestidae
(p. 190), Cerambycidae (p. 268), Scolytidae (p. 457) (Coleoptera); Cossidae,
;md Arlu-lidae (Lepidoptera), do such damage either in their larval or
imagine stages. Other species live in the bast or interior of the smaller
branches and twigs : Scolytidae; Pyralidae (Lepidoptera), for instance ; whilst
others again feed on the leaves or needles of the tree: sawflies (Tenthredinidae);
Chrysonu'lidae (4x253), Curculionidae (p. 393) (Coleoptera); Lymantriidae,
Noctuidae, Pyralidae (Lepidoptera). Finally, other biting insects destroy
the flowers or fruits : Chrysomelidae, Cantharidae (p. 246). or tunnel into
the seeds, as for example members of such families as the Bruchidae (p. 250),
Curculionidae, Scolytidae; Pyralidae, Microlepidoptera (Lepidoptera).

(6) Sucking Insects. — The powers of the sucking insect to damage the
tree are somewhat more restricted, since it is unable to attack such
portions as are coated with thick bark, save where it can obtain ingress
to the bast layer through wounds, a fruitful source of attack. The area of
the tree open to attack is, however, still of very considerable extent,
consisting as it does of the whole of the crown and the smaller
roots ; and, of course, seedlings and young saplings are subject to
injury in every part. In the case of some trees, all the conifers for
example, the injury possible from the sucking insect is of very considerable
extent.

The younger roots are subject to the attacks of one of the worst families
of sucking insects, the plant lice or Aphidae (Rhynchota). The roots may
also be galled and consequently weakened under the attacks of Chalcidae
(Hymenoptera), Aphidae, and Coccidae (Rhynchota).

The stems, br, inches, twigs, and leaves, are subject to direct attack
by tapping or suction by Aphidae and Coccidae. Or, again, galls may
be produced on any of these parts by Chalcidae, Curculionidae, Aphidae, and
Coccidae.

Similarly the flowers and seed may be either directly tapped by the
chalcid, aphid, or coccid family, or they may be indirectly affected and
the seed aborted or rendered barren by the insidious tapping of the sap of
the flower-bearing twigs by members of these families.

2. The Method of Growth of the Tree and Nature of its Parts.

This section m;iy be prefaced with the remark that in nature the balance
between the tree and the insect is held fairly even. A primeval forest
alw.ixs contains a number of sickly and dying trees, which provide sufficient
food for the insects who prey upon the particular species of tree. It is
usually, not always, only when man interferes with nature's balance of
power that serious insect invasions in the forests are experienced. This

REMARKS ON INJURIOUS AND BENEFICIAL INSECTS n

is commonly the case when the tree is
encouraged to grow pure in dense masses.

Trees grow in different ways, and have
in some cases acquired characters more or
less resistant to insect attacks. For in-
stance, the thick bark of some of the conifers
offers impediments to the burrowing pro-
pensities of certain Scolytidae, although
others are not deterred by its presence.
Polygraphus major, a scolytid beetle which
attacks the blue pine (Pinus excelsa), only
infests the branches and upper porti'ons of
the main stem. It is never found burrow-
ing into the thick bark of the tree. Simi-
larly, although it also infests the deodar
(Cedrus deodar a], it only attacks young sap-
lings and seedlings, and is much less happy
in this tree, finding the bark and wood too
hard for its purpose. Again, the thick rough
bark of the Pinus longifolia serves as a
deterrent to several bark-beetles which are
confined to the smaller branches and twigs
of the tree.

The conifers when attacked or wounded
have the power of exuding masses of resin
which are obnoxious to most mature forms
of insect life, although the grubs of the
same species can exist and flourish in this
resin. Numbers of the smaller Buprestidae,
Cerambycidae, and most species of the Scoly-
tidae which infest Coniferae, are drowned in
the outflow of resin put out in response to
the tunnelling operations of these insects.
The species alluded to tunnel down into the
bast (or wood) to prepare galleries in which
to lay their eggs. Healthy trees respond
to the burrowing of the insect by an out-
flow of resin which fills the tunnel and
drowns the insects. It is only when a tree
is so sickly that it has lost the power to
answer to such attacks by an outflow of
resin in sufficient quantity that the beetles
gain the upper hand and kill it.

Again, the thick bark of a tree or the
thick shell or coat of the fruit or seed

7. — Youi).^ (In ic lav rcic'l -inlliul
by rout leech: itei pillar.

12

INDIAN FOREST INSECTS

FK;. 8. — Root of .-li'iii'in arabit a tunnelled
by Coclosterna scabrata. Beetle in
situ in pupal chamber. Berar.

protects them from the attacks of the
gall-making insects and from the
tapping operations of the plant-lice
(aphids) and coccids or scale insects,
and from the attacks of the bark-
eating caterpillars, which can only
attack the softer parts of the tree.
In many cases the thinner bark,
leaves, flowers, and seeds contain
substances such as unpalatable sap,
oils, etc., which are distasteful or
inimical to insect life, such trees
proving more or less immune to
serious attack.

We turn now to consider briefly
the damage which may be done to the
individual parts of the tree.

(a) Damage done to the Roots.—

Probably greater damage is done to
the roots of forest trees in India than
the forester has as yet any suspicion
of. The thicker roots of the sal-
tree are subject to the attacks of
Cerambycidae (Hoplocerambyx, p. 320)
and, in the portions contiguous
to the trunk, of Scolytidae (Sphaero-
trypes, p. 481), whilst the bark of
the smaller roots is eaten by various
species of Melolonthinae (Cock-
chafers, p. 73).

The roots of young seedlings and
saplings of another broad-leaved tree,
the babul (Acacia arabica), are tun-
nelled into and destroyed by a cer-
ainbyx beetle (Coelosterna, p. 358),
whilst those of young poplar saplings
are tunnelled by the caterpillar of a
moth (Trochilium omnatiaeforme), and
those of the sandal-wood (S ant alum
album) by another lepidopterous cater-
pillar (Zeuzera coffaea}.

The roots of deodar seedlings
are cut through by the coleopterous
wireworm (Elatcr, p. 230) and the

REMARKS ON INJURIOUS AND BENEFICIAL INSECTS 13

lepidopterous cutworm (A grot is), or girdled by other lepidopterous cater-
pillars (cf. fig. 7).

The smaller roots of the deodar are subject to the attacks of
at least one aphid, and probably other trees are infested in this
way by this family, whilst the gall-making families also infest the
roots.

Casuarina seedlings are destroyed by the grubs of the rhinoceros beetle
(Oryctes, p. 87).

(b) Damage done to the Stem. — (i) Young Trees. — The stems of young
trees are subject to attack in a variety of ways : The young seedling may be
destroyed in toto by Orthopterous insects such as locusts (Acridiidae) and
crickets (Brachytrupes) ; the green bark and bast may be stripped off them by
locusts in the case of Pinus longifolia, and Coleoptera such as Buprestidae
(Psiloptera, p. 199) in the babul, and Cerambycidae (Apriona, p. 374) in the
mulberry ; or it may be ringed, as, for example, Poinciana by Xylotrupes
(p. 90), deodar by Scolytus deodara (p. 578), and casuarina by Arbela
tetraonis.

The bast may be tunnelled and destroyed by Scolytidae, examples of
which are Polygraphus major (p. 501), in the deodar and blue pine; Curcu-
lionidae, such as Cryptorhynchns (p. 428), in the Pinus longifolia and Pinus
khasya.

The bast may be tapped by numerous Aphidae, such as the Black
Aphid of the blue pine, the Aphid of the Pinus longifolia, the Chennes
and Lachnus of the silver fir, the Chennes of the spruce, and the coccid
Monophlebus of the sal, teak, sissu, and other trees.

(2) Poles.— The stems of poles are subject to attack by many of the
insects which infest young trees. Their lower parts are, however, covered
by a thicker bark, and this leads to their infestation by species which
will not attack younger trees.

For example, sal poles may have both bast and wood riddled by
cerambyx beetles (Hoplocerambyx and JEolesthes), and the bast consumed
by Scolytidae (Sphaerotrypes) . Teak is tunnelled by the bee hole-borer
caterpillar (Duomitus) and the kulsi-borer (Stromatiiim, p. 293).

The bast of deodar poles is riddled by Scolytus major (p. 568) and
Scolytus minor (p. 577) ; also by Polygraphus major (Scolytidae).

(3) Old Stems. — The number of insects which infest the main bole of old
trees is very large.

The sal, in different parts of the country, has to contend u-;iinst
two large species of cerambycid beetles (Hoplocerambyx
which riddle the bast and tunnel deep into tin- hard wood of green tiv
other species of the family destroy the bast only. Two or three species
of Sphaerotrypes act in the same manner.

M INDIAN FOREST INSECTS

The bast of the teak-tree is eaten by the caterpillar of Duomitus cemmicus,
the grub tunnelling into the wood to pupate; with the subsequent growth
of the tree the tunnels become enclosed in the wood, ruining it for large
timber purposes. Species of the genus Xyleboms (Scolytidae, p. 582) tunnel

down into the timber.

Poplar and willow are killed and the wood destroyed by the grubs of
the CL-nunhycid beetle .-Eolcsthes sarta (p. 307).

The bast of green deodar is destroyed by the buprestid Sphenoptera

(p. 204), by the cerambycid Trinophyllum
(p. 340), and by the scolytid beetles
Scolytus major and S. minor, and the wood
of the tree is tunnelled into by the wood-
borer Crossotarsus (p. 613).

The bast of the Finns gerardiana is
riddled and the tree often killed by the
beetle Polygraphus trenchi (p. 510).

To quote two more instances, the
wood of the sissu, acacia, Terminalia, etc.,
is riddled by the wood-borers Sinoxylon
crassuma.nd S. anale (p. 152) and bamboos
by Dinoderus (p. 133 and pi. ii).

(c) Damage done to the Branches.—

The larger branches of the tree, covered
by old thick bark, are tunnelled into and
destroyed by most of the insects, both
bast-eating and wood-boring, which infest
the main stem.

Where the bark commences to thin
out, the insects we have already men-
tioned as infesting poles will be found
to be present, and they occupy all the
part of the crown up to the twigs. A
little experience will show7 that the
dividing lines between the species in-
festing the areas covered by old thick
bark, thin younger bark, and the green

cortex-covered twigs, are very fairly sharply marked off, each having
ih'-ir own set of insects. There are, however, some pests which
infest ever\- part of the tree with the exception of the young green cortex-
covered twigs.

The 1 iranches of the sal-tree are infested by a small buprestid beetle,
Acmaeodera <p. 193), and by a cerambycid, Xylotrcchus (p. 347). The twigs
:nid young saplings of the sal-tree suffer severely from the tapping propensi-
ties of the Mnnophlebus scale insect.

9. — Larval galleries of lloplo-

i>n/>Y.\ spinicornis, Newn., in

bast and sapwood of sal (much

n .lured .

•

Plate II.

V: '

js)

--

• ' "

•

BOOS BAMBOO B

- i

REMARKS ON INJURIOUS AND BENEFICIAL INSECTS 15

(d) Damage done to the Young
Twigs. — The young twigs have a
set of pests which usually confine
themselves to these parts of the
tree. Some of them will also
be found to infest seedlings and
saplings.

The smaller branches and twigs
of the tun-tree are tunnelled and
destroyed by the tun-tree borer
(Hypsipyla).

Scolytus minor is to be found in
the bast of deodar twigs, both in
saplings and old trees, whilst a
smaller scolytid (p. 528) is to be
found mining the smaller twigs.

The twigs of the spruce and
silver fir suffer from the attacks of
a Chermes (C. himalayensis), which
forms galls upon and aborts and
kills the former, whilst curling up
and killing the latter.

The Finns longifolia suffers from
a pyralid caterpillar which hollows
out the extremities of the branches
and kills them.

The twigs of the teak, Boswellin,
Finns longifolia, silver fir, blue pine,
etc., are destroyed by tiny scoly-
tid pests (Cryphalus, Pityophthonts,

PP. 533, 550-

(e) Damage done to the Buds.—

The buds of forest trees doubtless
suffer a very considerable amount of
as yet unappreciated injury from
insects.

The buds of the sal in Assam are
destroyed by a small microlepidop-
terous caterpillar.

It is on the winter bud of the
spruce that the Chermes winter: female
feeds, and sets up an irritation which
subsequently results in a gall en-
closing her progeny, the bud being
•entirely destroyed.

FlG. io. — Inner surface of the bark of

^•r<iniian,i, showin- th( iixl

galleries of l\>l\^raphii* trcnjii,

i6 INDIAN FOREST INSECTS

The buds of Finns longi folia suffer from the attacks of a cecidomyid fly
which causes pseudo-galls to be formed.

(/) Damage done to the Leaves. — Everyone is acquainted with the
damage done to the leaves of trees by insects. The result is commonly seen
in the ragged edges of partially eaten leaves, in holes eaten out of the inner
portions, in the epidermis of the upper or lower surface being eaten, or the
parenchyma between the epidermis being consumed or mined by tunnels,
in the leaf being "skeletonized," the parenchyma being eaten and the
veins left, or finally in entirely defoliated trees. Or again a great web
like a gigantic mass of spiders'-webs is seen in the branches of a tree,
the leaves in its vicinity being probably mostly stripped off. This
is the home of a society of what have been called the "tent caterpillars,"
because they thus live together, for a portion of this stage of their
existence, in a kind of immense house or tent, usually issuing out to feed
at night.

The insect pests which feed upon the leaves of the forest trees are:
legion. Some of the more important are now known. For instance,
the sal-tree in Assam is at times entirely stripped of all green leaves
over hundreds of square miles of country by species of caterpillars
belonging to the family Lymantriidae (Lymantria spp.). In the United
Provinces the same tree suffers from the attacks of the looper cater-
pillar Boiinniii sclcnaria, and from those of the noctuid moth Ingura
subapictilis, whilst in the Central Provinces, again, the larvae of the
latter and of the moths Lymantria semicincta, Trabala vishnu, and Suana sp.
are the worst defoliators of the tree. The defoliation to which the teak-
tree is subject from the larvae of the moths Hyblcza puera and Pyrausta
iiiiiclmci'tilis is well known. Large forests of this tree in the Central
Provinces, Bombay, Madras, and Burma are at times completely defoliated,,
or the leaves are skeletonized and killed by one or both of these species
working together.

The deodar in the North-West Himalayan forests is occasionally
stripped of its needles by a species of geometrid caterpillar (Geometrina)*
blocks of forest being completely defoliated.

The oaks (Quercus incana, Q. dilntata, and Q. semicarpifolia) of these
Himalayan areas are also defoliated by species of Tortrix and Tinea
caterpillars, whilst the horse-chestnut is occasionally completely de-
foliated by the caterpillars of the moth A crony eta anaedina. The looper
grubs of the moth llistria suppressaria defoliate several species of trees in
the Murree hills.

Again, the oak (Q. lamcllosa) of the Darjeeling forests in the Eastern
Himalaya is defoliated by the caterpillars of species of Gazalina.

But defoliation is not always the result of caterpillar attacks. The
sissu in the Sutlej Valley, and probably throughout the North-West
Himalayan valleys, is defoliated by a small weevil named Apoderus (p. 418)..

REMARKS ON INJURIOUS AND BENEFICIAL INSECTS 17

Many of the Chrysomelidae beetles feed upon leaves, such as the Podontia
beetle (p. 258) which defoliates the Spondias mangiferae and Ficus elastic a ;
and an Aphis so reduces the vitality of the needle-bearing twigs of the blue
pine that the needles fall either wholly or in part. These are but a few
instances of the serious defoliation to which trees are subject by insect pests.

(g) Damage done to the Inflorescence. — It is probable that the in-
florescence suffers very seriously from the attacks of insects. I have
as yet but a few actually observed examples. The commonest form
of attack is for the eggs to be deposited in or on the inflorescence, and
for the resulting grubs to mature in and gradually destroy the developing
fruit or seed.

The blister beetle (Mylabris, p. 247) actually feeds upon and destroys
the flowers of the Artocarpus and many shrubs such as the Hibiscus, etc.

The caterpillars of the moth Boarmia selenaria devour the inflores-
cence of the sal-tree in the forests of the United Provinces Terai and
Siwalik areas.

(h) Damage done to the Fruits and Seeds. — A great deal of investigation
work remains to be carried out in the study of the damage done by insects
to the fruits and seeds of forest trees in India. Sal seed in Assam is
infested by the caterpillars of several species of small moths (Conogethes,
Laspeyresia, and Cacoecia), and also by a small scolytid beetle (Coccotrypes,
p. 543). In the United Provinces and Siwaliks the caterpillars of other
species of moths (the pyralid Dichrocosis leptalis and Microlepidoptera) are
responsible for the failure of what may promise to be a good seed year.

The cones of the chief conifers of the North-West Himalayan forests,
the deodar, silver fir, spruce, and blue pine, are infested by one or both of
the caterpillars of the moths Phycita abietella and Euzophera cedrella.

The Quercus incana seed is infested by a small weevil, Calandra, p. 446.
Small bruchid beetles, species of Caryoborus, are responsible for damage to
the seed of Bauhinia, Tamarindus, Cassia, whilst the small caterpillars of
the moths Trachylepidea fructicasiella and Cryptophlebia carpophaga infest the
seeds in the long pods of Cassia fistula and C. occidcntalis.

The acorns of the oak Q. semicarpifolia are destroyed by the grubs of the
hymenopterous fly Callirhytis semicarpifoliae.

(i) Damage done to the Timber. — Every forester is aware that once the
tree is dead the timber is liable to a more or less rapid decay, the rapidity
depending to some extent on climatic and surrounding influences. In India
a variety of insects play a very important part in assisting this falling off in
quality of the timber. The attacks of others lower the market value of the
timber owing to the presence of galleries and holes on the outer sapwood or in
the heart-wood, as in the case of the sandal wood lon-n -. >rn beetle (cf. pi. iii and
p. 380). The number of timber-boring insects is very l.n;_;e, some of the chief
pests being found in the families Bostrychidae, Elateridae, Cerambycidac,
Curculionidae, Scolytidae, Platypodidae, Termitidae, Siricidae, Cossidae, etc.

9003

i8 INDIAN FOREST INSECTS

II. General Remarks on the Methods by which the Insects of Use to

the Forester accomplish their Work.

The insects of use to the forester may kill either the egg, larva, pupa,
or imago stage of the host insect upon which they prey, or they may destroy
more than one of these stages of their host.

(a) PREDATORS, OR INSECTS WHICH PREY DIRECTLY UPON INJURIOUS

FOREST INSECT PESTS WHICH THEY COMSUME AT ONCE AS FOOD.

Investigation in the Indian forests has shown that the forester is

assisted in his work of protecting the trees from injury by a variety of insect

helpers.

Up in the North-Western Himalaya probably one of the chief insects

of importance in this category is the scolytid bark- and wood-borer
predator Thanasimus himalayensis (p. 186), discovered in 1902,
the imago of which feeds voraciously upon most of the
Himalayan coniferous bark- and wood-boring scolytids. This
insect takes the place of the well-known Clerus fonnicarius
of the German coniferous areas. The grubs of this beetle
(which preys upon the scolytids outside the tree) feed
upon the bark-beetle grubs in their tunnels in the bast
layer.

FlG- JI-~ A second species of the same family, Tillus, enters the

""*" tunnels of the bamboo-borer Dinoderus minutus, and feeds upon
layensis, Steb., , . , - ,. , , ., ., 0,

, the larvae and pupae of this bostrychid (vide p. 186).

L)It*Cicl.CyCO U o 11 1)~

on Scolytidae Another useful bark-beetle predator in these forests is

in the Western the histerid Niponius canalicollis, first discovered in 1901.

Himalaya. This beetle follows the bark-beetles into their tunnels, notably

Scolytus and Polygraphits, and preys upon the eggs and grubs

and pupae in one or more of the metamorphoses. Another species

of the same genus preys in a similar manner upon the sal Sphaerotrypes

beetles in the United Provinces and Assam, and upon the Sphaerotrypes of

the Anogeissus in Madras. Several other histerids (Paromalus, Platysoma)

prey in a similar manner upon the scolytid bark-borers Polygraphiis and

Tomicus, and upon the wood-borers Rhyncholus and Hylastes. Other histerids,

again, species of the genus Teretriosoma (p. 104), prey upon the bostrychid

wood-borers Sinoxylon crassum (p. 152) and 5. anale (p 167), which infest the

sissu-tree.

Observations carried out over a period of ten years have, I think, estab-
lished the fact that certain species of histerids have adapted their mode of
life to that of the insects upon which they prey. Those species, so far as at
present observed, which prey upon bark-boring Scolytidae obtain entrance to
the tree by crawling down the tunnels made by their hosts. Species of
Xiponius, Platysoma, Paromalus, Teretriosoma, Teretrius, all act in this manner.
This point is further referred to under the family.

PLATK III.

Section of a sandal-wood log showing ilic l.m.il galleries of Coeh
the outer sapwood. The presence of these galleries greatly reduces the sale pric
of the wood. North Coimbatore, Madras, 1902.

REMARKS ON INJURIOUS AND BENEFICIAL INSECTS 19

The large
ground-beetle
An tli i a sexguttata
(p. 95) feeds
upon the cater-
pillars of the
hawk moth
Pseudosphinx in
Berar and Bom-
bay, upon Sinoxy-
lon (p. 173), and
probably upon
other insects.

A species of
Bothrideres (p.
112) preys upon
the grubs of
the cerambyx
beetle Hoplo-
cer a in by x in
Assam, whilst
another destroys
the wood-borer
Sinoxylon, as also
do species of
Alindria (p. 114)
and Mclambia

(P- 114)-

Another

co 1 eo pt erous
genus, Hectar-
thrum (p. 1 1 6),
preys upon the
Sinoxylon wood-
borers in the Cen-
tral Provinces,
upon platypid
borers (p. 61 1 )
and termites in
M i I u i .s ti ;i n d
Anogeissus in
Lower Burma,
and upon the J)i-
nodenis bamboo-
borers (p. 140).

;r

4

FIG. 12. — Portion of stem of a dead /W/vr-vVi: sp., showing the targe
pupating chambers in the wood of the elater Alans ph ditlns, and
the tunnels and entrance bores of a platypid beetle in the tim

H 2

2O

INDIAN FOREST INSECTS

Small bast-living forms of the Staphylinidae also prey upon various
scolytid b:irk-borers or their grubs.

Many of the Coccinellidae are active predators
both in the grub and beetle stage. For instance,
the coccinellid Vedalia (p. 125) preys upon the sal
coccid scale insect Monophlebus stebbingii, whilst
the cosmopolitan Coccinella septempunctata (p. 123)
preys upon the Aphis of the blue pine, the
Lachnus of the silver fir, and upon the young grubs
of the Chermes himalayensis.

The beetle Cissites (p. 248) oviposits in the
tunnels of the carpenter bee, Xylocopa latipes, in
pyinkadu, its grubs feeding upon those of the
latter.

Finally, to come to the Rhynchota, the bug
Erthesina fullo feeds upon the caterpillars of the
sal-defoliator Boarmia selenaria in the United

FIG. 13.— Hectarthrum uni- Provinces Terai forests.
forme, Waterh., which

Er"VS™ In (*). PARASITES, OR INSECTS WH.CH LIVE PARASITI-

Tenasserim. CALLY UPON INJURIOUS SPECIES, SLOWLY

KILLING THEM.

The number of insect parasites, as also of that far less-known branch,

the fungus parasites, of the insect world is very great. The forester, and more

especially the forester in India, where the individual charges are of such

vast size and the forests of such enormous extent, is very largly dependent

upon the parasites which decimate and keep in check the insect foes of

his trees. It is therefore of considerable importance that he should be

able to recognize the presence and abundance of such valuable coadjutors

in his work of protection. That this is by no means a difficult feat will soon

become evident to the forest-trained eye. One has only to repair to a felling

area, and carefully scrutinize felled trees which have been lying in the

forest from two to three weeks with the bark on. The presence of various

bark-borers will soon be noted, intent on tunnelling into the tree to eat

out their egg-galleries in which to oviposit, or crawling over the bark

searching for a favourable spot to start their tunnelling operations. In

the Western Himalaya the predator Thanasimns may be noted flying round

or running quickly up the bark, searching eagerly for the bark-beetles.

Watch closely and you will see numbers of minute flies hovering about, or

settling upon the bark and disappearing down the entrances to the tunnels

made by bark-beetles who have already got well down through the bark

and reached the bast. These flies are parasitic insects, the friends of the

forester. They creep down the tunnels of the bark-borers and lay their

eggs in the galleries in the bast. The young grubs, on hatching from

these eggs, feed parasitically upon the grubs of the bark-borer, clinging

REMARKS ON INJURIOUS AND BENEFICIAL INSECTS 21

to them as external parasites and gradually sucking their life out. Or,
again, the mother fly may deposit her egg or eggs actually in the
grubs of the host insect through a small orifice pricked in the skin.
The parasitic grubs will then live inside the host-grubs as internal
parasites.

Some of these parasites of wood-infesting insects are of considerable
size, and may be specially furnished with a long apparatus at the end of the
body termed an ovipositor. This the female inserts down through crevices
of thick-barked trees such as the spruce of the Western Himalaya, so as to
reach the egg or young larva of the host. An example of this class is the
Rhyssa Ichneumon which parasitizes the Sirex saw-fly.

It will be found to be a common rule in the case of many of these
parasitic grubs that they do not immediately kill the host-grub. The latter
grows on until it reaches full size and has
carried out all its duties up to the preparation
of the pupal chamber. The larva gradually
grows feebler and feebler, and, finally, its work
done, dies of exhaustion. The parasitic grub
has by then reached full growth, and pupates
in the pupal chamber of its host, the fly
maturing here and escaping from the trees
by various methods, which differ for different
species, to seek out a mate, when the cycle is
commenced over again.

The large number of parasites which prey
upon caterpillars live in much the same way, FlG ^_Rhvssa persuasoria,
usually as internal parasites. When the Linn., parasitic on Sirex imperialis.
caterpillar has reached full growth and dies J-w- Himalaya.

of exhaustion, they may pierce through its dried skin and pupate outside
close by, or they may wait till the caterpillar has formed its chrysalis case.
The caterpillar pupa then dies and shrivels up inside, its place being occu-
pied by the now fully-grown parasitic grub (or grubs), which pupates inside
the chrysalis case.

A few instances of useful parasites to the forester may be quoted as
examples.

The order Hymenoptera contains families of great importance in
this direction ; the Ichneumonidae, Chalcididae, and Braconidae, for
instance.

Species of Ichneumon of use in the forest are numerous.

Rhyssa persuasoria is parasitic upon the grubs of the Sirex imperialis,
which tunnel into spruce timber. Its grubs live as external parasites and
accompany the Sirex grubs into the heart of the tree.

A species of Ichneumon, a small fly, lays its eggs in the tunnels of
the deodar pest, Scolytus major (p. 568), the grub also feeding as an
external parasite upon the bark-borer grub.

22 INDIAN FOREST INSECTS

Other species of Chalcid and Pompilius are parasitic upon the Polygraphiis
and 1'iiinicns bark-boring beetles (pp. 519 and 556).

The Ichneumon Ephinltes viridipennis is parasitic upon the deodar
buprestid Sphetwptera (p. 204).

Another Ichneumon, Ophion anreolatus, Cameron, is parasitic upon the
horse-chestnut defoliator, A crony da anacdina.

Species of (Jlvpta and Pimpla are parasitic upon the caterpillars of the
teak defoliator, Hyblu'u pucra.

A species of Mcteuncs is parasitic upon the caterpillar (Tinea sp.)
defoliating the Kharshu oak, Q. semicarpifolia.

Species of Chalcididae are parasitic upon Polygraphus major (p. 507)
and upon defoliating Lymantria caterpillars in Assam.

Again, a small Bracon fly is parasitic upon the bark-beetle Scolytns
minor (p. 577).

A small two-winged fly, like the ordinary house-fly, a species of
Mascicera (Diptera), is parasitic upon the teak-defoliator Hyblcza puera,
whilst another species of probably the same genus is parasitic upon the
caterpillars of the moth Enblcmma amabilis which feed parasitically upon the
lac insect (Tachardia lacca).

A species of Trigonomerus is parasitic upon the Pin its longifolia
Cecidomyia fly.

CHAPTER III.

ON SOME METHODS BY WHICH THE PRESENCE OF
INSECT PESTS IN THE FOREST MAY BE ASCER-
TAINED, AND THEIR LIFE HISTORIES AND MODES
OF ATTACKING TREES STUDIED.

ONE of the commonest ways in which forest insects bring themselves
into prominence, and one which must have made itself evident to all
forest officers, is by entering the bungalow at night, owing to the attraction
lights have for this class of animal life. Now, information of a very
important nature may be gained from these nocturnal visitations : I mean
of importance to the forester, for the appearance of a particular insect
signifies that at this period of the year it has arrived at the mature stage
of its metamorphosis, and that it is now probably engaged in egg-laying
in the forest, and for this purpose, if a tree pest, is in search of trees in
a state suitable for its requirements. Thus, by noting these dates of appear-
ance we secure some very important information — first, in many cases, the
date of appearance of the insect on the wing, or one of these dates should
the particular insect pass through more than one generation or life-cycle
in the year; secondly, the date or approximate date on which the eggs
are laid in the trees, since in many cases but a short period is passed
in the mature stage of its existence by the insect, the longer period being
in either the egg, grub (most usual), or pupa period of its metamorphosis ;
thirdly, we may, and very often do, secure the approximate date on which
the young grubs or larvae hatch out from the eggs, observation having
shown that in miny cases, notably in the case of the m jre dangerous of
the wood- and bark-boring beetles, but a short period, often forty-eight to
sixty hours or even less, elapses between the deposition of tin- eg- and
the hatching out of the grub from it.

We thus see that even the appearance of a particular species or
several species at the office or dinner-table may, if taken advantage of and
provided the specimen is kept and its identification securc-d, lead t<> informa-
tion of the highest importance to the forester being placed upon record.

Similar observations may be made whilst engaged in executive
work in the forest. An insect which makes its presence note\
in a locality owing to its abundance or for any other reason shonl.
at once secured; the date of collection, locality, and clas:
with species of trees it was frequenting or appeared to be
ing, should be at once noted down, and every effort ma<le to
ensure the identification of the species. It is almost imp*. for

24

INDIAN FOREST INSECTS

FlG. 15. — Portion of stem of a Rhododendron, showing numerous larval
galleries of a buprestid in the outer sapwood. N.W. Himalaya.

the executive
officer to gauge
the vast im-
portance a
note recorded
in such a
manner may
have in the
future, provi-
ded it has been
sent for record
to the expert
in charge of
this particular
branch of fo-
rest work. It
may perhaps
prove the con-
necting link
the latter has
been seeking
for several
years, the link
which pieces
together a
whole chain of
notes and ob-
servations
waiting this
one important
point to com-
plete it. It
has been often
said that there
is little use in
recording such
notes or in
collecting the
insects, since
very often no
identification
of the insect
can be given.
The remark
has in many

ON THE LIFE HISTORIES OF FOREST INSECTS 25

instances proved all too true. But it must be remembered that the
study of the insect pests of the Indian forests is still in the pioneer
stage. Some considerable collections of forest insects — minute insects as
many of our tree pests are --were forwarded -to the British Museum in
1901. The answer came back that a large percentage of the species
appeared new to the Museum collections. Several of them are still without
a specific name. Investigation work and collection work carried out since
then has tended to show that the insect fauna of our forests, or perhaps it
would be more correct to say the insect fauna of our trees, is practically a
new field of research, a field as interesting as it is arduous. So far as has
been ascertained, a considerable proportion of the species of importance to
the forester have yet to be described ; and such descriptions, depending, as
they must do, upon the convenience of the savants who devote their life's
work to the particular family or group to which they belong, must be
awaited with patience. This does not, however, prevent our endeavouring
to ascertain the life histories of these insects in the forest, and to find out
exactly how they affect the forest officer. There are at the present moment
several examples of pests whose life histories are more or less completely
known, but which still await a specific name. This, however, is also the
case with some of our less well-known forest trees.

It is not, perhaps, surprising that so many of the insects living in
and affecting the growth or destroying the trees of the Indian forests
should have remained up till now unknown, since it may be taken as a
general rule that—

(1) Many of the insects whose grubs feed in the bast or wood of trees
are nocturnal and usually only appear upon the wing at night, when
they leave the trees on maturing, and then for only a comparatively
short period, from a few hours to a week or two at most. Many Ceram-
bycidae and Scolytidae only leave the trees in which they were reared at
night, and then fly off in search of recently felled trees or sickly standing
trees, where they pair either outside the tree or after they have tunnelled
into it. If they pair outside the tree they hide during the daytime in the
shade of felled trees on the surface of the bark nearest the ground ; or
they hide in the thick scrub jungle or beneath pieces of bark, stones, or
other refuse on the floor of the forest during the daytime, and lay their
eggs in the crevices of the bark of sickly standing trees at night.

insects do not appear naturally on the wing during the daytime the)
have not been caught by ordinary collectors, and so ha\v not reached
European collections in the manner in which many <>(• the insects of
the non -afforested areas have.

(2) Many of the worst pests of the trees of tlir forest an: minute
inconspicuous insects which have remained uncollected, and so unnamed
up to date. The family Scolytidae, containing large numbers

very difficult of classification, and yet of the very greatest importance to
the well-being of the Indian forests, is a case in point.

26

INDIAN FOREST INSECTS

Fir,, i f). —Central vertii L] egg -alleries from which
radiate ilic larva] -alk-rk-s made in the outer
.sa|m,..,d of a sal-tree by the bark beetle
Sphaerotrypes.

(3) The insect fauna of the
Indian forests has never till
within the last few years been
systematically collected.

The life histories of many

J

of the forest-living insects are
of uncommon interest, and in
nothing perhaps are they so re-
markable as for the instinct
which many of them seem to
possess — many beetles, for ex-
ample, such as the Buprestidae,
Cerambycidae, and Scolytidae,
to instance three important
families only --which enables
them to seek out newly felled
or sickly dying trees in as un-
erring a manner as that of the
soaring vulture in his detection
of the newly dead carcase. No-
thing can be more striking than
this wonderful power. Inspect
a felling area a few days or a
week or two after the trees have
been cut. If you examine the
bark of a felled tree you will
perceive on its outer surface
numerous shot-holes, or num-
bers of little cones of sawdust,
or small patches of sawdust.
Take off a strip of the bark and
examine it on the inside. You
will rind on it, and perhaps on
the outer surface of the sap-
wood, small galleries or plans of
several galleries, and in them
perhaps one or two small blackish
beetles, and at the head of the
still incomplete off-set galleries
small whitish dots, one at the
head of each little gallery (cf.
frontispiece). The little beetles
are bark beetles (Scolytidae), and
the little grubs have already
hatched out from the eggs laid

-

'

PLATE IV.

'. /•". 1'crrte, photo.

Section of the trunk of a tureen sal-tree badly infested by
spinicornis, Newn. Living beetles are present in the pupal chambers,
are closed by the white calcareous coverings. Goalpara, Assam, 1906

ON THE LIFE HISTORIES OF FOREST INSECTS

by the beetles. The species in question, which in most cases will vary with
the species of tree you are examining, will only attack fresh green sappy
bast, and by some unerring instinct it is always able to discover for its
egg-laying operations newly felled trees, if haply there be such in the
area; or if in a forest untouched and untended by man, new windfalls or
sickly, unhealthy, or dying trees. If such are perchance unavailable,
it must go to the green healthy standing trees to oviposit, since dead
trees with no fresh sappy liber in them are useless for its purpose, as
they would afford no sustenance to the young grubs when they hatch
from the egg.

Many of the Buprestidae and Cerambycidae are also possessed of this
wonderful instinct for detecting newly felled trees. Whilst on tour in
Goalpara in May 1906 several green perfectly healthy sal-trees were felled
in the forest one morning. On visiting the trees the following morning in
company with the Divisional Forest Officer,
Mr. W. F. Perree, we found a hundred or two
of the large longicorn beetle Hoplocerambyx
spinicornis crawling about in the shade of the
outside bark nearest the ground at points
where the bark did not actually rest on the
soil. Until we parted the undergrowth sur-
rounding the fallen trunk the insects were in
complete darkness, and they were all per-
ceived to be intent on pairing or egg-laying.
This proved the first recorded instance of the
operation of egg-laying by longicorn beetles
in the Indian forest having been observed.
Further careful examination showed that the
forest contained hundreds and thousands of
these beetles ; and yet there was no sign of
them whatever until sought for in their day
shelters, as the insect is not a diurnal one.
I would not be understood to say that there
are no diurnal longicorns. There are. The
brightly coloured Thysia u'ullichii is a case in point, and
specimens of it sitting in the sunlight on adjacent standing 5
morning in question. This instance is quoted to show that it is quite
possible for the forester to find some of his pests in the fore
the day, if he knows where to search for them, and
acquainted with their abundance at the seasons at
wing and (-^-laying. He is thus in a position to know
in the w.iy of insect attacks during the next few months,
the Hoploccnunbyx in question, the insect was proved to
numbers, and its life history In-in- understood, the
felled trees became imperative, since it was known that once

Fi<;. ij.— T/tYsia wallichii,
a diurnal longicorn. Assam.

28 INDIAN FOREST INSECTS

had got down into the wood the barking would be too late to prevent
its subsequent tunnelling operations into the heart-wood, and that all
timber containing these grubs would be rendered unfit for sale purposes.

We come then to the next point — that a knowledge of the life histories
of the more dangerous of the tree pests of his locality is essential to the
Forest Officer if he is to be in a position to—

(1) Prevent serious attacks to the standing crop resulting in the
loss of many individual trees or of whole blocks of forest, with the
consequent upsetting of his working plan. The tremendous damage
Scolytidae are capable of committing in coniferous areas is a well-known
example.

(2) Prevent his timber being destroyed by insects after the trees
have been felled in the forest for sale purposes. That this is possible
the Hoplocerambyx example already quoted renders evident.

How are the life histories of tree pests to be ascertained ?

Some insects only attack young seedlings. Close observation by
officers in charge of nurseries, assisted by careful inspection of areas of
sowings in the forest, will enable the life histories of these pests to
be ascertained. There is urgent need that such observations should be
carried out. For some years it has been an acknowledged fact that
deodar seed sown in lines or patches in the forest has completely failed.
The young seedlings may have come up only to gradually die off and
disappear.

Observations have shown that a melolonthid or cockchafer grub
(p. 82), a wireworm (E later, p. 230), and a cut-worm caterpillar (A gratis),
are responsible for a great deal of this mysterious disappearance of

sowings.

Other insects only attack the leaves, buds, or flowers and fruits and
seeds of the trees. The working out of the life histories of such pests
requires close observation and investigation to be undertaken in the forest
at the times when such attacks are being experienced.

Another class whose attacks are often only too visible in the tree,
although it is extremely difficult to track down and secure the identifi-
cation of the mature insect, is that of the bark-eating and wood-boring
caterpillars. The caterpillars themselves can be secured, but the identi-
fication of the particular pest cannot be undertaken from the caterpillar.
The grub only feeds upon the juicy bast layer and the sap-filled sapwood,
subsequent "weathering" often setting up at the place attacked (cf. fig. 18).
The grub may sometimes, as in the case of the bee-hole borer of teak
(Duomitus cerauiicits), tunnel down into the hard dry wood to pupate, but
only when full-fed, and for pupating purposes alone. How to secure the
mature stage or moth of these bark-eating and wood-eating caterpillars is
a difficult problem. If one cuts the stem down and keeps a section in
which the caterpillar is known to be, as soon as the latter finds the bast
or wood beginning to lose its sap and dry up it comes to the outside and

ON THE LIFE HISTORIES OF FOREST INSECTS 29

usually dies there,
or if it pupates the
moth very rarely
matures so as to be
recognizable. Ifthe
caterpillar has
pupated the pupal
chamber contracts
as the wood dries
and shrinks, and
the pupa is killed
or the moth is de-
formed and unre-
cognizable. A use-
ful plan to obtain
the moth (and it
can be made to
apply to securing
some of the bast-
and sapwood-feed-
ing beetles also)
is to envelop the
part of the stem
of a tree in which
you have marked
down one of these
pests with mos-
quito-netting, tying
it tightly above and
below round the
bark, and catch the
moth when it issues
in this manner; or
cut the whole tree
into sections and
place them in a
large insectary or
breeding cage, and
catch the moths as
they issue from the
stems, as I was able
to do with the
moths Duomitus
ceramicus and D.
leuconotus.

FlG. 1 8.— "Weathering" action set up in the sapwoot
tree at the point of attack of the caterpillar of
ceramicus. A, the point at which the grub tunnelled into the
wood to pupate.

3o INDIAN FOREST INSECTS

Fortunately, however, some of the most serious of forest pests, the
large class of bark- and wood-boring insects (and their predators and para-
sitic foes, the friends of the forester), can be studied by every Forest Officer
out in the forest in a comparatively simple manner.

All that is required is that two or three green healthy trees of the
species whose pests it is wished to study should be felled in some con-
venient locality. The trees should not be felled in deep shade, nor in
positions in which they will receive the full force of the midday sun, which
will dry them up too quickly.

By visiting such trees, say, weekly or fortnightly, and stripping off a
piece of bark so as to examine the bast layer on its inner side and the outer
sapwood on the stem itself, a vast amount of information of importance
to the Forest Officer can be ascertained.

The common bast-eating beetles who infest this particular tree will
quickly make their appearance — buprestid, cerambycid, and scolytid, perhaps
also elaterid and curculionid. The insects appearing will of course be
the mature forms only, and they will at once commence egg-laying on
the outer. bark, or in crevices in the bark, or tunnel into the tree and eat
out the pairing-chambers and egg-galleries in the bast and sapwood.
The dates of such operations should be noted. If the inner side of the
bark (the bast) is examined, small elongated galleries may be observable
with a series of little notches set therein at regular intervals all the way
up on either side (cf. fig. 22). These are made by bark beetles, Scolytidae,
and in each notch is an egg. Careful observation may also show the
presence of several of the insect friends of the forester. The clerid
TJhiihuiuius (p. 186), for instance, may be present on the outside of the
bark, or the Xiponiits (p. 103) in one or more of the egg-galleries of the
bark beetles, or numerous tiny airy flies hovering about, Ichneumons
(p. 474), Chalcids (p. 507), or Bracons (p. 480), all parasitic upon the insect
pests, and all there with intent to lay their eggs in the galleries of the
bark-boring insects.

Little individual galleries half an inch or less may be visible already
in the sapwood, made by buprestid or cerambycid grubs.

The visit made a fortnight later will show many more galleries present
in the inner surface of the bark ; and those first observed will now have
numerous off-shoot galleries on either side made by the grubs which have
hatched out from the eggs laid by the bark beetles. At the head of each a
grub will be seen. The buprestid and longicorn grubs will also be larger
and their galleries longer and broader. Amongst the numerous galleries
pink larvae may be seen. These are predaceous Thanasiinus or Niponius
larvae feeding upon the b irk-beetle ones. Or tiny white maggots may
be visible attached to some of the bark-boring grubs (cf. fig. 360) or to the
buprestid or cerambyx grubs. These are parasitic grubs hatched from the
eggs of the Ichneumon, Bracon, and other flies we saw hovering about on
our first visit.

ON THE LIFE HISTORIES OF FOREST INSECTS 31

Four weeks later an inspection may show that the scolytid grubs have
reached full size and have turned into pupae at the end of their galleries.
The parasitic larvae and the Niponius ones may also have pupated in the
galleries.

Some six weeks or two months after our first visit to the tree, we may
find the plan of the galleries of the bark beetle complete, and at the end of
each larval gallery will be a pupa, white in colour and having some
resemblance to the beetle, or a beetle itself complete in every detail. This
will mean that the life-cycle of that particular insect has been watched
from start to finish. In other words we shall have proved that in all
probability that particular species passes through more than one life-cycle
or generation in the year; and its life history will not be completely
known until we have ascertained how many of these life-cycles it passes
through in this period.

In most cases it will be useless to watch for further generations in
the tree in which the one cycle has been reared. The bist layer will now
be too dry, except perhaps at the thicker butt end, where some of the
insects of the new generation may tunnel in to oviposit. It is a safer plan
to fell two more trees close by as soon as you see your beetles nearly
mature and ready to leave the first trees.

The first generation of beetles on leaving your first set of trees will
repair to the second set to oviposit, and your observations may now be
transferred there for the next period. Some of these bark beetles pass
through from three to five generations in the year, and this will entail
felling from three to five series of trees in order to definitely ascertain the
correct number. All that is necessary is to wait till the beetles of a
particular generation you are watching in the trees become nearly black in
their pupal chambers, and then fell your next series of trees.

With the maturing of our first lot of beetles in the first series of trees,
our observations in this series will not have come to an end, however.
Maturing with them, we must remember, will be their insect foes tin-
predaceous pink larvae and the parasitic grubs. Careful observations will,
therefore, enable us not only to ascertain the life history of the particular
bark beetle we are studying, but also at the same time that of our or
more of its insect enemies. For instance, you may find one »r moiv
Niponius beetles easily recognizable from the bark beetle in the galleries ;
or at the end of one or more larval galleries you may see a small paprn
cocoon, which on being opened is seen to contain a tiny Ichneumon,
Chalcid, or Bracon fly, perfectly developed ami just ready to issue.
it appears to be a general rule that mam of these bark- and \\
boring insect parasites pass through a similar number o| generations to
that of their insect hosts; a fact which would seem to In- within the hounds
of probability.

We have not yet done with the first series of tivrs. however : they -till
have in them the buprestid and loiigicom ^ruhs, whose growth is much

32 INDIAN FOREST INSECTS

slower than the much smaller bark-beetle ones. These grubs may take
six, eight, or ten months to reach full size in the bast and sapwood, and
then they will be found to have disappeared from view, as they will bore
tunnels into the sapwood or even into the heart-wood in which to pupate
(cf. pi. iv). Here they will remain for two or more months, and then
the mature beetle will crawl up the tunnel, eat a hole through the old
bark above, and escape from the tree.

The gradual maturing of the pupa into the beetle can be ascertained
by chipping down one of the tunnels and exposing the elongate pupal
chamber at its lower end and observing the condition of the insect in it.
The mature beetle, from its colouring, hardness, and powers of movement,
will be readily distinguishable from the inanimate pupa or the still soft, light-
coloured, immature beetle.

Thus it is evident that, whilst the first beetles observed to enter the
tree after felling, the bark beetles, may mature and leave the tree within
two months of its being felled, the slower developing buprestid and
longicorn beetles may require the whole year to pass through their life-
cycle. Consequently, these beetles will only be found on the wing in the
forest and egg-laying once in the year ; and should it not be their
egg-laying season when our first series of trees are felled, they will not
.appear in them, and may not appear until two or more series of our trees
have been cut.

Two practical illustrations of this method of ascertaining the life
histories of insect pests in the forests may be quoted here.

i. Life History of Sphaerotrypes siwalikensis, Steb.

The life history of this scolytid bark-borer was worked out in the
sal forests of the Siwalik Division in the United Provinces.

The observations were commenced in September 1901, when the
Divisional Officer, Mr. R. C. Milward, I.F.S., at my request kindly had a
couple of green sal-trees felled for me.

The observations were carried out with the aid of the Range Officer,
and every fortnight until the following May, when the transfer of the
ranger led to their discontinuance for a time, visits were paid to the
trees, or the successive series of trees felled as required, and specimens
of all insects found in them were bottled and the tubes labelled and
sent in to me at Dehra. During this period I also visited the trees on
several occasions. Subsequent investigations undertaken between May
and September enabled the full observations for the year round to be
carried out.

From these detailed investigations the life history of this important sal
bark beetle (see page 476) has been fully worked out, as also that of several
of its parasitic and predaceous foes.

ON THE LIFE HISTORIES OF FOREST INSECTS

33

2. Life History of the buprestid Sphenoptera aterrima and the cerambycid

Trinophyllum cribratuin.

Green deodar-trees were felled under the orders of the Divisional
Officer, Mr. V. Munro, at the end of May 1908, and watched throughout
the year and up to June of the following year. The observations so made
and the specimens taken enabled the life histories of these two pests to
be definitely ascertained. It is now known that each takes a whole year
to pass through
one life - cycle
(cf. p. 205 and
p. 341), and that
the beetles ma-
ture and leave

the trees at the

\ I

end of May or
in the first fort-
night of June,
and lay their
eggs in newly
felled fresh
sappy trees or in
standing green
sickly ones.

The life his- |
tory of an Ich-
n e umo n fly,
E phi elites, which
parasitizes the
buprestid grub
has also been
worked out
through 1 1 1 t •
year (see p. 207).

The impor-
tance of thus in-
vestigating the
life histories of
all the principal
bark- and wood-
feeding pests of
the more impor-
tant trees cannot
u i Fir,. IQ.— Egti and larval galleries "t Spha • otrypes s

be too strongly g^, ^.^ surfj> ,,, sil barkfshowmg the "plan' of the

insisted upon. galleries.

9003

34 INDIAN FOREST INSECTS

That the work is a comparatively simple one to put through will
be fairly obvious from the above descriptions of the methods necessary to
undertake it. Many of the head-quarter houses of the Range Officers are
situated in the immediate vicinity of the forests under their charge. By
felling a couple of trees somewhere close to the range house they would
be able to visit the trees twice a month without any very serious inter-
ruption to their executive duties. The value of the observations they
would thus be able to record is almost incalculable, and would result in
the local Forest Officer soon being placed in the possession of the life
histories of all his more serious pests. This of course presupposes that
a course of Forest Zoology is included in the education of the Range
Officer.

FK;. 20. — Sphaerotrypes siwalikensis, Steb. X 10.
A sdl-tree bark-borer. Siwaliks, N. India.

( 35 )

CHAPTER IV.

ON METHODS OF PREVENTING INSECT ATTACKS IN THE
FOREST AND OF COMBATING THOSE TAKING PLACE.

1. — Liability of Forests to Insect Invasion.

IT has been often remarked in India in the past, that there is little danger
of serious insect invasions being experienced in the forests of the country-
serious enough, that is, to kill off the trees over large areas. It has also

FlG. 21. — Chilgoza pine-trees infested and killed by the bark-borer Polygraphus

trenilii. Steb. Zhob, Baluchistan.

been repeatedly said that even were such attacks experienced, it would be
impossible to do anything to combat the insects or save the trees. In the
past I admit there was much apparent reason to support such statements.
The forests had been taken over by the department for the most part in a
hopeless state of mismanagement, and many had all the appearance of
being ruined for good. It is not surprising that under these conditions to
worry about attacks of insect pests taking plan- in devastated woods was

c 2

j6 INDIAN FOREST INSECTS

msidered an absurdity. The work of the' past half-century has, however,
entirely changed the position of affairs and the condition and appearance
of many of the forests. What formerly had all the appearance of being
\\nrthless waste lands have now become well-ordered estates of considerable
and increasing value. What were once disorganized, almost disforested (so
far as valuable timber went) areas are now being brought under fine
normal crops of valuable timber of an almost incalculable value to the well-
being of the country at large.

The time, therefore, when the officers of the department could afford
to regard with tranquillity the possibility of insect invasion as a danger not
of their time or day is past. In the well-ordered management of the forests
which has now taken the place of the chaos which formerly reigned, in the
yearly increasing density of the crops per acre compared with what formerly
stood there under the conditions pertaining to primeval forests and in the
period which followed when many of the forests had been cut out, in
the careful fire-protection instituted over large areas throughout the country,
and finally with the vagaries of the Indian climate ever holding the country
at their mercy and leading to unprecedented increases in the numbers of
a pest at a few short weeks' or months' notice in the event of the occur-
rence of an unusually dry season or series of dry seasons — in all these
influences we see the scale turned against the forest and in favour of
the insect, and it cannot therefore be too strongly emphasized that the
day of immunity from insect attacks on a large scale in the forests of
India is rapidly drawing to a close.

\Yhat is the experience of the world ?

The European forest management, that of Germany and France, has
been held up to the Indian Forest Service as the ideal to aim at. But
in-ither in Germany nor France have they been able to reduce the science
of forestry to such a degree of exactitude as to prevent serious plagues of
insects from devastating the forests. And this with a sound knowledge
of forestry science, and a plethora of specialists at their back. They know
how to combat a serious attack in Germany and France; they know how to
recognize it in its earliest phases, and so how to reduce its effects and
the resultant monetary loss to a minimum. But they cannot foretell an
attack before it has actually begun, or is about to commence, any more
than they can stop it taking place.

America, again, has suffered serious losses from insect infestations, and
them.- ha\v be, MI experienced in the past as a direct outcome of hopeless
mismanagement of the forests and wanton destruction by fire and axe.

But, as we have seen, well-ordered forests are equally liable to such
invasions. Wherever there is a proper conservancy, and the nearer this
conservancy approaches to a maximum of efficiency and intensity of
management, the danger of insect invasion is inevitably enhanced.

An msect attack may commence after a bad fire on an area, or as a
result of severe snow-break, or windfalls after severe storms.

ON METHODS OF PREVENTING INSECT ATTACK

A storm in the Vosges Mountains in 1902 blew down over one and
a quarter million cubic metres of coniferous trees in a few hours. A severe
bark-beetle attack commenced shortly afterwards, the first lot of beetles
being reared in the windfalls. As soon as the windfalls were too dry or
had been removed, the beetles went to the green standing trees (silver fir
and spruce) in the neighbouring woods, and 14,603 trees had to be cut out
and barked before the attack was
stamped out ; thus upsetting the
working plan.

And it is not only in coniferous
forests that the danger is to be feared,
although the trees in these forests
do not so readily recover from insect
attack as is the case with broad-
leaved species.

India has already had some first
experiences of the power of the
insect over its tree-host.

The attack of bark beetles (Poly-
graphus and Phloeosinus) experienced
in the Finns gerardiana forests in
North Zhob, Baluchistan, between
1903 and 1906, resulted in a heavy
loss of valuable trees, and had it not
been taken in time might well have
resulted in the disappearance of the
forest altogether (fig. 21 and p. 510).

The Quetta borer (JEolesthes,
p. 307), attack practically destroyed
the major portion of the beautiful
avenues of Quetta between 1900 and
1905, cost a considerable sum of
money to get rid of, and an addi-
tional expenditure in replanting.

Bark-borers (Scolytus and Toini-
cus) made their appearance in the
Bashahr State in 1900, and but for
the prompt steps taken by Mr. B.

Ribbentrop, C.I.E., at the time Inspector-General of Forests
Mr. Minniken, who was in charge of the division, a considerable number <
deodar and blue-pine trees would have been killed.

In the Simla Catchment Area a bark-beetle attack suddenly mad
appearance early in 1908, and but for the action taken by the D
Officer, Mr. V. Munro, and his assistant, Pandit Gokal Dass, Extra-.
Conservator of Forests, would have undoubtedly developed into a dangerous

FIG.

22. — Kg^-galleries of
zli«!>i. Strl)., in I'iiuix
bark from North /hob.

*
<'i'ifiaiiii

38 INDIAN FOREST INSECTS

attack under which many trees would have been lost and the water supply
have been to some extent endangered.

In the Bre forests in Chamba State numbers of trees were killed
out on an important Catchment Area between 1906 and 1908, without the
true source of danger being understood. I inspected many of these trees
in 1909, and they had all been killed by bark-borers.

Deodar sowings in the nursery and out in the forest have suc-
cumbed to attacks of insects on a larger scale than has been recognized
in the past, owing chiefly to the life histories of the insects concerned not
having been known or understood. And the same applies to the loss
of young Pinus longifolia plants in plantations in the Naini Tal Division and
in the district forests under the attacks of the cryptorhynchid weevil

(p. 428).

Heavy crops of seed of both coniferous and broad-leaved trees are
almost entirely lost under the attacks of grubs of weevils, Scolytidae,
and the caterpillars of small moths, thus seriously interfering with the
regeneration of the forests.

Other instances might be quoted, but enough has been said to endorse
the contention that the Indian forests are as liable to serious infestation
from insects as are those of other countries, where an efficient Forest
Department is engaged in improving the forest areas entrusted to its
charge.

2. Aids to Insect Increase and Depredation.

There are various ways in which unpremeditated assistance is given to
an insect, enabling it to increase in a forest in such numbers as finally to
become a danger to the very existence of the trees themselves.

(i) Pure Woods. — The first of such causes is to be looked for in the
creation of pure forests as against mixed ones. The bulk of the natural
forests in the country are mixed ones in which one or more predominant
species occur in company with a variety of, at present, less abundant or less
important ones. The danger from insect invasion in this class of forests is
much less than in the case of pure forests — i.e., forests consisting of one
species of tree only. In these latter the insect, finding dense contiguous
masses of its food plant available, may, given favourable climatic conditions,
increase in such numbers as seriously to threaten the life of the forest as a
whole. As an instance, a note of warning has been already struck in the
case of forests of pure deodar in the Himalaya. The tree suffers from the
attacks of several dangerous scolytid pests (Scolytus), as also from a buprestid
and a lorn i< < •! n (Sphenoptera and Trinophyllum) . Already on several occasions
trees have been found killed by these pests at a centre or at more than one
centre in the deodar areas. Instances are not wanting to show that Pinus
longifolid in dense pure forests is likely to suffer seriously from the attacks of
the weevil Cryplorhynchns (fig. 23), from those of the longicorn Nothorrhina,

ON METHODS OF PREVENTING INSECT ATTACK 39

and two bark-boring beetles.
In fact, the formation of pure
woods in the Western Hima-
laya is, from the point of
view of the great danger to
which they are liable from
insect attacks, to be depre-
cated. Again, the pure casu-
arina plantations of the east
coast of Madras have suffered
to some extent from the at-
tacks of several insect pests,
amongst the worst being
those of the larva of the
moth Arbela tetraonis.

(2) Mixed Woods. — It is

perhaps too early yet to dis-
cuss the question of the
formation of mixed woods
in India. Natural mixtures
predominate throughout the
country, and our knowledge
of the insect pests of the
trees is as yet too imperfect
to enable definite statements
to be made save in one or
two cases. For instance,
there is a scolytid beetle
(Polygraphus) which attacks
young blue pine. When the
trees are too few in number
to provide sufficient food for
it, it will attack the deodar.
Thus a mixture of a few blue
pine amongst deodar is bad,
since it exposes the deo<l;ir
to attack from an insect
which does not ordinarily in-
fest it. I have seen t\\<>
instances of this nature. The
bark-beetle attack in the Sim-
la Catchment Area of 1908
was aided in this manner.
The area contains few blue

•^H Vi v^^_ .

Fir, -3 - Portion of a voiing J'imi

showin- the larval galleries of Cryptorhynchus
brandisi, Steb., in the bast layer and outer sap-
wood. Near the top a hirva is shown in

. llery ; an exit-hole of a weevil is seen in the
at the' bottom. Kumaun, N.W. Himalaya.

4o INDIAN FOREST INSECTS

pine, and these merely served as death traps for the deodar. At Pajidhar
in Jaunsar I saw a small plantation of young deodar entirely -killed by this
overflow of the Polygraphns from the already fully occupied blue pine. In
the same way if the casuarina of the East Coast plantations is mixed
with another species of tree to minimize the attacks of the Arbela cater-
pillar, care must be taken that a species is chosen which is not itself
attacked by the caterpillar. For Mr. C. E. C. Fischer has shown that
the larva feeds on the bark of a number of trees in addition to that of
the casuarina.

(.;> Felling Operations. — Properly regulated forest management ordains
that the forest shall be kept free of all dying trees, dead material, tops and
windfalls, etc. In the large areas which fall to the charge of the executive
officer in India this ideal is not at present a possibility. Something more
might, however, be attempted than is at present usually the case. The annual
felling operations as undertaken throughout the country are a direct source
of assistance to the insect pests of the forest. The difficulty in dealing with
the tops, an enormous mass of branch wood, is at present in many instances
an insuperable one over large areas where the management is on the
selection system. The same difficulty does not, however, apply to the boles
of the felled trees, which often lie in the forest from two to three months
after felling before being finally cut up and removed. In these boles thus
left unbarked incredible numbers of bark-boring beetles are bred. To quote
a few instances. In Jaunsar I calculated in 1902 that the trunk of a large
felled deodar go ft. in length from base of butt to the first branch
(diameter, 3 ft. at base and 10 in. at top) gave rise to 54,000 beetles,
allowing for casualties.

Again, whilst in the Goalpara forests with Mr. Perree it was proved
beyond question that the larvae of the longicorn Hoplocerambyx, spinicornis,
which lays its eggs in crevices of the bark of newly felled or dying standing
sal-trees, get down into the sapwood of the bole within a week of hatching
out, and that barking subsequently to this will not save the timber of that
bole from being riddled and ruined by the large tunnels of this pest. In
this case not only does the felled tree breed up future beetles, but at the
same time the timber itself is ruined. In a perhaps lesser degree this
is true in the sal areas of the United Provinces Terai and Central Pro-
vinces. The same tree if left unbarked after felling breeds out thousands of
the bark beetles of the genus Sphaerotrypes, a species of which infests the
sal of the United Provinces Terai, the Central Provinces, and Assam. In
fact, there is no tree in India subject to the attacks of bark beetles which
if felled and left unbarked in the forest for a couple of months but gives
a home to thousands of maturing beetles which on leaving it search for
other similar felled trees or standing sickly ones in which to oviposit. For
it must be borne in mind that these bark beetles pass through from three
to five generations or life-cycles in the year. Consequently when the felling

PLATE V,

Larval galleries of Capiwdis indica, Thorns., on the inner surface of the bark
of Pinns longifolia. Chamba, North-West Himalaya.

ON METHODS OF PREVENTING INSECT ATTACK 41

season closes at the end of March in the plains the beetles bred out of
the felled trees must seek standing diseased trees in the forest or wind-
falls in which to oviposit, and failing such must infest green trees ; for
fresh living bast and sapwood is a necessity for their larvae, which
can neither live nor find sustenance save in sappy fresh bast and sap-
wood .

The point of the argument is, then, that though at present the number
of beetles breeding in the tops of felled trees cannot be prevented, in the
plains at any rate, it would be advisable to insert a clause in the felling
contractor's agreement making it imperative that the trees he fells should be
at once barked. Such a clause would do a great deal towards keeping down
some of the most serious of the pests of the trees.

In the coniferous forests, where the danger from bark beetles is far
greater than in the broad-leaved areas, the thicker branches of the tops
should also be barked, and wherever possible the tops should be burnt or at
least have the outer bark carbonized so as to render it unpalatable to bark
beetles.

(4) Fires. — The danger to be feared from fire running through a forest
is due to the fact that a number of trees, the number depending upon the
intensity of the fire, are liable to become weakened in health and thus to
lose vitality. In this state they afford suitable material for the oviposition
purposes of bast- and wood-feeding beetles, and, under the attacks of
these, trees which might otherwise have recovered in time, finally suc-
cumb and die. The danger from fires overrunning a forest, so far as
subsequent insect attack goes, is greater in coniferous forests than in broad-
leaved ones.

Present observations would seem to indicate that fires in deodar, blue-
pine, or spruce forests in the Western Himalaya are, if the trees are at all
scorched, almost invariably followed by an attack of the deodar Scolytus
beetles, and the spruce and blue-pine Tomicns and Polygraphus. In the Finns
loftgifolia areas the fires which sweep over considerable tracts of the Kumaun
district forests have led to the trees being seriously attacked in parts by the
Cryptorhynchus weevil, the Capnodis and Anthaxia buprestids, the Nothorrhina
longicorn, and the Touiicus and Polygraphus bark beetles.

After a fire has occurred in a coniferous area in the Himalaya the
closest scrutiny should be kept on the trees during the following two >
and those seen to be infested with bark beetles should be cut out, cut up,
and the bark burnt.

Similarly, when a severe fire has run through an area of young
growth, trees whose vitality has been much lowered will be infestec
Spkaerotrypes bark beetles.

The timber of trees dying or newly killed by tire is at once
by Sinoxylon and other wood-borers; sissu, sal, Tcnninalia, rtci
etc., being liable to such attack.

42 INDIAN FOREST INSECTS

(5) Natural Phenomena— Windfalls, Snow-break, Frost, etc.— At

present the danger from excessive windfalls taking place is only likely to
occur either in plantations or in the Himalayan coniferous areas. Damage
resulting from devastating cyclones, however, such as the Chittagong cyclone
of October 1897, which swept a clear strip several miles in width through
the forests of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, the whole of the forest being laid
low, is almost certain to be followed by the increase of one or more bad
forest pests. One of the results of the above-mentioned cyclone was that
the in nl i bamboo (Melocanna bambnsioides) sprang up in thousands on the
area cleared of trees by the cyclone, and this sudden increase in its food-
plant was followed by the appearance of enormous numbers of the Cyrto-
trachcliis longipes weevil, which oviposits on this bamboo (p. 440). It is
chiefly, however, in coniferous forests that the danger from windfalls, as
also from snow-break, is greatest and most to be feared. Thrown deodar,
blue pine, spruce, and long-leaved pine are all immediately attacked by
scolytid bark-boring pests or by buprestid and longicorn ones within a
week or two of their fall, unless this takes place in the winter. In the
latter event the first generation of beetles to appear in the spring will
oviposit in the fallen trees. The deodar buprestid Sphenoptera and the
Scolytus beetles have been found in large numbers in snow-broken deodar
on many occasions.

The danger from frost is probably greatest in the plains, and especially
when abnormally severe frosts are experienced in areas which are usually
either entirely free from frost or are only subject to light ones. Severe
frosts in such localities leave a large number of trees in a more or less
temporarily moribund condition. The trees will not die if they are given
time to recover and are not subject to any further strain. Such trees are,
however, in the condition in which they are most easily assailable by their
bark- and wood-boring enemies, and these kill off many a tree which but for
their attacks would have recovered itself in the course of two or three years.
The great frosts of February 1905 are a case in point. Great damage was
done to the forests over a large tract of country, of which records are to be
found in the Indian I1" or ester.* I had an opportunity of examining a con-
siderable area of the sal forests of the United Provinces Terai and Siwaliks,
including Philibhit, also some of the sal areas in the Central Provinces, and my
observations tabulated showed that in many places trees weakened by the
frosts had been subsequently killed by the bark-borer Sphaerotrypes and the
longicorns jEolesthes and Hoplocerambyx. I made some careful notes in the
Siwaliks and United Provinces Terai in 1906, 1907, and 1908 on the after-
results of the frosts of 1905. I found that numbers of the younger
sal-trees whose upper half had been killed by the frost were attacked below
by Sphaerotrypes si^'ulikcnsis, and that both this beetle and the jEolesthes
appeared in many of the older, thicker trees whose vitality had been greatly

* Indian Forester, vol. xxxi, pp. 337, 435, 438, 496, 569 ; xxxii, pp. 24, 342.

ON METHODS OF PREVENTING INSECT ATTACK 43

impaired by the frost. The forests were full of stag-headed trees or poles
with their upper parts dead, and the fact that the presence of the insects
was not more apparent was simply due to the large number of weakly and
dying trees for them to breed in.

The after-effects of severe frosts in young pole forests will need very
careful watching in future, since the crops on the ground are, with better
and closer management, yearly becoming more dense, and thus more
susceptible to insect attacks.

3. Methods of Ascertaining- the Presence of Insects in the Forests and of

Preventing- Damag-e.

The abundance of particular insect pests in an area of forest may be
ascertained in various ways, depending to a great extent on the life history
of the individual pest. For instance, defoliating caterpillars when in
abundance soon make their presence evident by stripping the leaves from
the trees. A knowledge of the full life history and appearance of these
insects will, however, enable the forester to be forearmed against this form
of attack, for before the larvae appear in swarms sufficient to completely
defoliate the trees, the moths must have previously been swarming on the
wing in the forest, laying the eggs from which the larvae hatched out.
Therefore, if you have the knowledge which will enable you to recognize the
moth you will have been forearmed against a probable serious attack of the
caterpillars. Reports have often been forwarded to me that in such a month
small moths have been seen in great numbers flying about the trees. A
few weeks later these trees have been stripped bare of all foliage. The
life histories of the insects being unknown, however, the knowledge which
would have connected the first appearance of the moths with a probable
subsequent severe defoliating attack was absent.

The seed of trees is also subject to attack by caterpillars, the sal by the
larvae of Coccotrypes sp. (p. 543) and the caterpillars of species of Conogethes,
Laspeyresia, Cacoecia, etc., and the deodar, silver fir, spruce, and blue pine
by caterpillars of the moths Phycita abictclla and Itu^ophcra ccdrclla. It
the small moths of these species are very abundant in tin- sal forests just
before the rains, it may be taken as almost certain that the seed crop
the following year will be severely attacked, and will be practically a
failure. Similarly, in the case of the conifers, if the moths of the two
species above mentioned are numerous in the forests in September and
October, the probabilities are tli.it the cones <>l the following season
will be riddled by caterpillars, and the production of seed be very
scanty or nil. These inferences arc not of course e.-rt;iinties, since a long,
cold, wet spring in either case may result in many of the young caterpillars
hatching out of the eggs laid by the moths on the twigs of the trees
being killed before they have got into the interior of the seed or down
into the cone.

44 INDIAN FOREST INSECTS

II

•

It is not possible, however, to
obtain a previous warning in all
cases. For instance, the Mono-
phlcbus sal scale, which infests the
sal in the Siwaliks and United
Provinces sal forests, generally
affords, so far as is at present
known, no such previous evidence
of a bad attack — such attacks, e.g.,
as were experienced between 1898
and 1902 in this region.

The forester is on safer ground
when he wishes to ascertain the
abundance in the forest of the
bark- and wood-boring pests of his
trees. It is always possible for him
to keep himself posted with practi-
cal certainty on this point. If you
walk through a wood in Germany
or France you will find felled green
trees at intervals lying to one side
of the road or path. These trees
have been felled with the express
purpose of enabling the forest officer
to keep himself informed as to the
presence of and abundance of the
bark-boring and timber-boring in-
sect pests which infest the parti-
cular species of tree of which his
forest is composed. By cutting off
a square of bark at the period at
which he knows the insects will
be on the wing in the forest, he
will be able at once to ascertain
their abundance. For both bark-
borers and wood-borers will resort
to these freshly felled trees to ovi-
posit instead of searching for sickly
trees or fresh windfalls in the forest
itself. He will, therefore, find these
insects at work boring through the
bark to oviposit in the bast, or tun-
nelling: down into the timber to

FIG. 24-Interior of section of a stem, showing lay. their eSgs there' lf at
pupating-chambers of a longicorn beetle. period he finds these trees full of

:

'

TIME VI.

I

Piece of spruce b;ivk showing tin- cnti.ui.:c-holes of Tom ic its and j
on the outside of the tree. The large holes are those of the saw-fly-
West Himalaya.

ON METHODS OF PREVENTING INSECT ATTACK 45

insects he will have early information that an attack on a severe scale is
imminent, and will be able to take his measures in time to combat it.
And to be ready for such an attack means the possibility of stamping it out
before it assumes proportions against which nothing short of felling on a
wholesale scale will make headway. Trees felled in this manner partake
of the nature of what are called "trap trees," the use of which will be
described later on.

With regard to the prevention of damage from insects when \ve have
ascertained that an attack is imminent, the measures that can be put in
force depend to a great extent on the staff available. In many parts
of India the staff is still so inadequate in proportion to the large areas to
be dealt with that proposals for taking action to prevent attacks are difficult
to suggest.

The judicious use of fire on an area where it is known that an insect
is passing through its pupal stage amongst the dead leaves or humus or in
the first inch of the soil on the forest floor will be dealt with in the next
section. Much might, I think, be done in this manner, provided the proper
amount of attention can be given to the work. As we shall see, a number
of pests are to be found in this position; many caterpillars pupate here;
the sal Monophlebus lays the bulk of its eggs on the ground, and so on.

In the case of the bark-boring beetle and caterpillar pests the pre-
vention of attacks is easier. With the caterpillars the first beginnings of
an attack are usually easily seen on the bark, and can be dealt with if the
life history of the insect is understood. The first beginnings were noted
with the commencement of the bark-eating Arbela attack in the casuarina
plantations in Madras in 1902-3. Had the life history been known and
the trees affected been cut out and the caterpillars killed, what proved
eventually a disastrous infestation in some plantations might have been
nipped in the bud.

Bark-beetle attacks usually commence at a centre or several centres,
and spread outwards. If these centres are marked down and the infested
trees promptly cut out and burnt the attack will be stopped in its initial
stages and the rest of the forest saved. The "trap trees," to which I have
already alluded, will give the necessary warning that such an attack is
imminent.

4. Methods of Combating Attacks in Progress.

The methods to be put in force to counteract and stamp out attac
pests which have assumed serious dimensions vary with the lite histories and
consequent method of attack of the insects concerned.

The methods required to combat the attacks in trees either standing
or lying felled in the forest differ from those which must be put in force to
stamp out attacks of wood-borers pure and simple in wood-stacks or piles
of bamboo, whether these are standing on roads in the forest or in depots

46 INDIAN FOREST INSECTS

Again, a large number of insects pupate amongst the dead leaves on
the forest floor, or in the humus layer, or in the first inch of the soil. Many
root-feeding grubs, of which there are a number of pests, may also be found
here. Or the insects lay their eggs here. Methods of destroying these in
the forest differ from the ways in which we can attack them in the nursery
and plantation.

(i) Bark- and Wood boring Beetle Pests in the Forest. — I have already
alluded to the fact that serious attacks of bark-boring beetles, Scolytidae,
and those of Buprestidae, Cerambycidae, and Curculionidae have already
been experienced in parts of India, and practical measures have been put in
force to combat them. The following proposals for combating attacks of
these pests are based on the practical experience gained in actually carrying
out such work in India, and prove that this work is not only possible, but
amply repays being undertaken.

The methods to be briefly described here presuppose a knowledge of
the life histories of the pests which have to be dealt with. The measures
apply equally to infestations in hill and plains forests.

Assuming that a serious attack of bark-boring beetles is taking place
in the forest, this may be accompanied by either a buprestid or a ceram-
bycid one, or both. In some cases a weevil, such as the Cryptorhynchus qf
the long-leaved pine tree, may also be present. The larvae of these insects
feed, for a time at least, in the bast layer. Accompanying these bast feeders
you will probably find at least one species of wood-boring scolytid or a
bostrychid. These will bore straight into the wood and oviposit there.

The beetles may be attacking the trees in any one or all of the
following conditions :—

(a) Newly felled or fallen green trees (wind- or snow-breaks).

(b) Standing sickly trees.

(c) Standing green trees in the neighbourhood of a " centre " of

infection.

Accordingly the first step to be taken is to mark down all infested trees,
whether felled or fallen, standing sickly, or standing healthy trees.

(a) Newly Felled or Fallen Trees. — The first of these are known and can
be easily marked down. The second should be searched for and marked
down. This will involve going over the whole area carefully.

(b) Standing Sickly Trees. — The whole area must be gone over and all
infected trees found should be noted and marked with a tar ring. It is
not to be expected that the whole of these trees will have been found in time
to catch the next generation of the beetle to issue after the attack was
first discovered. If this generation is not caught it should be possible to
mark all the trees down in time to catch the larvae of the second or third
generation.

In the case of (a) and (b} the stems or trees will be left in the forest
until they are known to be full of grubs according to the data given under

ON METHODS OF PREVENTING INSECT ATTACK 47

the life history, (b) should then be felled, and (a) and (6) barked and the bark
turned up so as to expose it to the rays of the sun. This will be strong enough
to kill off the larvae. All saplings or branches which are too thin to be barked
should be burnt. If, however, (b) are not badly infested with the beetle they
should be left standing to serve as "trap" trees for succeeding generations.

(c) Standing Green Infested Trees. — It will be found that newly attacked
green trees are much more difficult to deal with, as their removal must
depend entirely on the degree to which they are attacked and on their
nearness or otherwise to "centres" of infection. It will also be found very
difficult to discover them until they are commencing to fade, when the
bright yellow needles of the conifers or the drying shrivelled leaves of the
broad-leaved species attract attention to them. It may prove advisable to
leave those discovered, when but slightly attacked, standing over one, two,
or even three generations of the insect, since there is a likelihood of their
serving as an attraction to further beetles to lay their eggs in. They thus
serve as "traps," and if used as such properly they may attract a large
number of beetles which would otherwise oviposit elsewhere in uninfested
trees. In all cases where such trees are not very seriously attacked
they should not be felled before the larvae of the second generation of the
beetle after finding them are reaching full growth. They will thus serve
the purpose throughout the area of "trap " trees.

"Trap" Trees. — In order to ascertain the extent and intensity of an
attack suitable green trees should be chosen here and there in the forest, pre-
ferably along a road or footpath, and felled. These trees should be felled
just before the periods at which the beetles are to be expected on the wing
in the forest. It will be found that the beetles will resort to these felled
trees to oviposit, and the trees will thus serve as "traps." As soon as they
are full of fully grown larvae they should be barked and the bark exposed t«>
the sun or burnt, as may be deemed most advisable. If a " trap " tree is not
seriously infested by the generation of the beetles issuing soon after it has been
felled it may be left for a following one. The trees should be so felled as t<>

J

lie in a position sheltered from the sun during the hottest portion of the day.
They must not, however, be felled in dense shade, as the beetles will not
resort to such trees to oviposit. In choosing these trees it should be borne in
mind that they must be healthy and full of sap. It will b.- useles; felling
nearly dead trees for such a purpose, as they would rapidly dry and would
not be sought out by the beetle. The beetles ri-(|iiiiv froh sappy cambium
to lay their eggs in.

The periods at which the "trap" trees and tlu- sickly standing trees
should be felled and the bark stripped off and burnt will depend upon
the life histories of the pests you are combating. The time at
trees should be felled is at the period when tlir.y are full of completel;
developed grubs and newly changed pupae. I he. latter must not
allowed to mature into beetles, or the earliest mat nring ones
from the tree before you fell, or fall out of their pupal chambers

48

INDIAN FOREST INSECTS

bark is stripped off, and fly off and infest fresh trees in the forest. The
periods will, of course, vary with elevation, aspect, etc., and be a little later
in wet cold seasons; but the time can always be accurately determined by
stripping off a piece of bark and examining the larval galleries on the inside
to ascertain whether they have nearly reached their normal length. If they
have, the full-grown larvae or pupae will be found at the end or in the sap-
wood beneath, and the time has come to bark the trees.

In the case of the bark-boring Scolytidae, stripping off the bark and
burning it will be sufficient to destroy the insects, as they mostly pupate in

the bast or partly in the bast and partly in
the sapwood. The fact of taking off the
bark and exposing them to the heat of the
sun or cold at night is sufficient to kill the
larvae and pupae, although it will not kill
immature beetles.

The buprestids and cerambycids

IjiT ; pupate in the sapwood, and the wood-

boring Scolytidae, etc., oviposit here or
^1 right down in the heart-wood. To get rid
of these the trees must be logged and the
logs burnt.

(2) Wood-borers in Timber Stacks,
Fuel Stacks, and Bamboo Piles in Depots.

Wood stacked in depots or out on the
forest roads and rides, if left for any time,
is subject to the attacks of various boring
beetles, of which species of Bostrychidae
are amongst the worst in India. Some of
the Scolytidae also do damage in this way,
and a few Cerambycidae. As instances of
damage of this nature, the genera Sinoxylon
and Dinoderus in the first family, Xylebortis
in the second, and Stromatium amongst
the Cerambycidae, may be quoted. The

females of all these insects tunnel down into wood, usually when the first
sap has dried out of it, to lay their eggs. On hatching out the grubs feed
in the wood, reducing its structure to powder. Or in the case of some
Scolytidae the damage is solely due to the wood becoming excessively
;' shot-holed ': from the number of the beetles boring in to oviposit, and
thus ruined for timber purposes.

Finally, in the case of some of the cerambycids who lay their eggs on
green trees, the grubs may have tunnelled into the heart of the timber to
pupate, and be there or engaged in this operation after the timber has left the
forest for the depot (^Eolesthcs, Hoplocerambyx).

Vic,. 25.— Pupal chambers of Hoplo-
cerambyx spinicornis in heart-
wood of sal-tree (much reduced).

c

k

r

.••

I

:

FIG. 26. — Three lengths of 3. young deodar sapling infested by \i,>/r/its major, Stcb., and
S. minor, Steb. The middle one slums the entrain e-holes of female beetles on the
bark ; the left-hand one the long vertical xigxag egg-galleries on the sapxvood ; and the
right the whole sapwoocl scored by the larval galleries, the shot-holes being the
pupating chambers of the grubs. It forms a typical example of the capacity cxhibii'-d by
this bark beetle for the destruction of young sapling and pole growth. N. \V. Himal.-i
9003 D

5o INDIAN FOREST INSECTS

In all cases the result is the same. The value of the timber, firewood,
or bamboo is greatly reduced, or the material is so riddled as to be useless
for all purposes save that of inferior firewood. Considerable loss has
occurred in various wood depots throughout the country, and especially at
the fuel depot of the Changa Manga plantations, in days past. Fuel stacks
seen here consisted principally of masses of wood powder owing to the
severe infestations by the two beetles Sinoxylon crassinn and S. anale (fig. 27).

In cases of bad infestations of this nature the only chance left of
thoroughly clearing the depot is to burn completely the whole of the infected
material, and this must be done at the period when the insects are in their
larval and pupal stages in the wood, and not at the periods when the insect
is on the wing in the depot. In the former case you will get rid of the
pest in one operation, or so reduce its numbers that it will not assume the
importance of a pest for some time to come.

(3) Insects which Oviposit or Pupate amongst Dead Leaves on the
Forest Floor or in the Humus or First Inch of the Soil. — A number of
insects are now known which pupate on or a little way beneath the upper
layers of the forest floor, amongst the dead leaves, in the humus, or in the first
inch of the soil. To mention a few : The teak defoliators Hyblcea puera and
Pyrausta machaeralis act in this way, so does one at least of the conifer cone
destroyers (Euzophera and Phycita). The deodar defoliator (Geometrina? sp.)
acts in the same manner, as also the Boar mi a defoliator of the sal-tree
in the United Provinces Terai. Again, almost all the seeds of forest trees
at present known to be infested by insects fall to the ground from the trees
when the grub has nearly or quite reached full size. The grub then either
leaves the seed and burrows into the humus layer, or pupates within the
seed. The latter, however, is now on the forest floor ! Examples of such
are : — The sal-seed destroyers (Conogethes, Laspeyresia, etc.) ; also the Alcitics
weevil of the walnut, the Callirhytis fly of the kharshu oak (Q. semicarpifolia),
and the Calandra weevil of the ban oak (Q. incana).

The weevil sissu-leaf defoliators (Apoderits) also pupate amongst dead
leaves on the soil, the little leaf-roll in which the larva feeds falling to
the ground.

Again, some insects oviposit amongst the dead leaves on the ground or
amongst stones, pieces of fallen wood, etc., on the forest floor. Of such is
the Monophlebus scale of the sal-tree. This insect lays over six hundred eggs
in a loose silken sack on the ground amongst leaves or beneath stones, pieces
of wood, etc., and lays them at the very period (April and May) when the
sal-defoliating Boarmia is pupating in the soil. Thus we have two serious
pests in a quiescent stage in a place where they can be got at at the same
time. And there is another class of pest in these forests, several species
of melolonthid grubs (Lachnostenia, Heteroplia, p. 77), which is to be found
feeding on the roots of the sal-tree or in the pupal stage within the first
inch of the soil layer at this period.

ON METHODS OF PREVENTING INSECT ATTACK 51

My suggestion for destroying these pests is to attack them when in their
quiescent stages, and to attack them with fire. I would run a leaf fire
through the infested forest and take care that it was kept a leaf fire, cutting
down areas of long grass or fire-tracing them.

In the days before the Forest Department, and for some considerable
period afterwards, there was no fire protection. The annual fires did a great
deal to keep the insect pests in check. These pests now breed unhindered
from year to year, and the only possible outcome must be severe visitations.
Instances of such may be quoted. Deodar areas in parts of the Western
Himalaya are defoliated year after year. Areas of sal are completely
defoliated or the tree is infested for several years together by a scale like the
Monophlebiis, and nothing is done to endeavour to diminish the pests or deal a
heavy blow at them when they are really numerous.

That fire is effective two instances would seem to prove. With the
permission of the Conservator (Mr. B. B. Osmaston), Mr. R. C. Milward had a
small area in the Garhwal forests, in which the sal Boarmia was pupating, fired
for me in May 1908, and sent me the materials in the way of larvae, pupae,
etc., collected after the firing. I examined the mass carefully, and was of
opinion that the firing had resulted in practically killing off the majority of the
pupating caterpillars — and they were in thousands in the soil, or on their way
there from the trees overhead, at the time of my visit. Those which appeared
still to have some life in them and the pupae came to nothing, and not a
single moth issued. A week or two later in that year I was at Horai in the
Kumaun Division. A fire of some severity had overrun three compartments
just previous to my arrival. I made a careful examination in the burnt area
for pupating caterpillars, and also ascertained the result of the fire on the
cockchafer grubs. I found no instance of a living grub or larva in the soil,
though my men and myself took numbers of dead and often charred ones.
The fire had not killed nearly mature cockchafer beetles, which proves
how necessary it will be to fire, if fire is made use of, when the pest is in
its larval or pupal stages. These stages will be known from its life
history.

(4) Root-feeding Insects.— I have already dealt with root-feeding grubs
in the forest. In the nursery and in patches of sowings in the forest and
in plantations there are one or more methods of destroying thrm which may
be tried. In the young conifer nurseries and sown areas in the Himalaya
(deodar and cryptomeria), in the babul plantations in the United Provinces
and Berar, in those of poplar in Baluchistan, and in casuarina plantations
in Madras, trouble has been experienced from the attacks of both internal
and external root-feeding insects. In the former class comes the C(
longicorn in babul (fig. 8) and the Trochilinin caterpillar in poplar, whilst in
the latter are the Melolonthinae (see pp. 77-^1), the Elateridae (p.
the Agrotis cutworm. Crickets also occasion h.irm, llrachytrupc
having destroyed Ficus elastica seedlings in nurseries These latter ins«-«'t-

D 2

52 INDIAN FOREST INSECTS

live at the bottom of holes in the nursery beds or somewhere closely
adjacent.

To combat the attacks of the internal root-feeders dig out and burn
/;; toto all young plants which show signs of flagging. Collect the mature
forms of the insect when it appears on the wing.

For the external root- feeders the methods advocated are the following:
Before making sowings in patches out in the forest, it is advisable to turn
up the soil for a couple of feet in selected spots to ascertain whether these
root-feeding larvae are abundant on the area or not. If they are so, it is
almost useless endeavouring to restock the area by means of sowings.

In nurseries, bundles of some succulent crop plant poisoned with
Paris-green water or dilute kerosene may be placed on the seed-beds before
the young plants come up. Caterpillars such as the A gratis will resort to
these and be killed. Birds should be attracted to the nursery so far as
possible by affording them nesting facilities. If the nursery beds are infested
with root-feeding grubs, a good plan is to flood them. This will bring the
grubs to the surface, when they will be devoured by the birds. Dusting the
plants in the evening with a mixture of quicklime and ashes is also effective.
If you find the nursery pitted with holes, these should be dug up and the
larvae or crickets, etc., found be killed. Finally watering the beds w-ith
a solution of copper-sulphate is sometimes productive of good.

In plantations where the young seedlings are seen to be withering and
dying off, employ women and boys to remove the soil round the roots. The
grub or grubs will be found at the roots, and should be taken out and killed.
Or, as in the nursery, if feasible, flood the plantation for several hours.
Another method, which can be employed against the crickets, is to provide
boys with a length of bamboo containing water and send them into the area
with instructions to pour water down each hole they come to. This will
bring up the cricket or crickets, for there may be two or more at the bottom
of the hole, and these should be caught and killed. It is desirable when
employing labour in this way to insist on the insects caught and killed being
brought in, and it is often best to pay by results achieved.

5. Methods of Protecting Station and Cantonment and Valuable Orchard Trees.

It is often possible and desirable to incur a greater expenditure on the
protection of the trees of the station or cantonment, or valuable orchard
trees, than is justifiable in the forest or plantation. Forest Officers are often
asked to suggest a possible treatment in cases where damage of this nature
is taking place.

The avenue and trees of the station compound are all liable to insect
attack, and more especially is this so in the drier parts of the country. The
longicorn-borer attack in Quetta (JEolesthes, see p. 307) is an evidence of
the state to which careful planting work can be reduced if the insects
preying upon the trees are not known and watched.

OX METHODS OF PREVENTING INSECT ATTACK 53

The first protective step, which will greatly tend to diminish danger of
this nature, is to plant avenues with several different species of trees alter-
nating with one another. • It is the pure avenues— i.e., avenues consisting all
of one species — which are liable to suffer most seriously from insect damage.

I inspected a tun-tree avenue in Bengal some years ago. It was pure,
and there was scarcely a tree worth maintaining on the ground, so badly
had the crowns been attacked by the tun twig-borer (Hypsipyla). The

-

FlG. 27. — Section of stem of a I>all'cr^ia sisst><> tree, showing the sapwood riddled and
destroyed by the wood-borers Siiio.\vlon crassnm, Lesne, and -V. nnalc. Changa Manga.

crowns were thin and straggly, and afforded little shade, besides being
very unsightly, and the owner (the avenue \v;is on a tea plantation) had the
whole thing cut down and replanted. It is best, therefore, to avoid planting
pure avenues; but if such are desired, choose a tree which is not liable to be
attacked by some of the common insect pests.

Fruit trees are often used in this manner with a view to obtaining a
yearly revenue from the fruit. These trees require watching just as they do

54 INDIAN FOREST INSECTS

in the orchard, for they are liable to insect attack. Mango-trees are badly
infested by several longicorns (Batocera, p. 367, Ploccederus, p. 295, etc.), and
by a buprestid (Belionota, p. 217), these beetles killing off large branches
or the whole tree, as was evidenced in a bad attack of these borers at
Chicacole in Ganjam. Fig-trees suffer in Baluchistan from a longicorn
borer (Batocera, p. 362). The small branches of the mango suffer from
the attacks of a bostrychid (p. 129) and a scolytid (p. 542), and the
whole crown from a Monophlebus scale insect. Loquat-trees suffer in their
leaves, flowers, and fruit from the attacks of caterpillars. Palms of various
kinds are infested throughout the country by the rhinoceros beetle (Oryctes,
p. 87) and the palm weevil (Rhynchophorns, p. 444) and so on. These trees
may be tended and treated for these attacks in various ways.

Really badly infected trees, infested by borers and large bast-feeding
pests, must, if the insects are in the main trunk, be cut out and burnt in toto.
If left they merely form centres from which other at present healthy trees will
become infested. .If only branches are attacked these should be cut off near
the main trunk and burnt, and the pruned spot thickly coated with tar.
Whenever a tree is pruned the place from which the branch has been taken
should be thickly tarred. When small branches and twigs are seen to
be drying and dying they are probably infested with a bostrychid or scolytid
pest, or a small longicorn and buprestid borer. These branches should be
collected and burnt. This will prevent the next generation issuing from the
trees and infesting fresh ones. The case of bark-boring beetles in the main
stems, as also that of the bast- and sapwood-feeding caterpillars, is more
difficult. Often their presence may be detected either by shot-holes on the
outside of the bark with sawdust below them, or by masses of resin or
'tears" of resin dripping down the bark on the outside, or in the case of
the caterpillars by outside galleries composed of silk and excreta corkscrew-
ing round the trunk. In the latter case the grub may be found in the
tunnel, though more often during the daytime it conceals itself beneath the
bark in a cavity made in the bast and sapwood and only issues to feed on
the outer soft bark at night-time. He can, however, be traced back to the
opening leading to his shelter if the silken tunnel is pulled off the outer bark.
A thick patch of tar placed over the opening and jammed into it may kill
him. In the case of broad-leaved trees, such as the poplar, an outflow of
sap from the hole will be seen on the bark (pi. vii).

Another plan is to paint the bark with a mixture of kerosene and tar and
set fire to the area. This will kill all the insects in the bast and outer sap-
wood. Only the area affected will be burnt, and the burnt portion should
then be thickly coated with tar, especially at the edges where it meets the
unburnt bark. This mixture was tried by Captain H. S. James on the
chilgoza-trees in the Zhob forests, which were infested with bark-boring
beetles, after he had experimented with several other materials, and found
to give excellent results. It would probably only be applicable to thin-
barked trees.

PLATK VII.

A poplar-tree infested by the .^riibs of . Eolesthes .«ir/<t. Solsk. The heav;

by the attack is seen dripping <l"\\n ihe bark. Quetta, 1905.

ON METHODS OF PREVENTING INSECT ATTACK 55

Finally, to prevent pests such as caterpillars moving from tree to tree
up or down the trunk, bands composed of a thick greasy material or of a
sticky material such as molasses should be painted on the tree, the band
being at least eight to twelve inches deep. These bands can be utilized
efficiently against another pest in the case of mango-trees. The Mono-
phlcbus scale insect which sucks the sap from the leaves and later from the
twigs of the tree, often thereby spoiling the fruit crop, when intent on egg-
laying crawls down the tree-trunk to oviposit in the soil below. It does not
appear to oviposit on the trees. Therefore, if in a severe attack broad
sticky bands are painted on the trunks about four to five feet above the
ground, the insects will be caught on these as they crawl down the tree, and
another bad infestation of the pest may be prevented the following year.
Care must be taken to scrape down inequalities of the bark at the point
where the bands are put on, otherwise deep crevices may not be properly
coated with the stuff, and insects finding them will escape through the band
to oviposit below.

Aphidae and Coccidae such as Chermes, Lachinis, Coccus, etc., occasionally
prove serious pests to trees. In the case of valuable avenue, garden or park,
and orchard trees, methods of treatment inapplicable in the forest are possible.
For instance, in cases where the eggs are deposited in crevices on the bark
of the main stem and large branches, it is often effective to brush them down
with hard bristle brushes dipped into a paraffin emulsion, or to spray these
parts with the mixture. A good emulsion consists of paraffin, 2 gallons;
soft soap, lilb. ; caustic soda (98 per cent.), 6 Ib. ; water, 28 gallons.
Dissolve the soap in a gallon of boiling water, add the paraffin, and churn
thoroughly till a cream-like mass is obtained. This thorough mixing is
essential. Dissolve the caustic soda in 27 gallons of water and pour into
the paraffin emulsion, and mix the whole intimately. The mixture should
be used as soon as made. The emulsion should not be applied to the green
parts of trees or to unripe wood, nor should it be allowed to get on to the
skin of the operator.

. XZ X2

Cryptorhynchns bramtisi, Steb. a, larva ; /', pupa : . , weevil from i

, Maymyo, Upper Burma.

CHAPTER V.

COLEOPTERA.
(Beetles.)

BRIEF SYNOPSIS OF CHARACTERS OF THE ORDER.

THE Coleoptera or beetles are insects furnished with a biting mouth, the

biting jaws being known as mandibles; the lower lip is divided medianly.

The insects appear to be

hard, horny, scale-like

closely together down the

membranous wings are

distinguished from other

of the insect is covered with

this enclosing the insect as

- el.

CL*

sc

-- vv.

py

a

FIG. 28. — Longicorn beetle (Batocera). Dorsal view with wings out-
spread, v, vertex ; o, occiput ; a1 to a11, joints of antennae ; n1 2 s
prothorax, mesothorax, metathorax ; el, elytron ; w, wing ; sc,
scutellum ; i, 2 to 7. abdominal segments ; py, pygidium.

wingless, the back being covered by
structures termed the elytra, which fit
centre. Beneath these elytra a pair of
usually present. Beetles are readily
insects owing to the fact that the whole
a hard horny substance known as chitin,
it were in armour. The general shape

is spherical, flat
or otherwise, to
long linear.

On the head
the m andi bles
are usually well
developed ; the
eyes are com-
pound, and often
divided into two
parts, or they may
be reniform in
shape; the anten-
nae are el even (or
fewer) or twelve
jointed, the joints
varying in shape
and length. At
times, as in the
Buprestidae, the
faces of the
joints may be
set with porifer-
ous pits. The
antennae are
of importance in
the classifica-
tion of the order,

as are also the

COLEOPTERA— CHARACTERS, HABITS, CLASSIFICATION 57

m-ci

various hard chitinous parts of the insect. Behind the head comes the

prothorax, which is capable of a certain amount of movement of itself.

It varies in shape — round, angular, square, trapezoidal, etc. The other

parts of the

thorax, the meso-

and metathorax,

are hidden

neath the

t r a and

not visible

above.

mesothorax

be-
ely-
are
from
The
i s

small, the meta-
thorax being very
large in the
winged forms of
Coleoptera. In
the figure the dif-
ferent parts of the
thorax and the
other simpler por-
tions of the ex-
ternal surface are
named. For full
details on the sub-
ject the reader
should consult a
text-book on en-
tomology. The
elytra when
closed cover
nearly all the
mesothorax and
the whole of
the metathorax,
lower wings, and
abdomen. The
upper portion of
the mesothorax
may be visible in
the shape of a
triangular or
square, etc.,
shaped piece
known as the

w-oc

sm. — H —

tar!

guL. -

eps

IG. 29.— Longicorn beetle (AVA-. era). Ventral view, legs removed
on one side, t, eye ; cxl a 8 coxae of front, middle, and bin.
t>-1 2 8 trochanter of ditto ; /f»il - " femora of ditto ;
tibiae of ditto; tar1 * 8 tarsi of ditto ; stl :i prosternum, in*
sternum, metasternum ; />'«-, trochanter of middle leg :
epimera of prothorax, mesothorax, and metathorax ; <•/>*'*, epister-
num of mesothorax ; eps*, episternum of metathorax.
head :— e, eye ; fr, front ; fr.s, frontal suture ; ad, ante cl>
c/, clypeus; //>, labrum or up|x-r lip; W, mandible.
surface of head enlarged :— £nl< gula ; .j,v;/, gena ;
sm, sub-mentum ; W, manclil)le : /, labium ; ///.r, maxillae.

58 INDIAN FOREST INSECTS

scutellum. Occasionally the elytra leave a few of the posterior segments
of the body visible, which are known as the pygidium. The elytra are
always present in beetles, even in cases where there are no lower wings to
protect (as e.g. in the longicorn Teledapus, p. 280). In the latter case
they are often joined together down the central suture and are immovable.
This central suture, however, is always perceivable. When the beetle
wishes to fly, the elytra part down the suture and open out laterally and
upwards to allow of the lower wings being expanded. In some instances, as
in the rose-chafers (p. 91), the elytra are joined together in this way though
under-wings are present, and they are then raised as one piece to permit the
lower wings to be expanded when the beetle takes wing. The elytra are
occasionally sculptured in curious fashion, and may have bunches of hairs
protruding in parts as in the case of Thysia wallichii (fig. 17). The second
pair of wings when not used in flight are folded up beneath the elytra.
They are membranous and set with well-marked nervures or veins which are

•/

broken across at certain points to permit of the wings being folded up when
the insect is not on the wing. These veins are used in some instances in
classification.

In the legs three to five visible tarsal joints are present, and some of
these joints may be bilobed. The tarsi are set with a spongy felt-work
of hair which enables the insects to walk about on bark, plants, etc. The
last tarsal joint ends in a pair of claws. In the abdomen five to six seg-
ments are visible on the ventral surface.

There is often a considerable difference in the appearance of the two
sexes in the Coleoptera. The females are sometimes larger than the males,
and the antennae in the male may be much longer than in the female, or
the tarsi may vary in size, or the number of tarsal joints may vary in
the two. Individuals of the same species also vary very greatly in size,
as is shown in the four individuals of the longicorn beetle Hoplocerambyx
spinicornis, shown in fig. 32.

Some beetles are capable of producing sound by having parts of their
structure set with file-like processes which are rubbed over one another.
The result produced is a squeaking noise ; several Cerambycidae produce
sounds of this nature, such as Hoplocerambyx, sEolesthes, etc.

In the glow-worms and fire-flies, which are beetles, light is produced by
the oxidation of proteid matter in the abdomen.

The eggs of beetles are in forest forms mostly soft globular or elliptical
bodies, semi-translucent or opaque white. These may be deposited in
crevices in the bark, or the beetle tunnels into the tree and deposits them
in prepared receptacles in the bast or wood. In the cases where the eggs
are laid in the open they are hard externally, and usually whitish or greyish
in colour.

The larva is grub-like, having a distinct head and jaws. It is sometimes
furnished with antennae, and may have three pairs of feet on the front portion
of the body. The different families' vary in this respect, however, as shown

COLEOPTERA— CHARACTERS, HABITS, CLASSIFICATION

59

in the various coleopterous larvae figured here. In some cases (nearly
all Adephaga) the tarsi are two-clawed. The body occasionally ends in
anal cerci.

No special boring apparatus is present in the grubs, merely a pair of
stout mandibles in
most instances. The
body may have series
of tubercles arranged
in definite parts on
it and breathing
spiracles on the sides
(cf. Hoplocerambyx
larva), and hairs
either singly or in
tufts.

The pupa is
characteristic, usual-
ly white or yellowish-
white in colour in
tree forms, and is at
first a rough carica-
ture of the future bee-
tle. Its shape varies,
as shown in the fig-
ures (fig. 31), accord-
ing to the future
shape of the beetle.
When the latter has
attained its full de-
velopment it remains
quiescent in a resting
stage whilst its outer

^ " -I ..,-,.

d 2-

hard chitinous parts
are solidifying.

FlG. 30. — Coleopterous larvae, a, Scarabaeidae ; /', Ckrnl.ir :
£, Buprestidae ; </, Elateridae ; e, Cerambycidae ; /, Sc<>U-
tidae ; Curculionidae.

CHARACTERISTICS AND HABITS OF THE ORDER.

The order Coleoptera may be considered to contain collections of
insects which arc.' perhaps more injurious to trees than any similar
series of insects belonging to the other great orders of the Insecta.
Whilst other great orders can show families or series of families containing
insect predators or parasitic insects of high economic importance to tin-
forester as assisting him in protecting his forests from pests, the Cole, .ptera.
so far as is at present known, offer few instances of insect beneficial

60 INDIAN FOREST INSECTS

to man, most of the families consisting of pests whose whole sustenance is
derived from the tree, or who look to the tree to provide food for their
offspring.

This would be serious enough, having regard to its connection with that
portion of the forester's work which deals with the disposal of his produce,
if the insects only confined their attentions to the tree after it had died in the
forest or been felled for sale purposes. For there are a number of pests who
do so restrict their attentions, which are able to destroy very quickly the
marketable value of the timber if they are given an opportunity of doing so.
A much more serious phase of the life histories of Coleoptera is connected,
however, with the large number of beetles who can only derive their
sustenance from the green tree, and who require such trees to lay their eggs
or oviposit in. Whatever be the attribute, whether due to instinct or some
other acquired sense, these insects will never oviposit in dry trees, nor in
trees that are in such a condition that they will become dry before the offspring
hatching from the eggs laid by them have reached full development as grubs.

It is often said that beetles, e.g. bark beetles, never attack a green
healthy tree standing in the forest. This is a complete fallacy.

In the ordinary balance of nature, in the primeval forest, the bark
beetle, whose offspring depend for their sustenance on the green bast or
green timber, will not attack a healthy tree. There is no necessity for it to
do so. The balance of power is kept even in nature, and the insect can
always find a sufficiency of sickly trees, whose death it hastens, or of
green windfalls which provide the necessities of life both for itself and
its future offspring. The forester's business is, however, to remove all
such blots from his forests and to keep them clean. Also to raise per
acre the largest number of trees possible. Given a year favourable to
insect life, or a series of favourable years, and the numbers of a particular
bark-beetle pest in the forest become so great that they are bound to attack
the green standing crop, seeking out, of course, the weaker trees to commence
with. Vast numbers of the insects are killed off by the outflow of resin or

j

sap with which the healthy trees respond to the attacks. This very output,
however, reduces the vitality of the trees, which gradually succumb to the
enormous numbers of the foe attacking them, and the trees are in the end
killed just as surely as if they had been girdled or felled by the forester.

The order Coleoptera, to a degree unusual in other orders, contains
a "number of pests, to be found principally perhaps in the great families
Buprestidae, Cerambycidae, Curculionidae, Scolytidae, and Platypodidae,
which demand for their sustenance green bast, green sapwood, or green
heart-wood. It is for this reason that the order must be considered as one
of the most important, perhaps the most important, to the forester.

The Coleoptera feed upon the tree in a variety of ways, some infesting
the roots, as e.g. species of Melolonthinae, such as S erica (p. 76) and Lach-
nosterna on the sal-tree, and Coelosterna on the Acacia arabica.

Others, again, and perhaps by far the most dangerous, infest the bast

COLEOPTERA— CHARACTERS, HABITS, CLASSIFICATION 61

layer of the main stems or larger branches. Examples of such are
some Buprestidae, e.g. Sphenoptera in the deodar ; several Cerambycidae—
Trinophyllum in the deodar, Hoplocerambyx and sEolesthes in the sal ;
numerous Scolytidae — Scolytus in the deodar, Poly graph us (p. 501) in
the blue pine, long-leaved pine, and Finns gerardiana, Tomicus (p. 552)
in the spruce, blue pine, and long-leaved pine, Sphaerotrypes in the sal
(p. 476) and Anogeissus latifolia, etc.

The Brenthidae also are to be found, so far as present investigations go,
in the bast and outer sapwood, the grubs, who may be semi-predaceous,
pupating in the latter. Species
of Ceocephalm and Prophthal-
inus have been taken in trees
in the Dun, Himalaya, and
Assam (p. 389).

Other Coleoptera confine
their attention to the upper
part of the crown, where they
are not particularly harmful
in old trees.

Many beetles found, how-
ever, in this position also infest
young growth, and they may
then prove serious pests. In-
stances are to be found in the
case of a species of Polygraphus
infesting the deodar and blue
pine ; Scolytus in the deodar ;
Pityogenes in the deodar, blue
pine, spruce, and Pinus ge-
rardiana (p. 562); Apriona
(p. 374) in the mulberry and
the buprestid Psiloptera (p. 199)

in the Acacia arabica ; and in the Cryptorhynch us infesting the Pinm
(p. 428) and the Pinus khasya, etc.

Others, again, destroy young seedlings. The grubs of the rhinoceros
beetle Oryctes (p. 87) destroy young casuarina plants in this manner, whilst
cryptomeria seedlings are destroyed by a species of Lachnosterna (p.
and deodar seedlings by species of Melolontha (p. 82) and Elatcr (p.
A species of scolytid, Diamerus (p. 472), kills young 1'icns clastica seedlings
by girdling them.

Damage is done to the leading shoots by the girdling propensities of
some beetles, such as the deodar girdler Scolytus dcndara (p. 578) and
Xylotrupes (p. 90), which girdles young Poincmna trees in Burma.

Other beetles defoliate the tree, either feeding directly on the leaf as
some Chrysomelidae (Podontia, p. 258) and Curculionidae (p. 405), or twisting

FIG. 31. — Coleopterous pupae, a, Bostrychidae ;
/>, Buprestidae ; c, Cerambycidae ; rf, Scolytidae ;
e, Curculionidae.

62 INDIAN FOREST INSECTS

the leaf up into small rolls in which the egg is laid (Apoderus, p. 418). Some
beetles actually feed upon the flowers of the tree, such as the blister beetle
Mylnbris (p. 247), \vhich devours the flowers of the Artocarpus and many
shrubs; and the chrysomelid Pseudocolaspis those of the chestnut (p. 266).

The damage to the seed from this order is probably extraordinarily
heavy, though much investigation in this direction requires still to be carried
out. The family Bruchidae are notorious for this form of damage, species
of Caryoboi'us being known to destroy the seed of Bauhinia and Tama-
rindus (p. 251); Curculionidae also have been reported in this connection,
Alcides infesting the wralnut (p. 412), whilst a second weevil, Calandra,
destroys the seed of the oak (Q. incana), (p. 446). A scolytid, Coccotrypes,
infests the seed of the sal-tree.

Beetles do not, however, confine their attacks to the living portions of
the tree. The timber is also infested, and often ruined commercially by the
excessive numbers of beetles tunnelling into it for ovipositing or other purposes.

A variety of beetles infest the wood in this manner. It will be found that
a tree lying in the forest newly felled, or a windfall, the result of some storm,
will be infested by definite series of pests during each stage of its gradual
death and drying up. When newly fallen the bark-borers will make their
appearance. At the same time will come those beetles which lay their eggs
in the bast, and whose grubs at first feed there, but subsequently go down into
the sapwrood for their nutriment. Most Buprestidae and Cerambycidae and
many Curculionidae feed in this way. Some of these grubs when full-fed,
however, tunnel right down into the timber of the tree to pupate, such as,
e.g., the Hoplocerambyx of the sal, and thus ruin it for commercial purposes.
Other beetles, such as the Platypodidae and some Scolytidae, go straight down
into the heart-wood and lay their eggs there. These insects pinhole the
timber, and when they are in abundance equally ruin it for commercial
purposes. Instances of this latter method of attack in green fresh timber
only are Crossotarsus (p. 613) in deodar, Scolytoplatypns in silver fir (p. 604),
and buk (Quercus lamellosa) (p. 607), Xylebonts in teak, pyinkadu, sal, etc.
(p. 582), Platypus (p. 619) in Pinus longifolia, Platypus (p. 621) in Adina and
Anogeissus, Diapiis (p. 628) in oak, and Diapus (p. 630) in Shorea robusta, etc.

Other beetles which infest freshly felled timber, but will also tunnel into
timber of a somewhat drier nature, are the Sinoxylon beetles 5. crassum and
S. annle (p. 152), \vhich attack the sissu. They both have a wide range,
and, as we have seen, also infest sal, Terminalia, and other trees.

There are other classes of beetles which will not touch fresh green
s;ippy timber, and which only make their appearance in the tree after the
sap has dried off to a considerable extent.

Several species of Cerambycidae attack the tree in this way, a
common example being Ploccederus (p. 295), which is to be found deep down
in the sapwood of Odin a wodier, sal, and other species, in trees which may
have been felled a couple of years or so before. Stromatium barbatum
(p. 291) infests dry timber.

COLEOPTERA— CHARACTERS, HABITS, CLASSIFICATION 63

A large species of Elater is to be found in dead pyinkadu. Perhaps the
family Bostrychidae contains the most abundant numbers of wood-borers,
such as species of Heterobostrychus (p. 146) and Sinoxylon.

Others are to be found amongst the Anthribidae, such as Xylinades and
other anthribids (p. 386), in pyinkadu. The Cossoninae (Curculionidae)
contain species of Rhyncholus (p. 451) which infest coniferous trees in the
Himalaya. There are many Scolytidae whose attacks are confined to dry
wood, such as some species of Hy tastes (p. 473) and Xylebonis, etc.

Finally there are a large series of Coleoptera which confine their attacks
to rotting timber. In this group the first beetles to be considered are the
Passalidae (p. 66). Species of this family have been commonly met with in
sal in Assam, in sauer (Betula) and kharani (Symplocos) in the Eastern
Himalaya, and in rhododendron in the Ootacamund Hills. The Lucanidae,
or stag beetles, are also to be commonly found in rotting wood and stumps,
the commonest instances of which are the Lncunus Innifer (p. 70) in oak
stumps in the Western Himalaya, and L. mcaresi in kharani in the
eastern portions of the range. Many Nitidulidae (p. 107) and Cucujidae
(p. 115), etc., are also usually to be found beneath the bark of rotting trees,
and hosts of other tiny members of the little-known families.

The fact that the Coleoptera do not, so far as is at present known,
contain a large number of predaceous insects as compared with the noxious
ones has been alluded to. There are, however, fortunately several insects
of the highest importance which fall within this category — the Thanasimus
(Cleridae) (p. 186), predaceous upon the more pernicious of the bark-
beetle pests of the Himalaya; the histerids Niponitis (p. 102), Platysoma
(p. 105), and Paromalus (p. 107), predaceous upon coniferous bark-beetle
pests in the Western Himalaya. Several small and at present not well-
known species of Staphylinidae (p. 99) and Colydiidae (p. in) also fall
within this category, as also do the species of Alindria and Melambia (Troi:<'
sitidae, p. 114).

The carabid beetles Anthia (p. 95), Scarites, Morio (pp. 95, 96) are also of
use as predators, as also in all probability are some of the forest-living
Cicindelidae (p. 93), about whose habits little is at present known.

The Cucujidae contain useful insects which feed upon bark- and wood-
borers, such as Hectarthntm heros (p. 116), predaceous upon Si>i».\-\'l«n cn/.s.s/fw
in Terniinalia in the Central Provinces, and upon barkrboring Scolytidae
in N audio, sessiliflora in Burma.

The Coccinellidae are one of the pivlator f.miilies of beetles />./r
excellence, the greater portion of the family being pred.ireoiis.

The best-known instances at present arc perl). ip^ the I 'ciLilij i p. 1251.
which feeds in both its larval and beetle forms on the sal-tree scale ins
Monophlebus, and Coccincllu scptcinpiuictntii (p. 123), which feeds upon the
Aphis of the blue pine, the Luc/inn* of the silver fir, and the Chci
the spruce and silver fir, etc. A number of other species whirl) \\ill l.e
referred to in these pages are known in this connection.

INDIAN FOREST INSECTS

CLASSIFICATION OF THE COLEOPTERA.

Beetles are primarily classified into the following series, according to
the tarsal joints present and to the form of the antennae :—

Lamellicornia. — Tarsus of all the legs five-jointed. Upper joints of the
antennae produced in flat or thickened expansions to one side so as to form a

FK;. 32. — Example of the great variation in size of the same species of beetle.
The insect depicted is Hoplocerambyx spinicornis, Newn.

club which is more or less compact, and can usually be opened out and
closed at will.

Adephaga. — Tarsus of all legs five-jointed. Joints of antennae simple.
Larva with two-jointed tarsi.

Polymorpha. — Tarsus of legs variable. Joints of antennae clubbed or
serrate.

COLEOPTERA— CHARACTERS, HABITS, CLASSIFICATION 65

Heteromera. — Tarsus of two front pairs of legs five-jointed ; of hind
pair of legs four-jointed.

Phytophaga. — Tarsus four-jointed on all legs and densely pubescent. The
head is not prolonged into a beak.

Rhynchpphora. — Tarsus four-jointed on all legs and densely pubescent.
The head is prolonged into a beak, which may be of considerable length.

For full details on the subject of classification, text books on ento-
mology should be consulted. A book which will be available to all in
India is Lefroy's excellent work Indian Insect Life, where the subject, so
far as is at present possible, is fully dealt with.

FlG. 33.- -A beetle (Heliocopris dominus]. The right elytron
is in the position of rest ; the left is partially removed ;
the lower wing is spread in the position of flight.

9003

i.

( 66 )

CHAPTER VI.
LAMELLICORNIA.

TARSI five-jointed. Upper joints of the antennae produced in flat or
thickened expansions to one side, so as to form a club, which is more or
less compact, and can be opened out and closed at will. The larvae have a
characteristic shape, the lower part of the body being swollen out in a
bag-like manner (cf. fig. 30^).

This division is easily recognizable. The three families Passalidae,
Lucanidae, and Scarabaeidae will be considered.

Family PASSALIDAE.

The Passalidae are a family of shining black or brownish beetles,
commonly met with in decaying or dead trees or stumps in the forest. The
beetles reach about one and a half inches in length, with shining prothorax,
which is large and squarish, and are easily recognizable by the prominent
longitudinal ridges which run down the elytra alternating with rows of
punctures. These elytra cover the whole of the body.

The antenna curls upwards, so that, when at rest, the upper prolonged
joints remain in contact with each other. When the insect is motionless
the antennae are usually held close beneath the head. The mandibles are
large and prominent.

The under-surface of the body is covered with a long, brownish
pubescence, the legs being rather broad, long, and adapted to propelling
masses of dust and soft woody debris backwards.

The larva resembles the usual lamellicorn grub, being bulky, curved,
with a prominent yellow head, and bulky posterior segments. The first
pair of legs are short, striated, and stridulating sounds are produced
with thorn.

Both larva and beetle, the former when full-grown, apparently emit a
blackish liquid when touched or alarmed.

The Passalidae are practically confined to the forest areas of the
country.

I have never found either the beetle or grub in solid timber, but they have
been taken plentifully, in various parts of India, in the rotting timber and
stumps of several species of tree. Since the insects are so often come across
in the forest, it is necessary that the species which have been met with
should be briefly alluded to.

FAMILY PASSALIDAE 67

LEPTAULAX.

Leptaulax darjeelingi, Knw.

REFERENCE. — Knw. Nov. Zool. v, p. 298 (1898).

Habitat. — Darrang, Goalpara, Assam. Also reported from Mungphu ;
Tenasserim.

Trees Attacked. — India-rubber (Ficus elastica) : Charduar Rubber Plan-
tations, Darrang: Sal (Shorea robusta}, Semu\(Bombaxmalabaricum'): Goalpara.

Beetle.— Moderate size, black, shining. Head flat, dorsal surface elevated in a number of
prominent irregular pointed tubercles ; mandibles prominent, ending in two teeth. Protho-

rax square, convex, shining, a rather deep median longitudinal

Description. depressed line not reaching to anterior or posterior edges ; a circular

punctate depression in the outer anterior angles ; the lateral edge

punctate. Elytra bluntly constricted apically, striate-punctate, the outer striae and punctures
most prominent. Under-surface brown, shining, the sides of abdomen punctured. Length,
2cTmm. to 28 mm.

I took a number of these beetles from the interior of a
felled dead stem of a rubber-tree in the

Life History. Charduar Rubber Plantation on 8 April
1906.

The larvae were feeding in the soft decaying wood, and
the beetles, which were fully mature, were apparently oviposit-
ing in the wood beneath the bark.

A few weeks later Mr. W. F. Perree and myself took
numerous specimens of this beetle in the dead tops of large FIG. .—
felled trees, in the Goalpara Sal Forests, in April and May. lax

\T /"* 1

Subsequently we took numbers in a decaying fallen semul- ^"sam
tree of great size, in the Kochugaon forests.

Mr. Perree was under the impression that he had taken the beetle in sal
wood amongst piles of sleepers, but at present this surmise has not been
substantiated.

LEPTAULACIDES.

Leptaulacides roepstorffi, Knw.
REFERENCE.— Knw. Nov. Zool. v, p. 288 (1898).

Habitat. — Andaman Islands.

Tree Attacked. — Species unknown.

Beetle. Small. Reddish-brown, shining, prothorax darker. Head set with corn
imbrications. Prothorax Hat, very shining, anterior edge concave, posterior convex, a median

longitudinal depressed line and a sin. ill depressed pit on lateral
Description. margin one-third up from posterior ed;^c. Klytra conjointly r. di-
stricted apically, striate, the interstrial spare-. Hat and shining. Under-
surface brown, shining. Length, 15 mm. to 19 mm.

This beetle is reported to be common beneath tin- bark of rotting tree-
stems in the Andaman Islands. No information is at present availabl-
to the species of tree it infests or as to the habits of the insect.

i j

68

FAMILY PASSALIDAE

PLEURARIUS.
Pleurarius brachyphyllus, Stolicz.

REFERENCE. — Stolicz, Jour. Asint. Soc. ii, p. 152 (1873^.

Habitat. — Ootacamund Hills, Southern India.
Tree Attacked. — Rhododendron sp.

Beetle.— A large beetle. Black, shining, clothed with a long dense red-orange pubescence
on the posterior ventral parts of prothorax, meso- and metathorax.
Description. Head strongly tuberculate, mandibles large, clypeus densely hirsute,

as are antennal joints and edges of legs. Prothorax very convex,
shining, a deep depression medianly on lateral margin. Elytra flat
on disk, striate-punctate, the punctures fine. Under-surface black,
flat, shining. Length, 37.5 mm. to 45 mm.

During a visit to the Eucalyptus plantations of the
Ootacamund Hills I found this
Life History. passalid beetle in considerable num-
bers in rotting stumps of Rhodo-
dendron sp. The beetles were taken in tunnels in the
decaying wood, large orifices being visible on the outer
surface and numerous winding galleries inside. The
beetles, and a few larvae, were taken about the middle
of August. 1902.

BASILIANUS.

FIG. 35. — Pleurarius
brachyphyllus, Stolicz.
Ootacamund.

A species of this genus is common in the Eastern Himalaya.

Basilianus cantori, Perch.

REFERENCE. — Perch. Mag. Zool. p. 3, t. 134, f. 2 (1844).

Habitat. — Eastern Himalaya ; Loolagaon, 5,000 ft., and elsewhere in
the Sikkim Forests. Also reported from Tenasserim.

Trees Attacked.— Sauer (Betula cylindrostachys) ; Musre Katus (Cns~
tanopsis tribuloides) ; Kharani (Symplocos thecefolia). Sikkim.

Beetle.— Large, shining, black. Head set with prominent pointed
tubercles, the mandibles large and toothed. Prothorax not very convex,

very shining, the median longitudinal depressed
Description. line not prominent or absent. Elytra strongly

striate, interspaces smooth, shining. Under-
surface black, shining, the lateral edges of thorax with a long bright red
pubescence which also clothes the edges of legs. Length, 30 mm. to 34 mm.

This beetle was first taken in rotting sauer and kharani
Life History trees, on 28 April 1896, at Loolagaon,

in Sikkim. I subsequently took it
plentifully in these trees and in decaying musre katus stems E. Himalaya.

FAMILIES PASSALIDAE AND LUCANIDAE 69

in July. It is plentiful in this locality, between 4, 500 ft. and 6,000 ft. The
beetle was never taken in sound timber. It would seem probable that the
insect matures at irregular intervals in the spring and summer months. It
is to be found in the larval stage in the autumn and winter, making irre-
gular ramifying tunnels in the soft, decaying sapwood, beneath the bark of
standing or fallen rotting stems.

It has also been reported from Jaunsar, in the North-west Himalaya,
at 5,000 ft. elevation, at the end of April.

ACERAIUS.
Aceraius hirsutus, Knw.

REFERENCE. — Knw. Nov. Zool. v, p. 343 (1898).

Habitat. — Evergreen Forests, Bhorelli River, Darrang, Assam.
Trees Attacked. — Terminalia, Shorea, Lagerstromia, Schima. Ever-
green Forests, Darrang, Assam.

Beetle.— Large, shining, black ; sides of thorax and basal half of elytra densely hirsute.
Head large, vertex with sharp irregular raised lines and points, the depressions hirsute ; eyes

large and prominent ; mandibles large, toothed. Prothorax wider

Description. than long, convex, smooth and shining ; a more or less circular

pitted depression on lateral margin just below the centre. Elytra

constricted apically, shining, striate-punctate, striae very tine. Under-surface black, duller.
Length, 31 mm. to 38 mm.

I took numbers of this beetle, some large, others of small size, in the

rotting wood of fallen decaying trees of the genera

Life History. Terminalia, Shorea, Lagerstromia, and Schima, in the

Evergreen Forests, near Bhorelli River, about the middle

of April 1906. The beetles were only found in decaying trees, and were all
either in the semi-pupal or mature state. I know nothing further on the life
history of this insect.

Family LUCANIDAE.

(Stag Beetles.)

The Stag Beetles are easily recognizable owing to the great development
of the mandibles of the males into prolongations having some resemblance to
a stag's antlers (fig. 37). The females do not possess these exaggerated m.in-
dibular structures, their short thick black biting jaws being of the normal si
The beetles are usually large bulky insects, the males bring larger than tin-
females. The enlarged end joints of the antennae an- characteristic <>t tin-
family, since they are fixed into a straight c<>ne--lu|pr<l kn.>l> instead ..I
forming movable plates. The visible segments of the abdomen are li\r in
number.

FAMILY LUCANIDAE

There is an extraordinary variation in the size of the beetles of one and
the same species. This great variation has been noticed in some Ceram-
bycidae (fig. 32), and also in the Buprestidae.

The beetles are usually black or greenish black, and occasionally
brownish in colour ; rather flat ; the head large and prominent, with divided
eyes ; the prothorax very large, squarish in shape ; the elytra large, con-
stricted behind, and shining ; the legs long, with elongated spined tibiae, and
long tarsi in which the five joints are easily discernible.

The larva is a large, cumbersome, whitish-yellow grub, with well-marked
horny head, jaws, and antennae. The legs are long and stout, the front

ones not short as in Passalidae.
The large body is soft, fleshy, the
posterior segments being curved, the
last two swollen in a bag-shaped
manner.

The pupa is thick, fleshy, and
stout ; whitish in colour.

This family of beetles lives in the
mountainous forest areas of the coun-
try, being especially plentiful in the
Himalaya. They have not been found
in the forests of the plains. They do
not infest living or freshly dead trees,
the larvae, in spite of their powerful
jaws, being unable, owing to the
swollen soft bag-like abdomen, to
move about in hard timber. All
stages of the insects are invariably
found in decaying timber in the
forest. The beetles fly at night ;
but, as Himalayan habitues well
know,' are often to be found on shady
woodland paths or on tree-trunks in
the shade in the day-time.

A few of the species of trees
inhabited by this family are known.

;. 37. — Lucanus Innifcr^ Hope.
The Stag Beetle. <J. Himalaya.

LUCANUS.
Two species of the genus have been reported from the forests.

Lucanus lunifer, Hope.

REFERENCES. — Hope in Royle, Himal. Ins. 55, t. 9, f. 4 ; Thompson, Rep. Ins. destr. Woods and For. 1868.

Habitat. — Himalaya.

Trees Attacked.— Moru Oak (Quercus dilatata) ; Ban Oak (Quercus.
incana). Western Himalaya.

FAMILY LUCANIDAE

Beetle. — $ Large, elongate, black or greenish black, clothed with a very short greenish
pubescence ; the elytra shining, occasionally coppery brown. Vertex of head shield-like,

the edges raised, central area depressed ; the anterior margin sinuate,

Description. the outer angles and median part produced forward ; front of head

slopes downwards, the anterior edge produced into a median bifurcate

prolongation. Eyes large. Mandibles enormously developed into two long horns having a
resemblance to a stag's antlers ; the antennae are long, elbowed, and prominent. Prothorax
wider than long, with a median longitudinal depressed line. Elytra convex, apex conjointly
rounded. Scutellum large, wide, anterior edge concave, posterior convex. Legs long, tibiae
spined. Pubescence on under-surface denser, especially on metathorax. Abdominal segments
brownish. Length, 36 mm. to 75 mm.

2 Smaller than the male, the black mandibles of normal size ; the front of head is
coarsely rugose-punctate.

Larva. — Large, stout, fleshy, curved and corrugate, with three pairs of legs on thoracic
segments; abdominal segments swollen in a bag-like manner behind. Head large, brown, and
shining ; mandibles large, black. Length, 50 mm. to 85 mm.

In the outer Himalaya the mature beetles are to be found on the wing
in June, July, and later in September. The beetles

Life History. probably issue irregularly
throughout the summer, as I
have taken fully developed larvae just pupating,
as also pupae and mature beetles, in rotten oak-
stumps in July. The length of time passed in the
larval stage is unknown. It possibly exceeds a year.
Before pupating the larva forms a rough kind of
semi-cocoon with shreds of wood. The pupal stage
is short, a month or six weeks at most ; but the
beetle spends some time in the "resting" stage
whilst its outer chitinous parts are slowly solidi-
fying. At this period the beetle is light brown in
colour, this tint slowly darkening as the outer
covering hardens.

The female beetle lays her eggs in crevices of
the bark or creeps under projecting flakes and
deposits them on the outer surface of the sapwood.
The tree selected is invariably a dead one in which tin- wood h;is ;ihv. ids-
undergone considerable decay. In no cases have I ever found tin- grubs i.r
beetles in sound timber; nor have I been able to hud any corroboration
of the statement made by Thompson in his Report on Inlets I),
Forests * that these beetles and their grubs destroy oak timber.
Insects t I alluded to this matter so long ago as iN<)<), and investigations
made since have confirmed me in the view I then expressed, \vhi- h \
held by Mr. W. F. Blandford, formerly Lecturer in Kntomo]o-\ .it Coopers
Hill. Mr. Thompson wrote: "The stag beetles arc both numerous and
common in individuals, and are, of the whole order of woo.l beetles
most destructive to living trees. Some idea may !>«• form«l ,,| tin- ravages

38. — Litianns liaiifcr,
Hope. $

p. 1 6.

f ////. Ins.

FAMILY LUC AN I DAE

of these insects when it is stated that the larvae live from three to four
years in that state in the interior of the trunks of oaks, and that barely one
in ten of the trees to be met with in Nyne Tal does not bear the marks of
their ravages. These and larvae of Prionus beetles seem to exclusively
attach themselves to the oak as their habitation. . . . They bore circular
chambers, penetrating to the heart of the stem, winding into various passages
both up and down the trunk. They eject the undigested particles through
holes made for the purpose, forming lateral communications with the main
tunnels ; these particles may be observed at the roots of the trees so affected
in the form of small lengthened chips."

The Prionus beetle referred to by Mr. Thompson is the cerambycid
Lophosternm Jingclii, whose life history is detailed on p. 274. It is the work
of the larva of this beetle which Mr. Thompson appears to have confused
with that of the lucanid ones.

As has been shown, lucanid larvae cannot at present be considered as of
economic importance to the forester.

Lucanus mearesi, Hope.

REFERENCES.— Hope, Proc. Ent. Soc. 83 (1842) ; Ann. Nat. Hist, xii, 4, 364.

Habitat. — Darjeeling.

Tree Attacked.— Kharani (Symplocits the ce folia}. Darjeeling (C. G.

Rogers).

Beetle.— Resembles liinifer, but is smaller, the
elytra with a golden or purple reflexion. The

<J can be distinguished by
Description. the different shape of dorsal

surface of head, the anterior

margin of vertex being nearly straight, the outer angles
but slightly produced, the margin being only slightly
sinuate. In the $ the front of head is much less
coarsely rugose-punctate. Length, $ 35 mm. to
smaller.

64 mm.

This

FlG. 39. — Liu ti/ius wi-aresi, Hope. <J and $ . Himalaya.

lucanid was
reported

Life History, from the
Darjeeling

forests by Mr. C. G.
Rogers, Conservator of
Forests. Mr. Rogers
stated that it bores into
the dead sapwood of
the kharani-tree at ele-
vations of from 5,000 ft.
to 6,000 ft. above sea-
level.

FAMILY SCARABAEIDAE 73

Family SCARABAEIDAE.

(Dung Beetles and Chafers.)

This is a very large family of beetles, including several sub-families; the
Scarabaeinae or Dung rollers; Melolonthinae or Cockchafers; the Rutelinae;
the Dynastinae; and the Cetoniinae or Rosechafers. Only the Melolonthinae,
Rutelinae, Dynastinae, and Cetoniinae are of importance in the forest.

The beetles of the family may be recognized by the fact that the
leaflets of the club form little plates which are easily opened out and closed.
The elytra leave the pygidium exposed, and the number of ventral segments
of the abdomen visible is six. The beetles are thick, bulky insects, some of
large size, with a flat head and the prothorax large, often spined, and the
front tibiae flattened and spined, the front pair of legs being often used for
digging purposes. Black, yellow, brown, or grey colouring predominates,
save in the Cetoniinae, where green and copper are also present.

The larvae (fig. 30, a) are large, thick, curved, and much -corrugated
grubs, with a large brown head and three pairs of legs, and resemble the
lucanid grubs.

Both beetles and grubs of the four sub-families we are concerned with
feed upon plants, the grubs on the roots and other parts of young seedlings,
and the beetles on the leaves or flowers. The grubs of some species have
been observed or reported as causing serious damage to seedlings ; deodar
sowings have suffered from the attacks in the Western Himalaya, and
casuarina in the plantations in Madras.

The larval life is thought to extend over more than one year, in some
instances perhaps over several years, the grubs feeding voraciously during
this period, save during the winter months in the colder climate of the hilly
districts, when they burrow deep down in the soil and hibernate. The
pupal stage is in many instances short, but the beetles spend a more or
less lengthy period in the soil in the " resting" state whilst their outer hard
chitinous parts are solidifying. Immature beetles found in this stage in the
soil are light yellow or yellow brown in colour.

MELOLONTHINAE.

The beetles have no horns on the head or prothorax, and one spiracle
is visible on the pygidium. The beetles are of modi-rate si/e, with thick
bodies and front legs flat and broad and a<l;i|>tr<l for digging.

The sub-family is divided into several divisions, of \\ln< h genera of the
Sericini (Scricu) and Mrlolonthini (Lcpiiliotn, llnlnlnclni. Md«l»utlu} onl\
will be considered.

SERICA.

A common forest genus of cockchafers of moderate to small
yellow, brown, or dark brown-black in colour.

74 FAMILY SCARABAEIDAE.

Serica alcocki, Brenske.

REFERENCES.— Brenske, Ind. Mns. Not. iv, 217 ; Ibid, vi ; Slabbing, Depart. Notes, i, 10 (1902).

Habitat.— Dehra Dun.

Tree Attacked.— Mallotus philippinensis. Dehra Dun (C. G. Rogers).

Beetle.— A smallish thick brown beetle, black to plum-coloured above. Clypeus rounded,
thickly but lightly punctate ; last joint of the maxillary palpus short, ovate, or pointed.

Antennae slender, ten-jointed, the club consisting of three small

Description. plates. Prothorax convex, rounded at sides. Scutellum small,

broad. Elytra broadly striate, the striae irregularly punctate, the

channels finely punctate. Thighs broad, not spined ; hind tibiae slightly dilated, front ones
with two teeth. Length, 6.4 mm.

This Serica was discovered by Mr. C. G. Rogers, I.F.S., on 16 June
1896. Mr. Rogers took the beetle from the leaves of

Life History. Mallotus pJiilippinensis in the Dehra Dun sal forests. The
beetle feeds on the young tender succulent leaves of the
tree, nearly the whole of the leaf, with the exception of the midrib, being
eaten. The beetle, as observed by Mr. Rogers, commences feeding on the
leaf either at the edge or in the middle, but apparently confines itself to the
young leaves. It was not observed to eat the old hard ones.

This beetle, like several other members of this sub-family, drops off
the food-plant to the ground when disturbed or frightened, and Mr. Rogers
noticed that it was then extremely difficult to detect amongst the dead
leaves and decaying vegetation of the forest floor. Investigation has not
yet shown on what tree the grubs of this species feed. They may feed on
the roots of the Mallotus or upon those of the sal, Terminalia, and other trees
growing in this locality.

Serica assamensis, Brenske.

REFERENCES. — Brenske, Ind. Mus. Not. iv, 176 (1899) ; ibid, v, 14.

Habitat. — Bengal Duars, Assam.

Tree Attacked. — Tea-plant (Camellia the a) (Messrs. Andrew and Yule) ;
Sal (Shorea robust a). Bengal Duars.

Beetle. — Brown, the head and prothorax reddish brown. Clypeus obscurely three-toothed,
rather broad, finely punctate, and furnished with very short spines, the median line slightly

keeled. Antennae ten-jointed, joints two to seven very short, the

Description. terminal joint faintly three-lobed in both sexes, and scarcely longer

in the male. Prothorax broad, sides slightly rounded anteriorly,

straight behind ; posterior angles obtuse. Elytra with a series of striae, the interspaces
between them but slightly convex. Thighs and tibiae slightly broadened posteriorly.
Length, 6 mm. to 6.8 mm. ; breadth, 4 mm. to 4.3 mm.

In April 1899 this beetle was reported to be seriously defoliating tea

in the Duars tea gardens close to the Bhutan Hills.

Life History. The beetle suddenly appeared in the gardens on

12 April in large numbers, and stripped the tea-bushes

of the new leaves of the year, as also the new shoots. An examination of the

FAMILY SCARABAEIDAE 75

soil at the roots of the tea-bushes showed the beetles to be in large numbers
there, it thus becoming evident that the grub of this insect feeds upon the
roots of the tea-bush. The account of this attack is given in Indian Museum
Notes, vol. v, p. 15.

In 1895-6 I found the grubs, pupae, and beetles of this Serica at
the roots of sal-trees in the Bengal Duars, the grubs feeding on the smaller
roots of the tree. The grubs and pupae were taken in March, and mature
beetles in the soil at the beginning of April. I am unable to say whether the
beetles defoliate the sal-tree.

Serica calcuttae, Brenske.

REFERENCES. — Brenske, Ind. Mits. Not. iv, 176; ibid, v, 130.

Habitat. — Calcutta.

Tree Attacked. — Rosa sp. Calcutta.

Beetle. — $ Similar in size to the last species. Front of head carinate. Antennae ten-
jointed, the antennal plates compressed and short. The elytral interspaces broadly convex
The posterior thighs broadened apically ; the tibiae strongly broadened behind. Length,
8 mm. ; breadth, 5 mm.

This beetle was found on rose-bushes in the compound of the Indian
Museum, Calcutta. Nothing further appears to be known of its
history.

Serica pruinosa, Burni.

REFERENCES.— Burm. Handb. iv, 2, p. 165; Gem. Har. Cat. Coleop. iv, p. 1120; Cotes,

iii, 1 17.

Habitat.— Madras Presidency : Devikulam ; Trevandrum.
Tree Attacked.— Coffee (Coffea arabica, Linn.). Devikulam, Madura
District (A. W. Turner).

Beetle —Ovate. Black or smoky-black ; antennae and tarsi brown. Front of head
finely rugose. 1'rothorax \\ider than long, sides rounded in front, straight behind; rugose
dull. Elytra striate, the intervals raised and slightly rugose, sparsely Hotlm! with a short
pubescence. L'nder-surface black, rugose. Tibiae of hind logs
strongly broadened. Length, 6-7 mm.

The beetle has been reported as seriously de-
foliating coffee-bushes at I>e\iku-
Life History. lam at a height of between 5,000 ft .

and 6,000 ft. in the Madura Dis-
trict. Mr. A. W. Turner found the beetles devouring
the leaves of the bushes in June 1892. Nothing luriher FK;> 40_
appears to be known about the insect.

76 FAMILY SCARABAEIDAE

Serica sp.

Habitat. — United Provinces Sal Forests.
Tree Attacked. — -Sal (Shorea robust a). Horai.

Beetle.— Ovate. Very dark chestnut-brown, almost black. Prothorax wider than long,
sides rounded ; surface finely punctate, dull. Elytra rather finely striate, striae less well

defined laterally ; the intervals convex, finely and irregularly punctate ;
Description. dull, with a very short pubescence apically. Tibiae of hind legs very

broad, tarsi lighter brown. Length, 9.3 mm. Described from a
single damaged specimen.

Larva. — The larva is a smallish white, curved, crinkled grub of about 18 mm. in length.

I took one or two fully matured grubs, some pupae, and a mature beetle

of this insect from the soil beneath the humus layer at

Life History. the roots of sal-trees in the Horai Forest in the first part

of May 1908. The grubs feed on the smaller roots of

the sal and on the thinner bark of larger roots. The beetle issues on the
wing during May and probably June.

Serica ? sp.

Habitat. — United Provinces Sal Forests.
Tree Attacked. — Sal (Shorearobusta). Horai.

Beetle. — Ovate. Red-brown, moderately shining, elytra yellowish brown, antennae and
tarsi brown. Front of head finely rugose, with a transverse median carina. Prothorax wider

than long, sides rounded, finely punctate. Elytra striate, the intervals

Description. rather broad, flat, and finely and fairly densely punctate, the lateral

margins of whole insect fringed with longish brown spiny hairs.

Under-surface brown, finely punctate ; hind femora and tibiae broad. Length, 7. i mm.
Described from two damaged specimens.

This insect was taken in company with the last in the soil at the foot of
sal-trees in the Horai Forest. The grubs feed on the roots of the tree.
The food of the beetle is unknown.

Serica ? sp.

REFERENCE. — P. M. Lushington, The Insect Pests of Swietenia macrophylla, Ind. For. vol. xxxi,

p. 74 (1905).

Habitat.— Nilumbur Teak Plantations.

Tree Attacked. Blackwood or Rosewood (Dalbergia latifolia) ;
Mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) (P. M. Lushington).

Very little appears to be known on the subject of this insect. In a note
on the Insect Pests of the Mahogany (above referred to),
Life History. Mr. P. M. Lushington recorded the following observa-
tions on its habits :—

' More serious damage seems to be done (to the mahogany) by an
insect which I have been unable to discover. This attacks the leaves, but

FAMILY SCARABAEIDAE

77

more especially the mid-rib and sometimes the young shoot. The parts
attacked turn brown, and on the mid-rib and shoot a scar is left, and the
woody portions become subsequently affected. I am inclined to suspect that
this damage is done by a small beetle allied to the Rose beetle; for, though
I have never found this on the mahogany, it is plentiful on the neighbour-
ing blackwood trees, where it damages the flower and flower-stalks in a
similar manner. I notice that it emits a black fluid, which appears to be
injurious to the leaves."

LEPIDIOTA.
Lepidiota bimaculata, Saund.

REFERENCES. — Saund. Trans. Ent. Soc. ii, 176 t. 16, f. 2 (1839) ; Burm. Handb. iv, 2, 294 ; Gem. Har. Cat.
Coleopt. iv, 1163 ; Griffithi, Hope, Trans. Ent. Soc. Hi, 62 (1841).

Habitat. — Assam. Also reported from Sikkim, Naga Hills, Khyok-
phow.

Tree Attacked — Sal (Shorca robust a}. Assam.

Beetle. — A large beetle. Head, prothorax, and
pygidium dull green, elytra brown, dull or slightly shining ;

under-surface black, clothed with
Description. a short greenish-yellow pubes-

cence. Legs black. Head nar-
rower than prothorax, dull, punctate. Prothorax wider
than broad, sides curved and finely serrate ; finely
punctate. Scutellum large, heart-shaped, finely punctate.
Elytra convex, finely punctate, widest medianly, basal
angles rounded, constricting from middle gradually to
apex, latter truncate ; pygidium depressed. Anterior
tibiae broad and three-spined. Under-surface convex,
shining where pubescence has been rubbed off. Length,
46 mm. to 57 mm. ; breadth, 24 mm. to 29 mm.

I took specimens of this insect in May

in the Assam sal forests.

Life History. The beetles were noticed

sitting on leaves and twigs

& . FIG. 41. — Lefiidiota

of sal-trees, and one specimen was seen to Saund. Assam.

be feeding on the leaf parenchyma, eating

out holes in the leaf. I know nothing further about its life history

L.At IINCSl KKNA.

Lachnosterna (Holotricha) problematica, P.n nske.

REFERENCE. — Brenske, Ind. .V/i.s. AD/, iv, p. r.

Habitat— United Provinces Sal Forests. Also reported from Snna^.ir.

Trees Attacked. — Sal (Shores n>l>n^a\ : Horai, Knm.mii, and Gorakhpur;
Terminalia bdcricu, Jaman (Eugenia jauibnlania > : Gorakhpur
Osmaston).

78 FAMILY SC ARAB AEI DAE

Beetle. — Dark-coloured, slightly iridescent above, with a thick white pubescence
beneath. Front of head densely rugose, punctate. Antennae ten-
Description, jointed, finely and densely rugose-punctate. Prothorax broader
than long, the angles rounded behind. Scutellum large. Elytra

with slight costae, but not densely punctate. Pygidium acute behind, punctate. Length,
1 6 mm. ; breadth, 8 mm.

Larva. — White, curved, crinkled, with a yellow head. Length, 25 mm.

The beetle appears on the wing in the latter half of May in the sal
forests of the Kumaun Terai, and from the first week in

Life History. May in the sal areas of Gorakhpur. The eggs are
probably laid during this month and in June. The

larva feeds in the soil on the roots of the sal-tree. I took a number of
larvae, pupae, and immature and a few mature beetles at the roots of sal-
trees in the Horai Forest in the second week of May 1908. The grubs feed
on the bark of the younger roots, eating it away in patches, and often com-
pletely girdling the roots. The grubs are full-fed in the latter part of April.
The pupal stage appears to be about three to four weeks only, and the
beetle on maturing pushes its way up from the soil through the humus
and dead leaves above, and takes wing in the forest. Larvae, pupae, and
beetles were all found in the upper inch of soil.

In May 1909 Mr. A. E. Osmaston, I.F.S., recorded some excellent
observations he made on the beetle. He took beetles feeding on sal leaves
at Bhillanpur in the Gorakhpur division on 7 May 1909, others at Banki
on 10 May, and at Jagpur on 18 May. At Jagpur the beetles were also
defoliating the Teriuiinilia belerica and the jaman and other miscellaneous
species of trees.

From the usual time of appearance of these Cockchafer beetles in
the forest it would appear probable that this insect only passes through one
life-cycle during the year. The grub thus spends the major portion of the
year feeding on the roots of the tree, descending probably deeper into the
soil to hibernate during the winter months.

These melolonthid beetles have the power of increasing in incredible
numbers in the forest under favourable conditions, and
Damage Committed this insect is therefore a pest of first-class importance in
in the Forest. the sal forests of the United Provinces. It is not improb-
able that the poor growth of young trees in soils

unfavourable to the tree is due to the destruction of portions of the young
root system by this and other melolonthid pests.

Early in May 1908 a fire took place in the Horai Forest, and rather

severely burnt out three compartments. All the under-

Protection. growth and young trees were burnt and old trees severely

scorched. In the unburnt areas I took a considerable

number of larvae, pupae, and immature and mature beetles in the soil at the
foot of sal-trees, the dead leaves, humus, and upper layer of soil being

FAMILY SCARABAEIDAE

79

removed for a considerable distance round the base of several trees and
the roots exposed. A series of observations were also carried out in the
burnt-over area. I found that all the melolonthid and elaterid grubs in the
first inch of soil had been carbonized, not a living grub of any description
being taken. Fully mature Serica and Lachnosterna beetles were, however,
still alive and apparently unharmed. This observation would seem to show
that the fires which swept unchecked through the forests before the inaugura-
tion of fire protection must have taken a considerable part in keeping down
those classes of pests whose grubs live in the soil or who retire to the upper
layers of the soil to pupate, as, for instance, the defoliator Boarmia selenaria
of these forests.

Macrochilus bensoni, Hope (p. 95). — The grub of this common carabid

beetle is predaceous upon the grubs of Lachnosterna

Predaceous Insect, problematica, L. clypealis, and Heteroplia varians (described

later), and probably also on those of the Serica sp.
grubs which infest sal roots.

Beetle. — Elongate. Black, shining, with two orange spots on
each elytron, legs yellowish brown, antennae and tarsi brown. Head
flat, depressed laterally, strongly punctate; eyes greenish black, large
round, placed at sides ; mandibles stout, brown, as are the palpi.
Prothorax wider than long, anterior margin straight, sides strongly
rounded, base slightly so ; surface convex, strongly punctate. Ely-
tra wider than thorax at base, widest near apex and conjointly
rounded ; striate-punctate, disk but slightly convex. Pygidium small,
black. Under-surface black, shining, densely and finely punctate.
Legs long and slender. Length, 12 mm.

Grub. — The larva is elongate, tapering at both ends, with a
large square yellow-brown head and powerful mandibles. The ex-
tremity ends in a pair of elongate processes.

FIG. ^2,.—Macrochilus
bensoni, Hope.

Life History. — I took a few of these beetles and a United Ptovinces.

larva or twc in the soil at the foot of sal-trees in the

Horai forests. The larva feeds upon the melolonthid one, sci/iiii; thi-
grub in its mandibles, and, after piercing a hole through its skin, suck-
ing out its body contents. The beetles rly at the roinuu-iicvinriit and
throughout the early part of the rains.

Lachnosterna clypealis, litenske.
REFERENCE. — Brensk<-. Ann. Soc. l-'nt. r.clg. p. 15-1

Habitat. — Garhwal, United Provinces.

Tree Attacked. — -Sal (Sltorcn mlnistti'}. (iarhwal Forests, I'nitrd I'r<>-
vinces Terai.

8o

FAMILY SCARABAEIDAE

FIG. 43. — Lachnosterna
clypealis, Brenske.
Garhwal.

Beetle. — Elongate, parallel. Smooth. Head and prothorax
dark chestnut, elytra lighter-coloured. Head small, flat, margined,

rugose-punctate. Prothorax wider than

Description. long, finely punctate. Scutellum large.

Elytra with sides slightly rounded, apex

rounded, pygidium yellow, small ; surface of elytra finely punctate
with several ill-defined striae, the median one most prominent.
Under-surface yellow ; legs brown, tibiae spined. Length, i6mm.

Specimens of this beetle, both mature and imma-
ture, were taken from the soil
Life History. near the roots of living sal-trees
in the Garhwal forests in April

1908 in a manner similar to that in which I took
L. problematica already described. The grubs prob-
ably feed on the roots of the tree.

Lachnosterna intermedia, Brenske.

REFERENCES. — Brenske, Mem. Soc. Ent. Belg. ii, 64 (1894) ; Osmaston, Ind. Forester, xxviii, 352 (1902).

Habitat. — Darjeeling, Eastern Himalaya.

Tree Attacked. — Cryptomeria (Cryptomeria japonica). Darjeeling (B. B.
Osmaston).

Beetle. — Elongate, parallel, smooth, dark chestnut in colour. Prothorax wider than long ;
finely punctate. Scutellum triangular. Elytra with parallel sides, constricted at apex, leaving
pygidium of one segment exposed. Tibiae spined. Length, 20 mm.

The larva, pupa, and beetle are figured natural size after a drawing by Mr. B. B. Osmaston,
reproduced from the Indian Forester.

This insect was discovered killing young cryptomeria seedlings by

Mr. B. B. Osmaston, I.F.S., in plantations in the Dar-

Life History. jeeling Division in April 1902. The following are

extracts from Mr. Osmaston's note, dated 12 May 1902,

on the attack, which was published in the Indian Forester :—

' I enclose a note on a cockchafer-like beetle found doing serious

damage in a cryptomeria plantation last month

' The damage is done by the larva, which gnaws all the bark off
the main and lateral roots. The larvae were found killing cryptomeria
seedlings two to three feet high and four to five years old in plantations
near Hoon (Darjeeling), at an
elevation of 5,000 to 6,000 ft.

"Specimens of the insect in all
stages were found on 12 May 1902.
But the beetles seemed in most
cases to have already bored out
from the ground and flown away.

"Only one beetle seems to

r IG. 44. — Lachnosterna intermedia, Brenske.

attack each plant, but IS quite Larva, pupa, and beetle. Darjeeling. (After

able in most cases to kill it." Osmaston.)

FAMILY SCARABAEIDAE

81

This appears to be the first report of the insect from this locality, and
no observations seem to have been previously recorded on its life history.

Lachnosterna impressa, Burm.

REFERENCES. — Burm. Handb. iv, 2, 314; Gem. Har. Cat. Coleop. iv, 1168; Cotes, 2nd. Mus. No(. i, 59;

id. Tea Insects, Hi, 4, p. 5 ; Barlow, ib. iv, 261.

Habitat. — Darjeeling; Sikkim.

Tree Attacked. — Tea (Camellia theifera). Sikkim.

Beetle. — Stout, elongate, brown, rather shining, punctate. Prothorax wider than
long. Scutellum heart-shaped. Elytra broadest in apical fourth, where they are much
broader than prothorax ; apices separately rounded, suture often slightly gaping at apex ;
pygidium exposed ; tibiae spined. Length, 20 mm. to 25 mm.

Larva. — White, curved, crinkled, with prominent head, stout mandibles, and three pairs
of rather long legs.

This insect is very abundant in the Darjeeling torests and tea gardens,

and is found throughout the Sikkim forests in the

Life History. Kalimpong Division. The beetle appears on the wing

from the end of March through April into May. The

larva feeds on the roots of the tea and garden plants, and not improbably
on the roots of-seedlings of forest trees as well. In 1883 the grubs committed
great havoc in the public gardens at Darjeeling, over two and a half millions
of individuals having been collected. In 1891 the insect again made its
appearance in the Darjeeling district, and killed off a large number of
plants in the tea-garden nurseries. The full life history does not appear
to have yet been worked out, but it is improbable that it passes through
more than one life-cycle in the year.

HETEROPLIA.
Heteroplia varians, Oliv.

REFERENCE. — Oliv. Ent. i, 5, p. 78, t. 10, f. 123, a, b.

Habitat. — United Provinces Terai.
Tree Attacked. — Sal (Shorcn robust a). Horai,
Kumaun.

Beetle. — Stout, elongate, yellow, moderately shining ; the head
black, shining, margins of prothorax, scutellum, and elytra Mack ;

legs and antennae brown. Head small,
Description. punctate. Prothorax wider than loi

sides rounded ; smooth, very linrly and

lightly punctate. Scutellum large. Klytru broadest about middle,
where they are broader than thorax, apex rounded, suture slightly
gaping apically ; surface smooth, very finely punctate : pygidimn
yellow; tibiae spined. Length, iSmm.
9003

I- n .. 15. //,•/' ><'/ .
>'atis, < >h\ . Kumaun.

82 FAMILY SCARABAEIDAE

Mature and immature specimens of this beetle were obtained in the

Horai sal forest in the United Provinces in the middle

Life History. of May 1908. The insect was found in the soil at the

roots of sal-trees in a manner similar to that in which

I took Lachnosterna problematica and L. clypealis described above.

MELOLONTHA.

Melolontha ? sp.

(The Deodar Cockchafer Grub.)

REFERENCES. — Stebbing, Depart. Notes, i, 87; Ins. Pests of Coniferae of Himalaya, Ind. For. Mem.

Zool. ii, p. 63.

Habitat.— Western Himalaya.

Tree Attacked. - - Deodar (Cedrus deodara). Jaunsar and Bashahr,
Western Himalaya.

Beetle. — Unknown.

Larva. — The larva is a large, heavy, yellowish-white curved grub with a light brown head
bearing two antennae and a pair of long curved very powerful mandibles. The body is thick
and curved, the anterior segments being much corrugated, whilst the posterior three segments
are swollen up in a bag-shaped manner, and are black in colour. Length, ij in. to 2 in.

So far as is at present known it is the larva of this cockchafer beetle

which is dangerous to deodar growth. The grub cuts

Life History. through the roots of seedlings and young plants, or

more often gnaws away the bark all round, thus girdling

them. Grubs apparently full-grown were found engaged in this manner in

some patches of deodar sowings in theTaranda Forest,
Bashahr Division, in June-July 1902.

In June 1909 a report was received from Mr. Bill-
son, Divisional Forest Officer, Jaunsar, that patches
of young deodar seedlings were suffering from grubs in
a similar manner. The grub proved to be a melo-
lonthid one, and not improbably identical with the
one I found in Bashahr in 1902.

FIG. 46.- Melolontha The rest of the life nistoiT of this insect has Yet

grub of deodar. N.W. to be studied. It is probable that the beetle will be

found on the \ving some time during the summer

months, and it may be that the larvae pupate at irregular intervals through-
out the summer, so that some beetles will always be found between June or
July and October. This point has to be definitely ascertained.

So far as observations have yet gone this insect is only destructive to
Damage Committed seedling and perhaps very young sapling growth, and
m the Forest. the damage is done by the larva only.
Regeneration of the deodar has been carried out in the past to a con-
siderable extent by sowing the seed in patches, and it has been a common

FAMILY SCARABAEIDAE 83

experience to find that the whole of these patches fail. The seed may
germinate and the young plants come up and then apparently damp off.
This apparent damping off is very often entirely due to the attacks of
this cockchafer grub or the other root pests to be described in this work.
In the past it has, however, almost invariably been ascribed to drought
or frost or bad seed. The following description of a patch of deodar sowing
examined by myself is typical of what occurs and of what took place in
Mr. Billson's infested sowings :—

There were probably twenty-five seedlings originally in the patch. At
the time of inspection five green unattacked ones were all that remained
standing in the soil. Of the rest a few dead ones remained standing, and
these came away in the hand, being cut through below the surface, or the
roots came away with the dead upper part and were seen to be girdled. The
rest had been cut off either at the apex of the stalk just beneath the crown
of needles or below in the stem somewhere above-ground. This latter work
was that of the Agrotis caterpillar, which was also present here. The
work below ground was mainly that of the Melolontha grub, though an
elaterid larva (see p. 230) was also found.

The girdling of the young plants is a serious matter, especially where
several of these large larvae infest a patch of seedlings. Their presence
practically means that the whole of the patch is doomed.

Before making sowings of seed out in the forest it is advisable to turn

up the soil for a couple of feet in selected spots to

Protection and ascertain whether these root-feeding larvae are abun-

Remedial Measures, dant on the area or not. If they are very abundant

it is almost useless endeavouring to restock the area
by means of sowings.

In nurseries matters are simpler, and Mr. Billson introduced with
success one or more of the following remedies in the attack experienced in
Jaunsar in 1909. Under certain circumstances one or more of the nine-lies
might be attempted in the forest :—

(1) Before the young seedlings have come up place bundles of an\

succulent crop plant which may be growing in the neigh-
bourhood (in America cabbage, turnips, and clover h,i\e been
found most effective) at intervals on the see<l-l>e<ls, first sprink-
ling the bundles with paris-green water. The \<MIH- larvae
will feed on these and be killed off before ilie
come up.

(2) Crows, mynas, starlings, the cattle egret, and man\ other nesting

birds all eat the grubs whenever thev can liml them, and the\ are
particularly active in this respect in damp weather and after

irrigation. Thus, whenever possible, the beds attacked by tile

pest should be flooded with water in the daytir The water
will fill the tunnels and force out the insects, which, it birds are

I 2

84 FAMILY SCARABAEIDAE

plentiful, will be picked up and eaten by them. If birds are not
numerous hand-picking must be resorted to.

(3) Another good method of checking the pest is to dust the plants

over a few times in the evening with a mixture of quicklime and
ashes, or better still, add the arsenic compound paris-green to the
two in the following proportion : One ounce of paris-green with
one ounce of unslaked lime and 3 Ib. of ashes. Powder the sub-
stances together very finely, put them into a calico bag, and dust
over the plants, loosening the soil around them first.

(4) In nursery beds already attacked the surface of the soil should be

carefully inspected, and all holes containing portions of leaves,
stalks, etc., should be dug up and the larvae at the bottom killed.
This was the method resorted to at Gora Gali by Mr. B. O.
Coventry, and gave good results.

(5) Water the beds with a solution of copper sulphate. This pene-

trates to the roots and often kills the grubs.

It should be borne in mind, however, that our efforts should be in the
direction of preventing the attack commencing, or at any rate from becoming
serious. With this object numbers (i) and (3) of the above remedies are
recommended. The former would be well understood, since the practice of
poisoning jackals and porcupines is a very common one amongst the natives
of India.

EUCHIRUS.

Euchirus macleayi, Ho.

REFERENCE. — Ho. Ann. Nat. Hist, iv, p. 300 (140).

Habitat. — Naini Tal, Eastern Himalaya, and Assam.

Tree Attacked. — Oak (Quercus sp?). Naini Tal (R. C. Thompson).

Beetle. — Large, easily recognized by the enormously prolonged anterior legs of the male,
several inches in length and spined. Head and prothorax green, shining ; elytra black

mottled with brown, red, or orange spots and markings. Head small,

Description. front concave. Prothorax convex with a deep longitudinal median

depression, broadest posteriorly; widest in posterior third; sides rounded,

with serrate edges ; densely punctate save for shining areas on disk. Elytra smooth, pygidium
and under-surface densely clothed with a very long whitish or yellowish pubescence forming
a thick wool. Tibiae of all legs heavily spined. The long legs in the $ may be 3^ in.
in length, very thick, with long tibiae and tarsi. Length (without legs), 50 mm. to 75 mm.

This insect is commonly supposed to be chiefly found in the Eastern

Himalaya and Assam. Thompson, in his Report on

Destructive Insects, has the following note on Euchirus,

and shows a photograph of the beetle in question, which would

FAMILY SCARABAEIDAE

seem to preclude the possibility ot a doubt that the insect was taken at
Naini Tal :—

" Of the Euchints figured I am not able to report from personal
experience of its habits, but I have been informed on good authority
that its habits are similar to its congener the Stag Beetle or Lucanus

cervus (L. lunifer). The
present specimen of the
Euchints was obtained at
Nynee Tal, where it had
issued out of an oak stem."
This is the only record I can
find on the subject of this insect
infesting this tree. The oak would
probably be either Quercus incana
or Q, dilatata.

I-' 1 1'.. 47. — Euchints macleayi, Ho.

Fie. 4<S. — Eiiiliifiis nitic/cin-i, II".

RUTELINAE.

The beetles of this sub-family «,'iv;itly resemble tin- last.
dull-coloured, but others are more brilliant, an.l greens and blues are
as well as browns. The claws of the tarsi differ in size.

86

FAMILY SCARABAEIDAE

FlG. 49. — Anomala
grandis, Fabr.
Darjeeling.

ANOMALA.
Anomala grandis, Fabr.

REFERENCES. — Fabr. Syst. Ent. p. 34; Burm. Handb. iv, i, p. 275; viridis, Ind. Mns. Notes, ii, 39, 1891.

Habitat. — Darjeeling Forests.

Tree Attacked. — Utis (Alnus nepalensis). Darjeeling (C. G. Rogers).

Beetle. — Large, bright green, shining ; under-surface brilliant coppery with a greenish
reflexion ; eyes yellow, antennae coppery, legs coppery or greenish coppery. Head small,

finely punctate, eyes yellow, front rugose. Prothorax narrow in front,
Description. widest behind, finely punctate. Scutellum large, anterior edge trun-

cate. Elytra truncate, finely punctate with a raised blunt point or
tooth medianly at a short distance from apex ; pygidium finely, irre-
gularly, and transversely rugose-striate. Under-surface punctate.
Length, 22 mm. to 30 mm.

This beetle was forwarded some years ago to
the Indian Museum, Calcutta, by
Life History. Mr. C. G. Rogers. Mr. Rogers stated
that he took the beetle stripping

the leaves from the utis-tree (Alnus nepalensis} in June at
elevations of 5,000 ft. to 6,000 ft. in the Darjeeling forests.
Nothing further appears to have been recorded on the
subject of the life history of this insect.

ADORETUS.
Adoretus caliginosus, Burm.

REFERENCE. — Burm. Handb. iv, i, p. 471.

Habitat. — Gorakhpur, United Provinces.

Tree Attacked. — Sissu (Dalbergia sissoo). Gorakhpur (A. E. Osmaston).

Beetle.— Elongate, small, yellow, the elytra lighter-coloured than thorax. Head black,
shining, densely punctate, covered with a short white villosity ; eyes large, placed at sides at

base. Prothorax wider than long, sides rounded ; finely and densely
Description. punctate, and covered with the short white pubescence. Scutellum

large. Elytra wider than thorax, widest

in apical third, thence constricted and conjointly rounded.
Moderately strongly punctate, and weakly striate ; the tibiae
strongly spined. Length, 9.1 mm.

This beetle was taken by Mr. A. E. Osmaston,
I.F.S., on the sissu at Pakri in
Life History. the Gorakhpur Division. He
found the insect in numbers de-
foliating the trees in the first half of May, both old
trees and saplings suffering from the attack of the
beetles. No further observations on its life history
appear to have been recorded.

FIG. 50. — Adoretus
caliginosus^ Burm.
Gorakhpur.

FAMILY SCARABAEIDAE 87

Adoretus caliginosus, Burm. var. bicolor, Brenske.

This variety has the head wholly fuscous and the pygidium slightly
pubescent.

The insect is said to be widely distributed throughout India. It was
reported as defoliating rose-bushes in the Botanical Gardens, Bangalore, in
company with A. bangalorensis.

Adoretus bangalorensis, Brenske.

REFERENCE. — Brenske, Ind. Mus. Notes, v, 38.

Habitat. — Bangalore.

Tree Attacked. — Rose-bushes.

Beetle.— Head large, brown, slightly metallic ; clypeus round, front small ; posterior
angles of prothorax rounded ; elytral costae fine, uniformly pubescent ; tarsi small, the
joints close together ; pygidium densely pubescent, apex slightly black.

This beetle has been reported as defoliating rose-bushes in the Botanical
Gardens at Bangalore.

Adoretus cardoni, Brenske.

This insect (Brenske, described in Ann. Soc. Ent. Bclg. vol. xxxii,
1893) has been reported as defoliating roses, cannas, etc., in Calcutta.

DYNASTINAE.

The forest species at present known as important are large bulky insects,
the males furnished with a horn on the head and a prominent projection
on the prothorax. The colour is most usually black, but sometinu-s the
insects are brownish.

The grubs are large, thick, soft, and much curved, the posterior part of
the body being swollen and bag-like. They commit damage to trees, more
especially to the roots of young seedlings.

ORYCTES.
Oryctes rhinoceros, Linn.

(The khiin'Ci'i'iis />Yc'//r.)
REFERENCES.— Linn, Syst. Nat. ed. 10, 34'' Stebbing, /><•/•.«>•/.

Habitat. — Throughout the plains of India.

Tree Attacked.— Casuarina (('iixituritni equisetifolia) ; Pithecolobium dnlcc
Madras Plantations. Also palms of various kinds thniu-lii.ut th.- country.

FAMILY SCARABAEIDAE

Beetle. — Black, shining, massive, and large, with a prominent horn which curves back-
wards on the head, from which it gets its name of rhinoceros beetle. The elytra are very

convex above, the insect being flat beneath. Shanks (tibiae) of

Description. legs armed with spikes, the front ones having each three spikes on

their outer edges. A large roughly heart-shaped depression on front

portion of thorax. A series of broad striae and punctures on elytra. Dark rufous beneath,
with hair of same colour in parts. The beetle is easily recognizable by its form, by its antennae
ending in a series of terminal plates, by its spiked tibiae and five-jointed tarsi, and by its great
size. Length, 43 mm. Breadth across elytra, 18 mm.

Larva. — A large, stout, curved grub. Head flat, purplish-brown. Mandibles brownish
to black, large, and stout ; antennae five-jointed, basal joint enlarged. On first three seg-
ments behind head are three pairs of light-brown, stout, long, three-jointed legs. Body

yellowish white, last two segments
blackish. The head is smaller in
transverse diameter than the rest
of the body. Body is very thick,
corrugated, curved, and swollen
out so as to be almost bag-shaped
behind. On each side of the third
to tenth segments is a large dark-
brown spiracle. Body above and
below is thickly covered with
brown spiky hairs except on last
segment, where they are small and
scattered. Length, taken round
curve, 96 mm. Breadth, 18 mm.

The beetle is to be
found on the wing during
the greater
Life History, part of the
year. It may
hibernate either as a larva
or pupa, or perhaps beetle,
from November to about
March, remains in the soil
through the winter in the
resting stage, and appears
first on the wing towards
the end of March, remain-
ing as late as the beginning
of November. The adult
FIG. $i.-Ofy<:'ti's rhinoceros, Linn. 0, larva ; b, pupa; insect spends some time in
c, imago (male) ; d lateral aspect of head and thorax \ this state, and apparently
e, end of body of male ; /, end of body of female. , '.., ...^ FF,

(After Arrow in F. B. /.) can do with little food in

this stage of its existence,

as beetles have been kept alive for over two weeks without food of any kind.
The insect lays its eggs in the soil or in masses of palm and other
refuse situated in or near palm topes. The grubs on hatching out feed
in the decaying trees or in adjacent refuse-heaps, and evidently also con-

OL>

FAMILY SCARABAEIDAE 89

sume the roots of seedling plants. Mr. C. B. Dawson, District Forest
Officer, Kistna, reports that the large grubs feed upon young casuarina
seedlings, being attracted to them owing to the moisture in the sand in
which they are planted. These young seedlings are watered whilst in the
nurseries, and thus the moist layer of sand filled with the young roots
would quickly attract grubs of this kind. It is not known whether the
beetles lay their eggs in the nurseries, but as the eggs are laid in the soil
as well as in the refuse-heaps in the palm topes it is not improbable.

In some parts of the country the beetle appears as early as March,
and may even leave the soil in the latter part of October. Larvae are also
to be found at other times in Madras.

Ranger P. V. Modiliar, in charge of the Coast Range, Nellore Division,
took a number of the grubs, some full-grown, others partly grown only.
They were feeding on the roots of young casuarina and Pithecolobium dulce
in the plantations. The grubs cut through the roots just below the surface
level, thus killing the young plants.

The grubs are also present in older plantations.

The beetle is a serious pest in palm topes. It bores into the soft
parenchyma of the top of the growing shoot of the trees, burrowing down-
wards through the folded leaves, which on opening out show tattered holes
where the beetle has pierced them in tunnelling. In this way the bud is
often killed and the palm dies.

The following are remedies which have been already recommended
for trial :—

Protection and Employ boys or women to remove carefully the

Remedies.

soil round seedlings which are seen to be wilting, and

take out and kill the fat grubs found at the roots. This should be done
when seedlings are seen to be dying off in any considerable number, even at
the expense of killing adjacent young plants by thus disturbing their root
system. The grubs move from one plant to another, and one grub may
thus destroy a number of seedlings.

2. If feasible, a simple and effective plan is to flood the plantation for
a few hours so as to drown all the grubs in the soil. Those that come up to
the surface should be collected and killed.

3. Remove all diseased, dead, and decaying date and coco-nut palms in
the vicinity of nurseries and young plantations. Also — and this is
important "point— all refuse-heaps of rotting vegetation, etc.
formation of the nursery, special soil-pits of manure, litter, and leaves
prepared, they should be carefully inspected for these grubs, as the beetU
will be certain to lay in such places. A good instance of tins
danger was noticed in a Calcutta garden in Jum- 1903. Tin- h«-;ip of rid

and humus used for manuring the flow<-r-l>.-.|s contained numbers <•!
larvae of this insect which \\vre spreading from them into tin- bed
young seedlings, whose roots they were devouring. Tlinv were palm-tree
close by.

i \vu \ SC \K U)

SJ

\N I .M Krri-s.
Xylotrupes gideon. Linn.

• . \ . m. Han

>

Habitat. — Humm. \ -n.

Vroe Attacked. — / . r\mman.i. r

•

. lv

•lline
- outlines >M' anty

nv, . . minimum v

Beetle. - . IM-OVM-: • - . . the <•• ^ lib

e? x . HX! \\-itr

-Mnen and undo 'iind

- , . V

\ M heai: ; ves

<M-n on the ]->rot borax, which ouvves do\m-

iho head.

In ,!iat on hora\. the latter

im.

Pi All VIII,

of stems of 71 eedlii

I'yinn HI i l p|

FAMILY SCARABAEIDAE 91

This insect, both male and female, was taken by Mr. C. B. Smales, I.F.S.,

in Pyinmana in Upper Burma. The beetles were found

Life History. girdling young seedlings of Poinciana regia in a nursery,

thus killing them. The plate shows portions of the

stems of these young trees completely girdled by the beetles.

CETONIINAE.

Rather flat beetles, often of brilliant coloration, and not of particu-
larly large size. The colour may be brilliant green or blue or brown, with
white or yellow markings and spots. The sexes are similar to one another,
the male being without protuberances on the head or thorax. The beetles
are many of them diurnal, flying about in the sunlight, and being found
on leaves and flowers in the daytime. They are commonly known as
the rosechafers. It is in this sub-family that the elytra are joined down
the middle suture, and so are elevated as one piece to permit the lower
wings to be spread for flight.

TRIGONOPHORUS.

Trigonophorus hookeri, White.

REFERENCE.— White, Proc. Zool. Soc. p. 14, t. 41, f. i $ ; 2 $> (1856).

Habitat. — Assam Duars.

Tree Attacked. — Khair (Acacia catechu}. Assam.

Beetle. — Shining green or blue, tibiae and tarsi brown, latter darker. Head small,
a small depressed bifurcate horn on vertex and another smaller horizontal bifurcate horn on

front. I'rothorax much wider than head, widest liehincl, finely
Description. punctate. Scutellum very large, triangular. Elytra widest at base,

constricted behind humeral angles, apex

rounded, pygidium exposed, finely punctate. Under-surface shining,
smooth. Length, 20 mm. to 25 mm.

I took this insect very plentifully towards the end of

May 1906 in areas adjacent to and

Life History. between the Suiikos and Keidak rivers

near their debouchment fnnn the

Bhutan Hills. The beetles were en-a-ed in defoliating

the khair, many of the trees being loaded with insects, FIG. 53.-

i-i ., i ,. , , a phorus ho

whilst others were entirely leafless. White. Assam

I do not know on what the larva feeds. Duars.

FAMILY SCARABAEIDAE

OXYCETONIA.

Oxycetonia versicolor, Fabr.

REFERENCE.— Fabr. Syst. Ent. 1775, P- 5i ! Schaum. Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr. 1849, P- 264.

Habitat.— Dehra Dun. Common in the plains.
Tree Attacked. — Rose-bushes.

Beetle.— Shining, small, reddish coppery ; margins of thorax, elytra, also along the
suture of the elytra, green ; dorsal surface of
the insect covered with small white spots,
being especially numerous on the elytra.
Length, 18 mm.

FIG. 54. — Oxyce-
tonia versi-
color, var. a.
(From F. B. I.)

Not very

much appears to be
known about the
Life History. life history of this

insect. The beetle

is very common in July and August
in Dehra Dun, when it feeds upon the
petals of roses and occasionally the
Hibiscus.

FIG. 55.— Oxyce-
tonia versi-
color, var. d.
(From F. B. I.)

OREODERUS.
Oreoderus gravis, Arr.

REFERENCE. — Arr. Faun. B>-. Ind. Lamell. i, p. 288.

Habitat. — South Coimbatore, Madras.

Trees Attacked. — Bamboos (Dendro calamus strictus and Bambusa arun-
dinacea). Mount Stuart, South Coimbatore.

Beetle.— A small bulky weevil. Black, corrugated and crinkled,
the elytra flat on disk. Head concealed beneath the deeply chan-
nelled and coarsely rugose prothorax ;
Description. latter broadest behind the basal margin

medianly produced. Elytra much broader

than prothorax, flat on top, vertically depressed downwards laterally ;
apex truncate, leaving exposed a short broad pygidium ; depressed
and rugulose in middle, elevated laterally into a prominent ridge
which is prolonged into a short tooth at apex. Pygidium and under-
surface black, the body thick, legs rather elongate and slender, the
anterior tibiae with two large teeth on outer edge. Length, 9 mm.

I took a specimen of this weevil on a thicket

of young bamboos at the end of August 1902 at Mount Stuart in South
Coimbatore. It is the only individual of the species I have taken.

FIG. 56.

Oreoderus gravis, Arr.
South Coimbatore.

C 93 )

CHAPTER VII.

ADEPHAGA.

TARSUS of all legs five-jointed. Joints of antennae simple. Larva with
two-jointed tarsi.

Family CICINDELIDAE.

(Tiger Beetles.}

This is a family of predaceous beetles provided with
powerful curved mandibles and long
Beetle. legs adapted for rapid running move-

ments. The tiger beetles are easily

recognizable from their general shape and the fact that
the clypeus stretches laterally in front of the insertion
of the antennae, whilst the maxillae end in an articulated
joint. The insects are often brilliantly coloured, either
uniformly throughout or with bands and spots on them-
greens, blues, browns, or blacks predominating, with
white, yellow, red, or other coloured spots. The elytra are broader at
the base than the prothorax, having shoulders to them, and are smooth.
The beetles are never very large, half an inch to a little over an inch usually.
Some forms are wingless.

The larva is a curious whitish elongate grub, with a largely developed

head armed with stout curved mandibles, an enlarged

Larva. prothoracic segment, the remaining segments and those

of the abdomen being of much less width. The seventh

segment counting from the head is furnished dorsally with a curious

^JS* projecting hump. There are three pairs of legs mi
yr the thoracic segments.
s~**^ The members of the family as a whole feed upon

insects of all kinds, and many are diurnal, living in-
running rapidly about in the sunlight.

The importance of the tiger beetles in tin- forests
has yet to be definitely decided. Him- forms of the
genus Collyris are often to be found mi the bark of
trees, and not improbably may be found t<> prey
upon wood- and bark-boring beetles. This point \\.\^
yet to be established, as also \\hriv the larvae of
the forest-living forms dwell.

Fir, ^.-Cicindclao.to- The larvae of the members of the family whi. h

notata, Wied. Assam, live in the open country usually construct vertical

94 FAMILIES CICINDELIDAE AND CARABIDAE

tunnels in wet sand or soil near rivers and streams, and live in these,
preying upon such insects as come near them.

The bright-coloured insect Cicindela octonotata, Wied., is common on
the stony river-beds and banks of the Sunkos, Reidak, and other rivers in
Assam, where I have taken it in numbers in the latter part of May.
C. sexpunctata is a common little cicindelid found in the rice fields and often
on the borders of the forest.

Family CARABIDAE.

(Ground Beetles.}

The Carabidae are a predaceous family of beetles closely allied to the
Cicindelidae, and having the long curved biting man-
Beetle, dibles of the latter, from which they may be distinguished
by the fact that the clypeus does not stretch laterally in
front of the insertion of the antennae and the maxillae are not hooked. The
tarsi are five-jointed and the antennae are filiform, and thus the insects can
be distinguished from the Tenebrionidae (p. 232), which in their dark colouring
and shape they otherwise to some extent resemble. The beetle is compact
in form, with close-fitting elytra, often more oval than in the cicindelids.
The elytra are occasionally, as in tenebrionids, soldered together, with no
wings for flight below. In many forms the legs are long and adapted
for running, in others short and fitted for digging. The colours are usually
dull black, brown, or greyish, with occasionally spots of yellow or white.

Little is known about the larvae of the family. They are supposed to
be uniformly predaceous, furnished with a large head and
Larva. powerful mandibles, the rest of the grub tapering pos-

teriorly, dull brown or black in colour, the last segment
ending in a pair of cerci ; three pairs of walking legs are present on the
thoracic segments.

The habits of some of the beetles are known, the insects preying upon
other insect life either during the daytime or at night. Some forms have

been found under the bark of trees feeding upon
bark- and wood-boring beetles, etc., and the whole
life of these species may be passed within the tree.
Others have been found in the soil.

Calosoma orientale, Hope.

REFERENCE. — Hope, Trans. Zoo/. Soc. i, p. 92.

Habitat. — Peshawar and elsewhere in Northern
India.

FIG. ^.-Calosoma orien- Habits.— This carabid has been reported to prey

tale, Hope. N. India. upon the young of the locust Schistocera peregrina*

FAMILY CARABIDAE 95

Anthia sexguttata, Fabr.

REFERENCE. — Fabr. Syst. Ent. p. 136.

Habitat. — Changa Manga, Punjab; Berar. Common in the plains of
North and Central India.

Habits.— In Berar in July 1901 I found this large carabid attacking
the caterpillars of the large hawk-moth (Pseudosphinx discistriga), which
happened to be very abundant defoliating the leaves of the teak-trees in the
Melghat Forest. The beetle itself was in some numbers, running up the
main trunks and on to the branches of the trees, and there could be no doubt
of its carnivorous activities at the time I observed it. I have never since
found it preying upon caterpillars.

At the Changa Manga Plantation near Lahore in the Punjab I took
the insect feeding upon the wood-borer Sinoxylon anale, and think it was
also attacking the species of Alindria and Melambia which were themselves
preying upon the Sinoxylon. I took several specimens of the carabid at
various heights on a large standing sissu-tree, and saw others right up the
bole just beneath where the crown commenced. This tree was very badly
attacked by the Sinoxylon, which was tunnelling into it to oviposit. The
carabid was searching for the beetles which had partially disappeared into
the bark, seizing such when found and dragging them from their partly
formed holes and devouring them (vide p. 173').

Macrochilus bensoni, Hope.

Habitat. — United Provinces Terai, North India.

Habits.— This is a common carabid, appearing in numbers at the com-
mencement of and throughout the rains in North India. I took pupae and
beetles, some of the latter mature, in the soil at the foot of sal-trees in the
Horai forests of the Kumaun Division on n May 1908, The insects were
predaceous upon the larvae of the cockchafer beetles Lachnostemaprobluihttic.i.
L. clypealis. and Heteroplia varians (p. 79).

I have also taken specimens of this insect or a closely allied species
from beneath the bark of a dead stump of a Htnnnlinm tomcntosinn tree on
the Salween River in Tenasserim.

The insect was active and numerous in the stump on ; Maivh DOS,
and was feeding upon a termite which was riddling the wood.

Scarites bengalensis, Dej.
REFERENCE. — Dej. .s/Vr. ii, i>. \68.

Habitat. — Changa Manga, Punjab.

Habits.— This beetle is predaceous upon the sissn wood-boi
analc. It was taken from beneath the bark of a sissu-tree l>.i<ll\ infested In

96 FAMILY C ARAB I DAE

the Sinoxylon in company with species of Alindria (p. 114)
and the carabid Morio subconvexus. I have not taken the
larvae of the beetle. It is probable that they also live
beneath the bark of the tree, and possibly enter the
tunnels of the bostrychids and prey upon the larvae of
the latter (p. 174).

Morio subconvexus, Chand.
Habitat. — Changa Manga, Punjab.

FIG. 60. — Scarites

bengalensis, Dej.

Changa Manga.

Habits. — -The beetle preys upon the bostrychid wood-borer Sinoxylon
anale. I took the insect in company with other predaceous beetles beneath the
bark of a large sissoo-tree badly attacked by the Sinoxylon. I have not
taken the larvae, but imagine that they will be found in the burrows of the
bostrychid larvae (p. 174)-

Amblystomus magnus, Bates.
Habitat. — Katha, Upper Burma.

Tree Infested. — Teak (Tectona grandis). Mohnyin
Forest, Katha, Upper Burma.

Beetle. — Small black, very shining, with a striped pygidium. Legs
and antennae brown. Head and thorax very finely punctate. Elytra
striate, the intervals smooth. Length, 5 mm.

I took a specimen of this carabid from beneath the
bark of a large girdled standing teak-tree in the Kadu
depot in the Mohnyin Forest up in Katha. It is the only

FIG. 6i.—Amblysto- specimen of the insect I have taken.
mus magnus, Bates.
Katha.

Tachyta nietneri, Schaum.
REFERENCE. — Schaum. Berl. Zeit. p. 88 (1863).

Habitat.— Tons Valley, 2,300 ft., North-West Hima-
laya ; Tharrawaddy, Lower Burma.

Trees Infested.— Chir Pin$(Pinuslongifolia): Thadiar,

Tons Valley; Anogeissus latifolia: Konbilin Forest, Thar-
rawaddy, Lower Burma.

Beetle. — Very small, dark brown, shining ; head triangular, with
long curved black mandibles. Thorax smooth, with a longitudinal
medium impression. Elytra smooth, finely striate. Legs and antennae
brown. Length, 2 mm. to 2.2 mm.

Larva.— Twelve segments, yellow in colour except first, which is ^i'etneri, Schaum!

brown, and the anterior portion of second, which is yellowish brown.
Head square, large, black, provided with a pair of stout calliper-

N.W. Himalaya ;
Burma.

FAMILY CARABIDAE 97

like mandibles. Thoracic segments with three pairs of legs. Posterior segment terminates
in two corneous processes, calliper-shaped, the under-surface of segment forming a kind of
pseudo-pod. Length, 5 mm.

I first took specimens of this very active beetle from beneath the bark
of a dying chir-pine log in the Tons Valley. The insect

Life History. was found in large numbers in the tunnels and galleries,
and appeared to be predaceous upon the wood- and bark-
infesting insects of this tree. These specimens were taken on 8 June 1902.
The tree was attacked by the Tomicus and Polygraphus bark-borers and the
Platypus wood-borer. The larvae of the carabid were also numerous. They
are rapid walkers, using the thoracic legs and the pseudo-pod. Their jaws are
extremely powerful, and they are very tenacious of their grip once having
got a firm purchase. When they had seized a piece of stick with which
I poked them about I could lift them clean up by their jaws, as they
refused to let go (pp. 527, 561).

On 22 January 1905, in Burma, I again took specimens of a minute
carabid, which has been identified as this species of Tachyta, from beneath the
bark of a large felled Anogeissus latifolia tree. This tree had been cut down
in a tounggya clearing in the Kadin Bilin Forest in Tharrawaddy. I again
on this occasion recorded a note to the effect that the insect was exceedinglv

o w

active and appeared to be carnivorous. Here it probably attacks the
Platypus rectangulatus (p. 623) of the Anogeissus and other bark-borers.

Omphra ? sp.

Habitat. — North-West Himalaya.

Habits. — This carabid is predaceous upon the caterpillars of the deodar
geometer moth. These " looper " caterpillars seriously defoliate the deodar
in parts of the North-West Himalaya in June-July, sometimes entirely
stripping all the needles from the trees. In July 1901 Mr. E. M. Coventry,
of the Indian Forest Service, found this carabid feeding upon the caterpillars
in the Kalela Forest of the Simla Division. The greater part of this forest
was entirely defoliated that year.

9003

CHAPTER VIII.

POLYMORPHA.

TARSUS of legs variable. Joints of antennae clubbed or serrate.

Family HYDROPHILIDAE.

The family may be recognized by the curious antenna, which consists
of a long basal joint, the rest of the joints, except from one to three very
short ones, forming a club of which the apical ones are widened out and
pubescent. The beetles are shining black or dull in colour, the head,
prothorax, and elytra fitting closely together, as shown in fig. 63. They
are of small size. The family consists principally of aquatic forms. One
forest-living beetle, a species of Regimbartia, is described briefly below, but
I have not taken its larva.

Regimbartia aenea, Benth.

Habitat. — Goalpara, Assam.

Tree Infested. — Sal (Shorea robusta). Kachu-
gaon, Goalpara.

Beetle.— Elongate-ovate. Black, with a shining yel-
lowish lustre. Head depressed, impressed medianly ; the eyes

large, placed laterally, and yellowish
Description. in colour. Prothorax convex, de-

pressed in front, wider than long,

anterior margin and sides rounded ; disk smooth and very
finely punctate. Scutellum elongate, heart - shaped, very
finely punctate. Elytra elongate, very convex, depressed
apically, the sides rounded to posterior coxae, and thence
rather sharply constricted ; apices separately rounded ; very
FIG. 63. — Regimbartia aenea, finely punctate. Under-surface dull black. Legs shining
Benth. Assam. black. Length, 5 mm.

This beetle in its mature state is probably a sap-feeder. During a

visit to the Kachugaon sal forests in Assam in May

Life History. 1906 Mr. Perree had a large green healthy sal-tree

felled for me on the I3th. Between the i6th and

igth of the month this beetle was found beneath the bark of this tree

HYDROPHILIDAE, SILPHIDAE, AND STAPHYLINIDAE 99

in the cambium layer, which was full of sap, upon which it appeared to
be feeding. The tree was visited on the i_|.th and i5th, and portions of
the bark stripped off, but the insect was not observed in it before the
i6th. It had apparently been attracted to the tree by the presence of
the oozing sap.

Family SILPHIDAE.

Present investigation has not shown this family of beetles to be of
importance in the forest. It is chiefly of interest owing to the habit of
some members termed " burying " beetles. These insects bury the bodies
of small mammals by removing the soil below the bodies so as to cause them
to sink into the ground ; the beetles then feed and oviposit in the decom-
posing mass, in which their grubs are also reared. This habit has not yet
been observed in the case of the Indian forest species, whose life histories
are little known.

The beetles of the family vary in shape and appearance, and
may be recognized by having the conical-shaped coxae of the front legs
placed close together, the antennae being usually clubbed. They are
supposed to be similar in habits to the Staphylinidae, and some may be
predaceous.

A common Indian species is Silpha tetraspilota, a squarish, flat beetle,
with a broad prothorax, and broad elytra marked with a few prominent
longitudinal ridges.

Family STAPHYLINIDAE.

(Rove Beetles.}

The beetles are easily recognized by the short truncate elytra which
only cover the base of the abdomen, and leave exposed this latter, which is
more or less long and flexible. The under-wings are folded up and tucked
away under these short elytra. The shape varies from elongate and narrow
to oval or elongate-oval forms, shining-black or brown or dull yellow-brown
in colour. The elongate forms have a superficial resemblance to earwigs
(Forficulidae), from which they must be distinguished. The legs ;uv short.
and have a tarsus with a variable number of joints. The beetles run
rapidly, and have the power of curling up tin- abdominal segments over the
back. The mouth is usually provided with stout mandibles, which are
often specially prominent in the larval forms which live under the bark ot
trees. In other respects the larvae often resemble in form the beetles, save
that the wings are absent.

The beetles and larvae of the forest forms of this family are in many
cases predaceous, feeding upon bark- and wood-boring insects, or on species

<; 2

ioo FAMILY STAPHYLINIDAE

which live under the bark of trees, feeding upon the sap or decaying matter.
It is probable that some of the staphylinids found in trees also feed chiefly
on decaying matter. The few species I have been
able to observe appeared, however, to be predaceous
in character.

Many of the forms living under the bark of trees
have a general resemblance either to the common
staphylinid found in country lanes in England, the
"devil's coach-horse," or to some of the commoner
histerids found beneath the bark of trees. Species
of both these types are to be found in coniferous
trees preying upon scolytid larvae in the Western
Himalaya ; whilst a third, resembling the histerid

type, but with a more elongate abdomen, giving the

, . FIG. fy.—Staphylina m

insect a torpedo-shaped appearance, is to be found bme -e x £ N w

beneath the bark of trees. Himalaya.

Amongst the trees from which I have taken these small forms of
staphylinid beetles may be mentioned the deodar, blue pine, spruce, long-
leaved pine, and the Quercm incana, in the Western Himalaya ; Bambusa
polymorpha, Milletia brandisiana, Garruga pinnata, and pyinkadu, in Tharra-
waddy ; teak, Morus laevigata, ScJiima noronhae, and Eugenia grandis, in
Katha in Upper Burma ; Homalium tomentosum and Miluisa velutina in
Tenasserim ; in Assam, Ficus elastica, various species of trees in the
Evergreen Forests in North Darrang, Pinus khasya in Shillong, and sal in
Goalpara ; and in the sal in the Mandla forests in the Central Provinces,
where the staphylinid appeared to be feeding upon the wood-borer Sinoxy-
lon crassum, and perhaps on Hectarthrum heros, which is predaceous upon
the borer here.

Holosus ? sp.

Habitat.— North- West Himalaya.

Habits. — This small, elongate, shining-black staphylinid is predaceous
upon the smaller bark-boring scolytids of the blue-pine in Jaunsar. It
attacks Polygraphus pini, Stebbing, Crypturgus pusillus, and, I think,
Pityogenes coniferae, Stebbing, and possibly the grubs of Tomicus ribben-

tropi, Stebbing. I have also taken it from spruce
\/~\ J \ A^x > and deodar.

Leucocraspedum ? sp.
Habitat. — North-West Himalaya.

1'1';-65- Habits. — This small, oval, elongate, black,

Leucocraspe- Holosus u • ui--j-r j r • i i •

dum ? sp. ? Sp shining staphylinid is found fairly commonly in

N.W. Himalaya. (E.P.S.) felled and girdled blue-pine infested with the

FAMILIES STAPHYLINIDAE AND HISTERIDAE

101

Polygraphus pini and Crypturgus pusillus beetles in Jaunsar. The beetle
has a superficial resemblance to a histerid (Paromulitx, etc.). The insect is
predaceous, feeding on the scolytid grubs and perhaps on the pupae. I have
also taken it from spruce.

Family HISTERIDAE.

The forest histerids are for the most part easily recognizable beetles,

being short, hard, and compact, the parts fitting

Beetle. accurately together; usually black, occasionally brown,

in colour, and shining ; but some considerable metallic

colouring occurs in the family. The elytra fit very closely together,
are very hard, with their apices usually truncate, leaving exposed two
segments of the abdomen ; the prothorax is often
incised on the anterior edge, the head fitting into
the incision ; in some divisions of the family the
head is retractile ; the antennae are elbowed, eleven-
jointed, the basal joint being long and the terminal
three forming a club.

The beetles vary in shape, some of the bark-living
forms being thin, flat, and squarish, whilst others
are compact cylinders, resembling in section the bark-
and wood-borers upon which they prey. The legs are
short, the tibiae often flattened and spined, and perhaps
aid the beetle in making a way through tunnels
and galleries filled with wood-dust. The mandibles FlG
are strong and powerful, and in some species long. baunlyi, Mars. Siwaliks.

The type of Niponins larva is an elongate pinkish-yellow or whitish-
yellow grub, with stout, well-developed mandibles, a
Larva. pair of jointed processes or cerci to the end of the

abdomen, a well-developed thoracic segment with a hard

chitinous plate dorsally, followed by two narrow segments. The median
abdominal segments are the broadest. The under-surface is usually paler
than the upper, and often translucent. I have never actually reared either
of the Niponins beetles described below from their grubs.

A smaller type of grub is that of the genus Teretriosoma, which has the
abdominal segments narrower, the median ones not much broader th.m
those anterior and posterior to them.

The Niponins pupa, which is the only one I know, is elongate, straight,

and white, with a vertical hc.nl ;md free limbs, win
Pupa. etc. The Niponiii* egg is large, spherical, .-nxl pair

translucent.

The histerid family is a most interesting one to the forester in India,
owing to the fact that it contains a number of very important predators <ui

102 FAMILY HISTERIDAE

forest pests. As a whole the family are found either beneath the bark or
wood of the stems, roots, or branches of trees, in decaying animal or
vegetable matter, or in fungi "puff-balls." They are not for the most part
diurnal insects, and therefore during the daytime they must be searched for
in their homes. Some species are to be found under stones, logs, and other
debris in the forest during the daytime. Here, however, we are more
particularly concerned with the members of the family who live in and
breed in the trees. Of their habits something has already been learnt, but
much remains to be done in the study of their exceedingly interesting life
histories. That some of the species whose habits have already been
investigated are of the first importance in the forest, the life histories of the
two species of Niponius, to mention but one genus, will show ; and yet the
first of these, AT. andrewesi, of the plains forests, was described as a new
species in 1893, the other, N. canalicollis, of the Himalayan coniferous areas,
in 1901. In a previous chapter I have already dealt with the importance of
these predaceous enemies of the bark- and wood-boring beetles.

Mr. G. Lewis, F.L.S., has suggested * that the striae on the elytra
might be of use as guiding lines in the case of species such as Niponius,
assisting them to follow wood-boring Platypi down their tunnels. My
ten years' investigation work in various parts of India would seem to
show that the genera Niponius, Platysoma, Cylistosoma, and Paromalus seek
out the sub-cortical Scolytidae, such as Scolytus, Tomicus, Polygraphus,
Sphaerotrypes, etc., obtaining access to the tree through the entrance bore-
holes of the beetles, and crawling down these to reach the partially or fully
formed egg-galleries in the bast layer. In the case of some genera, e.g.
Niponius, the eggs are laid in these latter galleries.

NIPONIUS.

This genus was founded on some Japanese species. The three Indian
species known were described in 1893 (2) and 1901.

Niponius andrewesi, Lewis.

REFERENCES. — Lewis, Ent. Mag. xxix, p. 183 (1893) ; Ann. Nat. Hist, xiv, p. 151, pi. 6, f. 3, 3« (1904)

Habitat. — United Provinces, Central Provinces, Assam, Madras. Also
reported from Bombay Presidency.

Habits. — This insect (vide fig. 317) is predaceous upon all the species of
Sphaerotrypes bark-borer of the sal-tree in India. The beetle is of cylindrical
shape, of about the same diameter as the Sphaerotrypes, and enters their
tunnels and oviposits in the egg-gallery of the bark-borer, two or three large,
spherical, pale-whitish, translucent eggs being deposited. The grubs feed
on the bark-borer grubs.

* Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. June 1892 ; Ent. Monthly Mag. 2nd ser. 183 (1893).

FAMILY HISTERIDAE 103

I have taken this Niponius in the galleries of Sphaerotrypes siwalikensis
in the sal in the Siwaliks and United Provinces Terai forests ; in those of
Sphaerotrypes coimbatorensis in Anogeissus latifolia in Coimbatore, in Madras;
again in sal, attacking 5. assamensis, in Assam, and S. globulus in sal in the
Central Provinces.

Writing from a knowledge of the habits of this insect, but without
having been able to verify my opinion, it will probably be found that in the
Bombay Presidency this insect is present in Anogeissus latifolia, feeding
predaceously on S. globulus in that tree (vide p. 480).

Niponius canalicollis, Lewis.

REFERENCES. — Lewis, Ann. Nat. Hist, viii, p. 370 (1901) ; Stebbing, Depart. Notes, p. 248, pi. 13, f. 6 (1903) ;

Lewis, Ann. Nat. Hist, xiv, p. 151, pi. 6, f. i (1904).

Habitat. — North- West Himalaya; North Zhob, Baluchistan ; Sulieman
Mountains.

Habits. — Next to the clerid Thanasimus himalayensis, I look upon this
Niponius (vide fig. 6) as the most important of the predaceous foes of the bark-
boring beetles of the conifers of the North-West Himalaya, and the forests
clothing the mountainous region in the North of Zhob and the Sulieman
Mountains. The distribution of the insect, so far as my personal observations
have gone, extends from Kumaun in the Himalaya on the east to the Sulie-
man Mountain Range on the extreme west. Within this area I have taken
the insect in the Pinus longifolia in Kumaun, Jaunsar, Tehri Garhwal, Simla,
Bashahr, and Chamba ; in the deodar, blue pine, and spruce in Jaunsar,
Tehri Garhwal, Simla, Bashahr, and Chamba; and in the Pinus gerardiana
in the North Zhob and Sulieman Mountain forests.

Mr. G. Lewis suggests* that the Zhob Mountains are ' probably the
western geographical limit of Niponius, as Japan is of its eastern boundary.'

The insect feeds predaceously upon the following scolytid bark- and
wood-borers :—

In Deodar: Scolytus major, Scolytus minor.

In Blue Pine: Polygrnplnis major, Polygraphus pini, Tomicus ribbcnt

In Blue Pine and Spruce : Hylastes himalayensis, Rhyncholus himalayens

In Pinus longifolia: Tomicus longifolia (vide p. 507)

HOLOLEPTA.

Hololepta baunlyi, Mars.

Ki i I.KKNCK.— Mars. .Moil. p. 399, pi. '". (• <> ' ' "

Habitat.— Siwaliks, North India.

Habits.— Specimens of this histerid 'fig. 66
B. C.S.Gupta, of the Imperial Forest School, Dehra Dun.
under the bark of a dead Lagcrstriitnin p«r,-ijl<>rn tree at Bulawala, m th«-
Dehra Dun, on 17 February KJOJ.

* Ann. M:!-: \<it. ///'/. ser. 7. vol. xix, \\ nl 1907.

io4

FAMILY HISTERIDAE

FIG. fy.—
in die a, Erich s. x 2.
Siwaliks.

Hololepta indica, Erichs.

REFERENCES.— Erichs. Jahrb. p. 90(1834); Mars. Mon. p. 152, pi. 4, f. 10
(1853); batchiana, Mars. I.e. p. 588, pi. n, f. 2 (1860) ; Lew. Ann.
Mus. Genova, xii, p. 631, (1891) ; aequa, Lew. Ann. Nat. Hist, xvi,
p. 204 (1885).

Habitat. — Siwaliks, North India. Also reported
from Assam, Java, New Guinea.

Habits. — This insect was taken by Student
B. C. S. Gupta, at Bulawala, beneath the bark of
Lagerstromia parviflora in company with H. baunlyi,
as above described.

TERETRIOSOMA.

Of the three Indian species known, the first was
described in 1870, the other two in igoi.

Teretriosoma intrusum, Mars.

REFERENCES. — Mars. Ann. Soc. Ent. Belg. (Teretrius) xiii, p. 121 (1870); Stebbing, Depart. Notes,

p. 20 (1902).

Habitat. — Changa Manga, Punjab ; Sukkur, Sind ; Seoni, Central
Provinces.

Habits. — This insect is predaceous upon the wood-boring beetles Sinoxy-
lon crassuni and S. anale. It has been taken in the galleries of the beetles
in sissu wood at the Changa Manga Plantation ; in Prosopis spicigera in
Sukkur, Sind ; and in Terminalia tomentosa at Seoni, in the Central Provinces
(vide p. 164).

Teretriosoma stebbingi, Lewis.

REFERENCE. — Lewis, Ann. Nat. Hist, viii, p. 380 (1901) ; Stebbing, Depart. Notes, p. 19 (1902).

Habitat. — Changa Manga Plantation, Punjab.

Habits. — The insect has been taken in company with T. intrusum,
predaceous upon the wood-borers Sinoxylon crassuin and 5. analc, in sissu
wood at the Changa Manga Plantation (vide p. 164 and fig. 108).

Teretriosoma cristatum,* Lewis.

REFERENCES. — Lewis, Ann. Nat. Hist, viii, 381 (1901); Stebbing, Depart. Notes, p. 19 (1902).

Habitat. — Changa Manga Plantation, Punjab.

Habits. — Predaceous upon Sinoxylon crassum and S. anale in sissu-trees
at the Changa Manga Plantation (p. 164).

TERETRIUS.

The only Indian species of the genus mentioned in Lewis' Catalogue*
was taken at Seoni in the Central Provinces. A second species from the
Punjab was described in 1911.

According to Sharp (Ent. Soc. p. 513, 1912) cristatum is the female of stebbingi.

FAMILY HISTERIDAE 105

Teretrius Indus, Lewis.

REFERENCE. — Lewis, Ann. Nat. Hist, x, p. 277 (1902).

Habitat. — Seoni, Central Provinces.

Habits. — I took specimens of this insect from the tunnels of Sinoxylon
crassum in a Terminalia tomentosa post taken from the roof of a bungalow in
Seoni, in the Central Provinces. The insect proved to be new to science,
and this was the first discovery of the existence of the genus in India
(vide p. 164 and fig. io8A).

Teretrius mogul, Lewis.

REFERENCE. — Lewis, Ann. Nat. Hist. ser. 8, viii, p. 78 (1911).

Habitat. — Changa Manga, Lahore, Punjab.

Habits.— I took this insect associated with Teretriosoma intrusion in the
galleries of 5. crassum in Dalbergia sissoo at Changa Manga, near Lahore
(p. 164).

PLATYSOMA.
Platysoma rimarium, Er.

REFERENCES. — Erichs, Jahrb. p. 112 (1834) '< Mars. Man. p. 149. P1- 3, f- 9 (1861).

Habitat. — Siwaliks, North India.

Habits. — In January 1902 I took specimens of this
histerid from beneath the bark of a dead felled sal-tree
at Dholkhand, on the south side of the Siwaliks. The
dead tree was infested by the beetles Carpophilus flavipcs
and Ecnomaeus (pp. 109, no), and it is possible that the
histerids may have been predaceous upon these, latter.

Towards the end of February of the same year,
Mr. A. Littlewood, of the Madras Provincial Service,
at the time a student at the Imperial Forest School,
took further specimens of the beetle from beneath

tlG'68' patches of rotting bark on living sal-trees at Karwa-

/ latysoma nmanum,

Er. Siwaliks. pani, in the Dun.

Platysoma rimae, Lewis.

REFERENCE.— Lewis, Ann. A'.i/. lli^t. scr. 7, vol. xvi, p. 343 (1905)-

Habitat. — North-West Himalaya.

Habits.— A common histerid, to be found in the galleries of many of the
coniferous bark- and wood-borers in the Western Himalaya, upon which

* A Systematic Catalogue of Histt-n'<t,n- . (',. Lewis, F.L.S. (1905).

106 FAMILY HISTERIDAE

it feeds. I have taken the beetle in the galleries of Tomicus Ribbentropi and
Rhyncholus in blue pine, in those of the two Scolyti in deodar, and in
Rhyncholus and Hylastes himalayensis galleries in the spruce (vide p. 576).

The insect may prove to consist of two distinct species. An insect taken from a Tomicus
gallery is figured on p. 557 ; one taken from a Scolytus gallery on p. 576.

Platysoma ? sp.

Habitat. — North-West Himalaya.

Beetle. — Black, shining above and below ; very flat and some-
what elongate. Head with a stout pair of long mandibles. Length,
3.9 mm.

Habits. — I have taken specimens of this insect
from beneath the bark of girdled dead ban oak (Q. incana).
The insect is a carnivorous one, and probably preda-
ceous upon some of the Coleoptera found beneath the

bark of this tree (p. 545). FlG- 69-~ Platysoma

sp. in Quercus mcana.
x 5. N.W. Himalaya.
Platysoma ? spp.
Habitat. — Assam .

Habits. — I took two histerids sparingly in the Kachugaon forests in
Assam. They are predaceous upon Sphaerotrypes assamensis, Steb., and
Diapns fitrtivus, sp. nov., Sampson (vide pp. 487 and 631).

CYLISTOSOMA.
Cylistosoma dufali, Mars.

REFERENCES. — Mars. Abeille (Platysoma), i, p. 310(1864) ; scitulum, Lewis, Ann. Xat.Hist.in, p. 280 (1889) ;

Stebbing, Depart. Notes (Platysoma), 351 (1906).

Habitat.— North-West Himalaya.

Habits. — This histerid is predaceous upon Tomicus ribbcntropi, and
perhaps on Polygraphus pini, in blue pine (p. 556).

CARCINOPS.
Carcinops sp.

REFERENCE. — Determined by Mr. Lewis as an undescribed species

of Carcinops.

Habitat. — North-West Himalaya.

^^^^^^^ Beetle.— Elongate, torpedo-shaped, and very flat ; reddish brown

SjR r\ in colour, shining. Length, 2.3111111.

~ST Habits.— I took this histerid beneath the bark of a

girdled ban oak-tree (Q. in can a) at Kathian, in Jaunsar.

£%.7V,a"VN.w! The insect was found in the same tree as the

Himalaya. Platysoma, and is undoubtedly predaceous.

FAMILIES HISTERIDAE AND NITIDULIDAE 107

PAROMALUS.
Paromalus sp. nov.

REFERENCE. — Determined by Mr. Lewis as a new species of Paromalus at present undescribed.

Habitat. — North-West Himalaya.

Habits. — The insect is predaceous upon the conifer wood-borers Rhyn-
cholus himalayensis and Hylastes himalayensis of the spruce and blue pine.
This histerid is an active one, and is fairly common in the Western
Himalaya (p. 453).

Paromalus sp.

REFERENCE. — At present undescribed. May be identical with Paromalus sp. nov. above.

Habitat. — North-West Himalaya.

Habits. — I found this insect in numbers beneath the bark of newly felled
and standing green Finns longifolia trees at Jermola and elsewhere in
Jaunsar and Tehri Garhwal in October 1906.

The histerid is predaceous upon the bark-borers Tomicus longifolia and
Polygraphns longifolia (p. 560).

Family NITIDULIDAE.

This is a family of small beetles, of which some species are commonly
met with in the forests beneath the bark of trees or feeding at the oozing
sap of the newly cut surfaces of stumps.

The insects are of small size, flat, and brown or yellow-brown in colour.

The antennae have a three-jointed club, all the coxae

Beetle. are separated, and each has an external prolongation ;

the tarsi are five-jointed, the fourth joint being the

smallest ; the abdomen with five visible ventral segments, and the elytra
very often truncate. The beetles resemble some forms of Staphylinidae and
Histeridae.

The larva in some forms is elongate, slightly curved, with a well-
marked head, dorsal shield to the prothorax, and three
Larva. pairs of jointed legs on the thoracic segments; the

body segments taper posteriorly.

As a family the insects feed, perhaps, chiefly on sap, but also on d
ing vegetable and animal matter. The beetles are often found on or in
flowers and in dried fruits or seeds. They are also r«>mm<mly found in tin-
tunnels of wood-borers in wood and bamboos, in tin- d.-c. tying filuv- "I
bark, etc.

The common beetle Carpi^/nliis hcmiftcnis lias been foiin.l in many
situations, as will be described.

The family is probably of small economic important •<• in the forest.

FAMILY NITIDULIDAE

CARPOPHILUS.

Several minute species of the genus are commonly found in trees and
bamboos in the forests.

Carpophilus hemipterus, Linn. var.

REFERENCE. — Linn. Syst. Nat. i, 2, p. 565.

Habitat. — Dehra Dun and North India gene-
rally. Mandla, Central Provinces.

Trees Infested.— Bamboo (Dendrocalamus stric-
tus), Buchanania latifolia : Dehra Dun ; Sal
j (Shorea robusta] : Mandla.

Beetle. — Small. Head black ; prothorax and pygidium
brownish black ; elytra yellow with a brown patch in centre
of each. Head and prothorax punctate. Scutellum large.
Elytra short, leaving exposed several segments of body ; finely

punctate. Length, 4 mm.
FIG. 71. — Carpophilus

hemipterus, var. N. India Larva.— Elongate, curved, but slightly corrugated, with

and Central Provinces. a fairly-developed head and a dorsal prothoracic shield,

three pairs of jointed legs on the thorax ; abdominal segments taper posteriorly, the last
ending in two processes.

Student Littlewood, of the Dehra Dun Forest School, took a number of
these beetles sucking the sap oozing from newly blazed
Life History. places on Buchanania latifolia trees in February 1902 in
the Dun forests. In April 1909 I found the beetle feed-
ing on the sap at the cut surfaces of logs and stumps of newly felled sal-trees
in Mandla, in the Central Provinces.

This beetle is also often found in drying or dead fruits and seeds of
trees, and in the tunnels of Sinoxylon and other bamboo-borers, whilst the
grub is a common occupant of the inner surface of the spathes of the
Dendrocalamus bamboo in North India.

Carpophilus mutilatus, Erichs.

REFERENCE. — Erichs. Deutsche Zeitschr. iv, p. 258.

Habitat. — Siwaliks, North India.

Tree Infested. — Buchanania latifolia. Dun Forests.

Beetle. — Elongate. Brown, shining. Head narrower than prothorax, punctate. Prothorax
wider than long, finely and irregularly punctate, with depressions near basal edge. Scutellum
large. Elytra short, truncate, leaving several abdominal segments exposed ; punctate, sparsely
clothed with short golden hair ; pygidium punctate, the basal part of last but one and last
segment clothed with a short pubescence. Length, 3.5 mm. to 3.9 mm.

This insect was taken by Mr. Littlewood in company with C. hemipterus
feeding at sap on Buchanania latifolia.

FAMILY NITIDULIDAE

109

FIG. 72. — Carpo-

•pliilus flavipes.

Siwaliks.

Carpophilus foveicollis, Murray.

REFERENCE. — Murr. Man. Trans. Linn. Soc. xxiv, 3, p. 344 (1864).

Beetle. — Elongate, constricted behind. Shining black, elytra and pygidium brown, under-
surface lighter coloured, legs yellow brown. Head small, punctate. Prothorax convex, shining,
wider than long, anterior margin straight, sides curved ; punctate. Elytra flat, highly punc-
tate ; three abdominal segments fully exposed, these highly punctate. Length, 5.5 mm. to 5.9 mm.

Lefroy, in Indian Insect Life (p. 297), mentions that he has taken this
insect, in company with C. hemipterns, " under the sheathing leaves of
bamboos, where their larvae live; and the latter (C. foveicollis), with other
species, breeds freely in dried fruits in stores and godowns."

Carpophilus flavipes. Murray.

REFERENCE. — Murr. Man. Trans. Linn. Soc. xxiv, p. 359 (1867).

Habitat.— Siwaliks, North India.

Tree Infested. - - Sal (Shore a robusta). Dholkhand,
Siwaliks.

Beetle. — Small, black, moderately shining, highly punctate. Pro-
thorax not much wider than long, convex, anterior angles produce:!
slightly forward, highly punctate. Scutellum large, punctate. Elytra
short, truncate, convex ; pygidium clothed apically with a fine pubes-
cence. Legs yellowish brown. Length, 4 mm.

I first took specimens of this small Carpophilus from beneath the

bark of felled sal-trees near Dholkhand in the Siwaliks

Life History. towards the end of January 1901. I have since taken

the beetle, often in similar positions, in the winter in

the Siwaliks. The imago feeds on sap.

Carpophilus ? sp.

REFERENCE.— Determined doubtfully as a species of Carpophilus.

Habitat. -Siwaliks, North India.

Tree Infested.— Sal (Shorea robusta}. Dholkhand.

Beetle.— Resembles jlavipes. Anterior angles of prothorax not
produced, anterior margin straight, sides curved ; elytra with »i,lcs
nearly straight, as wide apically as at base ; pygidium more consii
behind.

I have taken this insect, in company with C.
in the sal in the Siwaliks forests in similar positions to
those occupied by the latter species.

Carpophilus obsoletus, Krichs.
REFERENCE. — Erichs. Deutsche '/.cit^hr. \\

Habitat.— Siwaliks, North India. Also report. -d from Madras,
Tree Infested. — Buchanania laiifolia. Dun Fon-sts

no

FAMILY NITIDULIDAE

Beetle.— Larger \h.-&n.flavipes. Black, moderately shining, highly punctate. Head small,
punctate. Prothorax large, convex, highly punctate, sides rounded in front, straight behind.
Elytra short, truncate, leave exposed two full and a partial third abdominal segments. Legs
blackish brown. Length, 3.8 to 4 mm.

Taken by Student Littlewood feeding at sap on blazed Buchanania
latifolia trees in the Dun forests.

TETRISUS.
Tetrisus sp.

REFERENCE. — Determined as a species of Tetrisus by
Monsieur A. Grouvelle.

Habitat. — Goalpara, Assam.

Tree Infested. — Sal (Shorea robusta). Kachu-
gaon, Goalpara.

Beetle. — Flat, light brown in colour. Upper surface very
.finely punctate. Prothorax wider than long, sides rounded.
Scutellum large. Elytra short. Hind coxae large transverse.
Length, 3mm. to 3.2 mm.

I found a number of this nitidulid at Kachu-

gaon on 16 May 1906 feeding

on the sap oozing from the

bark at one end of a felled
a couple of days previously.
During the next few days I found other speci-
mens of the insect engaged in the same way.
possess the instinct which enables them to discover felled green trees
with the sap oozing from the fresh-cut surfaces as quickly as do their
cerambyx and scolytid companions.

Life History.

green log cut

I

FIG. 74. — Tetrisus sp.
Goalpara, Assam.

The beetles seem to

ECNOMAEUS.

Ecnomaeus haroldi, Reitt.

REFERENCE.— Reitt. Verh. Ver. Brilnn. xii, p. 182 (1874).

Habitat. — Siwaliks, North India.

Tree Infested.— Sal (Shorea robusta). Dholkhand, Siwaliks.

Beetle.— A tiny, flat, elongate, reddish-brown beetle, the elytra leaving exposed two seg-
ments of the body. Prothorax wider than head, anterior angles produced, sides rounded, base
truncate. Elytra nearly as wide as thorax at base, wider behind, apex truncate, finely punctate ;
pygidium finely punctate, fringed with hairs. Legs lighter-coloured. Length, 6 mm to 8.5 mm.

I took specimens of this nitidulid from beneath the bark of a felled sal-
tree at Dholkhand in the Siwalik Division towards the end of January.

Ecnomaeus waterhousei, Grouv.
Habitat.— Siwaliks, North India.
Tree Infested.— Sal (Shorea robusta). Dholkhand, Siwaliks.

FAMILIES NITIDULIDAE AND COLYDIIDAE in

Beetle.— Elongate, flat, much narrower than haroldi. Shining brown. Head elongate,
concave on top. Eyes black, large, placed at base of head on either side. Prothorax slightly
wider than long, margins channelled, punctate. Elytra elongate, slightly convex on disk,
punctate ; apex truncate, leaving exposed three abdominal segments which are punctate. Under-
surface and legs lighter-coloured. Length, 7.7 mm.

I took a specimen of this beetle from beneath the bark of a felled sal-
tree at Dholkhand, in the Siwaliks, in January 1902.
Life History. The insect proved new to science, and forms the type of
the species in the British Museum collections. The
species was taken in company with E. haroldi.

Family COLYDIIDAE.

The minute beetles of this family are fairly plentiful throughout the
forests of the country, and for many reasons they may to the uninitiated be
easily mistaken for serious bark-boring pests. Investigations seem to show,
however, that this family does little, if any, damage in the forest, whilst
some of its members are of high utility as predaceous foes of the tree pests.

The beetle is elongate or squarish in shape, and in the case of the bark

forms flat. The antennae are clubbed at the top, and

Beetle. the tarsi four-jointed, with five ventral segments of the

abdomen visible. The elytra have often plainly marked

series of raised longitudinal striae down them, and the thorax is sometimes
channelled or sculptured. The colours are browns, yellow-browns, and greys.
Perhaps the commonest predator beetles of the family met with in
India are the species of Bothrideres which are predaceous upon the
Sinoxylon and Dinoderus borers of wood and bamboo. These are the small,
elongate, brown, flat beetles which are commonly found in the tunnels of
the borers, and may be easily mistaken, and in fact have often been mis-
taken, for the authors of the damage themselves. Investigation has shown,
however, that the insects are predaceous upon the beetle-borers, and lay
their eggs in the galleries of the latter.

I have at times taken various larvae which I have placed as colydiid
ones, and in the hope that investigations may l>i> carried
Larva. out in this direction a description of one of th<

forms may be attempted here. The notrs were recorded
•on the grubs at the time they were taken from the trees.

Larva taken from bark-beetle galleries in blue-pine trees in the North-
West Himalaya: Head black, with three-jointed antennae, the upper joint
longer than other two. Twelve segments follow the head, the first and
last orange-yellow ; rest black, each with ,i median dorsal orange spol : tin-
segments are flat and broadish medianly. The posterior segmenl terminates
in two black-pointed stout cerci jointed and curved inwards. Legs two-

ii2 FAMILY COLYDIIDAE

jointed, yellow at base, last joint black. Ventral surface yellow, edged with
black on segments two to eleven inclusive. The twelfth segment is pro-
vided with an abdominal sucker leg ; the upper functional part divided into
two surfaces.

I endeavoured to rear the beetle from this grub, but failed.

I have taken colydiid beetles in a number of forest trees throughout the
country, amongst which may be mentioned most of the conifers and oaks of
the Western Himalaya, and the sal, teak, pyinkadu, Anogeissus, Lager -
stromia, Erythrina, Dalbergia, Wendlandia, Morns, Buchanania, etc.

BOTHRIDERES.

Species of this genus are known to be predaceous upon bark- and wood-
boring beetles in trees.

Bothrideres andrewesi, Grouv.

REFERENCES. — Stebbing, Depart. Notes, p. 21 (1902).

Habitat. — Changa Manga, Punjab.

Habits. — This beetle is predaceous upon the wood-borers Sinoxylon
crassnm and S. anale. It is a fairly common insect in the galleries of the
borers in sissu at the Changa Manga Plantation near Lahore (vide p. 165).

Bothrideres vallatus, Grouv.

Habitat.— Siwaliks, North India.

Habits. — Specimens of this beetle were taken from under the bark of a
dead Lagerstromia parviftora tree and from tunnels in the cambium layer of
a newly felled dead Erythrina suberosa. The beetles were taken by Student
B. C. Sen Gupta in the middle of February 1902 at Bulawala in the Dun
forests.

I also took specimens of this or a closely allied species of Bothrideres
from beneath the bark of sal-trees at Dholkhand in the Siwaliks in
January 1902.

Bothrideres ? sp.

Habitat. — Goalpara, Assam.

Habits. — I bred out a specimen of this beetle from a pupa taken from a
partially complete pupal chamber of Hoplocerambyx spinicornis in sal, in
Goalpara, in 1906. The shrivelled skin of the cerambycid grub lay in the
chamber beside the colydiid beetle (vide p. 334).

FAMILY COLYDIIDAE

TRACHYPHOLIS.
Two species of this genus have been taken in the Burma forests.

Trachypholis hispida, Weber.

REFERENCE — Weber, 06s. Ent. i, p. 38.

Habitat. — Upper and Lower Burma, Tenasserim.

Trees Infested.— A nogeiss us latifolia (Tharrawaddy); Teak (Tectona
grandis). Mohnyin Forest, Katha; Wutgyi, Salween River, Tenasserim.

Beetle. — Ovate, flat, the edges of thorax and elytra set with a spiny fringe of hairs. Black.
Prothorax wider than long, depressed laterally and margined ; rugose-punctate. Elytra with
sides straight to apical fourth, thence constricted and conjointly rounded ; surface broadly
striate and strongly punctate, the punctures large. Length, 6 mm.

Habits. — This beetle was first taken on 22 January 1905, beneath the
bark of an Anogeissus latifolia tree in Tharrawaddy which was badly infested

by several bark- and wood-boring beetles, the chief of
which was Platypus rectangulatus (p. 623). The insect
is undoubtedly predaceous, and probably chiefly on
the Platypus, in whose tunnels it was taken as well
as beneath the bark. The beetle is very active and
a quick runner. The following month (iQth) I took
the insect beneath the bark of a large standing
girdled teak in the Kadu depot in Katha in Upper
Burma. Here I noted that the pupal chambers of
the beetles appeared to be in the inner bark of the
tree. On 7 March following I again took the beetle
from beneath the bark of a dead felled teak in a
paddy clearing at Wutgyi on the Salween River in
f- Tenasserim. The Trachypholis is apparently pre-
daceous upon more than one species of insect.

FlG. 75. — Trachypholis h
pida, Weber. Burma.

Trachypholis decorata, Grouvelle.
Habitat. — Katha, Upper Burma.
Tree Infested. — Wendlandia tinctoria. Mohnyin Forest.

Beetle.— Larger and broader than last. Black with small
tufts of yellowish pubescence forming spots on thorax and

elytra. Sides of thorax are more

Description. rounded ; the apical fourth of elytra

more sharply constricted, the apex

truncate ; elytra slightly convex on disk ; punctate, the punc-
tures arranged in longitudinal rows. Length, 8 mm.

Habits. — I took a specimen of this beetle
from beneath the bark of a large felled \Vcndlandiii
tinctoria tree in a clearing on Kadu Hill in the
Mohnyin forests in Katha. The beetle was fully
mature, and appeared to be hibernating in the |,-[(
tree. The tree was infested by phitypids (p. 627).
9003

I ill! 111. I.

H

FAMILY TROGOSITIDAE

Family TROGOSITIDAE.

Some of the forest forms of this family are readily recognizable owing
to their elongate black form, with the large square prothorax and prominent
head and mandibles. Others are not, however, so easy to distinguish.

The antennae have often the terminal joints expanded to one side, thus

rather resembling the lamellicorn antennae ; the eyes and

Beetle. mandibles usually well developed ; the elytra, which

wholly cover the body, are often prominently striate-

punctate, and the legs short with four-jointed tarsi (there are five joints, the

first being very small).

The grub of this family is elongate, white or yellow (so far as is known),
with a black or brown head and prothorax, with well-
Larva, developed mandibles, and a pair of calliper-like processes

terminating the last segment of the body.

The forest species of the family known are predaceous in both the larval
and beetle stages, and the importance of some of the species in keeping
down the numbers of wood- and bark-boring pests is very considerable. The
family will well repay a close study on the part of the forester.

ALINDRIA.
Alindria orientalis, var. parallela, Leveille.

REFERENCE. — Lev. Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr. (6) viii, p. 411 (1888).

Habitat. — Changa Manga Plantation, Punjab.
Habits. — Predaceous upon the wood-borers Sinoxy-
lon crassum and 5. anale (vide p. 165).

Alindria orientalis, Redtenb.

REFERENCE. — Redtenb, Hugel, Kasch. iv, 2, p. 549-

Habitat. — Changa Manga
Plantation, Punjab.

Habits. — Predaceous upon
the wood-borers Sinoxylon
n-itssujn and S. anale (vide
p. 165).

FlG. 77. — Alindria
orientalis, Redt.
Changa Manga.

78. — Melambia creni-

collis, (inev.
Siwaliks, Mandla.

MELAMBIA.
Melambia crenicollis, Gnev.

REFERENCE. — Gnev. Ic. Regneanim. p. 199, t. 41. f. 12 (1846).

Habitat.— Dholkhand, Siwaliks, North India:
Mandla, Central Provinces.

Habits. - - Feeds predaceously on Sinoxylon
crassum in sal and Terminalia chebula (vide p. 166).

FAMILIES TROGOSITIDAE AND CUCUJIDAE 115

Melambia sp. prox. memnonia, Pascoe.

REFERENCE. — Pascoe, Journ. of Ent. i, p. 320, 1862.

Habitat. — Changa Manga Plantation, Punjab.

Habits.— Predaceous upon the wood-borers Sinoxylon crassum and
S. anale (vide p. 166).

TENEBROIDES.
Tenebroides (Trogositita) rhizophragoides, Walker.

REFERENCE.— Walker, Ann. Nat. Hist. 3rd ser. iii, p. 53 (1859).

Habitat. — Seoni, Central Provinces.

Habits. — -Feeds predaceously on Sinoxylon crassum in Terminalia tomen-
tosa in the Central Provinces (vide p. 166).

TlMNOCHILA.

Timnochila coerulea, Olivier, var.
REFERENCE. — Oliv. Ent. ii, 19, p. 6, pi. i, fig. i.

Habitat.— North-West Himalaya.

Habits.— This elongate blue-black large trogo-
sitid is predaceous upon the bark-borers Tomicus
longifolia and Polygraphus longifolia in the chir pine
(Finns longifolia}. I first took specimens of it at
Jermola in Jaunsar in the Western Himalaya. It
may also attack the cryptorhynchid weevil of this
pine, but that I have not personally observed. The FIG. 79.-
insect is a most useful one in the forest (vide p. 561). r/W^Hhi

Family CUCUJIDAE.

The forest members of this family vary considerably in appearance.

Some have the small flattened, rounded, or squarish

Beetle. forms and brown or yellow colour which is commonest

in the family. Others, however, differ entirely In mi

this type, having elongate black shining forms with heavily jointed and
knobbed antennae (e.g. Hectarthruni}. The tarsus in the family is apparently
four-jointed, and the antennae are long, often with a clubbed top to them.

The larva is an elongate grub with jointed antennae on a large head,
three pairs of jointed legs on the thoracic segments, \vhieh are not much
wider than the abdominal segments, the last three or four <>f \\hieh may
taper posteriorly, the last being small, or the abdominal segments ma\
increase in size and width posteriorly, the last hem- lar-e and terminating
in small processes.

Some of the members are, as mentioned already, easy to distinguish:
but the majority perhaps are by no means easy to rccogni

ii j

u6

FAMILY CUCUJIDAE

This family of beetles contains representatives having totally dissimilar
habits in the forest. Some, such as Silvanus, feed on dry or decaying
materials ; in one case a species of this genus appears to produce curious
excrescences or galls on the leaves of the teak-tree. Species of Loemophloeus
are commonly found in decaying bark and other parts of the tree.
Laemotmetus, on the other hand, are found feeding at the sap of cut
stumps and wounds on trees, the beetles being often confused with bark
beetles, although in reality of course they do no or little harm in the forest
so far as is yet known. Yet another genus, Hectarthrum, has quite dis-
similar habits, as the members at present known in the forest are all
predaceous, feeding upon various kinds of bark- and wood-eating beetles.

HECTARTHRUM.

A genus of elongate, narrow, shining black beetles with prominent
antennae, mandibles, and more or less deeply channelled and punctate
elytra. The insects are predaceous.

Hectarthrum heros, Fabr.

REFERENCE. — Fabr. Syst. Eleuth. ii, p. 92.

Habitat. — Central Provinces, Burma.

Habits. — The beetle has apparently a fairly wide distribution in India.
I have taken it in Seoni and Mandla in the Central Provinces and also very
plentifully in Tharrawaddy and Tenasserim in Lower Burma. Lefroy
(Indian Insect Life) mentions it as common under the bark of trees without
giving any localities.

I have found this Hectarthrum predaceous upon Sinoxylon crassum
in Terminalia tomentosa and T. chebula in the Central Provinces (p. 166).

In Burma it would appear to feed upon a variety of wood- and bark-
boring insects, including termites. I took it in Adina sessilifolia feeding upon

the Platypus suffodicns which riddles the wood of this
tree (p. 621), and in Anogeissus lati folia feeding on
termites and other bark and wood insects, both in
Tharrawaddy. I also took it in pyinkadu on the
Salween River feeding on the pyinkadu platypid
(see p. 634).

Hectarthrum trigeminum, Newm.

REFERENCE. — Newm. Ann. Nat. Hist. p. 393 (1839).

\ Habitat. — Siwaliks, Dehra Dun.

H Habits.— Student B. C. S. Gupta (now of the

7 Bengal Provincial Service) took specimens of this

* >• W > insect under the bark of a dead Lagerstromia parvi-

FIG. 80.— Hectarthrum tri- flora tree at Bulawala in the Siwaliks on 17 Feb-

Newm. Siwaliks. ruary 1902. The insect is probably predaceous.

FAMILY CUCUJIDAE 117

Hectarthrum uniforme, Waterh.
Habitat. — Salween River, Tenasserim.

Habits. — I took some specimens of this beetle from beneath the bark
of a large dead standing Milnisa velutina tree on Kowloon Island in the
Salween River on 9 March 1905. The tree was infested and the sapwood
riddled by a species of termite, a few wood-boring larvae being present. The
Hectarthrum was feeding upon the termites. The insect is shown in fig. 13.

LAEMOTMETUS.
Laemotmetus insignis, Grouvelle.

REFERENCE. — Grouvelle, Ind. Mus. Xotes, Hi, i, p. 22.

Habitat. — Thana District, Bombay.

Tree Infested. — Terminalia belerica : Thana District (F. Gleadow) ;
Terminalia tomcntosa : Seoni, Central Provinces.

Beetle. — Elongate, shining, red-brown. Head depressed, a median cleft in front, finely
punctate. Eyes placed at sides on under-surface near base. Prothorax convex, constricted, and
rounded behind, anterior edge straight ; punctate. Elytra elongate, parallel, conjointly
rounded, strongly striate, and finely punctate. Under-surface shining, punctate ; legs lighter-
coloured. Length, 8.5 mm. to 9 mm.

Specimens of this small beetle were sent to the Indian Museum,

Calcutta, in February 1891 by Mr. F. Gleadow, I.F.S.

Life History. Mr. Gleadow reported that he found them infesting the

Terminalia belerica in the Thana district in company

with a wood-boring Sinoxylon beetle.

In September 1901 I obtained specimens of the insect from galleries ot
Sinoxylon crassum in a Terminalia toinentosa pole sent me from Seoni, in the
Central Provinces.

INOPEPLUS.
Inopeplus sp.

Habitat. — Katha, Upper Burma.
Tree Infested. — Schima noronhae. Kadu Hill, Kuth.i.

Beetle.— Elongate, narrow, Hat. Kright copper-coloured, with abnormally long antennae.
Head and prothorax small, narrow, punctate. Elytra much broader, sides para lid. apex
rounded, striate-punctate. Length, 8.10 mm.

I found this beetle in numbers beneath the kirk of a felled Sclnnui

noroiihtic tree, in the teak forest on the K;i<lu Hill.

Life History. Katha, towards the end of February 1905. The kist

and sapwood of the tree were fresh, and the beetles

may be sap feeders.

n8

FAMILY CUCUJIDAE

PLATYCOTYLUS.
Platycotylus inusitatus, Olliff.

Habitat. — Siwaliks, North India; Seoni, Central Provinces. Also reported
from Andaman Islands and North Borneo.

Trees Infested. — Lagerstromia parviflora and Erythrina suberosa : Bula-
wala, the Dun Forests (B. Sen Gupta) ; Terminalia tomentosa : Seoni.

Beetle. — Elongate. Shining. Head and prothorax dark brown ; elytra red or crimson
brown, darker along the suture ; antennae brown; legs brownish yellow. Head small, punctate.
Prothorax wider than head, anterior angles produced, sides rounded, base truncate, shining,
punctate. Scutellum elongate. Elytra strongly striate-punctate, slightly constricted behind,
apex rounded, pygidium yellow. Under-surface light reddish brown. Length, 6.5 mm.

Specimens of this insect were taken about the middle of February 1902
by Student B. Sen Gupta from beneath the bark of a
Life History. dead Lagerstromia • parviflora tree. Mr. Gupta subse-
quently found others in the rotting cambium of the
inner bark of a dead recently felled Erythrina suberosa. The insect was
in the imago stage.

In September 1901 I obtained specimens of this insect from the galleries
of Sinoxylon crassum in the wood of a Terminalia tomentosa obtained from
Seoni in the Central Provinces.

FIG. 81. — Laemophloeus test ace us, F.
Siwaliks.

LAEMOPHLOEUS.

Laemophloeus testaceus, Fabr.
REFERENCE.— Fabr. Mant. I. p. 166.

Habitat.— Siwaliks, North India.

Tree Infested.— Sal (Shorea robusta}.
Dholkhand, Siwaliks.

Beetle. — Very small, with elongate brown an-
tennae. Light brown, shining, the elytra yellowish

brown ; legs yellowish.
Description. Head finely punctate. Pro-

thorax smooth, square,

I with a longitudinal lateral depression near each
edge. Scutellum large. Elytra elongate, sides
straight, apex rounded ; surface smooth. Hind
femora rather broad, smooth, shining. Length,
2.1 mm.

I took specimens of this small cucujid
from beneath the bark of a felled sal-tree
at Dholkhand in the Siwaliks in January.
The insect appears to feed on the dead
cambium of the tree.

FAMILY CUCUJIDAE

119

PSAMMOECUS.

Psammoecus trimaculatus, Motsch.
Habitat. — South Coimbatore, Madras.

Tree Infested. — Bamboo (Dendrocalamus strictns}. Mount Stuart, South
Coimbatore.

Beetle. — Small, elongate, yellow to yellowish
brown, covered with spiny hairs ; under - surface

darker - coloured. Head
Description. small, punctate. Prothorax

convex, the edges with seve-
ral sharp teeth, largest medianly ; disk punctate.
Scutellum small. Elytra broader than thorax, base
straight, humeral angles rounded, widest at posterior
coxae, constricted apkally and rounded ; longitudi-
nally and finely striate and punctate. Antennae and
legs set with spiny setae. Length, 2.4 mm. to 2.8 mm.

I cut out some specimens of this small
beetle from galleries in the wood structure
of bamboos (D. strictus} in the forests round
Mount Stuart in South Coimbatore. The
beetles were taken at the end of July 1902.

FIG. 82. — Psammoecus trimaculatus,

Motsch. Coimbatore, Madras.

SlLVANUS.
Silvanus surinamensis, Linn.

REFERENCES. — Linn. Syst. Nat. i, 2, p. 565; Lefroy, Ind. Ins. Life, p. 300 (1909).

Habitat. — Northern India.

Tree Infested. — Mohwa (Bassia latifolia). Western India (Lefroy).

Beetle. — Elongate, smoky brown, dull. Head large, punctate ; eyes placed at sides a
little above base ; antennae long and clubbed. Prothorax longer than wide, with three ia.nni-

nent longitudinal ridges, one median and two lateral, bounding t«<>

Description. elongate depressed channels, the sides toothed. Khtra Hon-.iu-.

parallel, slightly constricting at apex, striate-puurt.ite. ihr Mine nu>*t

prominent at base. Under-surface brown, legs lighter-coloured, abdominal segments <l<>the<l
with a fine golden pubescence. Length, 4.3 mm.

Larva.— Elongate, whitish yellow, with prominent head and prothoracic segments.
Antennae and three pairs of legs jointed. Abdominal segments but slightly smaller th.m
thoracic, save last four, which taper, the last being small. Length, 6.5 mm.

This insect passes through several generations in the year.

in Indian Insect Life has the following note on US
Life History. habits :—

"The larva lives in dried fruit, Hour, dried moh\\.i

(the calyx of Bussin latifulia], and similar vegetable matter. The complete
life history occupies about seven weeks ; the eggs arc- laid in the tood, the
larvae feed inside or between two pieces, and pupate in a ehanil.er closed in

120

FAMILY CUCUJIDAE

with bitten pieces of their food. This insect causes considerable annual loss
in India, attacking mohwa, for instance, during the rainy weather and
breeding in it steadily till much is lost."

Silvanus lateritius, Reitter.

Habitat. — Siwaliks, North India.

Trees Infested. — Lagerstromia parviflora and Erythrina suberosa. Bula-
wala, Siwaliks (B. Sen Gupta).

Beetle.— Flat, elongate, narrow, brown. Head triangular, punctate ; eyes large, black,
placed at sides near base of head. Prothorax longer than wide, narrower behind, flat ; a raised

longitudinal median ridge on disk, with a depression on each side,

Description. highly punctate. Elytra elongate, constricted to apex, where they da

not quite cover abdomen ; strongly punctate-striate. Legs with

thickened femora, and tibiae thickened at upper end. Under-surface darker in colour. Length,
5.5 mm.

Specimens of this beetle were taken from beneath the bark of dead

Lagerstromia parviflora and Erythrina suberosa trees at

Life History. Bulawala in February 1902 by Student B. Sen Gupta

of the Imperial Forest School.

The beetles were either hibernating or feeding on the dead cambium
layer.

Silvanus advena, Walth.

(Teak Leaf Gall Maker.}
REFERENCE.— Walth. Faunus, i, p. 169 (1832).

Habitat. — Central Provinces, Berar, Madras,.
Bombay.

Tree Attacked. — Teak (Tectona grandis}. Uamoh,
Central Provinces ; Melghat, Berar ; Poona ; Coim-
batore.

Beetle. — Elongate, very small, with clubbed antennae. Light
brown, the elytra yellowish brown. Head flat, punctate ; eyes black,.

placed at sides. Prothorax wider than long
Description. rather square, moderately convex medianly,

punctate. Elytra with sides straight to

apical third, thence constricted and conjointly rounded ; surface
smooth, very finely punctate. Under-surface darker red-brown,
punctate. Length, 2 mm.

Larva.— Dark orange in colour.

FIG. 83. — Silvanus

advena, Walth.
Central Provinces.

The leaves of the teak throughout India (Central Provinces, Bombay,

and Madras) are attacked by a small Silvanus grub

Life History. whose operations cause the tissues of the under-surface

of the leaf to swell up into a small gall. This gall

consists of a small round yellowish lump on the under-surface of the leaf

CUCUJIDAE, EROTYLIDAE, AND COCCINELLIDAE 121

covered with a furry coating, this pubescence being at times quite long.
The leaves are often entirely covered on their lower surfaces with these galls.
Later on the upper surface of the leaf turns black and decays and the leaf
drops. The damage done therefore amounts to partial or complete defolia-
tion.

The life history of the insect causing these galls is still incompletely
known.

From galls containing partially grown larvae taken in the Damoh forests-
of the Central Provinces in the middle of August I bred out this insect
in Dehra Dun on the i8th of the following September. The mature beetles
therefore issue from the galls towards the end of the monsoon season and
before the leaf drops from the tree.

On several occasions Mr. G. Ryan has sent me
specimens of teak leaves attacked by this insect from
Thana and elsewhere in the Bombay Presidency.

Family EROTYLIDAE.

Elongate beetles, often brightly coloured, the an-
tennae with a club of three or four joints and an

apparentlv four-jointed tarsus. The elytra of some
r J . J J P IG. 84. — Languria

forms found in the forest are brilliantly coloured, and zyatiea. Hope,
often metallic. The insect figured here, Languria

zyanea, as an example of the family, is not uncommon in the \Vestern
Himalaya in July. The larvae feed in the stems of plants, tunnelling up-
the centre. No forest species have been observed to act in this manner,.
but little is known about the familv in the forest.

Family COCCINELLIDAE.

(Ladybird Beetles.)

The ladybird beetles are for the most part easy of recognition, owing
to their rounded or oval shape and to the apparently three-jointed tarsus
of the feet ; the antennae are short and not clubbed. The beetles are often
brightly coloured, or have patches, stripes, or spots of brilliant colour on a
duller-coloured ground. The colouring is the common red or brown,
yellow or black.

The beetle is usually of small size, having perhaps sonic resemblai

to the chrysomelid beetle, but can be distinguished

Beetle. from the latter by the three-jointed tarsus instead ot

four). The prothorax is small, almost covering the

head, and with the elytra forms a perfect curve on the outside. The dorsal
surface is usually convex, the ventral flat. The antennae are not very long.
the legs short. Length, up to a little over one-fourth of an inch.

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i24 FAMILY COCCINELLIDAE

CHILOCORUS.
Chilocorus circumdatus, Schon.

REFERENCES. — Schon. (Coccinella) Syn. Ins. ii, 152 (1808) ; Muls. Spec. p. 454, 2; nigromarginatus, Mots.

Et. Ent. viii, 170; Ind. Mus. Notes, ii, 6, 154; vi, 4, 218.

Habitat. — Nilgiris, Madras; Ceylon.

Habits. — This coccinellid Is predaceous upon the brown bug Lecanium
caffeae, of coffee, and is said to be of considerable value in this way.

BRUMUS.
Brumus suturalis, Fabr.

REFERENCES. — Fabr. (Coccinella) Suppl. Ent. Syst. p. 78 (1798) ; Muls.

Spec. p. 494, 2.

Habitat.— Dehra Dun Plateau, North India. Also
reported from Madras.

Habits.— Predaceous upon the peach aphis in the
Uehra Dun. Dim Plateau.

PLATYNASPIS.
Platynaspis luteo-rubra, Goeze.

REFERENCES. — Goeze (Coccinella) Ent. Beyt. i, p. 247 (1874) ; villosa, Muls. Secur. p. 216, i (1846); Fourc.
Ent. Par. i, 149, 22 (1785); Ind. Mus. Notes, iii, 5, 50; v, 3, 63, pi. ix, fig. 3 (imago).

Habitat.— Calcutta.

Habits. — This insect is predaceous upon the scale insect Icerya aegyptiaca,
which feeds upon the teak.

SCYMNUS.

Scymnus rotundatus, Mots.
REFERENCES. — Mots. Et. Ent. viii, p. 170 (1859) ; Ind. Mus. Notes, i, 6, 154; iv, 4, 218.

Habitat. — Ceylon.

Habits. — This insect is reported in Ceylon to be predaceous upon the
white bug of coffee bushes, Pseudococcus adonidum.

Scymnus sp.

REFERENCE. — Ind. Mus. Notes, iii, 5, 50.

Habitat.— Calcutta.

Habits. — Reported as having been found preying upon the scale Icerya
aegyptiaca in the compound of the Indian Museum in Calcutta.

VEDALIA.

This genus includes an important species which preys upon the
pernicious sal scale insect Monophlebus.

FAMILIES COCCINELLIDAE AND ENDOMYCHIDAE 125

Vedalia gue"rinii, Crotch.

REFERENCES.— Crotch, Rev. Coccinell. p. 282 (1874) ; Coccinella sp. Stebbing, Depart. Notes, p. 324.

Habitat.— Siwaliks and United Provinces Terai areas. Also reported
from Pondicherry (Guerin).

Habits.— This Vedalia preys upon the sal scale insect Monophlebus
stebbingi, which infests the sal-trees in the Siwaliks and United Provinces
Terai forests. The Vedalia swarms in large numbers when the scale
insect is abundant in the trees. The egg, larval, pupal, and beetle stages of
the coccinellid are known.

Vedalia fumida, var. roseipennis.

REFERENCES. — Rodolia fumida, Muls. Spec. p. 904, 4; Epilachna arethusa, Muls. Op. iii, p. 126; testicolor,
Muls. Op. iii, p. 127; Rodolia roseipennis, Muls. Spec. p. 904, 5; Rodolia chermesiana, Muls. Spec.
p. 905, 6; Crotch, Rev. Coccinell. 1874; Ind. Mus. Notes, iv, i, 27 ; 4, 218.

Habitat. — Siwaliks, North India. Also reported from Bengal (Deyrolle).

Habits. — This beetle is found in company with Vedalia guennii, preying
upon the Monophlebus stebbingi scale insect in the Siwaliks sal forests. It is
not, however, so abundant as its companion. It has also been reported as
feeding upon the scale I eery a aegyptiaca.

Vedalia sp.

REFERENCE. — Stebbing, Ind. Mns. Notes, vi, p. 62.

Habitat. — Lahore, Punjab ; Bareilly.

Habits. — This coccinellid has been taken preying upon the scale insect
Monophlebus stebbingi, var. mangiferae, which infests the mango-trees in the
Shaliman Gardens at Lahore, in the Punjab, and in the Bareilly Gardens.

It may possibly be identical with Aulis bestita, Muls., found feeding
upon Monophlebus on mango-trees, and reported by Lefroy in Mem. Agric.
Dept. India, vol. ii, no. vii.

Family ENDOMYCHIDAE.

A family of curiously shaped beetles with rather long antennae, which
end in a comparatively large three-jointed club. Tin- tarsi appear to !><•
three-jointed, the last two joints being broad.

The beetles are sometimes brightly coloured, or have bright-ool«>mv-.l
spots and markings on them. The insects are said to feed mi fim-n- -n>\\tlis
and lichens.

Little is known about the habits of the family in th«- forest. < hi one
occasion I took a mature beetle beneath the bark of a tree, and I found
another in the Charduar Rubber Plantation in Assam.

126 FAMILIES ENDOMYCHIDAE AND DERMESTIDAE

EUGONIUS.

Eugonius gratus, Gorh.

REFERENCE. — Gorh. Ann. Soc. Ent. France, Ix, 399 (1891).

Habitat.— Katha, Upper Burma.

Tree Infested. — Teak (Tectona grandis). Mohnyin Forest, Katha.

Beetle. — Elongate, ovate. Black, shining, with four transverse
irregular-edged orange or yellow patches on the elytra. Head small,

punctate ; antennae long, clubbed. Pro-
Description, thorax with anteiior edge deeply incised
for insertion of head, the lateral margins

channelled ; disk convex, with a longitudinal median line and fine
scattered punctures. Elytra convex, widest about middle, constricted
apically, leaving a small pygidium exposed ; finely punctate, the
orange markings one on each side near base, the other in apical
third. Femora thickened anteriorly. Length, 9.2 mm.

I took a mature specimen of this endomychid from
beneath the bark of a standing
Life History. girdled teak-tree in the Mohnyin
Forest in Katha on 20 February
1905. Beyond the fact of taking the beetle in this
curious position, I have no record of its habits.

Fi<;. 87. — Eugonius
gratus, Gorh.
Upper Burma.

Family DERMESTIDAE.

A family of small beetles with retractile heads, short clubbed antennae,
and five-jointed tarsi, the upper and lower surfaces of the beetle being
often clothed with pubescence.

The larva is elongate and cylindrical, tapering posteriorly, where it
ends in two hooks ; the body is clothed with stiff hairs, giving the grub the
appearance of a small caterpillar.

Some members of the family are found under the bark of trees, but little
is at present known about them. It is probable that some of them are pre-
daceous upon bark- and wood-eating beetles, and so of use to the forester.

The two commonest beetles the forester will meet with are :

(1) Dermestes vulpinus, F. — The grubs of this beetle feed upon the
pupa of the silkworm moth, gnawing through the silk cocoon to get at it.
In this way they do serious damage to silk in India.

(2) Anthrenus vorax, Wat. — A common silvery-greyish, oval, thick
beetle, with darker patches on the upper surface and silvery-white beneath,
which is such a pest to the sportsman. This is the insect which destroys
his skins and horns unless they are properly cured.

( 127 )

CHAPTER IX.
POLYMORPHA (continued)— Family BOSTRYCHIDAE.

THE Bostrychidae are a family of small elongate cylindrical beetles of
circular section who in their ovipositing operations make pin-holes and
" shot " holes in wood and bamboos. Owing to this habit of the beetles
their work is probably better known to the public throughout India than
is that of most of the other Indian forest insects. Whether the beetles
themselves actually derive sustenance from the wood has not yet been
proved. Their habit of tunnelling into it is at any rate primarily to oviposit
in the interior, the larvae being entirely wood-eaters. Most of the Indian
bamboos and the wood of a variety of trees are made use of for this
purpose.

Some of the beetles are well known owing to their making their appear-
ance in numbers in the bungalow at the periods at which they mature and
swarm, either from neighbouring forest trees, or from the roofs, walls, and
floors of the bungalow itself. They also issue from the furniture, especially
bamboo-made articles. Many of the species appear to fly equally readily
by day or night.

In spite of their small size, the largest being about one-third of an inch
in length, they are easily recognizable, owing to their cylindrical form and-
dark brown or black colour, and to the hooded prothorax, which is often,
serrated and rasp-like on the anterior surface.

The beetles greatly resemble and are often mistaken for Scoly-

tidae, the bark beetles. From these they may be

Beetle. distinguished by the afore-mentioned tuberculate

and rasp-like prothorax, by the straight inste;i 1 of

elbowed antenna, which has a three-jointed club at its end, and l»y the

five-jointed tarsi, the first or basal joint

of which is small, the second and fifth being

long. The outer integument or covering of

the beetle is very hard, all the parts fitting

well together, as is usually the case with

wood-boring insects. The prothorax is

occasionally furnished with hooks or front, 1 1

teeth in addition to the enlarged tuberm-

lations, whilst the body is provided with one

or more tubercles, probably used by the

beetle in moving in its tunnel in the wood.

The legs have broad femora and tibiae, the latter sometimes toothed

one edge.

. ss. -//,-/,•>

128 FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE

The males and females in some species differ from each other, and also
have curious modified characters which distinguish one male or female from
another of the same species, due to modifications in the hooks and teeth of
the prothorax and tubercles of the body.

The larva is white, curved, corrugated, soft and fleshy, furnished
with powerful mandibles and a pair of four-jointed
Larva. antennae, and three pairs of legs on the thoracic

sections.

The pupa (fig. 31, a) is soft, white, with a well-developed hood-like
prothorax, the antennae, legs, and wings being pressed
Pupa. against the chest.

The modus operandi of the beetle is to tunnel

through the bark down into the sapwood (or in the case of the bamboo into
the wall), eating out a gallery of irregular length in which the eggs are laid
at intervals. The larvae on hatching eat out irregular galleries running
more or less in the long axis of the wood, pupating at the end of the tunnel
when they have reached full growth. On maturing the beetle bores
through the wood until it reaches an empty egg-tunnel, up which it crawls
.and escapes to the outside.

From a utilitarian point of view the family is one of the most destruc-
tive in the country, owing to the large amount of harm it does to felled
timber and bamboos. This damage is well known, and timber contractors
soak their cut bamboos and poles in water and then smoke the former to
prevent the beetles from infesting them and reducing them to powder before
their sale. This is done throughout the tropics. Also timber contractors
will not cut bamboos and poles when the moon is full, as they hold the
opinion that bamboos felled at this period are more subject to attack.
Elsewhere this subject is discussed in detail (p. 140). That the damage
done by the insects throughout the country to constructive material must
run into very large figures is borne out by the fact that buildings which
include bamboo and pole materials require continual attention and repairs
in parts of the country. During the year 1903, whilst officiating as
Superintendent of the Indian Museum, I carried out a series of experiments
in conjunction with the Head of the Telegraph Workshops at Alipur, which
proved that soaking the bamboos in crude rangoon oil rendered them
immune to the attacks of Dinoderus, and bamboos so treated which were
used for a light field telegraph on the Tibet Mission, 1904-5, stood the test
well and remained unattacked for years afterwards (p. 137).

It has long been supposed that the bostrychids were wood-borers pure
and simple, and did no damage to standing trees. Observations have shown,
however, that species of Sinoxylon. will attack and oviposit in sickly standing
green trees. A worse habit in the case of one species, Sinoxylon crassum, has
received some investigation. In February 1902, Mr. A. M. Littlewood, a
student of the Imperial Forest School at Dehra, found an insect tunnelling

FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE 129

into the leading and side shoots of sal saplings and coppice shoots. This beetle
proved to be S. crassum, which hibernates in the hollowed-out shoots. The
beetles so taken were fully mature and alive, and were evidently hibernating.
This observation I have been able to confirm by subsequent investigations

(P- 156).

In April 1901 I made the first of a series of investigations I have
carried out on the subject of the insect predators of the bostrychids — the
first, so far as I am aware, that had been made. I discovered a species of
Bothrideres and several Teretriosomas preying upon Sinoxylon crassum and
S. anale. This discovery I subsequently communicated to Mr. G. Lewis
and Monsieur P. Lesne. Further investigations have shown that a variety of
insects follow the bostrychids into their tunnels in the wood, and either prey
upon them there or lay their eggs in order that their larvae when hatched
may feed upon the bostrychid larvae. This observation, which has been now
authenticated by a number of observations and experiments, has an analogy
in the case of the Scolytidae and Platypodidae, in which a similar state of
affairs exists.

In the case of the bostrychids, predaceous species of Tillus, Teretriosoma,
Teretrius, Alindria, Melambia, Tenebroides, and Hectarthrum are known to
have habits of this kind.

The family is divided by Lesne into four divisions — I. Psoinae. II. Polyocaninae.

III. Dinoderinae. IV. Bostrychinae.

Classification. Of these only the Dinoderinae and Bostrychinae contain, so far

as is known at present, species of forest importance in India. The
following characters serve to distinguish these two divisions.

Dinoderinae. — Tarsi shorter than the tibiae ; last tarsal joint as long as or longer than
the rest of the joints together. Prothorax convex, anterior margin rounded, with the meili:in
teeth the most prominent.

Bostrychinae. — Tarsi as long as or longer than tibiae; last joint shorter than the H-M
of the joints together ; prothorax strongly tuberculate, the anterior margin with the lateral
teeth more prominent than the median ones.

I. DINODERINAE.

This division includes the important genus Dinoderus, containing
several species, two of which, D. pilifrons and /->. minntus, are of high
economic importance.

DINODERUS.

Second joint of antennae shorter than first. Posterior portion of pro-
thorax punctate.

Dinoderus distinctus, Lesne.

REFERENCES.— Lesne, A nn. Soc. Ent. Ft-. Ixvi, 325: Stebbing, hid. .Uxs. .V -03).

Habitat.— Dehra Dun Plateau, North India.

Tree Attacked. — Mango (Man^ifcra indica}. Drhni Dun Platr.m.

9003

FAMILY BOSTRYCHID \1

i ;i

— Entrance and exit h' -> \',<<-\\< />/>/»,''

fri!> I >• ti'/t .->rtli In'

I 2

i32 FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE

Larva. — Yellowish-white, corrugated, curved. Mouth parts brownish, mandibles black.
Thoracic segments greatly enlarged, swollen, forming almost a hood over head anteriorly.
Three pairs of thoracic legs, anterior pair three-jointed, robust and long ; posterior pairs less
stout. Abdominal segments not swollen, narrower than thoracic ones, forming almost a
"waist '' where they join thorax, but slightly broadening behind. Length, 3.2 mm.

Pupa. — Prothorax large, the head bent right over and under prothorax, the mouth parts
lying pressed against the hind thoracic and anterior abdominal segments. Head and
prothorax dirty white ; the ten-jointed antennae and legs distinguishable. Abdominal
segments yellow, wings white, bent round on underside of body. Length, 3 mm.

This beetle has three, four, or more broods in the year, and these

generations overlap to some extent. Eggs appear to

Life History. be laid by the beetle in the cold weather in December

or January, or perhaps in November, the colder months

of the year being passed in the egg stage. The female tunnels into the
bamboo for egg-laying purposes, and pairs with the male inside the bamboo.
The larvae hatch out in March in North India, probably earlier in the
hotter and damper parts of the country, and feed upon the woody tissue
of the bamboo, mining up and down in the interior and converting the
woody material into a mass of sawdust. When full-fed the grub eats out
a little cradle in the woody tissue and pupates in this. On maturing the
beetle either crawls out of the bamboo through one of the entrance-tunnels
of the parents, which it may enlarge if necessary, or it tunnels out by the
most direct way to the outside.

This first generation of the year issues from bamboos some time in May
in North India and late in April in Calcutta ; a second generation issues in
July (June in Calcutta); a third early in September (August in Calcutta);
a fourth in November (October in Calcutta), and a fifth in Calcutta and
similar localities towards the end of November or first half of December.

D. pilifrons is the common bamboo-borer of the northern part of India.
Series of experiments were carrried out on several occasions with bamboos
cut in the forests of the United Provinces. Thousands of
beetles were bred out, in every case proving to be D. pilifrons.
The work of this insect is very similar to that of its
ofttimes companion or replacer D. viinutus, the next species,
and the damage done, etc., will be discussed under that
insect.

V

Tarsostenus univittatus, Rossi (p. 188) Elongate, narrow,

rather flat. Black, shining; elytra crossed just above the middle by a trans-
verse half-moon shaped band which does not

Predaceous Insects. quite reach suture. Head finely punctate. Pro-
thorax rather flat, impressed medianly, the punc-
FlG. 91. tures lar&er tnan on head, but rather scattered. Elytra with sides parallel,

Tarsostenus uiii- Apices separately rounded, pygidium exposed ; the basal half impressed^
•vittatus, Rossi, with rather deep punctures arranged in longitudinal parallel rows ; the
Dehra Dun. apical half very finely punctate. Length, 7 mm. to 13 mm.

PLATE IX

X6

2

(T*

X2
3

I. Dinodents mini/tits, Fabr. — «, larva ; £, pupa ; <r, beetle ; </, bamboo showing entrance-holes
on outside, and larval and beetle galleries inside. 2. Tillus notatns, King. ; 3. Hectarthrum /u'ros,
Fabr., both predaceous upon Dinoderns niinntiis. Calcutta, 1903.

FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE 133

Life History. — A specimen of this clerid beetle was taken from a
thatched roof of a building in Dehra Dun badly infested by Sinoxylon
crassum and Dinoderus pilifrons. The insect may be predaceous upon
the Dinoderus.

T illus notatus, described below, likewise attacks this insect. Also
Tribolium confusum (p. 238).

Dinoderus minutus, Fabr.

(The smaller Bamboo Shot-borer Beetle.}

REFERENCES. — Fabr. Syst. Ent. p. 45 (1775); substriatus, Stephens, ///. Brit. Ent. iii, p. 352 (1830);
siciilus, Baudi, Berl. Ent. Zeit. xvii, p. 336 (1873) ; bifoveolatus, Zoufal (non Wollaston), Wien.
Ent. Zeit. xiii, p. 42 (1894) ; Dinoderus sp. Ind. Mus. Notes, i ; Stebbing, Ind. Mus. Notes, vi
p. 23 (1903) ; Depart. Notes, 172 (1903).

Habitat.— Bombay Presidency (Andrewes) ; Calcutta, Burma, Carin
Cheba, 2,800 to 3,500 ft., Teinzo, Bhamo (Fea). Lesne states the species
to be cosmopolitan in tropical regions. It is at times found in ports and
large towns in temperate climes.

Trees Attacked. — Bamboo (Dendrocalamus str ictus) : Calcutta, etc. ;
Bambusa spp., Smilax borbonica : He de Reunion ; Lianas (Brazil).

Beetle. — Brown, shining, with black head and thorax, the bases of elytra lighter-coloured,
occasionally almost reddish. The stiff hairs on the front clypeal region always few in number

and very short. Antennae ten-jointed, the funiculus not fringed with

Description. hair ; the second joint of club less than one and a half times as wide

as long. Teeth of anterior margin of prothorax more or less pointed,

not set very close together, the middle ones most prominent ; sides posteriorly strongly and
densely punctate, median foveoles well marked. Elytra set with short stiff reddish hairs,
densest on the declivity ; thickly and densely punctate, punctures most prominent on basal
portion ; suture of declivity not prominent. Length, 2.5 mm. to 3.5 mm. PI. ix, rig. I, c.

Larva. — Pale canary-yellow, opaque, curved, corrugated, the thoracic segments swollen,
the prothorax tapering sharply anteriorly to head. Latter small, orange-brown with black
mandibles, three pairs of longish three-jointed legs on thoracic segments, the lowest joints
clothed anteriorly with scattered yellow bristly hairs, the legs ending in a claw. Body tapers
posteriorly to a blunt rounded point. Length, 3 mm. to 3.75 mm. PI. ix, tig. i, a.

Pupa. — Resembles that of pilifro us, but is smaller. PI. ix, fig. i, />.

Dinoderus minutus was for some time consistently confused with D. pili-
frons in India, with the result that the literature con-
Life History. nected with the two species became so indefinite that
it was impossible to say what the real life histories of

the insects were. I), minutus was known to infest bamboos, and it was
thought to accompany pilifrons very often in this connection. The insect
•had also been reported as infesting other plants.

Two points would seem to have been established. The large series of
beetles reared at Dehra Dun from bamboos cut in the Siwaliks and m'i.i;li-
bouring United Provinces forests consisted entirely of pilifrons, whilst t he-
hundreds of beetles bred from bamboos in Calcutta during the year i
were entirely minutus. D. pilifrons exists in Calcutta, as I took it on wood
stacks of miscellaneous species of trees in the Botanical Gardens towards

i34 FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE

the end of April. It is not, however, the common bamboo beetle of
Calcutta, and was probably imported there in bamboos or other woody
material cut in the North of India forests during the preceding cold
weather.

The life history of minutus in Calcutta was worked out at the Indian
Museum by myself between April and November 1903. The beetle and its
grub attack the internal woody structure of the bamboo in a manner similar
to that of pilifrons. D. minntus, however, passes through a greater number of
generations in the year in the hotter moister climate of Bengal, the number
of life-cycles being from five to seven, the generations overlapping to some
extent.

Both male and female beetles tunnel their way into the bamboo, and
after pairing the female lays its eggs in the interior, each beetle laying
about twenty. From these eggs small white roundish dots of grubs issue
within a few days of their being deposited. These tiny larvae burrow
up and down in the interior of the bamboo, and reduce its structure to
powder. About four weeks are spent in this stage, and the grubs then
enlarge the ends of their burrows and change to pupae, which, after
some eight days or so, turn into the beetles. On becoming mature the
beetles bore their way out of the bamboos, and thus add further to the
tunnels already made in them. On emergence the insects fly off to attack
fresh bamboos, or they may bore into the one in which they have themselves
matured. There are thus three separate forms of attack :—

(a) The female beetle bores into the interior of the bamboo and lays its
eggs there. This is the first attack on the bamboo.

(6) From the eggs hatch out little grubs which feed upon the wood of
the interior of the bamboo, and thus undermine its strength.

(c) The beetles on maturing from the grubs bore their way out of the
bamboo.

The mature beetles issue either all from the same exit-hole or from one
or two only, these being often the former entrance-holes of the mother
beetles, which are considerably enlarged. Beetles of the new generation
appear also to make use of these old holes to enter the bamboo to egg-lay,
boring away from the old gallery when they have got inside. When bamboos
are in lengths it will be found that the beetles tunnel in them parallel to the
long axis and form galleries which open at one of the ends. The bamboo is
thus often completely hollow in parts without there being much outward
evidence of its having been badly attacked. This is more especially the case
when the beetles have entered and left by the same holes made at one of the
ends of the bamboo (cf. the lengths of bamboo shown in pi. ii). A feature
which greatly adds to the insect's power of doing serious damage is to be
found in the fact that in the warmer parts of the country it passes through
at least five, and perhaps more, generations or life-cycles in the year. It

FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE i35

has been shown that the insect lays about twenty eggs, and therefore one
female beetle may produce the following progeny in the year, on the
supposition that only five generations are passed through : —

One Female Beetle.

ist generation ... i X 20 : 20 beetles, say half males and

half females (the latter are,
however, usually in excess
of former).

2nd „ 10 X 20 : 200 beetles, say half males and

half females.

3rd „ ... 100 X 20 = 2,000 „

4th „ ... 1,000 X 20 : 20,000 „

$th „ ... 10,000 X 20 = 200,000 „ „

If there is a sixth generation the number <pf females increases to
2,000,000.

Taking only 50 per cent, of the fifth generation beetles as maturing and
laying eggs, we still have 100,000 insects as the progeny of the one
mother beetle in the spring. This great prolificness easily explains why
bamboos suffer so greatly from the shot-borer's attacks throughout the
country.

The result of my observations in Calcutta showed me that at least five
generations of the beetles issued between the last week in April and the end
of October as follows :—

The first taking about seven weeks, from end of April to the third week
in June, to run through all its stages ; the second about four to rive weeks,
from the third week in June to near the end of July; the third four weeks,
from the end of July to the beginning of September; the fourth less than
four weeks, from first week in September to end of the month; the fifth
from end of September to end of October. It is probable that many of the
beetles of this generation were caught and killed off by the cold snap
experienced towards the end of the month.

I have detailed at length in three pamphlets * dealing with this bamboo-
borer the series of experiments carried out by myself at the Indian
Museum, Calcutta, during my tenure of the Superintendentship of that
Institution in 1903. As described in the monographs in question my i-\|>rn-
ments were inaugurated to enable me to advise the Superintendent of the
Government Telegraph Workshops (Mr. Williams as to the economic value
of experiments he was conducting with a view to protecting from tin-
attacks of the beetle bamboos which he; was converting into |.o|,>

* (i) A Note on the Preservation of llamboos from the Attacks ot tin- iLiinln... !
Shot-borer, App. Series liul. Forester, xxix, no. 12 (1903) : 2 lliid. JIM! edition-, - and

enlarged, Forest Pamphlet no. 15, Supt. Govt. Printing, ('alnm.i [91 -, A I imliri Note

on the Preservation of Bamboos from the Attacks of tin- l;;unl>oo l',r< tl< 01 sha-1 mid. /;/,/.
Forester, vol. xxxi, p. 249 (1905).

136 FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE

for use as a field telegraph during the approaching Tibet Mission. It
was imperative that the bamboos so employed should remain immune to
the attacks of the beetles, which would otherwise reduce them to powder
within a comparatively short period, and long ere they reached an elevation
where the temperature would either kill the beetles or (more probable)
so lower their vitality and that of the grubs as to reduce very considerably
their activity.

The experiments carried out consisted in placing in beetle-proof boxes
a number of lengths of infested bamboo taken from the workshops either
untreated or thoroughly soaked in water for several days, soaked in water
and then in a solution of copper sulphate, and lastly soaked in water, copper
sulphate, and Rangoon oil, the latter from twenty-four to forty-eight hours,
and watching the effects of the beetles' attacks on them. Lengths of bamboo
thoroughly soaked in water, copper sulphate, and Rangoon oil were also
placed amongst lengths of badly infested bamboos in the open, with a view
to further testing their immunity from attack.

The following deductions may, I think, be considered as established by the above
experiments :—

Results of (i) That neither the five days in water nor that followed by a

Treatment. further five days in CuSO4 are of any use as a protection against the

beetles. It is true that Experiments II and III seemed at first to

prove that these soakings were effective, since the bamboos in these boxes remained un-
attacked. I attribute this, however, solely to the fact that the pieces of bamboos, selected
at haphazard in the Telegraph Workshops, and placed in the closed boxes in April when the
beetles were egg-laying, did not happen to have had eggs deposited in them, and consequently
when they were placed in the beetle-proof boxes and protected against any future depositions
of eggs in them they showed no attacks. All the subsequent experiments with these classes
of treatment showed that they afford no protection against the beetles.

(2) That the bamboos which had gone through all the stages of the treatment and had
received a proper soaking in the oil tank remained unattacked, and in addition were proof
against further attacks by the beetles.

(3) That at least five generations of these beetles issued between the last week in April
and the end of October, as detailed above.

(4) That bamboos cut in the forests between December and February can, even if not
treated till two or three months have elapsed since cutting (by which time it is probable
that many of them will contain eggs), be preserved by the oil treatment from further
attacks of the beetle-borer. Bamboos unprotected by the oil treatment are tunnelled
into by the April, June, July, September, and October generations of beetles, each of
which attacks means their subsequent riddling by the larvae arising from the eggs laid by
the beetles.

(5) That the oil treatment therefore considerably prolongs the period of usefulness
of the bamboo, this period being, as far as the experiments at present show, at least
a year.

(a) I am inclined to recommend that the soaking for five days in water should
be continued, since a thick, shiny, gelatinous substance exudes

Recommendations. from the bamboos during this process, and this exudation prob-
ably enables the bamboo to absorb a larger quantity of oil than
would be otherwise the case.

FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE 137

(b) That the soaking in the copper sulphate solution be discontinued, since the experiments
have shown it to have no preservative effect against the beetles.

(c) That the bamboos be allowed to dry in a covered shed for several days after the water
process.

(d) That, after drying, the bamboos be soaked for forty-eight hours in common
Rangoon oil.

The Superintendent of the Telegraph Workshops informed me that the cost of the

treatment as carried through by him, i.e. five days in water, five days

Cost. in CuSO4, followed by several days' drying and then two separate

soakings (at an interval of a couple of months) of twenty-four hours

each in Rangoon oil, amounted to Rs. 3 to Rs. 5 per 100 6-ft. lengths, or 6.3 pies per length.
This includes the labour.

Omitting the CuSO4 treatment and a second soaking in the oil, together with the additional
handling involved, should effect a saving in this price, although of course the longer period of
soaking in oil will enable the bamboos to absorb more of this commodity than they would in
the shorter one of twenty-four hours only.

In 1905 a visit was paid to the Telegraph Workshops with the object
of ascertaining how the treated bamboos which had

Summary of Observa- |3een converted into telegraph posts had fared, and
tions on the Treatment . c

made in 1905. especially how those which had been sent on service

with the Tibet Expedition had faced the ordeal and
in what condition they had returned.

At the workshops I found that it was easy to trace the history of the
bamboos treated in 1903, all of which had been converted into field telegraph
posts, a stage further in their career.

The evidence collected both in the use of the posts in the field and,
equally important, by their storage in an open shed in the workshop yard
in Calcutta without any special protection being afforded to them points
to the wonderful efficacy of the oil treatment.

Some of the bamboos converted in 1903 and sent up that year
for service with the Tibet Mission were returned to store in Calcutta
about the beginning of 1905, and Mr. L. Truniger, C.I.E., who was
in charge of the Field Telegraph with the mission, has stated that they
had fully answered expectations. The returned posts were inspected
by the writer in the yard at Calcutta towards the end of March 1905.
Although it was two and a half years since they were cut in the forests
of Upper India, and close upon two years since they were treated with the
oil, they showed no trace of attacks by the Dinodenm bamboo bet-tic.
It may be contended, and justly, that throughout 1904 these posts had been
at an altitude greatly above that at which either of tin- shot-borer beetles
could or do live, and that they were thus safe from their atl This was

so, but the same argument does not hold good when we come to consider
those converted bamboos which remained throughout the year in store m
Calcutta. An inspection of these has shown that they h.id remained equally
immune from the pest. Those who use it are aware h'>w short is the hi.-,
economically, of the bamboo after it has been cut. To the Public Works,

138 FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE

Military Works, Forest Department, and many other minor departments it
means a constantly recurring annual expenditure on petty works ; and many
also know the difficulties which stand in the path of the lance, the tent-
pegging, and hog-spear purveyor. The results that attended the treat-
ment of the 9,000 bamboos in 1903 are well worthy of the consideration
of all of these, for on present observations it has been shown that the
impregnation with the oil leaves the bamboo strong and serviceable two and
a half years after it has been cut. That the Telegraph Department has
the fullest confidence in a discovery the full credit of which chiefly belongs
to it is borne out by the fact that an additional 30,000 bamboos were put
through the treatment and converted into field telegraph posts in 1905.
The treatment consists in first soaking the bamboos in water for five days
(this is very necessary, for reasons previously given), allowing them to
dry for several days, and then resoaking them in the Rangoon oil (crude
petroleum), this latter, as used in the workshops, having the consistency
of treacle.

That the use of the bamboo as a field telegraph and telephone post has a great future
before it was proved by the Japanese in the Russo-Japanese campaign. The following note
upon the subject appeared in the Allahabad Pioneer : " Every general of brigade in the field
is 'at the end of a wire' which his divisional commander controls, and the generals of divisions
are in touch by telegraph or telephone with the corps commander. The engineers run wires
after the columns with marvellous rapidity. Firing is heard somewhere at the front. A
detachment of engineers emerges from head-quarters, pack ponies carrying bundles of light
bamboo poles, while coolies and carts follow them with coils of slender copper wire. The
poles, which have pointed ends, are quickly planted, the wire spreads out as fast as men can
uncoil it, and a field telephone is at work." As having a bearing upon the experiments and
results attained in India, Mr. Y. Hara, Chief of the Japanese Forest Bureau, was addressed
with the object of ascertaining whether the bamboo field-posts used by his countrymen were
subjected to any treatment. His reply would seem to show that in this matter Japan is in the
position occupied by India before the discovery of the oil treatment. He wrote : " In answer
to your inquiries with regard to protection of our bamboos, I would state that although the
method of preserving bamboos in the field is not well known, there are three processes of
treatment generally adopted by our people—

(1) The season of cutting — September and October.

(2) The fumigation in sulphur.

(3) Application of both of these processes."

In reply to a reference on the subject the Superintendent of the

Telegraph Workshops wrote as follows on 20 Sep-

The Treated Bamboos i j

in 1909. tember 1909 : In 1904 some 15,000 posts were made

(i.e. soaked in water and Rangoon oil), the majority of

which were afterwards stored in a heap in an open shed in this yard
until quite recently. It was found that wiping them over once a year with
earth oil gave absolute protection from the borer."

Now, the yard in which these bamboos were stacked may be said to be
situated in the heart of an area infested by the beetle borers. In the neigh-
bourhood are native depots containing hundreds of thousands of bamboos in
which the beetles are to be found in millions.

FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE 139

I think no further argument in favour of the enormous value and efficacy
of the water and oil treatment can be required than is afforded by these
15,000 bamboos which have remained immune to the beetle-attacks for a
period of five years and are as good and sound to-day as they were when
they were treated.

I. Tillusnotatus, Klug.(p. 186).— The beetles are slim and slight in build, and exactly
fat the gallery of the Dinoderus uiinntus beetle. The head, antennae, and margin of prothorax

are black, shining ; three basal joints of antennae red-yellow, rest black.

Predaceous Insects. Rest of prothorax dark orange-red ; basal fourth of elytra orange,

rest yellow, the apices black ; a transverse black band, broadest on

outside margin, crosses the elytra medianly, and a broader one occupies the major part of the
apical half. Under-surface yellowish, abdomen black. Head and prothorax finely punctate ;
elytra coarsely striate-punctate in basal half, finely punctate apically. Length, 8 mm. to 13 mm.
PI. ix, fig. 2, shows the beetle.

Pupa. — Elongate, narrow. Yellowish-white. The wings and legs pressed against the
chest, the antennae to the sides. 1 have taken several pupae from the larval galleries of
Dinoderus minutits. They exactly fit the galleries, and wriggle about a good deal when
disturbed or removed.

Life History.— This beetle is predaceous upon the Dinoderus minutus
larvae and pupae, and perhaps beetles. Whilst engaged in investigating
the attacks of this bostrychid in bamboos in Calcutta in 1903 I first dis-
covered this Tillns in the galleries of the Dinoderus inside the bamboos.
Towards the end of May I cut out a number of the beetles which had all
entered the tunnels, whose circumference their bodies exactly fit, to prey
upon the Dinoderus.

I first took beetles on 25, 28, and 30 May. They lie up in the
longitudinal galleries bored by the beetles and larvae. The Tillns is
extremely active, and runs and flies well.

During May and a part of June I made some experiments with this
predator with the object of discovering whether it attacked the beetles
or larvae for its food. In the cases where the beetles only were placed in a
box with the Tillus they remained apparently untouched by the latter.
Between 26 and 31 May not one beetle was attacked. On i June
I placed some living Dinodcrns larvae and pupae in the box, an.l these
were at once attacked by the Tillus. In the case of the larva the derid
beetle invariably attacked it at the posterior end, slightly to one side on the
tenth or eleventh segment, and appeared to suck out its contents, first firmly
clasping it with its mandibles.

Now, Thiimisinins hinuilnyciisis (vide p. 508) devours tin- scolytid beetles
it preys upon outside the tree, and does not feed upon tin- larvae or pup.u-
or enter the tree. It would appear proh.ible, theivlt.iv. ih.it ihe l'illn\ does
not attack the Dinoderus beetles, the hard exterior c-hitin of \\hirli its
mandibles do not appear powerful enough t<» pierce through, but enters
through the beetles' entrance-holes into tli« • bamboo, and then pushes its way
through the wood-dust and excreta in the larval galleries inside in search of
the larvae and pupae.

1 40 FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE

The clerid beetle would appear to pass through as many generations
in the year as its host. Its larvae evidently feed predaceously on the
bostrychid ones in the bamboo, and pupate in their galleries.

2. Hectarthrum heros, Fabr. (p. 116). — This black predaceous beetle
feeds in both its larval and beetle state on the Dinoderns.

3. Tribolium castaneum, Herbst. (p. 239). — I took this small brown
Tribolinm from the galleries of Dinoderus minutus in the bamboos kept
under observation in Calcutta in 1903. It feeds semi-predaceously upon
the grubs of the Dinoderus beetles. I bred out the beetles late in May, and
know nothing further about its life history.

THE EFFECT OF THE MOON'S PHASES ON THE PERIOD OF

FELLING BAMBOOS.*

It has been a matter of common knowledge for some decades past amongst those who
have had any connection with the cutting and export of bamboos in India, and to a certain
extent of poles as well, that the natives have long held a superstition that neither the one nor
the other should be felled when the moon is full ; they argue that the sap is then very
abundant, and unless the bamboos are well soaked in a tank and subsequently preserved with
plenty of smoke they will be rapidly destroyed by boring insects (cootee). The most serious of
these pests are the bostrichid beetles Dinoderus pilifrons and D. minutus. This curious
theory is held so commonly throughout the country that I have been for some years past
endeavouring to ascertain the causes which have given rise to it, the reasons upon which it is
based, and whether any scientific facts can be adduced in its favour.

One of the explanations put forward is to the effect that the cootee, like many other wood-
boring insects, prefers to lay its eggs in wood which has commenced to wither and which
consequently no longer has a healthy flow of sap to interfere with the insect in its burrow.
This being so, the time immediately after the bamboo is cut down would be the most likely
one for it to be attacked.

It seems to be a generally received idea that soaking the bamboo, as also other timber, in
water for a considerable time immediately after it has been felled, makes it less liable than it
would otherwise be to suffer from boring beetles of all kinds. It is supposed that not only
does the water prevent the beetles laying their eggs during the time the bamboo or wood is
immersed in it, but that it also drowns insects already at work and dissolves much of the
nutritive matter on which they otherwise feed.

That bamboos, once sickly and dying or dead, suffer largely from the attacks of beetles
must be obvious to the most superficial observer who glances over a bamboo clump or
examines furniture, houses, fences, etc., entirely or partially built of bamboos. We are not
here concerned, however, with this aspect of the question ; our purpose being to discuss the
information at present available as to the effect the felling of bamboos and posts at different
phases of the moon has upon their subsequent immunity or otherwise from the attacks of
boring pests.

In their Forest Proceedings f the Madras Board suggested in 1898 that investigations
should be carried out in this matter ; and the experiments initiated as a result, although made
in a few divisions in Madras only and in a manner which leaves room for improvement, are
of very considerable interest as serving to show that the so-termed superstition of the natives
of the country has perhaps some substratum of solid fact to rest upon.

Before detailing the various experiments made in this country I will first refer to a paper
read by Ernest R. Woakes before the American Institute of Mining Engineers \ in which the

* I published this note in the Indian Forester, November 1906 (vol. xxxii).

t Board's Resolution, Forest Proceedings no. 255, dated 24 June 1898.

J This paper was reprinted in the Tropical Agriculturist for October 1899.

FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE 141

author stated that in South America (Columbia) not only bamboos but all trees are felled
during the waning moon only, and not during its increasing phases. It would appear that in
that country the effect of the moon's phases is treated as an accepted fact. Mr. Woakes states
from his own experience that he has often seen the sap running out of stumps during the
increasing moon which were absolutely dry during the waning moon.

In a letter * on the subject Mr. A. \V. Peet, Acting Conservator of Forests, Central Circle,
Madras Presidency, made the following remarks in 1899 :—

" As regards bamboos I expect that the question of durability depends to a great extent on
the question of sap, but the problem seems to be complicated by the doubt whether we are to
reckon with the effect of the moon's phases, as well as with the period of the year at which
they are felled. I doubt if even the borer can subsist without the elements of the sap on
which to feed, and the principle of soaking bamboos is, I think, useful chiefly because it tends
to dissolve the fermenting constituents. Heating and smoking bamboos are additional pre-
cautions generally adopted.

" The point, however, which I wish to emphasize here is whether we should not primarily
consider the period of the year at which bamboos are felled, and only secondarily the period of
the month. There seem good grounds for paying attention to the latter, if we can only
determine definitely the number of days in a month in which bamboos can be felled with
confidence, and I will revert to this point. However, I think that unless strong evidence is
adduced to the contrary, we shall treat bamboos like other vegetation and assume that the
period when the sap is most vigorous, and therefore the fear of fermentation most pronounced,
is in the spring, and that this season should be avoided for felling if durability is of importance;
and it may even be a question whether the root stocks will not be more injured during this
period.

" In order to test this presumption I lately questioned a bamboo contractor, without giving
him any leading questions, and he told me that he believed that there was something in the
waning moon theory, but that he had come to the clear conclusion that bamboos felled during
March and up to the end of July had less durability than those felled during the other months
of the year.

" As regards the phases of the moon a hill man told me that he considered that bamboos
might be felled safely during the seven days before new moon, and the seven days after ; but
on being pressed as to what he considered absolutely the best period he said during the
seven days before. His theory of the seven days after would seem to conflict with Mr. Woakes's
theory."

The experiments carried out in Madras, although they cannot be considered to have been
as definite as is desirable, are still of very considerable interest. They were initiated in torn
separate lotalities, viz., the Nilgiris, North Coimbatore, South Coimbatore, and South Malabar,
and the following summarizes the observations made :—

NILGIRIS, -y^June 1899. — Bamboos were cut in all the ranges except Ootacamuiul a u-\\
days before and a few days after new moon and full moon, and kept separate from r.u h other.
Some were smoked and others were soaked in water. It was found that bamboos cut on <l;uk
nights and immediately soaked or smoked for a period of two months were not attacked by
the borers. From the experiments conducted in the various ranges it was observed ih.i
bamboos felled during moonlight nights were more severely attacked than those felled dm in-
dark ones, and that soaked bamboos fared much better than unsoaked oiu-s. As .1 H-MI!
the experiments the recommendation was made that as soon as felled the li.unlioos should
be fully immersed in water for some time or properly smoked in a shed, or otherwise they
were liable to be attacked by the borers.

As 1 have shown, however, in my previous papers on the preservation of bam
from the borers, neither immersion in water nor smoking is to be depended upon as a safe
preventive.

* No. 454. dated Madras, 25 October 1899, to the Commissioners ot Land Revenue
Madras.

I42

FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE

NORTH COIMBATORE, 24 August 1899. — A series of experiments were conducted in the
Satyamangalam Depot at the foot of the Ootacamund Hills. During each week of the month
one head load of twenty-five bamboos of two kinds (dry solid bamboos known as "Karanai"
and green hollow bamboos known as " Varar") were set aside and marked. It was observed
that dry bamboos appeared to withstand the attacks of the borers better than the green. In
every case the insects attacked the bamboos in the inside of the bundle first, i.e. those not
exposed to light. This is a general rule amongst these boring beetles, who very generally,
although by no means always, attack in the shade in preference to strong light.

As a result of the experiments conducted here it was held that the phases of the moon had
no effect on the felling season. It was noted, however, that bamboos exposed to light and air
are less liable to attack than those not so exposed.

SOUTH COIMBATORE, 18 February 1899 ami i November 1899. — A series of experi-
ments were made on two occasions at Mount Stuart, one from 2 August to i September
1898, and the second from 10 March to 12 April 1899. On each occasion ten large bamboos
; Hambitsa arundinacea) and ten small (Dendrocalamus strict us) were cut daily. Each
bundle of ten was labelled, and the bundles were all laid out in a row. Those cut on
the first occasion were examined one by one on 2 February 1899, with the result that
the influence of the different phases of the moon did not appear to have any bearing
upon the presence or absence of the borers. On the second occasion one-half of the
length of each bundle was covered with mats, the other being left uncovered. This was done
in order to observe the effects of shade as a protective influence or otherwise to the bamboos.
The bamboos so treated were examined at the beginning of October. It was found that
the portions of the bamboos covered over by the mats had at work in them double the
number of boring insects that were to be found in the uncovered portions. Thus the insects
attacked bamboos stacked in the shade twice as heavily as those stacked under the full rays
of the sun.

The following were the percentages of attack observed in the case of the two species of
bamboos experimented with :—

Bamboo.

Percentage attacked
by borers on the
first occasion.

Percentage attacked
by borers on the
second occasion.

Bambusa arundinacea
Dendrocalamus strictus

5°-53
39-47

34-33
41.66

It will be noted from the above that the percentage of attack in the case of Bambusa
arundinacea varies considerably, being much higher in the case of the bamboos cut in August
than in the case of those cut in March-April. In the case of Dendrocalamus slrictiis,
however, the percentage of attack differs but little, the increase inclining to those cut in the
spring months of the year. To be conclusive, further experiments with a larger number of
bamboos should be carried out in this Division.

SOUTH MALABAR, 4 October 1899.— A series °f experiments were made from 2 August
1898 to 7 April 1899, both at the full moon and new moon periods. On each occasion a
bundle of twenty-five bamboos was soaked in mud and water, whilst a second bundle was
merely stacked. The experiments seemed to show that neither the soaking nor felling at any
particular phase of the moon had any marked effect in preserving the bamboos from the
attacks of the borers. It was noted, however, that the bamboos felled during the months of
January, February, and March were not attacked by the borers, stacked bamboos felled at
other periods being invariably attacked.

FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE i4J

The above summarizes the experiments as far as they appear to have been carried in
Madras. They support and confirm observations of my own on two points :—

(a) That the cold-weather months are the best ones in which to fell, although felling
at this season does not guarantee immunity to the bamboos from the attacks of the borers.

(l>) That bamboos stacked in the shade or covered up in such a manner as still to allow
of the beetles getting at them will be more severely attacked than those stacked in the
open.

The question as to the best time in the month to fell requires a more detailed series of
experiments to be carried out before we can finally say that the belief so commonly held in
India is a mere superstition. It will be noted that in the Madras experiments the bamboos
kept under observation were either stacked together or the bundles were placed in rows
adjacent to one another. Now this procedure greatly detracted from the value of the experi •
ments carried out, since it is possible, if not probable, that the bamboos cut at a certain period
of the moon's phases first attracted the beetles which, appearing in numbers too great to find
accommodation in the bamboos in the condition they preferred, overflowed on to and attacked
neighbouring bundles which otherwise might have escaped. If the experiments are to be
reliable, it is necessary to cut bamboos at different periods in the month from the same clump
or forest and to stack the lots cut on different dates at considerable distances apart, so that
the danger of the lot in the condition preferred by the beetles attracting the insects to the
others will cease to exist.

A study of the life-history of these insects will show that the beetles do not appear on
the wing in December and January at least, in the more southern portion of the Continent,
and for an even longer interval in the northern portions. This therefore accounts to some
extent for the immunity of bamboos from attack at this period.

Mr. A. M. Smith, of the Peradcniya Botanical Gardens, Ceylon, in discussing the above
paper, appears to hold the theory that the amount of moisture present in the atmosphere
at the period of felling may be intimately connected with the question. He thinks that
it is possible that the atmosphere may contain more moisture in it on dark nights than on
moonlight ones. In fact, that the moon may have something to do with the matter, since
bamboos contain a far greater amount of moisture on dark moist nights than on drier ones,
when more of it is transpired from the leaves.

In order to settle the question of the effect of the phases of the moon on the period of
felling, series of experiments are required on the following lines :-

(a) Bundles of bamboos to be cut weekly, each week's felling to be numbered and starkrd
separately as far apart as possible (at least a mile).

(b) The phase of the moon at the period of felling to be accurately noted.

(c) Particulars as to locality, elevation, etc., to be noted for each bundle cut.

(d) The bundles to be inspected weekly and rough notes as to the percentage of i-a.-h
bamboo attacked to be noted down for each week.

(e) The species of bamboo experimented with to be accurately noted.
(/) My own theory at present is that bamboos felled during No*

of December and immediately piled or stacked in the open will not be attacked by tin- borers.
Experiments carried out in different parts of the country are necessary to prove this.

Dinoderus brevis, Horn.

REFERENCE.— Horn, P;w. Ann. I'hil.

Habitat. -Dchra Dun, North Imlia; Calcutta. Also reported from

Tein/o ami Rangoon, Burma, Indo-China, Philippines

Trees Attacked. — Bamboo (Dendrocalamusstrictus): Dchra Dun ami Cal-
cutta; ? Sal (Shorca robmtn) : Dchra Dun.

i44 FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE

Beetle. — Greatly resembles D. minntus. Differs in its more convex form and eleven-
jointed antennae. The dorsal punctures of the elytra are less dense than in minntus. The

erect hairs on the apical declivity of the elytra less dense and slightly
Description. longer, cylindrical or sub-claviform, not pointed. In the female the

two median teeth of the marginal row of the rasp-like anterior
portion of the prothorax are larger, wider apart, and more prominent than in the male.

I have taken this beetle in July infesting bamboos in the roofs of

bungalows in Dehra Dun, and also a few individuals

Life History. from bamboos at the Indian Museum in Calcutta, in

October 1903. The life history of the insect is very

similar, so far as my present observations have been carried, to that of
D. minntus.

I think it is probable that the insect also infests sal posts used in
bungalow roofs in Dehra Dun.

L. Fea took specimens of this insect at Teinzo in Burma in May, and in
Rangoon in May-July. Horn obtained a. specimen which he saw issue from
the bamboo handle of a Japanese fan.

II. BOSTRYCHINAE.

Tarsi as long as, or longer than, the tibiae, last joint shorter than the
rest of the joints together ; prothorax strongly tuberculate, the anterior
margin with the lateral teeth more prominent than the median ones. This
division contains the groups :

Bostrychines, including the genera Schistoceros, Heterobostrychus,
Bostrychopsis, Xylopcrtha, Xylodectes, and Xylothrips ;

Apathies, one species of the genus Apate ;

Sinoxylonines, including the important genus Sinoxylon, which contains
the wood-borers S. crassum and 5. anale.

SCHISTOCEROS (CAENOPHRADA).
Schistoceros (Caenophrada) anobioides, Waterhouse.

REFERENCES.— Waterhouse, Ann. Nat. Hist, i, 350 (female), sub Caenophrada (1898) ; Lesne, Ann. Belg.
p. 18 (male) (1897) ; id. .-1 tin. Fr. p. 519 (1898) ; Bostrychus jesuita, Stebbing, Inj. Ins. Ind. For. p. 42
(1899) ; Bostrychopsis jesuita, Stebbing, Ind. Mus. Notes, vi, 35 (1903).

Habitat.— Singbhum, Chota Nagpur, Calcutta. Also reported from
Dinapur, Hazaribagh in Bengal, Saugor, Belgaum, Kanara, Sind, Madras,
Burma, and Ceylon.

Trees Attacked.— Sal (Shorea robusta) : Singbhum ; Guava (Psidium
guava) : Hazaribagh (Ind. Mus. Notes').

FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE 145

Beetle. Of considerable size ; dark brown to black ; anterior edge
of the prothorax covered with a bright red pubescence ; under-surface

covered with a dense rufous pubescence. Front
Description. of head very finely punctured. Prothorax not as

wide as long, and markedly narrower in front,

rounded on sides and at the posterior angles ; covered posteriorly with
imbricate scales (£) or flat granulations ($>). Apical declivity of elytra
with two marginal tubercles on each side, less marked in female, in
which the elytra occasionally develop rasp-like prominences between the
punctures ; elytra in both sexes covered with a very fine and short rufous FlG. 92.

pubescence. Length, 1 2 mm. to 1 8 mm. Scliistoceros ano-

This bostrychid is a common insect in Singbhum, and house!' YndS".'
indeed throughout Chota Nagpur, where

Life History. it tunnels in company with Sinoxylon anale into sal
timber. In 1895-7 I noticed that the green sal beams,

rafters, and other materials used in the construction of the new rest-houses
being built in the forests were very seriously riddled by these insects.
The beetle bores into the timber to oviposit, the grubs eating out ramifying
galleries in the heart of the wood, and pupating at the end of them when
full-grown. The beetles, when mature, either leave the tree by a hole tun-
nelled out by a companion, or tunnel one to the outside for themselves.

Observations made during 1895-7 showed that in Singbhum the insects
commence work early in March, and they, or their grubs, are to be heard
operating in the wooden beams, etc., of the bungalows from that month to
the beginning of the cold weather. Under their operations, tables, chairs,
and floors were constantly covered with particles or little mounds of saw-
dust dropping down from the roof. I noticed that most of the work was
done in the early morning, evening, and during the night, the sounds ceasing
and the insect resting during the heat of the day.

The beetle has been taken on the wing in Belgaum in March, and I have
taken it between March and June in Chota Nagpur. There is probably
more than one life-cycle in the year.

From an imperfect identification of this insect, I have previously alluded
to it as Bosttychopsis jesuitu. This latter is an Australian species, and it is
improbable that it will be found in India.

BOSTKYCHOPSIS.

Bostrychopsis parallela, Lesne.

REFERENCES.— Lesne, Ann. Soc. Ent. FI-. p. 534 (1898); liostrychus parallclus. Lesne, I>MI.

p. 174(1895); Stebbing, M, i, 171

Habitat.— Kaipur, Central Provinces (A. M. Lou- : Calcutta.
reported from the Deccan, Bengal, Assam, Imlo-Chma, Formosa, Sumatra,
Philippines.

Trees Attacked.— Bamboo (DcmlrocnUnnns strictiis : Kaipur ; S;;//7,r\ sp.
•(Guerin-Meneville).

9003

146 FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE

Beetle. — $ The front is finely and densely pubescent in the centre,
and not gibbous ; prothorax smaller than in £, nearly square or rounded ;

dorsal punctures of elytra well marked, becoming
Description. elongate near suture, and slightly denser on

apical declivity.

$ Three kinds of g are found :

I. Normal heteromorphous <J, anterior angles of prothorax pro-
longed into horns which are curved downwards and have a glabrous outer
surface ; apical declivity of elytra with four marginal costiform callosities.
93- 2. A (J having a mixture of the female and male characters. The

Bostrychopsis prothorax is without horns, the latter being replaced by two teeth ; the
fiarallela, Lesne. d without margjnai callosities.
Central Provinces. .

3. The horns ot prothorax are replaced by teeth, of which the inner

one is often absent ; the marginal callosities are present, more or less prominent.

Size of insect is variable, the length being from 6mm. to 15 mm. Specimens from Raipur
measured 9. 13 mm.

Specimens of this insect were sent to me in 1901 by the late Mr. A. M.
Long, of the Indian Forest Service. He found them

Life History. tunnelling into dead stacked bamboos (D. str ictus), in
the middle of June, in the Raipur forests. The beetles

were taken from the interior wood-tissue, where the insect appeared to be
engaged in egg-laying.

I have since taken the insect both in the Central Provinces and in
Bengal. The eggs are laid in the wood-tissue of the bamboo, and the grubs,
on hatching, feed on this wood, eating out irregular galleries which more or
less coalesce. On maturing, the beetles leave the bamboo generally by one
orifice, either the entrance-hole of the female beetle or one eaten out by the
first beetle to mature.

Whilst acting as Superintendent of the Indian Museum in Calcutta, in
1903, a live specimen of a male was brought to me, taken in one of the
streets in the middle of May.

The beetle often infests bamboos in the thatched roofs of bungalows, in
company with the species of Dinoderus already described.

HETEROBOSTRYCHUS.

Articulations of antennal club without well-defined velvety patches.
Prothorax narrower in front, slightly hollowed out medianly near anterior
edge. The beetles tunnel into the timber of fallen and felled trees, and also
into converted timber.

Heterobostrychus unicornis, Waterhouse.

REFERENCES. — Waterhouse, Bostrychus unicornis, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist, sth ser. iii, p. 361 (1879);
Fairmaire, Ann. Belg.p. 539(1893); Lesne, Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr. p. 558 (i?

Habitat.— Goalpara, Assam. Also reported from Kanara (T. R. D. Bell),
Calcutta, Madras, Rangoon, Andaman Islands.

Tree Attacked. — ? Sal (Shorea robusta) or Bamboo (D en dro calamus
str ictus). Kachugaon, Goalpara.

FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE i47

Beetle.— Long parallel ; dark brown, with the femora slightly reddish
and the antennal club rufous. Elytra glabrous.

$ Front of head furnished with a tubercle,

Description. densely hairy and arc-shaped, which does not

occupy a quarter of the inter-ocular space ; finely

and densely punctate. Prothorax as wide as long, greatest width in the
middle, sides slightly rounded, anterior margin slightly indented, the
indentations bounded on each side by an erect but not prominent tooth,
posterior angles rounded ; middle of posterior area covered with fine and
dense flattened granulations. Elytral punctures well marked, but not in
regular rows ; apical declivity depressed on either side of suture, latter not „

prominent ; apex of elytra slightly turned up. Intercoxal lobe of the

., ' j-iiAij-, , unicornis, \\ater-

mesosternum with a fine median keel. Abdominal segments finely and house Assam etc

densely punctate, with a very fine pubescence.

$ Head as in $. Elytra furnished on either side of the apical declivity with two
tubercles, the outer simple, the inner larger and prolonged into a robust horn, curved inwards.
Length, 9! mm. to 1 1£ mm.

I took a male and female of this insect in the bungalow at Kachugaon,

in Goalpara, Assam, on 23 May 1906, at night. I was

Life History. of opinion that they had come either from the sal or the

bamboos of which the bungalow was constructed. Both

the sal and bamboos were pitted with the circular entrance and exit holes of
wood-boring insects. The insect has been taken by Mr. T. R. I). Bell, of
the Indian Forest Service, in Kanara, in the Bombay Presidency.

Heterobostrychus pileatus, Lesne.

REFERENCE. — Lesne, Ann. Soc. Em. Fr. p. 559 (1898).

Habitat. — Singbhum, Chota Nagpur. Also reported from Kanara, Bombav
Presidency, Cochin, and Tharrawaddy, Burma; Seven Pagodas, Tonkin.
Tree Attacked.— Sal (Shorea robusta). Singbhum.

Beetle.— 2 Very similar to unicornis. The frontal tubercle occupies transversely IIKMC
than a third of the interocular space, and is much larger than in unicornis. The proth.u.ix :->

longer than wide, widest behind the middle, narrower than in
Description. unicornis. Anterior angles less well defined, posterior angles more

widely curved.

(5 Heteromorphous, head and prothorax larger than in $. Front simple, smooth.
shining. Anterior angle of prothorax furnished with a prominent hook. The lower in. ir-iii.il
tubercle of apical declivity of the elytra only slightly developed, the upper tubercle larger, pro-
longed into a horned prominence curved inwards and downwards. In the homeomorphous
<J the front of head is similar to that of $?, whilst the prominent hook of tin- anterior angle <>l
prothorax is replaced by a simple upturned tooth. Length, 9-1 i mm.

This insect has been taken in the Singbhum forests in Chot.i ur,

where it was found tunnelling into the -al |><>1<- .uul

Life History. beams of which the f<>rrst rest-house constructed.

The only individuals I obtained were taken in Ma\ is'i;,

at which time the insect appeared to In- issuing from the timber for pairing
purposes.

The life history is, doubtless, somewhat similar in character to that <.f
Schistoccro* iiaoliioiilcs, already briefly described.

148

FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE

Heterobostrychus aequalis, Waterhouse.

REFERENCES. — Waterhouse, Proc. Zool. Soc. Land. p. 215, pi. xvi, fig. 3 (2) ($) (1884); uncipennis,
Lesne, Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr. p. 173 ((52) (1895); ? papuensis, MacLeay, Proc. Linn. Soc.N.S.W.,
2nd ser. p. 154(9) (:S86) I Bostrychus aequalis, I.M.N. v, i, 34, pi. iii, fig. 7; Lesne, Ann.
Fr. 560 (1898).

Habitat.— Dehra Dun, North India; Calcutta; Calicut, Madras
(Thurston). Also reported from Sutlej, environs of Simla, environs of
Chakrata (A. J. Gibson), British Bhutan; Maria Basti ; Bhamo ; Tharra-
waddy.

Trees Attacked. — Sal (Shorea robusta) : Dehra Dun ; Semul (Bombax
uialabaricnin) : Calicut; Poinciana el at a : Calcutta (I. H. Burkhill).

Beetle. — Parallel, very slightly depressed, dark brown, often
rufous-glabrous. Front of head similar in both sexes, rasp-like,

without the tubercle present in above-
Description, described species ; pubescence short
and not thick. Prothorax with pos-
terior angles often lobed, and posterior surface showing deep-
impressed punctures, the disk with a more or less defined
sculpture resembling imbricate scales. Elytra strongly and
densely punctate, the punctures arranged in fairly regular rows
of striae ; punctation of apical declivity variable ; apical margin
turned up with a thickened border laterally, and with marginal
tubercles, the inner of which may be hooked. Abdomen with
a very dense punctation, ra«p-like. Second tarsal joint of hind
legs much shorter than the last. Length, 6-13 mm. Figs. 88,95.

Variations occur in size and in the elytral teeth and
callosities in the various forms of the males and females.

FIG. ^.—Heterobostrychus Larva.-White, curved, constricted posteriorly, with a

ac un all s Waterhouse. x c. brownish-black head, and three pairs of jointed legs on the
India and Burma. thoracic segments, the abdominal segments corrugated.

In the year 1898 some specimens of this insect were forwarded to the
Superintendent of the Indian Museum, Calcutta, by

Life History. Mr. Edgar Thurston, C.I.E., Superintendent of the
Central Museum, Madras, with the information that they

committed a good deal of damage by tunnelling into semul (Bombax niala-
Iniricum) timber at Calicut. As this timber was converted into tea-box
planking (as is the case also in Assam), the destruction committed was of
considerable importance. The adult beetle is found on the wing at Calicut
in May-June.

Between the years 1902 and 1909 I took this insect commonly in Dehra
Dun in July. The insect tunnels into sal timber in this locality, and is a
common pest in the sal rafters of the thatched bungalows in the station.
1C very July between the years 1905 and 1909 specimens were taken in my
thatched office in the grounds of Sikander Hall> where they issued from the
sal timber in the roof. I also took individuals in August and September,

FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE 149

but have not definitely ascertained whether the insect passes through more
than one generation in the year. The insect oviposits in the timber, the
grubs eating out irregular galleries in the wood, and, when numerous, gradually
reducing the latter to powder. They are commonly associated with one or
more species of Sinoxylon in this attack.

The beetle was sent to me from the Economic Section of the Indian
Museum in Calcutta by Mr. I. H. Burkhill, Officiating Reporter on Eco-
nomic Products, in September 1905, with the information that it had been
taken issuing from specimens of Poinciana data timber (origin unknown)
in the museum. Whilst acting as Superintendent of the Museum in i<)().-)
I took the insect on the wing in the museum compound in June.

In 1908 Mr. A. J. Gibson, Imperial Forest Economist at the Research
Institute, Dehra Dun, obtained specimens of the beetle in the environs of
Chakrata, in Jaunsar.

Heterobostrychus hamatipennis, Lesne.

REFERENCES. — Lesne, Ann. Soc. Ent.Fr. p. 873 (£ $? ) (I895)l id. Ann. Fr. p. 562 (1898) ; niponensis, Lewes,

Ann. Nat. Hist. ser. 6, vol. xvii, p. 339 (<J) (1896).

Habitat. — Kumaun Terai. Also reported from the Jhelum Valley;
Sikkim ; British Bhutan ; Maria Basti ; Sylhet ; Ceylon.

Tree Attacked. — -Acacia catechu. Jaula Sal, Kumaun.

Beetle. — Parallel, fairly large, robust, dark brown, with femora reddish at times ; upper
surface covered with a rufous pubescence, very short and sparse, denser near the anterior edge

of the prothorax and in the $, on the apical declivity of the elytra,

Description. which often appears as if covered with a yellowish pulverescence ;

the pubescence on the scutellum is dense, and often appears as a

well-marked light-coloured blotch. Ventral pubescence less short and more abundant than
dorsally. Head large, the protile of the upper part forming a regular curve in both sexes : front
not depressed, punctate, or rasp-like. Posterior angles of the prothorax straight or obtuse ;
sculpture of posterior surface fairly large, rasp-like, consisting of scaloidal tubrr. [es, limit-
prominent in the $?. Apical edge of the elytra not reflexed ; the punctures well in. irked.
dense, and arranged in regular series.

$ Eyes larger; anterior angles of the prothorax furnished with only one large erecl
tooth ; apical declivity of elytra with a marginal callosity on either sii!«-.

$ Anterior angles of the prothorax prolonged into upturned horns ; posterior siirl.n e
covered with scales medianly ; apical declivity less strongly anil less densely punctate than
dorsal surface of elytra, and has on each side a mar-in. il sub-cylindriral apophysis ol>li<|in-lv
truncate on top. Length, 9 mm. to 15^ mm.

I found this beetle in April boring into the wood and large branehes

of khair (Acacia catechu) trees felled in the Jaula s£l

Life History. forests in Kumaun the preceding cold weather. Tin-

beetles were egg-laying. For this purpose they tunnel

down into the wood about Jin. to k in., and then eat out a tunnel at right
angles both to right and left of the entrance-tunnel. Small ridges and

150

FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE

unevennesses are left in this long tunnel, which is the egg-tunnel, and is
carried round the stem parallel to the outer surface. In this tunnel a pair

of beetles were usual-
ly found, apparently
the $ and 2. There
is often a depression
in the floor of the
egg-tunnel just at
its juncture with
the entrance-tunnel,
which may be the
pairing chamber.
The egg - tunnels

FIG. 96.

'Galleries of Hcterobostrvchns hamatipennis in Acacia
catechu. United Provinces Terai. (E. P. S.)

are several inches
in length. I have
not taken the grubs.

FIG. 97.

Xylopertha ? sp.
x 5. Seoni.

XYLOPERTHA.
Xylopertha ? sp.

REFERENCE. — Stebbing, Ind. For. xxviii, 287 (1902).

Habitat. — Seoni, Central Provinces.
Tree Attacked. — Terminalia tomentosa. Seoni.
Beetle. —Only an immature specimen of this insect has been obtained,
superficially resembling a Sino.rylon, yellowish brown in colour, with ten-
jointed antennae, the last three joints forming a
Description. terminal club, and joints three to seven being to-

gether longer than the first (eighth) of the club ; the
front tarsi covered on their inner surfaces with pubescence. Length, 8 mm.

A specimen of this insect was cut out of a post of Terminalia tomentosa
badly infested by Sinoxylon crassum, at Seoni in the Central Provinces.

XYLODECTES.
Xylodectes ornatus, Lesne.

'REFERENCES. — Lesne, Ann. Soc. Ent. Belg. p. 19 (1897) ; id- Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr. p. 538 (1901).

Habitat. — Kumaun, North India. Also reported from Kadegaon, Bombay ;
Madras ; Nilgiris ; Bhamo and Tharrawaddy, Burma ;
Tonkin ; Sumatra ; Borneo.

Tree Attacked. — Khair (Acacia catechu). Submontane
forests (Jaula Sal), Kumaun.

Beetle.— Elongate, parallel ; reddish yellow ; head, prothorax anteriorly,
apical declivity, breast, and base of abdomen black or brown ; elytra with

lateral anterior margins brown ; antennal club
Description. brown. Front of head granulous with a fine

whitish-yellow pubescence ; prothorax strongly

constricted in front, rasp-like anteriorly. Elytra glabrous and brilliant
dorsally and on sides ; apical declivity circular, strongly punctate, with a
fine light yellow or whitish pubescence ; marginal teeth short, wide basally,

\

FIG. 98.
-Xylodectes onia-

fies, Lesne
Kumaun, etc

FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE

and pointed ; the suture gaping on declivity, the apical margin elevate. Abdomen densely
and finely punctate and pubescent. Last joint of anterior tarsus longer than any of the others.
Length, 3.5 mm. to 6 mm.

In the £ the lateral marginal tooth of the apical declivity is inserted about the middle of
the latter. In the J this tooth takes off above the middle of the lateral margin of the apical
declivity.

Whilst engaged, in the middle of April, in examining some khair-trees
felled during the preceding cold-weather months in the

Life History. submontane sal forests near Jaula Sal, I discovered that
a number of them were being tunnelled into by bostry-

chid beetles for ovipositing purposes. The trees had been felled for the
preparation of cutch from the timber, and this latter was still green and
sappy. The most abundant beetle present was the Heterobostrychus hamati-
pennis already dealt with. From short burrows in the wood, however, I
cut two individuals of this Xylodectes. One of these insects was found dead
at the end of its burrow, and it appeared to have been drowned there owing
to the outflow of sap of the still green bast and wood into its burrow. The
other was engaged in tunnelling down into the sapwood to oviposit. The
tunnel, so far as it had been taken, went down for half an inch into the sap-
wood and then curved at an angle. It was unfinished.

The eggs of the first generation of the year are, then, laid in the early
part of April in Kumaun. The number of life-cycles passed through in the
year, if more than one, has yet to be ascertained.

XYLOTHRIPS.
Xylothrips flavipes, Illiger.

REFERENCES.— Illiger, Mag. fur Insekt. Heft 1-2, p. 171 (£} (1801) ; dominicanus, Fabr. Syst. Eleuth. ii,
p. 380 (Q) (1801) ; Lesne, Bull. Soc. Ent. Fr. p. clxxviii (1895); sinuatus, Stephens (now Fabricius),
Illustr. of Brit. Ent. iii, p. 351, pi. xix, f. 6 (1830) ; Spry et Shuckard, Brit. Col. del. p. 44, pi. 53, f. 4
(1840) ; religiosus, Fairmaire, Rev. et Mag. de Zool. 2nd ser.ii, p. 50 (in part) (1850) ; mutilatus, Walker,
Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. 3rd ser. ii, p. 286 (1858) ; Waterhouse, ibid. 6th ser. i, p. 349 (1888) ; iracundus,
Snell van Vollenhoven, Rech. Faun. Madagas. part 5, p. 10, pi. i, f. 7 (1869).

Habitat.— Peradiniya, Ceylon; Indo-Malayan, Madagascar, and neigh-
bouring islands. In India it has been reported from Sylhet, Khasia Hills,
Bhutan, Tetara (Bengal), and Travancore.

Tree Attacked.— Cocoa (Theobroma cacao}. E. E. Green,
from Peradiniya.

Beetle.— Chocolate-brown, posterior parts of elytra darker-coloured ;
often entirely reddish ; under-surface lighter-coloured, especially the abdo-
men ; antennae reddish, club brown. The rasp
Description. like elevations on prothorax interrupted by small

teeth ; posterior surface shining or very finely

punctured. Elytra finely punctate, stronger behind, especially nt-ai de-
clivity ; latter furnished with three marginal tubercles, the median mil-
longest and most prominent; suture elevate on declivity, the sutural
margin with one or several tubercles ; suture slightly gaping. Breast and
abdomen covered with a very fine and dense reddish-gold pubescence.
Length, 6mm. to 8.5 mm.

FIG.
Xylothrips

•.'• , Illigrr.

Ceylon.

152 FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE

cJ Front of head transversely convex, finely and densely punctate, and finely pubescent,
with a few scattered stiff hairs, more numerous near the eyes.
9 Frontal crown circular or broadly V-shaped.

I have not taken this species in India. In July 1903 Mr. E. Ernest

Green, Government Entomologist, Ceylon, forwarded

Life History. some specimens to me at the Indian Museum, Calcutta,

with the information that the insect tunnelled into the

stems of cocoa-trees in Ceylon.

APATE.
Apate submedia, Walker.

REFERENCES. — Walker, Ann. Nat. Hist. 3rd ser. ii, p. 286 (1888) ; jesuita, Stebbing, Depart. Notes, i,

p. 364 (1906).

Habitat.— Nellore, Madras.

Tree Attacked. — Casuarina (Casuarina equisetifolia). Nellore.

Beetle. — Black with parallel sides and a uniform breadth throughout
of three-sixteenths of an inch, perhaps a little less anteriorly and a little

more posteriorly. Body more than twice length
Description. of prothorax ; latter rounded and pitted above ;

elytra with longitudinal ridges running down

their dorsal surfaces with punctures between ; elytra deflexed at their
apices. Abdomen red beneath. Legs black, short. Antennae with a
club. Length, \^ in.

This beetle is a wood-borer, and tunnels into the wood

of the casuarina for egg-laying purposes.

Abate submedia. -, , ., T^.- , • , T-

Walker. Madras. Llfe History. It was reported by the District rorest

Officer as boring into trees in planta-
tions at Nellore in June 1903, and therefore the eggs of one of the
generations of the year are probably laid in that month. Nothing further
appears to be known about its life history.

In all probability the beetle does not attack the tree until it is either
felled or has from some cause become sickly. The damage done is to the
timber ; in cases where the insect is numerous and the wood is required for
planks or beams, the tunnelling of the beetle and its grubs, who also feed in
the wood, would cause a considerable loss.

The length of time spent in the larval and pupal stages and the number
of generations in the year have yet to be ascertained.

SlNOXYLON.

Sinoxylon crassum, Lesne.

REFERENCES. — Lesne, Ann. Soc. Ent. Belg. xli, p. 21 (1897) ; Stebbing, Depart. Notes, i, p. 12 (1902) ; Ind.

Mus. Notes, v, p. 106 (1903).

Habitat.— Dehra Dun, Siwaliks, Submontane forests, Kumaun ; Changa
Manga, Punjab ; Raipur and Mandla, Central Provinces ; Goalpara, Assam ;
Tenasserirn. Also reported from Belgaum (Andrewes), Kanara (T. R. D.
Bell), Burma (G. Q. Corbett).

FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE

Trees Attacked.— Khair (Acacia catechu'): Raipur, Central Provinces
(F. Gleadow) ; Terminalia tomentosa : Seoni, Central Provinces (Hanson
and Stebbing) ; Sal (Shorea robusta} : Dehra Dun (Littlewood and Stebbing) ;
Kandrahi, Mandla (mihi} ; Anogeissus latifolia : Horai, Kumaun (mihi} ; Sissu
(Dalbergia sissoo} : Changa Manga Plantation (Coventry and Stebbing) ; Dehra
Dun, and Goalpara, Assam (mihi); Phulahi (Acacia modcsta} : Changa Manga
(mihi} ; Pterocarpus marsupium : Kisli, Banjar Valley,
Mandla (mihi} ; Harra (Terminalia chcbula) : Kandrahi,
Mandla (mihi} ; Albizzia procera : Ataran River, Tenas-
serim (mihi} ; Prosopis spicigera : Sukkur, Sind.

Beetle.— Elongate, oblong, stout, slightly dilated posteriorly,

very dark brown, almost black, rather shining ; antennae and

legs reddish-brown. Head vertical, hidden
Description. beneath prothorax, punctate, with promi-

nent light-coloured eyes. Prothorax very

convex, rounded in front, incurved behind ; the anterior portion is

coarsely and densely tuberculate and rasp-like, strongest on margin

and decreasing in size towards centre of disk ; three prominent

teeth on each side on the anterior margin ; posterior half rugose.

Elytra parallel, convex, striate-punctate, the apex truncate and

depressed, the striae most prominent apically, where they project

in two elongate median sutural teeth, with two short stout teeth

laterally on each side ; declivity rugose-punctate. Length, 7 mm. to KK;. 101.

8i mm. Sinoxylon crassum,

... ......... r Lesne. x 4. India

Since I first described a part of the life history of (except Madras), Burma.

this insect in Departmental Notes
Life History. in 1902, a great de;tl of additional information has been

collected on the subject. My first study of its habits

was made in the Changa Manga Plantation, where the insect infests the
sissu (Dalbergia sissoo} to a serious extent, in company with
analc. Mr. H. O. Coventry had reported in 1899 that bostrychid beetles
attacked sissu billets in the Changa Manga Plantation; but the identity
of the insects remained unknown until April 1901.

The appearance on the wing of the first generation <>t the beetles '>! tin-
year varies in different parts of the country. In tin- north of Indi.i tin-
beetles commence egg-laying in wood in April. They are also to be found
thus engaged during this month in the Central Provinces, though it is not
unlikely that these beetles may be those of the second gener.it ion. 1 took a
generation of the beetles just maturing towards the end ol M i\ in Goal-
para, Assam, these being probably the second generation <>l the year. At
Pyimnaseik, on the Ataran River in Tenasserim, I found a generation
maturing and leaving the wood on KJ March, probabK the U-etles of the
first generation of the year issuing to lay the eggs of a second generation.

The eggs are laid by the beetles in the wood of a variety ot tree.-,, and
are most usually laid in felled timber which has not become too dry. ( >cca-
sionally, when plentiful, they will tunnel into sickly or dying standing green

154

FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE

FlG. 1 02. — Entrance holes and tunnels of Sinoxylon
crassum, Lesne, in bark and wood of a Ptcrocarpus
marsupium pole. Mandla, Central Provinces.

trees. On several occa-
sions I have found them
engaged in this manner.
They undoubtedly prefer,
however, timber which has
been felled for a short
period, the length of time
depending upon whether
the material has been
cut in the cold -weather
months, when it loses its
sap slowly, or in the hot
weather. The beetle will
not usually infest abso-
lutely dry timber, and in
this respect differs from
its oft-time companion,
Sinoxylon anale, which is
described below.

To oviposit the female
tunnels into the wood
either through the bark or
in at one end of a cut log
or billet, the presence or
absence of the bark on the
wood apparently being
immaterial. This tunnel
is a short one, is taken at
a varying angle to the
exterior surface of the log,
and is generally about a
quarter to half an inch in
length. Its end is enlarged
into a chamber, so that
two beetles can move about
in the space, and a male
beetle enters to the female
here and fertilizes her. A
tunnel is then carried to
the heart of the tree (or
at least into the heart-
wood in big trees), whose
direction changes several
times. In some cases the
beetle starts by taking

FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE

the tunnel at right
angles to its former
direction, eating out
the gallery just be-
low the external
surface of the sap-
wood, and leaving
but a thin lamella
of wood between it
and the outer air,
the gallery running
round the circum-
ference of the tree
for a varying dis-
tance. The direction FlG. 103. — Galleries of Sinoxylon crassum in the wood of
is then changed and Pterocarpus marsupium. a a, $ and $ entrance - tunnels ;

6, pairing-chamber ; c c, egg-tunnels ; d d, position of eggs,
the tunnel, with one Mandla, Central Provinces. (E. P. S.)
or more curves in it,

is carried into the heart-wood of the tree. The male is at times found
in this egg-tunnel, and I think it is probable that he pairs with the female
more than a single time. Also he fertilizes more than one beetle, as I
have found cases where more than one tunnel takes off from the pairing-
chamber, and yet there was but one entrance-hole on the outside, although
there was a 'female beetle in each egg-tunnel engaged in hollowing the
latter out. These egg-tunnels vary in length, being occasionally several
inches, and when bored in the harder heart-wood they are often found
to run horizontally round the softer part of a " ring " of the wood, as shown

in the diagram of a section of Terminalia
chcbula. The end of the tunnel is usually
parallel to the long axis of the tree. The
eggs are laid at or near the bottom in
masses of powdered \\ood-dust. This egg-
gallery takes from four to riidit <la\s to
construct, the eggs hatching out within
forty-eight hours or so. The operations
of the beetle in the tree or log are usiully
easily seen by the heaps of sawdust \\hich
are pushed out from the tunnel through
the entrance-hole and project ill small
cylinders or cover the bark with sawdust.
The larvae feed entirely <>n the \\ood,
FlG. 104.— Cross section of a log eating out tunnels m the long axis in an
of Terminalia chebula, showing irregular manner, which coalesce and re-

(a\ entrance and (c\ egg tunnel ..f duce th(. u , substance to powder. In

Sinoxylon crassum. Mandla,

Central Provinces. (E. P. S.) the case of old large tree- these tunnel!

156 FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE

mostly confined to the sapwood, the egg-tunnel being only carried into the
outer heart-wood. When poles are attacked, however, the whole structure of
the wood is reduced to powder. On becoming full-fed, in four to six weeks (or
in the colder parts of the country in eight to ten wreeks), the grubs pupate in
a slightly enlarged chamber at the end of their galleries. This chamber is
free of wood-dust, the rest of the larval gallery being blocked with it. About
two to three \veeks are passed in the pupal stage. On maturing the new
beetles bore or force their way through the mass of powdery material to which
the wood has been reduced until they find a female egg-tunnel, up which they
crawl, and so leave the tree. If they are unable to find a ready-made exit
they tunnel out of the tree for themselves, but the vast majority leave by an
old entrance-hole made by the parent generation, and it is for this reason
that badly infested poles and trees do not show on the outside the serious
nature of the attack to anything like the same extent as is the case with the
Scolytidae, as both entrance-holes and exit-holes are far fewer in number.

Another reason, I have noticed, is that when, as is often the case,
S. anale is accompanying S. crassum in its attack, the former and smaller
beetle often makes use of the entrance-holes of its larger companion to enter
the tree by. Whether this habit is merely laziness on the part of the beetle,
or whether it exhibits a certain amount of wide-awakeness, I am unable to
say ; but, of course, one of the most dangerous periods of the beetles' lives
is that during which they are commencing their tunnel into the wood, and
before they have got down flush with the outer surface, for during this time
they are exposed to the attacks of their many numerous enemies, both animal
and insect.

A very important and as yet unrecorded feature of the life history of
this beetle has rendered it a pest of the first importance, and will probably,
in conjunction with the damage done by other insects whose life histories
are at present unknown, be found to account for that destruction of
young sal growth in the forest for which up to date no cause has been
assignable. Whilst the students of the Imperial Forest School were in
camp at Phandowalla in the Dun in February 1902, Mr. A. M. Littlewood
(now of the Madras Forest Department) forwarded me some small sal
shoots and twigs from the sal coppice areas which had been tunnelled
into and hollowed out by beetles. I examined a number of these shoots,
and subsequently obtained others out in the forests of the Dun and in
Garhwal and Kumaun myself. The shoots sent me by Mr. Littlewood
contained living S. crassum beetles. The insects had evidently tunnelled
into the shoot the previous autumn, the large round entrance-hole
being very discernible on the external surface of the shoot, and then
hollowed it out, proceeding upwards. Much of the interior of the shoot
appeared to have been eaten. The beetle, with the approach of winter,
hibernates in the hollowed-out shoot. Instances of this nature, by which
an insect commits damage in two distinct forms, are known amongst the
Scolytidae, as, e.g., the European Hylurgus (Myelophilus) piniperda, L., of

FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE

'57

the Scots pine ; but in
the latter case the in-
sect is not a wood-
borer in any stage of
its existence. I shall
show later that the sal
scolytid Sphaerotrypcs
siwalikcnsis of the Si-
walik sal areas also
tunnels into green sal
shoots to feed, as does
the Assam species ; but
I have found no re-
corded instance of a
bostrychid acting in
this manner. It was in
February 1902 that Mr.
Littlewood made this
discovery, and between
1905 and 1909 I was
able on several occa-
sions to corroborate it.
To leave no opening for
doubt as to the iden-
tity of the species both
Mr. Littlewood's and
my own specimens were
kindly identified for me
by M. Lesne.

As I have above
indicated, the length
of time taken by each
generation or life-cycle
of the beetles to ma-
ture, and the number
of such, necessarily
vary with the part of
the country the insect
is inhabiting. They
will be more numerous
in the damp tropical
heatof Tenasserim than
in Changa Manga in
the Punjab. The num-
ber is probably from

- r

'IG. 105. — Kntr.in< <• i .1 UinncK <>f .sVWr'.rrAv/

in sdl \\ixnl. .M.imlh, C'cntnil l'i<>\ IM<

158 FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE

three in the north to five in the south of Burma, three to four in the
Central Provinces, four to five in Assam.

I have not taken S. crassuin in Madras. There seems no reason to sup-
pose it is not to be found in the Presidency, since it is known in Burma.
The common species of the genus there are, however, S. indicum and
S. conigerum, both of which are dealt with later on.

The life history of this insect shows it to be a pest of a serious nature
both in the forest and in the wood depot. In the forest
its habit of tunnelling into the young shoots or leading
shoots of sal saplings in coppice areas and elsewhere

makes it a pest of the first magnitude, for it must be remembered
that the insect attacks the wood of a variety of trees, and study may
show that the beetle similarly feeds in and tunnels into the shoots of one or
more of these trees. This phase of its life history requires further careful
investigation.

The beetle is a destructive pest as a wood-borer, not only by its direct
action in riddling the timber, and thus rendering it useless save for firewood
and greatly reducing the value of billets even for this purpose, but also
by its indirect action, in that the large amounts of sawdust thrown out of
the borings by the beetles often give good sound logs lying in the forest
or depot the appearance of being more seriously riddled, and consequently
ruined, than is the case in reality. The depth to which the beetle carries
her egg-tunnel varies with the hardness of the heart-wood of the tree, only
the sapwood being affected in the case of sissu (fig. 27). In the case of
species such as Pterocarpus marsupium and Albizzia procera the beetle goes
deep into the interior of poles.

In the Changa Manga Plantation the beetle exists in considerable
numbers, and has in the past done serious damage to the fresh-cut billets
and logs of sissu (D. sissoo) both here and in the Shahdera Planta-
tion nearer Lahore. I have also found it in numbers in stag-headed and
sickly standing green trees. It infests Acacia modesta \vood in the
plantation in a similar manner. In the case of the felled material
stacked in the Changa Manga Fuel Depot (the plantation chiefly supplies
fuel for Lahore), the beetles have in the past so riddled the whole of
the sapwood of the stacked billets as greatly to lower their value, or
even reduced them to such a condition that their sale could not be effected.
Stacks of billets so treated are covered on the outside with a yellowish wood-
powder pushed out of the tunnels of the excavating beetles, and the wood
has a dilapidated decaying appearance which militates against a chance of
its sale, whilst at the same time its weight is greatly reduced, and with this
its commercial value (cf. fig. 27).

At Changa Manga S. crassuin commences laying the first eggs of the
year in April, the beetles usually being plentiful in the plantations. In
the middle of May but few are to be seen, but the wood-stacks are full of
larvae and pupae. A second lot of eggs are laid in June-July, giving rise to

PLATR X.

«

QC

O

Entrance and exit holes of Si>u>.\'v/<»i (VW.>- .»•/////, I.esnc, and Lyctus <f<inn> in

'erminalia tomentosa. The \\liite |)atclies sliow \\lu-re the \\nn.l h. is ht-i-n reduced to |in\\ilcr li>
ic boring operations of the larvae. Seoni, Central Provinces.

FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE 159

beetles which appear in September and October. This is the life history of
the insect in Dehra Dun and throughout the Siwaliks and submontane parts
of Garhwal and Kumaun. Here the insect attacks the sal, both the timber
and the green twigs and tops of green saplings, as already described ; I have
also found it infesting Anogeissus latifolia poles in the Horai Forest in
Kumaun.

In the Central Provinces, Mr. F. Gleadow procured khair (Acacia
catechu] poles from Raipur in July 1890 which were badly infested by this
beetle.

I first took this beetle in the Singbhum forests of Chota Nagpur from
sal beams in newly constructed forest resthouses in April 1897. 1° August
1901, whilst in Seoni in the Central Provinces in company with Mr. C. O.
Hanson, Deputy Conservator of Forests, I noticed the borings of bostrychids
in Terminalia tomentosa posts in newly constructed bungalows.* The
following is a brief extract from my report on the subject :—

" The wood of this tree is used to a considerable extent for construction work in the Central
Provinces. At my request Mr. Hanson forwarded an infested rafter to me at Dehra Dun in the
following September. It was found to be infested by Sinoxylon crassum, an unknown
species of Xylopertha already alluded to, a new species of Lyctus" (recently described by
Mr. P. Lesne as Lyctns spinifrons], " and various predaceous and parasitic insects. The
Sinoxylon was very numerous, and was evidently the generation of beetles issuing in
September from the eggs laid by the July generation found by Mr. Gleadow."

I found the beetle pairing and egg-laying in Mandla in the Central
Provinces between the end of the first and the last week of April 1909. The
beetle was infesting various species of trees, most of which had been cut
down from one to three months before on a new road alignment through the
forests. A felled Pterocarpus marsupium pole (fig. 102) examined contained a
number of beetles whose operations extended right through the pole, some
of the egg-tunnels traversing it from one side to near the outer surface of the
sapwood on the other. The wood was still fresh and sappy, the tree having
been cut into a couple of logs which were lying unbarked. In several of the
tunnels I found a male and female beetle. In some cases here I noted tint
occasionally the entrance-holes of the sexes were separate, those of the
males being smaller than the females, the separate tunnels both connecting
with a large chamber eaten out from a quarter to half an inch down in
the sapwood as shown in fig. 103, which is the pairing-chamber. The
beetles so engaged were laying the eggs of the second generation <>f the year.

From the same forests in Mandla I took the insect in felled sal-trees, but
only sparingly. At Kandrahi in Mandla I found numbers of the beetles in
a large Terminalia chcbula log which had likewise been nit ni th«- piverding
February on the road alignment. These beetle- had just matured and wi
issuing to pair and oviposit, a number having alreadv left the log. I took
the insects on 26 April, thus showing that the first generation of the year in

* Vide my note on "Insect Life in a 'I\-nnin<ilia post." In, I. Forester^ vol. x aiii. p. 2X7
(August 1902).

i6o FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE

Mandla takes some two to two and a half months, from February to near
the end of April, for the tree in question was a green healthy one before
being felled in February, and showed no signs of previous insect attacks. In
this tree I was able to see a good example of the way the beetle curves its
egg-tunnel concentrically round the rings of the wood. I show a diagram
of this in fig. 104 from a dra\ving made on the spot.

These three sets of observations prove that S. crassuui has at least
three broods in the year in the Central Provinces, the first between
February and April, the second from April to July, the third from July
to September. It is possible that the beetles of a fourth may issue early in
November and tunnel into the shoots and twigs of trees to hibernate, or the
September generation may act in this manner.

Towards the end of May 1906 I took the beetle in Dalbcrgia sissoo on
the Sunkos River in Assam. There is a considerable amount of more or less
scattered sissu growth along the banks of this part of the Sunkos. I
examined this to ascertain whether the leaf-rolling Apoderus weevils (p. 416)
were at work here. I did not find them, but I found a blown-down tree full
of the bostrychids S. crassum and S. anale. In this attack I noted particu-
larty the way the beetles sometimes carry a portion of their egg-tunnels, curving
round the circumference of the tree, leaving merely the thinnest of lamellae
of outer sapwood (in places where the bark had fallen off) as a protection to
the gallery, rather after the fashion in which termites work. This generation of
beetles taken on 26 May 1906 was just maturing, and the bulk of the beetles
would evidently issue early in June — probably those of the second generation
of the year, who would lay the eggs of a third generation in June.

I was down in Tenasserim in March 1905, and in the latter part of the
month I went for a trip up the Ataran River by launch. \Ye burnt fuel on
the launch, and an examination of this material showed it to be badly
infested by bostrychid beetles. One small log of Albizzia procera was almost
entirely riddled by S. crassum beetles, and scarcely scaled one-sixth of its
proper weight owing to the amount of wood which had been eaten out by
the beetles and their grubs. The whole of the interior was a network of
tunnels. The generation was just maturing, many of the beetles having
already left the tree. Numbers of others were engaged in eating out their
flight-holes. My attention was drawn to this, as the outer surface of the
log contained a number of holes much too small for S. crassum to leave
by. I thought another smaller bostrychid was present, but an exami-
nation showed these holes to be the partially eaten exit-holes of the
beetle. This was interesting, as it proved that the third \veek in March is
the time of appearance of what is probably the first generation of the
beetles issuing to lay the eggs of the second, and secondly that the
greater part of a flight of this species mature and leave the tree together,
and that there is consequently not so great an overlapping of genera-
tions as obtains amongst the Scolytidae. This I have noticed on other
occasions.

FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE

In December 1908 I received a consignment of beetles from Sukkur, Sind,
which were reported as seriously infesting and reducing the value of Pro-
sopis spicigera billets. This wood is or was cut in considerable quantities and
sent up to Quetta as fuel. In the latter place anxiety had been aroused at
the thought that this insect might be identical with the Quetta borer beetle
(jEolesthes, see p. 307), and that the borer which was doing such damage in
the station was being imported with the firewood from Sind. Investigation
speedily set this alarm at rest. The beetles in the fuel were Sinoxylon
crassum and S. an ale. I saw no evidence of the attacks of these beetles
in Quetta, and it is probable that the beetles issuing there from the fire-
wood are killed off by the cold.

Owing to the curious nature of the life history of this pest, methods of

protection against it must of necessity partake of a
Protection and r , , ,

Remedial Measures, two-fold character.

When the beetles are present in fuel areas in the

numbers I observed at Changa Manga in the Punjab in the years 1901 and
1905, operations mentioned below should be put into force to reduce
its numbers.

In the Punjab and generally in the north of India the insect's active life
lasts from April to late October or early November, after which period it
hibernates either as a beetle or larva. In Changa Manga it was found that
both the spring and summer generations of the beetle attacked the felled
and stacked sissu wood which had been cut during the previous cold
weather, November to March. This wood is collected and placed in stacks
on the compartment lines in the forest, and was allowed to remain there till
the following October in order to render it lighter by loss of moisture. This
coincided exactly with the requirements of the Sinoxylon and its companion
S. anale, who both attacked the material thus stacked on the compartment
lines in large numbers. The beetle was equally plentiful at the fuel depot
a few miles from the plantations. My recommendations in 1901 were as
follows : —

1. Remove from the forest as soon as felled the amount of wood
annually cut in the compartments, no fresh-cut wood being allowed to lie in
the forest after the end of March.

2. Let the fellings be so arranged that wood is not cut in advance of
the selling power, and thus allowed to lie for an uncertain period in the fuel
depot. The amount on hand at any one time being thus sm.iller, the
number of breeding places for the insects will diminish.

3. The number of breeding places being thus reduced, measures will
have to be put into force to deal with the lar-e numbers of beetles \\ lijeh
under these circumstances will attack the green stan-liir; trees.

(a) Careful watch to be kept for attacked standing tn They will be

recognized by small "shot holes " appearing in the hark, probably
with particles of sawdust at or near then- entrances. Such

9°°3 i •

i62 FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE

trees, if badly infested, should be cut down at about the end of
May (when they will contain larvae and pupae) and be chopped
up and burnt. To ascertain the time to fell the tree, cut out a
strip of bark and see if the sapwood contains small white grubs
or pupae. If so, this is the time to remove the tree. If it
is left longer the larvae and pupae will change into beetles, and
these will then bore their way out and leave the tree and attack
fresh ones. This careful watch should be kept up between April
and October for a year or two after the plan of immediately
removing from the forest the cut fuel and logs has been adopted.

(6) To save green sickly trees from being promiscuously attacked,
"trap" trees should be used. Suitable trees are selected in
convenient places adjacent to the areas in which fellings have
just been made, and are ringed or felled about February. The
April beetles will lay their eggs in these trees in preference to
attacking green ones. The trees should be felled in May, cut up,
and burnt. In June another set of trees should be similarly
prepared to catch the second generation of beetles, this second lot
being cut down and burnt about the end of August.

Careful watching will show whether it is necessary to repeat this treat-
ment the next year.

During my visit to Changa Manga in May 1905 I found that these
recommendations had been given effect to in some measure. The removal
of the wood was commenced soon after the felling ceased in March, the
whole of it being carried to the depot in from two to three months. The
old unsold wood in the depot was auctioned off annually.

These suggestions which were drawn up for Changa Manga apply
equally to other parts of the country, the only difference being that
the beetles appear earlier in the year and remain later, their ovipositing
months consequently being to some extent different from those of the north
of India.

Where possible, fresh-cut poles should be kept under water whilst
the chemical changes in them during the process of drying are taking
place. Or, where such treatment will not injure their utilization, they should
be soaked in crude Rangoon oil as already described for bamboos on p. 136.
So long as S. crassum was known simply as a wood-borer the damage
done by it was looked upon as affecting only the commercial value of the
tree. The discovery that it tunnels into the young green shoots of sal (and
possibly other) trees and the tops of saplings alters the position of the insect
as a pest. It becomes obvious that a first necessity is cleanliness, and that
in so far as is possible all felled material must be removed from the forest. In
sal coppice areas this should be laid down as a rule from which no deviation
is permissible, all the refuse from "tops " etc. of fellings being burnt. If an
area is seen to have the leaders of saplings and twigs badly attacked by the

FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE 163

insect a careful collection should be made of the infested parts, which
should be burnt.

A number of the parasitic and predaceous foes of this Sinoxylon and its
companion 5. anale have been discovered, and some-

PredlTeous ^"oes. thin£ of their life histories worked out. Histeridae,
Trogositidae, and Colydiidae are most commonly found
as companions and predators of these borers.

Bracon sp. — In a billet of sissu wood badly infested by S. crassum at
Changa Manga I found two Bracon cocoons in the pupating-chambers
of the Sinoxylon grubs, as shown in fig. 106. This was on 20 May. The
cocoons are papery in structure, elongate, with truncate ends. One was

M//^

FlG. 106. — Cocoons of Bracon sp. in the tunnels of Sinoxylon
crassiun in sissu wood. (The drawing is diagrammatic, the tunnels being
shortened.) Changa Manga. (E. P. S.)

empty, the fly having flown. The other had a hole eaten at one end, through
which protruded the head and thorax of a small, delicate yellowish Ichneu-
mon fly. This fly appeared to be in the act of leaving the pupal case, to
crawl up the tunnels of the grub and beetle to escape from the tree. It had,
however, died from some cause or other.

The determination of this parasitic fly has not proved possible,
grub is undoubtedly parasitic on the Sinoxylon larva.

Bracon sp. — 'Some mature flies of a species of Bracon
at present undescribed were obtained from a Terminalia
tomentosa post from Seoni, in the Central Provinces, which
was badly infested by S. crassiun.

Fly. — The mature fly is yellowish brown in colour, u Mi Ion-, ^1« inlt-i
antennae, the characteristic wing-venation of the Bracon (lies, and is
2.5 mm. in length.

/>'/•(/, ,*;/ sp. • -..

These flies were found issuing from the log by the Seoni.

holes of the S. crassiun beetle, and matured at the same

time as the beetle. It is probable that their grubs fee. I parasit KalK <>n

the S. crassum grubs.

Amongst the predaceous insects which attack Sinoxylon cras^iiin.
several species of the family Histeridae are known to prey upon the
beetle-borer.

L 2

164

FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE

Teretriosoma Stebbingi, Lewis (p. 104). — This and two other species
of the genus are commonly found in the tunnels of this Sinoxylon, and are
known to prey upon the grubs of the beetle.

The beetle is a small, compact, cylindrical, somewhat elongate
insect, pitchy-brown in colour, shining and rather densely punctured
above. The head is not hidden by the prothorax ; antennae are short
and bent, with a compact club. The elytra are closely applied to the
body, but leave the last two segments exposed. Five ventral segments
of the abdomen are visible. Length, 2§ mm.

Teretriosoma cristatum, Lewis (p. 104). — This beetle is

very similar * to the one above described. It is piceous in colour, the
thorax being more convex than the dorsal region, and the scape of the
antennae bearing long, palish hairs.

Teretriosoma intrusum, Marseul (p. 104). — The characters
of this beetle are very similar to those of the above-mentioned two species,
and for the purpose of the forester the insect will be sufficiently recognized
from the above descriptions and figure.

FIG. 108.
Teretriosoma
Stebbingi, Lewis.
Changa Manga.

I have taken these Teretriosoma very commonly in Changa Manga,
in the sissu billets tunnelled by the Sinoxylon beetles, and the last two at
least in the Central Provinces (Seoni, Mandla, and elsewhere). I have also
had T. intrusum sent to me with S. crassum and S. anale from Sukkur in
Sind, where they had been taken from the tunnels of the beetle in Prosopis
spicigera.

I have taken the larvae of these Teretriosoma in the tunnels of the
Sinoxylon beetles, but have not yet proved that they are predaceous upon
the borer-beetle larvae.

Teretrius indus, Lewis (p. 105). — This is a small histerid,
in shape, appearance, and characters not unlike the above-
described beetles. I took specimens from a Terminalia
tomentosa post obtained in Seoni. The species proved new
to science, and was described by Lewis.

Teretrius mogul, Lewis (p. 105).— In Ann. Nat. Hist. ser. 8,
viii, p. 78(1911), Lewis describes this species as follows: — "Cylindrical,
robust, black and shining, antennae and legs piceous. Wholly punctured Teretrius indus,
above, veiy similarly to Kraatzi, which Marseul calls ' sat fortiter et dense Lewis. Seoni.
punctatus.' The marginal stria of the thorax is complete behind the head ;
the prosternum, the striae gradually diverge from the base to the apex, sometimes terminating
at the suture, sometimes joining the marginal stria along the anterior rim (in one example this
variation occurs on one side and not on the other) ; the mesosternum is prominently produced,
but the marginal stria, beginning at the coxae, does not follow its contour, but is arched and
fine, and leaves rather a wide anterior margin ; all the sterna and the first abdominal segment
are finely and sparingly punctulate. The anterior tibiae are 10-12 denticulate, intermediate 7-8,
posterior 4-5 spinose. Length, 3^ to 3^ mm. The peculiar mesosternal stria is a remarkable
character which distinguishes it from all the other species I know."

* Vide footnote on p. 104. This species is the female of T. Stebbingi.

FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE

I took specimens of this Teretrius in the tunnels of S. crassum and
5. anale in sissu-trees at the Changa Manga Plantation in May 1905. The
histerids were in company with T. intrusum and T. Stebbingi, and are
predaceous upon the Sinoxylon beetles.

Other beetle predators upon 5. crassum and S. an ale are species of the
genus Bothrideres (family Colydiidae), the genera Alindria, Melambia, and
Tenebroides (family Trogositidae), and Hectarthrum (family Cucujidae).

Bothrideres andrewesi (p. 112). — The beetle is narrow, elongate, parallel, shining,
and light brown in colour above and below. The head is rather large, and protrudes
beyond the prothorax ; eyes round and fairly prominent ; antennae end in a terminal club.

Prothorax a little separated from elytra, squarish ; head and
prothorax strongly punctate above. Elytra p deeply ridged longitu-
dinally, and punctate between the striae. Legs light brown ; tarsi
four-jointed, none of joints being broad ; hind coxae are separated,
fore and middle ones close to one another ; rive visible ventral
segments. Slender, active insects ; very quick in their move-
ments.

X

FIG. 109.

Bothrideres andre-
wesi, Grouv.

Changa Manga.

Life History. — This beetle, which is predaceous,
has been taken in sissu wood at Changa Manga, in
the galleries of 5. crassum and S. anale, in a manner
similar to that in which the Tcretriosoma beetles above
described were found, and was more especially abundant
in the galleries containing numerous 5. anale larvae ; it
is not improbable that its attacks are confined to these
latter, and perhaps to their pupae.

Alindria orientalis, var. parallela, Lev. (p. 114). — An elongate, parallel, black

beetle, with the thorax smooth and shining, uniformly punctate, truncate in front, and sinuate,
constricted behind. Elytra broader than thorax at its basal part,
apices rounded, the suture gaping, prominently striate-punctate.
Length, 13 mm. to 14 mm.

Alindria orientalis, Redtenb. (p. 114). — Larger than
last, rather broader. The elytial striae broader, more prominent,
and punctate. Legs stout ; front tibiae toothed on outer edge.
Length, 14.5 mm. to 15.5 mm.

Larvae. — Two forms of larvae have been taken : (a] White,
with black head and thorax, two black spots placed transversely
on second and third thoracic sr-nuMits, and a black patch on
abdominal segment dorsally ; three pairs <>! thoracic le.^ : length,
I&in. (b] Head black, first two thoracic segments white, resl
white with a dark-coloured roundish patch on third eleventh
segments; length, ijin.

Life Histories. —-These two beetles are the com-
monest of the predaceous foes of Si>i<>.\-\-l<»i crassum
and S. anale at Changa Mam;.i in the Punjab. In
May 1905 the beetles were taken literally in hundreds in the tunnels of the
wood-borers in some large dying sissu-trees. Some of these trees were b.idly

Ki< .. i in.
Aliiuii ia ,</-/,v//,///.v, var.

/>(!/, l//,'/il, I.rv.
( "'

166 FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE

infested by the bracket-like fungus Polystictus (Polyporus) egregius, Massee, and
owed their sickly condition to this fact. The Sinoxylon beetles had attacked
them near the foot of the trunk, and had penetrated down into the base of
the root a foot or two below the surface of the soil. The Alindria beetles
taken were mostly mature, whilst the bulk of the Sinoxylon were in the pupa
or immature-beetle stage, with a few mature beetles. A few Alindria larvae

were taken, and these feed predaceously upon the
Sinoxylon grubs. I have not ascertained whether
the A lindria beetles feed upon the mature Sinoxylon
ones, but they attack the immature beetles.

Melambia sp. prox. memnonia, Pascoe (p. 115)..—
The Melambia beetles are of stouter build than the Alindria,
and easily distinguished by the anterior outer angles of the
prothorax, which is broader than long, being produced forward,
the anterior margin being sunk between them ; the elytra are
broader behind, thickset, bluntly rounded at apex, the suture
not gaping at apex ; the three terminal joints of antennae are
prominent, as in cockchafer beetles. In the species here
dealt with, the sides of the thorax are straight, slightly con-
stricted in posterior half, the posterior marginal prolonga-
Melambia sp. prox. memno-
nia Pascoe. Chan" a Man^a tlons Prominent> uniformly punctate, punctures large; elytra

punctate-striate, punctures fine. Length, 14.5 mm. to i6mm.

This insect was found preying upon the Sinoxylon beetles in tunnels in
dying sissu-trees at Changa Manga, in company with the Alindria beetles
described above. It was not found to be numerous.

Melambia crenicollis, Gnev. (p. 114). — Resembles the last in general shape,
but differs in having the sides of the prothorax rounded, the anterior marginal prolonga-
tions being smaller and the elytra much more strongly punctate-striate than in J/. sp. prox.
memnonia. Length, 12.5111111. to 13.5111111.

I have taken this beetle in the mature state in sal-trees in the Siwaliks,
(Dholkhand) towards the end of January 1901 and 1902, and in Terminalia
chebula, in Mandla, in April 1909.

Tenebroides (Trogositita) rhizophragoides, Walker (p. 115). — The beetle

is long, rather narrow, flat, with a prominent head and mandibles, and a squarish prothorax.
Elytra finely striate-punctate, dark brown in colour. Length, 8 mm.

Specimens of this beetle were bred out of a log of Terminalia tomentosa
badly infested by Sinoxylon crassum beetles. Observations showed that both
the grubs and mature beetles are predaceous upon the Sinoxylon insects.

Hectarthrum heros, Fabr. (p. 116). — The beetle is black, shining, with long,
prominent, thickly jointed antennae and prominent mandibles. The prothorax is elongate,
smooth, with a longitudinal impressed line laterally. The elytra smooth, rounded at apex,
with several longitudinal channels down them. Length, 12 mm. The heavy, knobbed
antennae, prominent head and mandibles, and the smooth, shining, black appearance of
the insect, render it easily recognizable.

FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE

167

Life History. — Hectarthrum heros is a common
beetle in the forest throughout many parts of India.
It is at times to be found swarming beneath the
bark of trees, and is evidently predaceous upon a
variety of species of insects.

In company with the Trogositita beetle above
alluded to, I bred it out, in September 1901, from
Terminalia tomentosa logs from Seoni, in the Central
Provinces, which were badly infested by S. crassum,
the beetle being evidently predaceous upon the
Sinoxylon. Towards the end of April 1909, again,
I obtained the insect from a Terminalia chebula
tree felled a short time before, which was being
tunnelled into by the Sinoxylon. In this latter case
the Hectarthrum beetles were ovipositing in the

Hectarthrum heros, Fabr. tunnels of the Sinoxylon beetles, eggs quite unlike
India and Burma. those of the bostrychid being obtained.

FIG. 112.

Sinoxylon anale, Lesne.

REFERENCES. — Lesne, Ann. Soc. Ent. Belg. xli, p. 21 (1897); Sinoxylon sp. Ind. Mus. Notes, iii, 123

(1894) ; Stebbing, Depart. Notes, i, 16 (1902).

Habitat. — Punjab, United Provinces, Central Provinces, Bombay, Bengal ;
Upper and Lower Burma.

Trees Attacked. — Terminalia belerica : Thana, Bombay (F. Gleadow) ;
Sal (Shorca robusta) : Singbhum, Chota Nagpur ; Mandla, Central Provinces,
and Dehra Dun (mihi); Sissu (Dalbergia sissoo): Changa Manga, Punjab
(B. O. Coventry etmihi) ; Phukihi (Acacia modesta) : Changa Manga (mihi) ;
Xylia dolabrifonnis and Shisham (Dalbergia latifolia) : Kanara (T. R. Bell) ;
Prosopis spicigcra : Sukkur, Sihd ; Terminalia tomentosa: Seoni (C. O. Han-
son et mihi}; Khair (Acacia catechu): submontane forests, Kumaun (mihi • :
Bamboo (Dendrocalamus strictus ?) : Mohnyin, Katha (mihi): Pterocarpw
iiiarsiipiuin : Kahna, Mandla (mihi) ; ''Jungle Woods" spp. ? : Atar;in Rivt-r.
Tenasserim (mihi); Bamboo (sp. ?) : Salween River, Tenasserim (mihi .

Beetle. —Resembles S. crassum in appearance, but is smaller and of slighter build.
It is at lirst light yellow in colour, becoming darker-coloured as its outer parts harden.

When mature it is oblong, slightly dilated behind.
Description. black, with the elytra anteriorly rufous chestnut.

more or less dusky, with antennae, palpi, and

eet testaceous, the thighs being paler in colour and the abdomen redd.sh
at the apex. Head tubcrculate on the front and pum tate. Antennae
end in a strongly fan-shaped club, the second joint of the club 1"
about six times as broad as long. Prothorax ver\ convex, culminating
in a point medianly on disk, rugose-punctate \\ith a transverse band ol
rasp-like elevations anteriorly an.l four teeth on lateral edges ol anterioi
margin; posterior portion depressed, Imeh rugose-punctate. KKua
truncate, widest apically, strongly rugose-punctate posteriorly, with two sharp
teeth on apical declivity. Length. 4 mm. to q .'. nun.

/

FIG.

Slll,<.\ Yl

Lesne.

1 13.
// anale,

( h (

168 FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE

Larva. — The larva is a little, \vhite, curved grub, with the anterior segments enlarged, and
a median dark-coloured line running down the back ; three pairs of legs are present. The
grub is active in its movements, wriggling about when disturbed. Length, when full-grown,
5* mm. to 65 mm.

Pupa. — The pupa has the ordinary white, beetle-like form, which
gradually assumes the shape of the mature insect. The head, legs, and
wings are pressed on to the under-surface.

S. anale appears to have been first discovered in the
Bombay Presidency. In February 1891
Life History. Mr. F. Gleadow, of the Indian Forest
Service, sent specimens of the beetle to

/,* the Indian Museum, with the information that it tunnelled
into the wood of Terminalia belenca. Messrs. T, R. Bell
and Andrewes, of the Forest Service, also took the insect,

FIG. 114. j.jjg jatter jn Belgaum, at light, in March and April, and
Larva and pupa of ° , .

Sinoxylon anale, beneath old bark, the former in Kanara, in the trees Kylia

Lesne. dolabriformis and the shisham (Dalbergia latifolia). Mr. Bell

observed this species boring into the bark of the above-
mentioned trees, and then mining out beneath the bark a longitudinal
gallery ; the female chooses dead trees the wood of which is not quite dry.
Mr. Bell found the male and female in the same gallery in March.

From one or more of these Bombay specimens the insect was described
by Lesne in 1897. It was in the year 1897 that I first took the insect
attacking sal logs in the Singbhum forests of Chota Nagpur. In October
1899 bostrychid beetles were reported from the Changa Manga planta-
tion by Mr. B. O. Coventry, of the Forest Service, which were determined
as S. anale during a visit I was able to pay to this area in April 1901.
Between that year and 1909 a detailed series of continuous investiga-
tions into the life history of this pest were carried out. These observations
have shown that the beetle is found commonly, although not apparently
invariably, attacking trees in company with its larger companion S. crassnm,
already dealt with, and that there are considerable points of resemblance
between the life histories of the two insects. Perhaps the most strongly
marked differences between the two are to be found in the fact that S. anale
will apparently attack wood in a drier state than will its companion ; and,
secondly, that the former appears to pass through a greater number of life-
cycles in the year, and to remain longer at work in the autumn and on
into the early winter, than does S. crassinn. This latter point in the
life history has been observed in Dehra Dun, and may be accounted for
by the fact that we know that the October or early November generation
of beetles of S. crassum tunnels into the leading shoots and twigs of
green sal saplings, a habit which has not yet been traced to 5. anale, who
appears to be a wood-eater pure and simple.

The times at which the different generations of the beetles appear on
the wing vary in different parts of the country. In North India (Changa
Manga, Dehra Dun, etc.) the beetles issue early in April. In Bombay

FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE

169

they first appear in March, or even Feb-
ruary, if the specimens sent by Mr. Glea-
dow to the Indian Museum were obtained
during that month. In Chota Nagpur I
have taken them early in March, and they
probably appear in February, as this is
certainly the case in the Central Provinces.
At Katha, in Upper Burma, I found the
insect infesting a bamboo on 20 Feb-
ruary 1905, whilst what was probably the
second generation of the year was taken
in "jungle-wood" firewood billets on the
launch Katinka, as we were running up
the Ataran River, on 15 March 1905. The
billets were used as fuel for the launch.

In Tenasserim, therefore, the beetle
will have completed a generation and a
half before the species commences to lay
the first eggs of the year in North India.
Regarding the period of rest during the
winter months, data for the various parts
of the country are still required. Accord-
ing to Mr. B. O. Coventry, the last gene-
ration of the year appears at Changa
Manga in September and October. This
observer says that the beetles appear in
September and oviposit, disappearing in
October. This would seem to show that
in the Punjab a portion of this generation
passes through the winter in the larval,
pupal, or semi-mature imago stage. In
Dehra Dun, however, I bred out beetles in
the third week of November from sissu bil-
lets brought with me from Changa Manga :
so that a portion, at least, of the Sep-
tember-laid eggs mature, and hibernate as
beetles. I discovered at Changa Manga
that these beetles hibernate in the thicker
bark of old dying or dead sissu standards.
Trees examined were pitted with h<>|,
which did not extend down into the sap-
wood, and had been made only to form a
resting-place for the beetle during the
winter. As regards the number of gene-
rations passed through during the year,

;

Ki<;. 115.- Exit and entrance

of Sin(>.\'\'/nn t >'ii«nni and

in ;i Mem of />,i//i, -r^i,i sissoo.

( 'hanjja Man;;, i Plantation, Punjab.

170 FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE

in the north of India generally, i.e. the Punjab, the Siwaliks, and sub-
montane terai areas of the United Provinces, the insect passes through
two and a half to three complete life-cycles, the first eggs being laid early
in April. The beetles from these eggs appear in May (I have taken them
in the middle of the month at Changa Manga and in the Kumaun sub-
montane forests) and in June, laying eggs which give rise to the September
(or late August) beetles. These oviposit and produce the third (or partial
third) generation, of which some beetles mature and issue in late November.

In the Central Provinces and Bombay the insect appears early in March
(or possibly late in February), and it is probable that the insect here, as also
in Upper Burma, passes through three and a half to four life-cycles in the
year, beetles appearing on the wing and ovipositing in wood in February,
early March, middle of April (I have taken them numerously on 14 April in
Mandla), July, and September. Finally, in Tenasserim there are possibly
four and a half to five generations in the year, the first beetles probably
appearing some time in January.

There is a certain amount of overlapping in the generations, owing to the
last generation hibernating partly as larvae and pupae and partly as mature
beetles. This accounts for my finding mature beetles issuing in the middle
of May at Changa Manga, whilst the rest of the generation was still in the
larval, pupal, or immature beetle stage. For example, between the I7th
and 2jrd of the month I found the following in sissu and phulahi trees :—

(a) Larvae (a few), pupae, and immature light yellowish-brown beetles
in the galleries in the wood.

(6) Mature beetles just commencing to tunnel into fresh trees or billets
to oviposit. It may be noted here that the beetle is to be found
on the wing in the daytime, flying over the bark of standing
trees or firewood stacks, or tunnelling into the one or the other.

(c) As mature beetles in the wood, well on their way to complete their
egg-galleries.

The beetles would thus appear to disregard a hot sun as well as great cold.
In the late winter of 1904-5 tremendous frosts were experienced all over the
north of India as far down as the Central Provinces. In spite of this fact, I
found the insect swarming in the Changa Manga plantations in May 1905,
it being that year, perhaps, more numerous than its companion S. crassiun.

The presence of S. an ale in a tree or in a billet or log can be easily
recognized by :

(1) The beautifully circular entrance orifice.

(2) The white sawdust powder it ejects from the orifice during its

tunnelling operations. This, if the outer surface of the bark or
wood is at all uneven, is caught up in white masses, and
inevitably betrays the presence of the beetle.

To oviposit, the beetle bores straight through the bark (or, if
absent, sapwood) until it has got down about a quarter of an inch to half an
inch into the sapwood, and then scoops out a deep pit-like gallery which

FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE

forms the pairing-chamber. This chamber may have only the one entrance-
tunnel (fig. 116, A], or there maybe two entrance-tunnels into it made by the

male and female, as shown in
figs. 1 i6,£>, and 117, A. In any
event, the male appears to
fertilize two females at least,
as two egg-tunnels are found
to leave this pairing-chamber.
These go down at an angle
from the pairing-chamber, but
are never carried into the
heart-wood, this bostrychid
being a sapwood feeder only.
The eggs are laid at intervals
in the egg-tunnel, and the
larvae, on hatching out, feed
usually in the long axis of the
tree or log. The larval gal-
leries, unlike the beetle egg-
tunnel, which is kept entirely

FIG. 1 1 6. — A, gallery of Slno.vylo>i analc in a khair
branch. B, galleries in a sissu billet ; a a, entrance-
galleries of $ and $ ; />, pairing-chamber ; c c, egg-
galleries. Kumaun and Changa Manga. (E. P. S.)

free from wood-dust and particles, are blocked with wood-dust and excreta
throughout their entire length, save for the slight enlargement of the
tunnel at the end which forms the pupal chamber. This chamber is blunt
elliptical, is free from wood-dust, and is eaten out parallel to the long
axis of the tree, as shown in fig. 117, B. On maturing, the beetle either
eats its way out through the wood and bark above it till it reaches the out-
side, or, when the wood is badly attacked, eats upwards until it cuts into an
empty egg-tunnel, up which it creeps to the outside.

From the above description it is obvious that it is quite easy to dis-
tinguish the egg-tunnels made by the beetles from the larval tunnels packed
with wood-dust and excreta. These latter are not so easily traced, how-
ever, in damp timber as in dry.

This beetle is one of the most destructive wood-borers in India.
Observations have shown that it will tunnel into and
oviposit in (i) dying trees, (2) dead trees, (3) fresh-cut
logs and firewood billets, and (4) old, dry, or even
rotting (if dry) materials.

In infesting wood materials in this manner, the beetle is somewhat
exceptional. It is more usual for these wood-borers to confine tin insrivc-
to wood in a certain stage of humidity, dryness, or decay, an<! only to
attack wood in this condition. S'. muilc does not a|>|>e ar to restrict itself in
this manner, for I have taken it in standing dying but grcrn trees in
which the flow of sap, though weak, was still making its pn sence felt, as
also in newly dead trees, in old seasoned logs, and in decaying l>illet>. The-
green healthy tree is not attacked by the beetle, and therefore it cannot be

Relations to the
Forest.

172

FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE

considered a forest pest save in exceptional cases, when, owing to the
enormous abundance of the insect in an area, it would infest and kill off
sickly trees, as in the case of the sissu standards attacked by the Polyporus
fungus at Changa Manga. In such cases, although the beetle is not a
bast-feeder in the same way as some of the Scolytidae, the abundance of
the bostrychids might result in so large a number of shot-holes being bored
through the bark into the sapwood as to further weaken and kill the tree.

Another curious fact about the beetle is that it will attack the wood of
the tree anywhere, from the thick knotty wood of the roots, the wood of
the main stem, to that of the branches.

To prove that the insect oviposits alike in fresh and in old wood, a fact
which has been demonstrated for years past in the Changa Manga Fuel
Depot, I took some freshly felled billets of sissu containing ovipositing
beetles in April, and bred from them in Dehra the May-June beetles,
These latter oviposited in the same billets, from which I obtained a genera-
tion of beetles in September. These oviposited in the sissu billets in which
their parents and grandparents had been reared, and I obtained some of
the beetles of the third generation in the third week of November, the

billets being by then very
dry, and consisting of
little more than powder.
This serves as a practical
proof of the heavy loss of
material which obtains in
a fuel depot when the
beetle is plentiful and the
material is kept in situ
for any length of time.

It has been already
indicated that the beetle
is to be often found at-
tacking wood in company
with 5. crassniii. On the
whole, so far as present

FlG. 117. — A, gallery of Sinoxylon anale in Acacia
sta. a a, entrance-tunnels ; $, pairing-chamber ;
c, one egg-gallery just commenced. 13, pupal chamber,
with immature beetle. Changa Manga. (E. P. S.)

observations go, I should think 5. anale is the commoner of the two
insects, but I make this statement subject to reconsideration after a further
study of the two pests.

In addition to the sissu (Dalbergia sissoo) and phulahi (Acacia modesta)
which it badly infests at Changa Manga, the beetle, as we have seen, infests
Terminalia chclnila. Xylia dolabnfonnis, and Dalbergia latifolia in the
Bombay Presidency, and Prosopis spicigera in Sukkur, in Sind. This wood,
as mentioned under S. crassitm, is exported to Quetta for fuel, and the
beetles have been taken in that station issuing from the fuel stacks. They
do not, however, appear to breed up at that elevation, for I did not find any
trace of their attacks in the trees.

FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE 173

In Chota Nagpur and the Central Provinces the insect is to be found
infesting sal wood, especially in the beams used in the construction of
bungalows. The insect also attacks sal in Dehra Dun, and, I think,.
Anogeissus latifolia posts, both in Dehra Dun and the submontane sal areas.
In this part of India it also tunnels into khair (Acacia catechu}, and may be
found in April-May engaged in this manner in trees felled for cutch-boiling.
In Mandla, in the Central Provinces, I have also taken the beetle from the
wood of Terminalia tomentosa and Pterocarpus marsupium.

5. anale was taken in Burma by the late Mr. G. Q. Corbett. In 1905 I
took it from bamboos (Dendrocalamus strictus ?) in the Mohnyin Forest in
Katha, from an undetermined species of bamboo on the Salween River
in Tenasserim, and from fuel billets of jungle woods on the Ataran River in-
the same locality. I have not taken the beetle in Madras, nor can I find a
report of its existing in the Presidency.

The protective and remedial measures already described for S. crass-urn-
apply equally to S. anale. It must, however, be borne in mind that this
beetle will oviposit in much drier wood. Dead standing trees, and accumu-
lations of large branches and tops, and rejected logs left lying in the forest,
or stacks of decaying firewood left standing in fuel depots, will attract this
pest, and inevitably result in its great increase in the area.

Most, and perhaps all, of the predaceous insects described under

S. crassum probably prey also upon 5. anale, since these

Predaceous Foes. • two bostrychid borers are commonly found in company

riddling wood.

In addition I add the following carabids, which may also attack
S. crassum, though I have personally only found them preying upon S. anale.

Anthia sexguttata, Fabr. (p. 95). — A large black beetle with six large conspicuous white-
spots, two on the thorax and four on the elytra. The mandibles are powerful, the thorax more-
or less heart-shaped, and the elytra broad and rounded ;
legs long and powerful. Length, 43 mm.

Life History. — This large carabid prob-
ably feeds upon a variety of insects, and
is often found high up on the trunks of trees
searching for bark insects and bark- and
wood-tunnellers. I took it at Changa Manga
towards the end of May 1905, quartering
the bark of a large semi-blown-down, still
green sissu-tree, which was being riddled by
S. anale beetles. The carabid was seizing
the beetles engaged in tunnelling into tin-
bark to get down into the s;i]>\vood. I IK-
insect was also, I think, preying upon tin-
Bothrideres, . I lindrni, and Melainhia beetles,
which were also ovipositing in company with K,,,. ,

the S. anale and preying on the latter. Anthia sexgutta

i74 FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE

Scarites bengalensis, Dej.(p. 95). — Elongate, black, with stout prominent mandibles
and striate elytra. Head broad, slopes forward, the front depressed on either side of a raised
median ridge, the depressions finely and longitudinally striated. Prothorax broader than head,
anterior margin concave, with a hue transverse depressed line just below margin ; posterior
outer angles obliquely truncate, sides straight ; disk convex, smooth, dull. Elytra strongly
striate, the striae parallel ; apices conjointly rounded, surface shining. Length, 15 mm.

Life History. — This beetle preys upon Sinoxylon anale in the sissu-tree.
I took specimens of the insect from beneath the bark of trees badly infested
by the bostrychid at the Changa Manga plantation in May 1905. The
beetle is quick in its movements.

Morio subconvexus, Chand. (p. 96).— Elongate, black, shining. Resembles the
Scarites superficially, but is broader, shorter, and more shining. Head flat, strongly impressed
dorsally, mandibles prominent. Prothorax wider than head, anterior angles sharp, sides
rounded, constricted behind ; disk moderately convex, a median longitudinal impressed line

starting in anterior third and reaching base, with two elongate depressions
above base, one on either side. Elytra broader than prothorax, striate
longitudinally ; striae broad ; sides straight, constricted apically.
Length, 14 mm.

Life History. — The beetle preys upon Sinoxylon anale
and possibly upon S. crassnm. I took specimens in com-
pany with Scarites bengalensis beneath the bark of sissu-
trees at Changa Manga.

FlG- U9- Sinoxylon atratum, Lesne.

Morio siibcon-

»«»J, Chand. Habitat.— Kumaun, North India; Thana, Bombay.

Changa Manga. J

Trees Attacked. — Anogeissus latifolia : Horai, Ku-
maun ; Acacia catechu: Thana (G. M. Ryan).

Beetle. — Very small, elongate, cylindrical. Black, moderately shining. Head finely rugose-
punctate. Prothorax convex, transversely ridged medianly, dropping away behind, where it is

finely rugose-punctate ; anterior part coarsely rugose and rasp-like,

Description. the prominences largest laterally and on highest portion of ridge ;

four teeth, the inner three large and prominent, placed on either side

laterally of anterior margin. Elytra widest apically, uniformly rugose-punctate ; punctures
largest near suture ; latter thickened and produced into two small sharp triangular teeth in
•upper part of declivity. Length, 3.6 to 4 mm.

In January 1902 Mr. G. M. Ryan, of the Indian Forest Service, for-
warded to me some specimens of this insect from Thana,

Life History. Bombay, where he had found them tunnelling into
branches of Acacia catechu. About the middle of April

1905 and middle of May 1908 I took the beetle tunnelling into cut poles and
felled logs of Anogeissus latifolia in the Horai sal forest in the Terai of
Kumaun. This insect was most abundant in April, which is apparently the
month in which it makes its first appearance of the year and lays the eggs
of the first generation. In May the beetles taken were mostly deep down
in the wood at the end of longish galleries which, after entrance into

FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE i75

the sapwood more or less horizontally, turned away at an acute angle as
they proceeded deeper into the wood. Only quite small grubs were found
near the bottom of the female tunnels. The egg-tunnels go deep down into
small poles, and in some cases observed the poles were seriously weakened
by the attacks of the beetles.

Sinoxylon indicum, Lesne.
Habitat.— North Coimbatore, Madras.
Tree Attacked. — -Anogeissus latifolia. Lokanhalle, North Coimbatore.

Beetle. — Small, elongate, cylindrical, dark red-brown, shining. Head
black, rugose-punctate. Prothorax very convex, raised into a transverse

ridge medianly, the anterior portion coarsely

Description. rasp-like, with four teeth on either side of anterior

margin, the innermost ones the largest; posterior

part finely rugose-punctate. Elytra scarcely widened apically, rugose-
punctate, the rugosities coarser in apical portion ; declivity rugose-punc-
tate, with two sharp teeth placed centrally one on each side of suture,
the outer edges of declivity raised and broadly toothed. Length, pIG ~"j~.,

5.5 to 6 mm. Sinoxylon indicum,

Lesne. Madras.
i his insect oviposits in fairly fresh Anogeissus latifolia

wood. I found the beetle riddling the posts supporting
Life History. the roof of the veranda of the bungalow at Lokanhalle
in North Coimbatore in August 1902. These posts con-
sisted of Anogeissus latifolia poles cut and placed in position when the
bungalow had been repaired a short time previously, the wood consequently
being quite green. The insect was hard at work on the loth and nth of the
month, engaged in laying its eggs in the wood. On the external surface of
the posts round holes were visible, many having small masses of fresh wood-
powder at their entrances. The beetle tunnels in horizontally for a distance
varying from half an inch to an inch, and then turns to the right or
left and eats out a tunnel which curves round the stem, running in a more
<>r less horizontal direction. Near the bottom of this tunnel the eggs are
laid. I have not taken the irrubs of the insect.

Sinoxylon conigerum, Gerst.

REFERENCE.— Gerst. .M. licrl. Ac mi. p. -'<>s 11X55).

Habitat. — Tinnevelly, Madras.
Tree Attacked. Al/n-.'.iii auuira. Tmm:\vlly.
Beetle.— Short, squat, and stout, easily distinguished in>m ntrntum by its much bra

and squat appearance. Black, slightly reddish, moderately sinning. l'roil>or.,\ convex, i

on disk ; posterior portion line-Is rugose; anterioi rugosi pun uie, tin-
Description, rugosities coarsest ;mt<Tiorly .md lateral!) : i"nr lateral teeth on
anterior margin, the inner tlin-c l.ti-e. ->li.irp. and more or less i .1 ennui

size. Elytra one-third as Ion- again as prothorax, slightly widest apically ; rugose-punctate,

176 FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE

the punctures strongest apically, a short raised longitudinal stria on either side of suture in
basal half ; the two teeth on elytral declivity stout, pointed, placed at a distance from suture
in upper portion of declivity and inclined outwards. Length, 3.5 mm.

This insect was reported in 1908 by the District Forest Officer
of Tinnevelly, Madras, as tunnelling into the wood of Albizzia amara in

July-

Sinoxylorv sudanicum, Lesne.

Habitat. — Saharanpur District, North India ; Vellore, Madras Presidency.
Trees Attacked.— Dhak (Butea frondosa): Bicharigahr, Saharanpur:
Casuarina (Casuarina equisetifolia) : Vellore.

Beetle. — Very small. Black, elytra reddish brown ; under-surface clothed with a fine
long silvery silky pubescence. Prothorax convex, the anterior half rasp-like, the anterior

margin with four lateral teeth on either side, the innermost the

Description. smallest ; posterior half finely rugose, with a sparse fine yellow

pubescence laterally. Elytra rugose-punctate, denser near declivity,

latter with two small sharp teeth placed fairly close together in upper half. Length, 3 mm. to
3.4 mm.

This insect was sent to me from Vellore in Madras in company with

other pests of the casuarina. The beetle apparently

Life History. tunnels into the wood to oviposit. Whether it damages

living trees is yet unknown. I cut out some specimens

of the insect from the wood of Butca frondosa in November 1908 in the
Saharanpur District. The beetles were mature in the pupating-chambers.

Sinoxylon tignarium, Lesne.

REFERENCE. — De Niceville, Ind. Mus. Notes, v (113).

Habitat. — Darjeeling District.

Tree Attacked. — Mallotus roxburghianus. Darjeeling District (C. G.
Rogers;.

Beetle. — Short, dark red-brown. Prothorax convex, anterior portion rugose-punctate,
denser on sides, the anterior margin with three lateral teeth of more or less equal size,

posterior portion finely rugose. Elytra finely rugose-punctate, denser
Description. near declivity, latter with the two teeth placed rather close together

on either side of suture. Length, 4 mm.

Specimens of this Sinoxylon were bred out at the Indian Museum from
branches of Mallotus roxburghianus, sent there in April
Life History. 1900 by Mr. C. G. Rogers, at the time Deputy Conser-
vator of Forests of the Darjeeling District. Specimens

of the infested branches were also sent to me for the collection of forest
pests I was getting together that year for the Paris Exhibition. The
specimens of the beetle I bred out were submitted to M. Lesne, who
notes them as a new species of Sinoxylon. Specimens of the beetles
bred out at the Indian Museum were sent to Dr. L. O. Howard in

FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE

177

America, who said that the insect figured at the top of page 123 of
vol. iii of Indian Museum Notes as infesting Terminalia belerica was the
same species. This insect had been sent by Mr. F. Gleadow, of the
Indian Forest Service, as tunnelling into the wood of Terminalia belerica. I
consider it improbable that the two insects are identical, and in this opinion
M. Lesne is in accord with me. He apparently had never seen the Dar-
jeeling species before, for he writes (concerning my specimens): " II y a
parmi ces insectes une forme embarrassante et dont on ne peut guere parler
avant d'avoir des materiaux plus satisfaisants." * Mr. Gleadow's insects are,
I think, Sinoxylon an ale.

The specimens bred out at the Indian Museum in 1900, and recorded by
de Niceville in vol. v, p. 113, as sent to America, do not appear to have
reached M. Lesne.

LYCTUS.

Lyctus spinifrons, Lesne.

REFERENCE. — Bull. Soc. Ent. Fr. 303 (1910).

Habitat. — Seoni, Central Provinces.

Tree Attacked. — Terminalia tomentosa. Seoni.

Beetle. — Elongate, parallel ; ferruginous, testaceous. Dorsal
pubescence very fine and dense. Front of head punctate, the

punctures containing fine hairs, furnished
Description. with teeth. Antenna with joints three to

six of funiculus thin, elongated ; seven

to nine gradually widening ; joints of club broader. Prothorax
widest in front, where it is slightly wider than elytra ; anterior
angles toothed, posterior angles very sharp ; strongly convex
anteriorly, with a median longitudinal line in posterior half ; disk
punctate. Scutellum shining. Elytra very finely punctate. Abdo-
men very finely pubescent. Length, 2.3 to 3.2 mm.

I took specimens of this insect in September

1901 from galleries in the wood

Life History. of a Termintilia tomentosa post.

The post, a section of which is

shown in pi. x, was badly infested by Sinoxylon

•crassum and this Lyctus and a number of predaceous foes already described.
The insect proved to be new to science, undescribed specimens being
present in the Collection A. Grouvelle in the Pans Museum. These had
•come from Calcutta.

Lyctus sp.

Specimens of a species of Lyctns which may l>c identical with the above
were taken from bamboos (Dcmlrocalamn* strictus} in K.iipur (Central
Provinces) in June and in the Siwaliks in Si-|>trml>i:r 1901.

* In a subsequent communication M. Lesne informed me that he had identified the ins. a
as .5". tignaritim. — E. P. S.

9003 M

FIG. 121.

178 FAMILY PTINIDAE

Family PTINIDAE.

This is a family of small beetles, usually cylindrical in shape, which
chiefly requires notice here owing to the powers exhibited by some of the
members of drilling into hard seasoned timber, the pin-holes in furniture in
Europe being due to the so-called Death Watch, a species of Anobium.

In the beetle the tarsi are five-jointed, the first joint not smaller than
the second, as in the Bostrychidae. The head can be
Beetle. drawn in under the prothorax, which is at times hood-

like, the antennae being slightly clubbed at the top in
some species. In colour the insects are dull, chiefly brown or black, although
the small Gibbium of the teak is bright red-brown.

The larva rather resembles the lamellicorn grub (see fig. 46), the last

segments of the body being curved, although they are

Larva. not so bag-like as in lamellicorns, and less strongly

corrugated ; the head is small, with a two-jointed

antenna, and there are three pairs of thoracic legs.

The larva often spins a cocoon at the end of its tunnel, in which it
pupates.

The grubs of this family feed on a variety of substances, but only
those tunnelling into wood are considered here. Other species riddle
books, tobacco (e.g., the common cheroot-borer, Lasioderma testacea, Duft.),
and dried vegetable materials. The importance of the insects to the forester
lies in the fact that some species are serious pests to seasoned timber after
its conversion ; in this respect the insects also occur as pests in wood
museums.

The family is divided into sub-families or divisions :—

1. Ptinides, in which the antennae are inserted in the forehead.

2. Anobiides, the antennae being placed at the anterior margin of the

eyes.

It will be unnecessary here to treat of the insects of these sub-families in
detail.

PTINIDES.
Ptinus fur, Linn.

This is a small insect of world-wide distribution, which proves one of
the commonest of museum pests.

Gibbium scotias, Fabr.

A small wingless insect, very convex above, with joined elytra, brown
in colour, shining; one-fifth of an inch in length. It is a common house-
hold pest, also widely distributed in the world.

Gibbium sp.

I have taken a small bright red-brown and shining species of Gibbium
beneath the bark of dead sound teak-trees in Madras, but am unable to
say whether it does any damage to the timber.

FAMILY PTINIDAE

179

ANOBIIDES.
Anobium (Litropeda) paniceum, Linn.

This is a small, dull-coloured, oval-shaped beetle, about one-fifth of
an inch in length, which is widely distributed throughout the world, and
drills the pin-holes in seasoned wood which are so commonly seen in old
furniture in Europe. Both the beetle and its larva tunnel in the wood.
The small insect which eats out elongate ramifying tunnels in books in the
library in India is this Anobium.

Trypopithys luteopilosus, Pu. var.
Habitat.— Dehra Dun.

Beetle. — The beetle is elongate, brown in colour, covered
with a velvety brown short pubescence arranged in longi-
tudinal lines on the elytra. Head
Description. shining, punctate, the mouth with a

yellowish-brown brush of hair. It

is hidden beneath the hooded prothorax. The latter is
convex on the disk, with an elevate, short, longitudinal
median ridge basally flanked by a depression on each
side ; the sides rounded in front. Elytra broader than
thorax, constricted apically, striate, the striae set with
short tufts of velvety pubescence. Under-surface darker-
coloured, smooth. Length, 6 mm.

I took a specimen of this insect at Dehra
Dun on 21 July 1909. The
Life History. insect fell from the struc-
ture of a thatched roof

consisting of sal beams, poles, and bamboos.
It is probable that the grubs tunnel into one
or other of these materials.

FIG. 122.

Trypopithys li/t< •< >pil<js us.
var. I >rhtu I HIM.

\:

( i8o )

CHAPTER X.

POLYMORPHA (continued}— MALACODERMATA.

THIS is a large group, containing an assemblage of insects difficult of
definition. The only families here considered are the Malacodermidae,
Cleridae, and Lymexylonidae.

Family MALACODERMIDAE.

The general form of malacoderm beetles will be known to many,
owing to the fact that the family includes the common so-called firefly
(Luciola) of the tropics and sub-tropical regions. It contains numerous
forest forms, but their life histories and habits require further close investi-
gation before their exact importance can be determined.

The beetles are easily recognized, owing to the fact that the outer
covering of the insect is soft, instead of being hard as
Beetle. in most Coleoptera, the elytra having a leathery con-

sistency and usually fitting but loosely together, the

insect being elongate and flat in shape, and often dull yellow or brown in
colour, although red appears in the family. The head, which is usually
hidden beneath the prothorax, bears pectinate antennae (the articulations
sometimes modified), the tarsi are five-jointed, and six to eight ventral
segments of the abdomen are visible.

In some instances the females are wingless and have the appearance of
broad, flat larvae, or the shape of the beetle with short, ill-developed wings.

Little appears to be known about the larvae of this family. Members of

the division or sub-family Lampyrinae are luminous in

Larva. some cases. The large, flat, leaf-like larva to be found

in the Himalaya, furnished with a small arc lamp at one

end of its body, must be known to most foresters serving in that part of India.
These larvae are excellently described by Lefroy in Indian Insect Life
(pp. 321-322). The so-called "fireflies" seen flitting about amongst trees
and shrubs and low jungle, more especially during the monsoon months,
are species of Lycinae, by name Diaphanes marginella, Ho., Luciola gorhami,
Kits., and L. ovalis, Ho.

The forest species of this family in some cases feed on the leaves of
trees, and perhaps also on the flowers, whilst others are predaceous, and

FAMILY MALACODERMIDAE 181

more especially in the larval stages. Malacoderms are commonly found
on the wing during the day, or resting on the under-surfaces of leaves,
etc. Other species will be found crawling or running about over the forest
floor beneath the trees. I have taken specimens of the genus Plateros ovi-
positing on teak in the Central Provinces, and committing a certain amount
of defoliation by feeding on the parenchyma of the leaf, both in the Central
Provinces and in Madras. Other members of the family have been taken
between the bark and sapwood of trees. So far, however, investigations
do not show that the family is of great importance in the forest.

The family is a large one, and consists of a number of sub-families,

the Lycinae, Lampyrinae, Telephorinae, Drilinae, and

Classification. Melyrinae. Its importance in the forest does not

justify or necessitate further details on the classification.

The species noted as of interest are briefly dealt with below. The

genus Plateros belongs to the sub-family Lycinae.

PLATEROS.
Plateros dispallens, Wlk.

Habitat. — Central Provinces.

Tree Attacked. — Teak (Tectona grandis). Damoh, Central Provinces.

Beetle. — Head and prothorax shining black. Prothorax entirely covers the head, wider
than long, with a deep sinus running round its edge. Antennae longish, serrate, and shining

black, as also are legs ; elytra soft, leathery, not meeting rigidly at

Description. the suture ; rounded at ends. Anterior half of elytra orange-yellow,

posterior portion black. Under-surface of insect shining black.

Male resembles female in coloration, but latter is slightly larger. Length, k in., when fresh.
Fig. 123 shows the male and female of Plateros sp., to which this one is very sinul.u in
appearance.

Egg. — Dirty pale yellow in colour and elliptical in shape. Very small.

The insect is to be found on the wing in the middle of August, about

which time it pairs. The eggs appear t<> !»• hid \c-iy

Life History. soon after pairing, as insects kept under observation l.nd

within twenty-four hours of coupling. I he i-j^s are

laid in batches of irregular shape, from thirty to thirty-live being deponed

close together in a batch, probably usually upon the te.ik t \\igs in the

forest, or round and on the buds. The 1'liitcros defoliate'- tin- te.d<- trees

tc some extent in August, eating patches out of the parenehyma «.f th<'

upper surface of teak-leaves. As a result, the lower untouched portion of

the leaf dies and turns brown.

l82

FAMILY MALACODERMIDAE

Plateros sp.

REFERENCE. — This species has not yet been identified.

Habitat. — Central Provinces.

Tree Attacked.— Teak (Tectona grandis}. Damoh, Central Provinces.

Beetle.— This beetle differs from

P. dispallens in both size and coloration.

General colour

Description. is a reddish-

orange beneath,

and a russet-brown on head and thorax

dorsally. Anterior two-thirds (basal por-
tion) of the elytra, which resemble in

consistency and formation those of its

smaller companion, russet-brown in

colour, the posterior third being black at

tips, shading off anteriorly into the

lusset-brown colour. Legs black, tinged

with russet-brown. Antennae longish,

serrate, black. Two segments of the body

project beyond the elytra. Male smaller

than female.

Length of male J in., of female i in.

(measurements of fresh specimens).

Egg. — Pure white in colour and egg-shaped, resembling a miniature hen's-egg. Slightly
larger than that of P. dispallens.

Specimens of this insect were taken on teak-leaves in the teak forests

of Damoh in August, in company with P. dispallens.

Life History. The insects were also pairing and ovipositing, the eggs

being laid in irregular patches of thirty-five to forty in

each. The life history would appear to be similar to that of dispallens.

The beetles readily take flight on being disturbed.

FlG. 123. — Plateros sp. $ and $ beetle.
Damoh, Central Provinces.

Plateros sp.

REFERENCE. — This species has not yet been identified.

Habitat. — South Coimbatore, Madras.

Tree Attacked. — Teak (Tectona grandis}. Mount Stewart, South Coim-
batore.

Beetle. — Elongate, shining golden-yellow ; apical third of elytra black. Eyes black,
prominent, not very large ; antennae eleven-jointed, first four joints yellow, rest black, serrate ;
legs golden-yellow. Abdomen canary-yellow beneath. Length, \ in. to J in.

FAMILY MALACODERMIDAE 183

I took specimens of this insect in the teak forests at Mount Stewart,

in Coimbatore, towards the end of July 1902. The

Life History. beetles were slightly defoliating the trees in a manner

similar to that of the species of Plateros I had taken the

previous year in Damoh in the Central Provinces. The insects obtained had

not yet commenced to oviposit, though they were pairing on the trees.

Other species of malacoderms have been taken defoliating teak in this
manner in Madras, and the leaves of the Kharshu oak (Quercus semicarpi-
folia] at Deota, in Tehri Garhwal (in June 1902).

ANTHOCOMUS.
Anthocomus ? sp.

Habitat. — Sal ween River, Tenasserim.

Habits. — I took this small bright-coloured melyrid on a launch off
Kowloon Island, in the Salween River, on 9 March 1905. The beetle is very
active, and runs rapidly.

I kept the insect in a tube for some days, and placed in with it a Xyleborns
noxius, Sampson, beetle (p. 600) and several other small beetles belonging to
other genera and families. The melyrid attacked and devoured the Xyleborus,
leaving only the wings and outer shell of the meso- and metathorax. In
fact the scolytid was eaten in an exactly similar manner to that in which
Thanasimus hiinalayensis consumes bark beetles in the Western Himalaya.

Anthocomus ? sp.
Habitat. — Changa Manga, Punjab.

Trees Infested.— Sissu (Dalbergia sissoo), Mulberry (Morns alba}.
Changa Manga Plantation, near Lahore.

Beetle. — Small, shining. Head black. Prothorax red-brown, the disk black. Elytra
black or reddish black with a large yellow spot on basal portion, occupying an area from the

lateral margin to near suture and a transverse
Description. stripe running from suture to near lateral margin

in apical fourth. Head finely punctate. Pro-
thorax smooth and glabrous, widest anteriorly, depressed behind. Elytra
duller and uniformly punctate ; broader than prothorax behind, widest at
level of posterior coxae, thence gradually constricting ; apices separaU-ly
rounded and depressed. Under-surface dull black, punctate. Length,
4 mm. to 5 mm.

I found this small insect in some numbers crawling

on and flying over the young coppice

Life History. areas of sissu and mulberry at the

Changa Manga Plantation. The beetle \

kept for the most part on the young growth near the FIG. 124.

soil, and was noticed in some abundance between 18 and Anthocomu sp.
., . . . < banga Manga.

22 May 1905. I was unable to determine with any cer-
tainty either what it was feeding upon or where the i-ggs were laid,
may be predaceous upon the Sinoxylon wood-borers.

1 84 FAMILY CLERIDAE

Family CLERIDAE.

This family of beetles must be looked upon as a most important one to
the forester, since it contains members which are predaceous upon some of
the worst of tree-pests, such as the bostrychid borers of bamboos and the
numerous scolytid bark- and wood-borers of coniferous and broad-leaved
trees. The clerid beetles in question are predatory in both the larval and
beetle stage, the beetle in some cases following its prey into the interior of
the tree, in others seeking it outside.

The clerid beetle has a superficial resemblance to a cerambyx or longi-
corn beetle, the head and prothorax being prominent
Beetle. and narrower than the elytra, the latter having well-

marked "shoulders." The antennae are fairly long, with

a knob at the end, and the legs moderately long and developed for quick
movement in the predaceous forms. The beetles are often brightly coloured,
resembling buprestid beetles in this, metallic blues and reds appearing,
or, as commonly in some predaceous forms, the elytra are banded with
bright bands or spots and patches of red, yellow, black, white, etc. The
largest of the forest predaceous forms known is about three-quarters of an
inch in length.

The grub is elongate, white or pinkish-red in colour in the case of

predaceous forms ; the head is large, the prothoracic

Larva. segment of less breadth than the head, and hard and

chitinous dorsally, the following segments broader than

prothoracic, and increasing in size to the middle and then decreasing to the

last, which is constricted abruptly and terminates in two small hooks,

probably used in moving about in the tunnels of its prey.

The only clerid pupa I have seen I bred from the grub of the clerid

beetle. This pupa was elongate, narrow, with a

Pupa. curious resemblance to -the longicorn pupa, the head

being vertical as in the lamiid longicorns, white to

pinkish-white in colour, the wings and legs pressed against the chest and
the antennae on the sides, all these parts white and translucent ; rest of
pupa a deep reddish-pink, slightly lighter-coloured below; the abdominal
segments, eight in number, being broadest medianly and constricted sharply
behind, the small spiracles distinctly visible on the sides ; the last abdominal
segment ends in two minute white processes (see fig. 125).

I am concerned here with the forest predaceous clerids only, but it
should be mentioned that some forms of the family are scavengers, whilst
others live in the nests of bees, etc.

In the forms here dealt with, the eggs of the beetle are laid by her
either in the orifice of the entrance-hole of the bark- or wood-borer or

FAMILY CLERIDAE 185

in a crevice of the bark close by, or she herself enters the tunnel of her prey
and deposits the eggs in the egg-gallery of the host.

In the case of the Himalayan Thanasimus which preys upon a number
of the coniferous Scolytidae, the eggs are laid- in crevices of the bark near
the entrance-holes of the bark-borers, since the clerid beetle is far too large
to enter the tunnel herself. With the bamboo shot-borer beetle things are
different. A small species of clerid (Till us notatus) preys upon the bamboo
Dinoderus, as we have seen (p. 139), and in this case the clerid has
the same cylindrical build as the bostrychid beetle, and enters the egg-
tunnels of the latter in the wood and oviposits there.

The discovery in 1901 of the Himalayan Thanasimus was of considerable
interest and importance, since this insect, as is shown in the chapter on
Scolytidae (p. 508), occupies a position in the Himalayan coniferous forests
exactly analogous to the place occupied by Clenis formicarius, the well-known
scolytid predator of the European coniferous forests. The Himalayan insect
is larger than its European confrere and, if anything, even more carnivorous,
the number of beetles devoured by a female of the Himalayan species being
extraordinarily large.

I have collected a number of other predaceous clerids throughout the
forests of the country, and a study of this important family, or the
predator portion of it, in the forest, is eminently desirable. I have not
as yet been able to determine the insect or insects preyed upon by my
captures in each case. There is a species of Tillicera, however, some-
what resembling the Himalayan Thanasimus, which preys upon the Assam
sal bark-borer Sphaerotrypes assamensis (p. 486), and throughout the country
there are doubtless others of equal economic importance.

I lay stress upon the fact that it is desirable that forest officials should
have an acquaintance with the more important of the useful predaceous
insects, because, in the absence of such knowledge, a campaign of destruction
may be carried on against the very insects which it should be the forester's
aim, as far as possible, to protect. I remember that on one occasion, up in
the Western Himalaya, two forest guards, with a zeal more commendable
than the knowledge displayed, brought me a hundred or more dead examples
of the valuable Himalayan Thanasimus above mentioned. These, they
were of opinion, were the insects which were responsible for the
condition of some young deodar poles badly infested by Scolytus. The gaudy-
coloured clerid, flitting about and running over the stems of tin- trees, was
easily visible, and marked down as the author of the destruction, whilst
the inconspicuous black-coated Scolytus beetle, although present in lai
numbers, escaped detection.

It did not require very much teaching on my part during the next to-
days to convert those two forest guards into experts so far as a km>\vl<
of the deodar insect foes and friends present at the period was concerned,
and a visit a year or so afterwards showed that they had not forgotten the
knowledge thus acquired.

186 FAMILY CLERIDAE

The following predaceous members of the family have been under
investigation.

TILLUS.
Tillus notatus, Klug.

REFERENCE. — Klug. Man. Abhandl. Berl. Acad. p. 276 (1842).

Habitat. — Bengal and United Provinces.

Habits. — -The beetle enters the tunnels of the bostrychid bamboo-borers
Dinoderus minutus and D. pilifrons, and feeds upon their larvae. In May
1903, at the Indian Museum in Calcutta, I fed the beetles on the grubs of
D. minutus, which they devoured in numbers. The investigations and
observations made that year did not show that the clerid beetles feed upon
the bostrychid imagos, although the clerid grubs feed upon those of the
beetle borer (see p. 139 and pi. ix). I have also taken the insect in the
tunnels of Dinoderos pilifrons in bamboos in Northern India, where it was
engaged in feeding upon the larvae of the bamboo-boring beetle (see p. 133).

Tillus ? sp.

Habitat, — Goalpara, Assam.

Habits. — I took a specimen of this small insect on the grass-reed walls
of one of the forest rest-houses in Goalpara, in Assam. The insect is
possibly predaceous upon the Dinoderus beetles which infest the walls
and roofs of these bungalows.

THANASIMUS.

A species in this genus takes the place in the Himalayan coniferous
forests of the Clerus formicarius well known to German forest officers.

Thanasimus himalayensis, Stebbing.

REFERENCES. — Stebbing, Jour. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, Ixxii, pt. ii,p. 105(1903); Depart. Notes, i, p. 213.

Habitat.— North-West Himalaya.

Habits. — Predaceous in both larval and beetle stages on the following
scolytid and platypid bark- and wood-borers in the Western Himalaya
(vide p. 508, etc.) :-

Scolytidae.

Bark-borers : Polygraphus major, Stebbing ; Polygraphus pint, Steb-
bing ; Tomicus ribbentropi, Stebbing ; To mi cm Ion gi folia, Stebbing ;
Pityogenes coniferae, Stebbing ; Scolytus major, Stebbing ; Scolytns minor,
Stebbing.

Wood-borers : Rhyncholus himalayensis, Stebbing (Cossininae) ; Hylastes
himalayensis, Stebbing.

Platypidae.

Wood-borers : Crossotarsus coniferae, Stebbing ; Crossotarsus fairmairei,
Chap. ; Platypus biformis, Chap. ; Diapus impressus, Jans.

FAMILY CLERIDAE 187

Tillicera assamensis, Stebbing.

REFERENCE. — Stebbing (Thanasimus), Some Assam Sal Insect Pests, Ind. For. Bull. no. 11, p. 307 (1908).

Habitat. — Goalpara, Assam.

Habits. — The beetle is predaceous in both larval and imago stages on
the scolytid sal-tree bark-borer Sphaerotrypes assamensis (p. 486).

CLERUS.
Clerus ? sp.

Habitat, — North-West Himalaya.
Tree Infested. — Spruce (Picea morinda). Deota, Tehri Garhwal.

Beetle.— Head and prothorax dark brown, covered with yellowish hairs ; prothorax closely
punctured. Elytra three times length of head and prothorax, light yellowish brown in colour ;

a dark brown transverse patch on the apical half reaching to lateral

Description. edges, a triangular brown patch on basal area not reaching to sides,

above this a narrow transverse band placed diagonally, reaching from

edge to suture, the latter part nearest the apex ; a large dark-brown patch covering most of
the apical half of elytra, but not reaching to apices ; this patch reaches the sides, and
thins out along suture in direction of the base. Antennae dark brown. Legs long and
light yellow. (Insect described from a beetle reared from a larva by myself.)

Larva.— Pink in colour, tapering at both ends and broadest in middle, the last segment
ending in two small processes. Mandibles well developed. Under-surface yellowish pink,
lighter in colour than upper. Length, 12. 5 mm.
(Described from a full-grown larva, which pupated
shortly afterwards.)

Pupa. — Free in pupal-chamber. Head white

to pinkish white, vertical ; mouth parts, legs, and gf |y /

antennae all distinct, the two latter pressed
against sides and chest, free, white to pale trans-
lucent. Prothorax pinkish white. Rest of pupa pIG ,35. — (7<v//.f ? sp. Larva, pupa.
a deep reddish pink, slightly lighter - coloured and beetle bred from Spruce. North-
beneath ; abdominal segments visible eight, with West Himalaya. (E. P.
spiracles placed laterally, the last segment ending

in two minute white processes. Abdomen scalloped laterally on sides.
The larva pupated on 15 June. On the i6th the wings had already made their appearance,
short, membranous, colourless, and pressed close to sides.

Immature Beetle.— On 2 July following the pupa assumed the beetle form,
was now uniform in colour, a pale yellowish pink ; eyes prominent, black ; punctures on elytra
visible; the legs and antennae free and functional, although still \\i-ak.
on 6 July.

I have described above the changes \vhuh take place in the development

of this clerid beetle, from the full-grown larval condition

Life History. to that of the mature beetle. These were observed

by myself during a tour made in Jaunsar and Tehi i

Garhwal between May and July 1902.

I cut the larva from the thick bark near the base of a las
girdled dead spruce, which had been, or was at the time, infested bv various

1 88 FAMILY CLERIDAE

scolytid (Tumicus, Polygraphns) and platypid bark- and wood-borers, and by
the wood-wasp Sirex imperial! s and its parasitic ichneumon Rhyssa ' persuasori a.

The larva is undoubtedly predaceous, and devours the scolytid grubs
and also the far larger ones of the Sirex. The grub is very alert and active.
I found one on a Sirex grub, it having penetrated down the long excreta-
packed tunnel to get to it. I took another from a small elongate pupating-
chamber which it had hollowed out of the thick dry bark of the tree,
here about one and a half inches in thickness. The bark-dust eaten out
was quite fresh, and the chamber had obviously been just completed, the
larva being still active.

I cut out a square of bark containing this pupating-chamber and kept
the larva under observation. The grub was discovered on 14 June 1902. It
pupated late on the I5th, the pupa being quiescent and motionless. On
i July following the pupa had begun to assume the beetle form, this change
being completed by the 2nd. From this date to 6 July the colour of the
insect gradually darkened, the outer integument hardening until, by the
evening of the 6th, the beetle was fully developed.

TENERUS.
Tenerus praeustus, Castn. var.

Habitat. — Sal ween River, Tenasserim.

Tree Attacked. — Teak (Tectona grandis). Wutgyi, Salween River.

Beetle. — Elongate, narrow. Head and antennae black, upper joints of latter yellow ;
prothorax shining canary-yellow or orange-yellow ; elytra dull chrome-yellow, the apices

black ; dorsal surface covered with pubescence ; pygidium bright

Description. yellow, as also the under-surface ; legs yellow, tibiae and tarsi black.

Prothorax finely punctate, sides rounded, covered with elongate spiny

hairs. Elytra slightly constricted apically, finely rugose-punctate, covered with a short
pubescence ; apices separately rounded. Length, 9 to 14 mm.

I took a specimen of this small beetle beneath the bark of a freshly
felled green teak-tree, in a tounggya clearing at Wutgyi,

Life History. on the Salween River, in the first week of March 1905.
The beetle was mature, the pupal stage having been
passed in the tree. I have no further information on its habits.

TARSOSTENUS.
Tarsostenus univittatus, Rossi.

REFERENCE. — Rossi. Fn. Et. Mant. i, p. 44.

Habitat— North India.

Habits. — I took a specimen of this insect in my office at Dehra Dun. It
fell from the thatched roof, which consisted of sal beams and a bamboo
superstructure, the former badly infested with the Sinoxylon wood-borers
S. crassitm and 5. anale, and the latter by the bamboo-borer Dinoderus
pilifrons. It is possible that this beetle was predaceous upon the latter
insect (see p. 132).

FAMILY LYMEXYLONIDAE 189

Family LYMEXYLONIDAE.

The mature beetles of this family are elongate and cylindrical, re-
sembling malacodermid beetles, with short serrate antennae and five-jointed
tarsi, the first and fifth joints of which are long.

The larvae are very elongate and cylindrical, almost worm-like in
appearance, and white in colour, and tunnel in dead wood.

The family is of doubtful importance in the forest at present. Some
years ago at Dehra Dun a log of wood which we considered to be Ano-
geissus latifolia was submitted to me by Mr. A. M. Caccia, M.V.O., of the
Indian Forest Service. This log was riddled with the circular tunnels of
lymexylonid larvae, the grubs being present in large numbers. Unfortu-
nately, during a prolonged absence of several months on tour, an accident
happened to the log and I secured no beetles from it, and I was thus
unable to procure the identification of the species.

Both in Assam and Burma I have found lymexylonid grubs in the
wood of various dead trees, but I have never as yet bred beetles from them.

FIG. 126. — Catoxantha bicolor, Fabr. Burma and Assam.

CHAPTER XI.
POLYMORPHA (continued}— Family BUPRESTIDAE.

THE Buprestidae, or buprestid beetles, are well known, owing to the
brilliant metallic colouring of many of the members of the family. This
brilliancy is not merely to be found on the elytra, but often extends to the
whole of the insect both dorsally and ventrally, greens, blues, reds, purple,
copper, and yellows being found, the shades being light or dull to black.
In India the brilliant outer wing-cases have a peculiar fascination for a
people naturally addicted to bright colours, and they are used in adorning
various articles of apparel, and even employed as caste marks in the south.
The beetles are nearly always covered, when alive, with a white, yellow-
ochreous, or reddish
purulence, often mis-
taken for the pollen
of flowers, and this
is sometimes retained
by a pubescence
which may entirely
clothe the insect or be placed in thick patches in depressions and foveae.

The beetles vary in size, the length averaging from i mm. to 70 mm.

The shape is usually what is known as torpedo-shape,

Beetle. varying from ovoid elongate to navicular, pentagonal, or

sub-triangular, the greatest width being usually at the

shoulder, whilst they are constricted behind, the elytral apices being often

spined. The head is short and vertical, embedded in the prothorax to the

eyes, the latter being elliptical, and either parallel or set obliquely, the

upper or lower ends approaching one another. The
antennae are of importance in the classification of the
family ; they are inserted on the front of the head, are
eleven-jointed and serrate, the joints being furnished
with pores diffused on one or both faces, or concen-
trated in a fovea on the lower margins or at the
extremity.

The mandibles are short, stout, and thick. The
prothorax is variously shaped, more usually transversal
and cylindrical - conical, the anterior and posterior
margins being straight or bisinuate or emarginate or
the latter with a median lobe, the sides often oblique
FlG or rounded. The scutellum is very variable, and is

Buprestid Antennae. sometimes invisible (Chrysochroa). The elytra entirely

FAMILY BUPRESTIDAE igi

cover the abdomen or leave exposed the pygidium ; the lateral apical
edges are often toothed, at times to as much as half the total length
of the elytra, or the apices are merely spined. The lower wings are
wide, longitudinally folded at the base and transversely at the summit.
The prosternum is rigid and prolonged behind, fitting into the mesoster-
num or even the metasternum. The legs are relatively short, the tibiae
usually slender with two small terminal spurs ; the tarsi are five-jointed,
the first four joints with more or less developed membranous appendages
beneath ; claws unarmed.

The beetles, when they feed at all, usually eat the parenchyma of leaves,
or strip the young green bark off shoots and young branches. They fly
during the day, and may be seen sitting on leaf or stem in the hottest sun.
When at rest the beetles are not so easy to see, since mimicry and pro-
tective resemblance are common in the family, the coloration of the insects
often resembling that of the flower, leaf, or twig to which they are clinging.
They also often sham death, and are aided in this by being able to hide
away legs and antennae in cavities.

The larva (fig. 30, c) is white or yellowrish-white in colour, legless, with a

black or brown horny head, and a yellow or orange

Larva. prothorax which has a characteristic and remarkable

shape. The head is very small, and is almost entirely

withdrawn into the broad prothorax, this latter being often flat or circular,

and very much larger than the segments which follow it, usually having a

hard plate on the dorsal surface ; the segments following the prothorax are

generally narrow and slender, some of the posterior ones being doubled back

on the others when the grub is feeding in its burrow (cf. pi. xiii). This

disparity in size between the prothorax and following segments serves to

distinguish easily this grub from that of the Cerambycidae, in which the

body segments more nearly approximate in width to that of the prothorux.

The grubs of the forest species known feed in the bast la\ <T and sap-
wood of trees, eating out winding, shallow, broad tunnels, which are packed
with their excreta and wood-refuse. When full-fed they penetrate a short
distance into the sapwood, and eat out a pupal chamber there. The hirxal
life may last for a few weeks only, or may extend to nearly a yeai .

The buprestid pupa (fig. 31, 6) presents few differences in appearance from

that of the ordinary coleopterous nymph. It is white or

Pupa. yellow in colour, flat and often rather squarish in shape.

the anterior wing-cases and le.^s pressed to sides and

breast. The pupa spends a few weeks only in this stage of its existence, in I In-
case of the smaller species the period beini; perhaps I mm ten days to a
fortnight. The beetle, however, rests for a varying period in the pupal
chamber before it leaves the tree.

Damage done by the Family. Observations at present point to the fact that

FAMILY BUPRESTIDAE

\ r

FIG. 128. — Larval galleries and entrance-holes to pupating-
chambers of a buprestid (Chrysobothris) in sapwood of sal.
Kumaun, United Provinces.

the damagedone by
this family in the
forest is chiefly to
the bast layer of
the tree. In the
case of all the spe-
cies so far studied,
the beetle lays its
eggs in the bast
or in a crevice of
the bark, whence
the young grub
can quickly reach
the bast. The
grubs feed entirely
in the green bast
and outer sapwood,
eating out wide,
shallow galleries
which groove both.
Consequently,
when the grubs are
numerous these
galleries cross one
another, and the
tree is finally gir-
dled and killed.
Observations have
shown that there
are several of the
smaller Bupres-
tidae, such as the
Sphenoptera of the
deodar (p. 204), the
Anthaxia of Finns
longifolia (p. 212),
which are capable
of becoming serious
pests to these trees.
European exam-
ples from the same
family form object-
lessons which it
will be advisable to
remember in India.

FAMILY BUPRESTIDAE 193

The family may be divided into twelve sub-families, of which eight only fall within the
Indian region, viz. the Julodinae, Polycestinae, Chrysochroinae, Chalcophorinae, Chryso-

bothrinae, Sphenopterinae, Buprestinae, and Agrilinae. Of these
Classification. eight sub-families seven are known to contain pests of importance in
the forest, these being the Polycestinae, Chrysochroinae, Chalco-
phorinae, Sphenopterinae, Buprestinae, Chrysobothrinae, and Agrilinae

Sub-family POLYCESTINAE.

Antennal pores collected in a lower or terminal pit. Scutellum almost
invisible. Clypeus large, triangular. Posterior coxae but slightly dilated
on their inner surfaces, their posterior margins slightly oblique or sub-
sinuous. Tarsal claws simple, bilobed or toothed.

This is a rather small sub-family in India. Genera contain species of
importance in the forest.

ACMAEODERA.

Acmaeodera belli, Kerrem.

REFERENCE. — Kerrem. Ann. Soc. Ent. Belg. xxxvii, 338 (1892).

Habitat. — Kanara, Bombay Presidency.
Tree Attacked. — 'Unknown.

Beetle. — Brilliant bronze above, black beneath, covered with a scattered, short, whitish
pubescence, densest at apex of elytra. Prothorax nearly as wide as long, the anterior margin

sinuate, with the median lobe produced and broad ; densely punctate.

Description. Elytra as wide as prothorax at base, slightly wider in apical half,

thence constricted to apex ; apices moderately rounded and finely

toothed ; rugose-punctate, with longitudinal series of deep punctures, the basal half with
longitudinal striae. Length, 4 mm. ; breadth, 1.25111111.

A specimen of this beetle was taken on the wing in the Kanara forests
by Mr. T. D. R. Bell, I.F.S. Nothing further appears to be known on the
subject of its life history.

Acmaeodera stictipennis, Cast, et Gory.

(The Small Sal Buprestid.)

REFERENCE. — Cast, et Gory, Man. Bupr. i, 26, pi. 8, fig. 45 (i835)-

Habitat. — Siwalik Sal Areas, United Provinces. . Also
reported from Mhow; N. Bengal, Maldah ; Konbir, Tetara
(P. Garden) ; South India, Bangalore, Malabar.

Tree Attacked. — Sal (Shorca robustiD. Dchra Dun and
Saharampur Sal Areas.

Beetle.— Deep metallic blue, elytra with a red patch. l'r<>th«>rax
finely punctate, with a slight depression on disk and one on each side.

Klytra elongate, constricted at apices ; tin- deep
Description. punctures set in longitudinal striae : a ml patch

commences at base of outer angle and runs \i>iiii,-t~,l,'> ,i

along the lateral margin to middle, where it widens out across the rhti.i. .v//,///v ;/;//>, ( last.
but does not meet the suture. Under-surface pubescent. Length, et < '.ory. Siwaliks.
9003 N

i94 FAMILY BUPRESTIDAE

8 mm. to 10.25 mm. ; breadth, 3 mm. to 5.25 mm. The deep indigo-blue colour and the red •
d viral patches easily serve to distinguish this insect.

Larva.— A small, elongate, white, flat grub, with a greatly developed chitinous orange
prothoracic segment.

The first beetles of the year appear about June in North India, and lay
eggs on the bark of green branches of the sal-tree,

Life History. or on the main stem of young trees. The larva, on
hatching out, feeds in the cambium layer and outer

sapwood, grooving out winding galleries which take the direction of the
longitudinal axis of the branch or stem. These galleries are several inches
in length, and are blocked with the wood-dust and excreta of the larvae.
When full-fed the grub bores down deeper into the sapwood, eating out
there a small pupating-chamber. The pupating-chamber and entrance-
tunnel to it are free of wood-dust and excreta. On maturing, the beetle
crawls up the tunnel, bites its way through the bark, and escapes from
the tree.

Only in June have I taken beetles on the wing. The first beetles
obtained I bred out from nearly full-grown larvae taken in sal branches in
the Siwalik Forest Division in February-March. These grubs pupated in
April and the beetles issued in June. I have taken larvae in the trees
in September, and am of opinion that a second generation of this insect
issues some time in October or early November. The winter is passed
through in Northern India in the larval stage.

The danger of these small buprestids when they infest broad-
leaved trees is greatest in areas of young growth

Damage Committed u- u r • i i

which from one cause or another are in a sicklv
in the Forest.

condition. For instance, I noticed that the insect was

in considerable abundance (in company with the sal Sphaerotrypes, see
p. 476) in the sal areas in the Siwaliks and neighbouring forests to the
east of the Ganges, which suffered so severely from the great frosts of
February 1905. The insect also infests trees which have suffered under
the heavy defoliating attacks of Snana concolor, especially when these
are combined with those of the Monophlebus scale pest, as is so often the
case when the latter insect is swarming in the forest.

It is the habit of this buprestid of infesting in numbers sickly trees
which would otherwise recover that makes it necessary that its appearance
and life history should be well known to the Forest Officer.

Since the habitat of the insect stretches outside the area over which
the sal-tree is found, it is obvious that it must infest other species of trees
in addition to the sal.

Chalcid. — Specimens of a small chalcid fly, at present undetermined,
were bred out with some of this buprestid from infested sal branches. The
grub of the fly probably feeds parasitically upon the buprestid larvae.

FAMILY BUPRESTIDAE 195

Acmaeodera Kerremansi, sp. nov. Steb.
Habitat. — Changa Manga, Punjab.

Tree Attacked. — Sissu (Dalbergia sissoo). Changa Manga Plantation,
Punjab.

Beetle. — Head black, prothorax black, the lateral edges orange, not reaching to anterior
margins. Elytra black, traversed by numerous transverse wavy orange bands and spots, and

covered with a short fairly dense white pubescence. Head finely ru-

Description. gose. Prothorax flattened medianly, wider than long, anterior margin

sinuate, median lobe wider, produced ; strongly and uniformly punctate.

Elytra as wide as prothorax at base, widest in apical half, rather strongly constricted at apex ;
apices rounded, toothed ; punctate, the punctures set in longitudinal striae which are deepest
apical! y, becoming almost obsolete towards base. Length, 6.5 mm. ; breadth, 1.75 mm. The
curious transverse zig-zag orange markings on a black background of the elytra serve readily
to distinguish this beetle which is figured in pi. xv, fig. i.

Specimens of this buprestid, which is new to science, and which I
take pleasure in naming after that great entomologist,

Life History. my friend Monsieur C. Kerremans, were cut out of their
pupating-chambers in dying sissu-trees at the Changa

Manga Plantation on 17 and 18 May 1905. One of the beetles had left the
pupating-chamber and had crawled up the entrance-tunnel and bored
through the bark before, from some unknown cause, it died. The larva
feeds in the cambium layer, where it eats out a winding gallery. When full-
fed it tunnels into the sapwood to pupate, the entrance-tunnel leading to the
pupal chamber being carried down at an angle. The eggs are laid on dying
and newly felled trees, the main stem and larger branches being attacked,
moderately thick bark being required for the sustenance of the grubs.

Sub-family CHRYSOCHROINAE.

Antennal pores diffused over both faces of the joints ; posterior femora
nearly contiguous, dilated on the inner side, compressed anteriorly by a
lateral prolongation of the abdomen, their anterior margin sinuous. th<
posterior oblique for the greater part and truncate on inner side : first
joint of posterior tarsi longer than the following one; scutellum invisible.

This is a large sub-family, containing some of the biggest of the
Buprestidae known in India. Many of them are brilliantly-coloured,
handsome insects.

CATOXANTHA.

The elytral costae are thick and prominent. The genus contains some
of the largest known Indian buprestids.

Catoxantha opulenta, Gory.

REFERENCE. — Gory, Rev. Mag. Zo«l. i

Habitat. — Chittagong Hill Tracts. Also reported from Borneo and
Penang.

Trees Attacked. — -Jarul (La^crstrinnia l:li^-Rc^iihic) ; ('hikr.issi (C/iick-
rassia tabularis}. Chittagong Hill Tracts.

x _'

FAMILY BUPRESTIDAE

Beetle.— Head and prothorax bronzy ; front of head and sides of prothorax fiery red ;
latter with a greenish reflexion medianly ; the elytra dark indigo-blue, the base purple, the

basal half with a coppery-purple re-
Description, flexion, the apical half with a greenish-
blue one which is specially prominent

at the apices ; a transverse yellow band crosses each elytron
about the centre. Under-surface of pro- and mesothorax fiery
red, as are the coxae of the posterior pair of legs. Antennae
bronzy violet. Abdominal segments yellow, with a lateral black
patch in upper outer angle of each. Head channelled down
middle. Prothorax as \\ide as head anteriorly, entirely covering
scutellum posteriorly, where it is narrower than the elytra. Elytra
constricted from posterior coxae to apex ; latter emarginate with
a sutural spine ; the elytral costae are longitudinally parallel and
dark-bronze coloured ; the yellow band does not reach the
suture on the outer edge. Length, 45.5 mm. to 66.5 mm. ;
breadth, 16.5 mm. to 21. 5 mm.

The above description, which was made at the time from
fresh beetles taken by myself in the Chittagong Hill Tracts,
differs slightly from that of Gory, the differences being probably
due to his specimens being dried ones. My specimens averaged
55 mm. in length and 20 mm. in breadth. So far as I am aware,
this is the first report of the insect from the Indian region.

FlG. 130. — CatoxantJia

opitleiita, Gory.
Chittagong Hill Tracts.

The grubs of this beetle feed in the bast and sapwood of, I believe,
several species of trees. I have cut out beetles from

Life History. the pupal chambers in the jarul (Lagerstroinia Flos-
Reginae) and chikrassi (Chickrassia tabularis), and

Mr. A. H. Mee, of the Bengal Provincial Forest Service, took specimens
from other two "jungle" trees in the hill tracts, the names of which he
did not, unfortunately, record.

Long, broad, shallow, winding galleries are eaten out by the grubs in
the bast and sapwood, the whole of the bast layer being at times riddled
by them. The beetles appear on the wing in late May in the Chitta-
gong Hill Tracts, at about the period of the bursting of the monsoon.
The larvae feed in the tree either till the beginning of December, when
they pupate, or they pass through the cold weather in the larval stage,
pupating in February or March.

It is probable that the beetles continue issuing over a period of two or
more months, as I think specimens of this insect have been noticed on the
wing in July.

Catoxantha bicolor, Fabr.

REFERENCES. — Fabr. Syst. Ent. App. 825 (1778); var. nigricornis, H. Deyr, Ann. Soc. Ent. Belg.
viii, i (1864) ; assamensis, Thoms. Bull. Soc. Ent. Fr. (5), ix, 70 (1870) ; var. cyanura, Kerrem, Ann. Soc. Ent.
Belg. xxxvi, 171 (1892); var. gigantea, Scopoli, Ann. Hist. Nat. 104 (1869); Schaller, Act. Acad. Nat. Cur.
Halle, 304, pi. i, fig. 5; heros, Wiedmann, Zool. Mag. 99 (1823); var. brunnca, Saunders, Trans. Ent. Soc.
Land. 3, pi. i, tig. i (1869).

Habitat. — Rangoon Division, Lower Burma ; Buxa Duars. Also
reported from Himalaya; Allahabad, Darjeeling, Kurseong; Mungphu,

FAMILY BUPRESTIDAE

197

Sikkim; Sylhet, Naga Hills; Lower Burma; Siam ; Java; Luzon; Sumatra;
Borneo.

Trees Attacked.— Pyinkadu (Xylia dolabriformis) : Rangoon Forests ;
? Sal (Shorea robusta) : Rajabhatkhawa, Buxa Duars.

Beetle.— Elongate, very large. Brilliant metallic green, blue, or purple ; prothorax in
green specimens may be blue or green, the lower outer angle always yellow ; two transverse

oval yellow patches on apical portions of elytra a little below centre.

Description. Head is deeply furrowed. Prothorax much dilated laterally at hind

angles, these latter being swollen up into prominent lobes orange-

yellow in colour. Elytra smooth, with four narrow more or less prominent longitudinal lines
down them ; the yellow transverse patch varies in size, but never reaches to either the suture
or the outer margin. Length, 55.5 mm. to 77 mm. ;
breadth, 18.5 mm. to 25mm. The curiously swollen pos-
terior outer angles of the prothorax, only present in this
species, are sufficient to identify it. The following varieties
of this insect are distinguishable :—

var. gigantea. — Head and prothorax dark metallic
blue ; elytra dark green ; the yellow elytral patches rather
small, and surrounded by an irregular dark-blue marginal
band, the yellow basal angular lobes large. This variety
reaches 77111111. in length, and specimens are recorded
from the Himalaya, Allahabad, and Sikkim.

var. cyanura. — Head and prothorax dark bronzy ;
elytra dark purple, yellow elytral patches large ; basal
angular lobes of prothorax much swollen. Specimens
in the British Museum measure as much as 62mm. It
conies from Sikkim.

var. brnnnea. — Whole insect metallic coppery. Re-
corded from Siam.

var. Higricornis. — Resembles giifiinti'a, but has
more elongate basal angular lobes on prothorax, and
narrower transverse yellow elytral patches. Reported
from Borneo.

FlG I3I. _(;,,/„.,„„//,,,
Fabr. Burma and Assam.

Although this species thus varies greatly in colora-
tion, no specific characters have so far been distinguish-
able amongst the many varieties. The marked differences
in colour cannot be made use of, since intermediate
stages, where the one colour appears to be merging into
the other, are present in the tine British Museum series of individuals of this insect.

I have described the varieties at length to avoid the confusion which might otherwise
arise. For the purpose of the Forest Officer, the specific name of bicolor may be consid-
sufficient at present to indicate the species wherever met with in Indi.i.

Larva.^The larva is clou-ate, yellowish white, witli stout black inandiMcs. .md a \vrll-
developed prothoracic segment furnished with a hard orange pl.itr on the dorsal surface : tin-
segments following the prothoracic one are much n;u n>\vrr, the posterior ones constrift.il
slightly. Length, 87 mm.

The larvae of this insect have been t;iken tunnelling in tin- bast ami
sapwood of the pyinkadu-tree, in the Lower Burma
forests. It is possible that it lives in other trees in this
On becoming full-fed the larvae tunnel down into the <aj>\voo<l

Life History.

region.

198

FAMILY BUPRESTIDAE

and pupate there. The beetle leaves the trees and appears on the wing
in the forests in March and April.

I took the beetle on a sal-tree on 30 May 1906 in the sal forests near
Rajabhatkhawa, in the Buxa Duars. I have never yet found its larvae in
the sal-tree.

Owing to the wide distribution of this buprestid, it is probable that the
insect infests a number of different kinds of trees.

CHRYSOCHROA.

Differs from the last in having a transverse depression on each side
of the prothorax ; the under-surface of the body is metallic, with metallic
reflexions.

Chrysochroa vittata, Fabr.

REFERENCES. — Fabr. Syst. Ent. 216 (1774); aurea, De Geer, Mem. Ins. vii, 634, pi. 47, fig. 15 (1778);
ignita, Herbst, Arch. Ins. v, 117, pi. 2Sa, fig. 3 (1784) ; chiitensis, Voet. Cat. Col. 93, pi. 48, fig. 2 (1808).

Habitat. — Chittagong Hill Tracts. Also recorded from Assansol,
Bombay Presidency, Siam, China.

Trees Attacked. — Jarul (Lagerstromia Flos-Reginae) ; Chikrassi (Chick-
rassia tabularis). Chittagong Hill Tracts.

Beetle. — A brilliant blue with green reflexions, or brilliant green ; posterior angles of
prothorax golden coppery or fiery red ; elytra with a golden coppery longitudinal stripe

running down from the shoulder to near
Description. the apex ; antennae purple ; under-surface

metallic green with a coppery reflexion ;

abdominal segments coppery, shining medianly, with a dense yellow
pubescence at sides, where there is also a greenish reflexion. Head
deeply and widely excavate, the excavation prolonged to meet the
anterior margin of prothorax. Latter a little more than one and a
h ill times as broad as long. Elytra wider than prothorax, truncate
at shoulder, constricted at apex ; latter truncate, bidentate ; the suture
and four raised costae on each elytron approaching each other
towards apex ; the golden coppery band of colour runs chiefly between
second and third costae, stretching into first and second near apex.
Legs metallic green. Length, 34 mm. to 45 mm. ; breadth, II mm. to
15 mm. FlG. 132.

I took specimens of this beetle towards the end of Ctoysochroavittata,

Fabr. Chittagong
May from pupal chambers in the sap- Hill Tracts.

Life History. wood of jarul (Lagerstromia Flos-
Reginae) and chikrassi (Chickrassia tabularis) trees in

the Chittagong Hill Tracts together with the Catoxantha opulcnta already
considered. These two beetles evidently lay their eggs in the same trees,
and the larvae tunnel in the bast and sapwood in a similar manner, and
probably have a very similar life history.

Since this insect has been recorded from Assansol (in Bengal) and from
the Bombay Presidency, it must infest several other species of trees.

•

the

.

•

ripe

PLATF. XI.

natural size ; ,/, leg enlar

•
. etle an,:

FAMILY BUPRESTIDAK 199

Sub-family CHALCOPHORINAE.

Antennal pores scattered over both faces of the joints, never concen-
trated in a single pit or fovea. Scutellum invisible.

The sub-family contains two genera of some importance in the forest,
Psiloptera and Capnodis. The brilliant metallic beetle Psiloptera fastuosa,
has a wide range and is well known. The genus will in all probability be
found to contain several forest pests. Capnodis, a dull black-coloured genus
of characteristically shaped beetles, though probably less well known, is very
easy to recognize, and contains two or three species of importance.

PSILOPTERA.
Psiloptera fastuosa, Fabr.

REFERENCES. — Fabr. Syst. Ent. p. 216 (1774) ; Cast. etGory, Monogr. i, p. 14, pi. 22, fig. 114 ; Lushington

and Stebbing, Indian Forester, vol. xxxi, p. 74 (1895).

Habitat. — Berar, Malabar. The distribution is wide, the insect being
reported from Belgaum, Kanara (Bell), Mhow, Central India, Calcutta,
Madras, Neilgherries, China.

Trees Attacked. — Babul (Acacia arabica) : Buldana, Berar; Teak
(Tectona grandis) and Mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) : Nilambur Planta-
tions, Malabar.

Beetle. — Oblong, brilliant metallic, coppery or deep bluish coppery ; elytra medianly
almost invariably coppery, merging into green or golden green, or green followed by a

deep blue on the lateral edges ; under-surface coppery. Head

Description. rugose in front, punctate on vertex, latter with a slight median line.

Antennae coppery. Prothorax two-thirds as long as wide, widest at

middle, bisinuate behind with a smooth median longitudinal line, often absent ; disk sparsely
punctate, punctures denser on lateral edges, which are occasionally rugose. Elytra three and
three-quarters as long as prothorax, scarcely wider at base ; disk smooth, finely punctate,
rather densely striate-punctate laterally ; base slightly rugose ; apex truncate with a small
spine in each angle. Under-surface punctate, punctation fine and dense in patches on lateral
edges. Legs and tarsi coppery. Length, 17.5 mm. 1027.5 mm. ; breadth, 7mm. to 10.75 miu-
PI. xi, figs, a, l>, c.

In Indian Museum Notes* allusion is made to the fact that specimens of

the beetle were forwarded from the Madras Museum

Life History. with the report that the insects were injurious to the

great teak plantations at Nilambur, Malabar, b\ boring

into the wood. Nothing further is on record, but presumably the injury
done to the wood would be by the larvae.

More recently Mr. P. M. Lushington, I.F.S., published a p.iper in tlir
Indian Forester t on the insect pests of Sicictcnui macrophylla. One of them,
identified as Psiloptera fastuosa, was s;iid to feed on the leaves of \oun^
mahogany, causing defoliation. Perhaps the insect fed on the bark of" twigs,
thus causing the leaves to drop.

* I/iiL Mits. Notes, vol. ii, p. 45. t ///</. I'' or. vol. xxxi, p. 74.

200 FAMILY BUPRESTIDAE

\Yith his report on the destruction caused by beetles to babul in the
Buldana Plantation in November 1907, Mr. Srinivasalem Naidu, the
Divisional Officer, forwarded numbers of beetles of two kinds. The one
proved to beCoelosternascabrata(p. 358), the other Psiloptera fastuosa. This
beetle appears on the wing in November in Berar, is apparently very
abundant, and injures the stems of the trees by peeling off the bark. The
damage done to the young stems of babul is easily distinguishable and
is shown in pi. xi.

Neither the eggs nor larvae have yet been discovered. It is probable,
I think, that they are laid on the stem, and that the grubs feed in the bast
layer and outer sapwood, mining out flat irregular galleries here. Many
members of this genus feed in this way, and it is in this position that the
grubs should be searched for.

It is of considerable importance that the full life history of this insect
should be worked out, so that the significance of its appearance with
Coelosterna scabrata in the babul plantations may be ascertained.

Mr. J. D. R. Bell, I.F.S., has reported that the beetle is excessively
common in Kanara during the monsoon in August and September.

Psiloptera coerulea, Oliv.

REFERENCES. — Oliv. Entom. ii, gen. 32, 21, pi. 4, fig. 35 (1790) ; Gemm. et Harold, v, 1365.

Habitat. — Belgaum, Kanara (Bell). Also taken in Pondicherry and
Ceylon.

Tree Attacked. — Acacia arabica. Belgaum, Kanara (Bell).

Beetle. — Resembles fastuosa in shape, size, and punctation. Blue or blue-green, dull.
Head green. Elytra with a golden-red or crimson band medianly. Prothorax with a trans-
verse median depression just above basal margin. The band of
Description. colour on elytra either broad or narrow, merging into green on sides

and then into deep blue on the lateral margins. A triangular patch

of yellow pubescence in lateral upper corner of abdominal segments. Legs green, tarsi bronze-
green. Length, 16.5 mm. to 26 mm. ; breadth, 6 mm. to 10.25 mm.

Easily distinguishable from fastuosa by the totally dissimilar colouring above and
beneath, and in the triangular patches of yellowish pubescence on the abdominal segments.
In fastuosa the pubescence usually covers the whole of this region.

The insect has been taken on Acacia arabica trees during the rainy
months.

Psiloptera viridans, Kerremans.

REFERENCE.--Kerremans, Ann. Soc. Ent. Belg. xxxvii, 329 (1893).

Habitat. — Mandla, Central Provinces. Also reported from Kanara,
(Andrewesj and Sylhet.

Trees Attacked.— Sal (Shorea robusta) ; Terminalia tomentosa. Banjar
Valley, Mandla.

FAMILY BUPRESTIDAE 201

Beetle. — Oblong-oval, elongate ; brilliant green, with the suture golden ; under-surface
brilliant coppery with green reflexions. Head flat with big punctures. Prothorax deeply and

irregularly punctate, dense on sides. Elytra scarcely wider than

Description. thorax at base, slightly sinuate on anterior margins, and abruptly

constricted from upper third ; obliquely truncate and two-spined at

apex ; set with longitudinal rows of deep punctures, between which are smaller ones formed
of small clusters of minute punctures, mostly irregularly spaced. Under-surface deeply rugose-
punctate, with thick patches of pubescence on lateral edges of abdominal segments. Legs
coppery, punctate. Length, 14 mm. to 23 mm. ; breadth, 4.5 mm. to 7 mm.

Larva. — Elongate, white, with a small yellow head and an enlarged prothoracic segment.
Length, 30 mm. to 36 mm.

In the Mandla forests of the Central Provinces on 13 April 1909 I
took numbers of the grubs of this buprestid feed-
Life History. ing in galleries in the bast and sapwood of a large
green Terminalia tomentosa tree which had been felled
in the previous February.

The grubs were accompanied by Sphaerotrypes globulus (p. 487) in parts of
the tree. The larvae were mostly full-grown, and many had already eaten
the pupating-chamber deeper down into the sapwood. The larval gallery
is long, irregular, and winds about at different angles ; it is broad, and packed
with wood-dust and excreta. The pupating-chamber is eaten out parallel to
the long axis of the tree, and is connected with the larval gallery in the sap-
wood and bast by a short tunnel from half an inch to one inch in length.

I subsequently took the larvae numerously in the felled sal-trees in the
Banjar Valley of this district. Large individuals of both species of trees had
been felled on the alignment of a new road running through these forests.

The insect probably passes through the earlier part of the winter in its
pupating-chamber in the tree as a pupa, or nearly mature beetle, appearing
on the wing in February and ovipositing in the trees. This is borne out by
the fact that I took a dead fully mature beetle in a pupal chamber in the
sapwood of a tree felled the previous year, and a living beetle on the wing,
probably a belated individual of the February generation, both at the
beginning of April. The fact that the larvae were beginning to pupate in
the middle of April would seem to indicate that there may be a partial
second generation of the insect in the year.

The operations of the grubs damage the tree by removing the lust
layer; but the small tunnels and chambers made by them in the sap-
wood to pupate are of no importance unless the insect is extremely
numerous, when the entrance-holes would render the outer appearance ol
the logs unsightly and probably lead to their rejection by a timber con-
tractor in the absence of definite knowledge that the tunnels do n«>t
penetrate into the heart-wood. They do not do so, ami the insect does
not therefore ruin the timber as is the case with the longironi grub //"/>/,>-
cerambyx spinicornis, which is found infesting the sal olten in company
with the buprestid and scolytid (Sphaerotrypes) in this locality.

The methods of protection described in detail later on under the
Hoploccrumbyx (p. 331) apply equally to this insect.

202 FAMILY BUPRESTIDAE

CAPNODIS.

Black or smoky-grey beetles with short antennae, a shield-shaped
prothorax, and squarish shape.

Capnodis indica, Thorns.

REFERENCES.— Thorns. Guerin,| Rev. et Mag. Zoo!. (3), vii, 176 (1878); orlentalis, Thorns, teste Abeille,

Rev.d'Ent. Caen, 270 (1896).

Habitat. — Almora, Punjab; Jaunsar, 2,000 ft. (below Kathian).
Trees Attacked. — Chir Pine (Pinus longifolia) : Almora ; Jaman
{Eugenia jambolana) : Jaunsar.

Beetle. — Elongate, black, with spots and patches of golden metallic colour studded with
punctures on head, prothorax, and elytra. Prothorax with much-rounded sides, anterior edge

emarginate, the posterior angles produced into points ; deeply

Description. punctate, the punctured areas greyish ; an irregular, central, raised,

smooth, coppery area, with on each side two rounded, raised, smooth,

coppery spots, first below upper margin, second contiguous with the lower margin half-way
between outer angle and centre. Elytra elongate, with apex truncate and a number of
greyish-coppery or black thickly punctured areas on surface. Length, 24 mm. to 26 mm. ;
breadth, 9.5 mm. to 10 mm.

Full-grown Larva. — Elongate cylindrical, whitish yellow, with a small head and twelve
segments following it, which gradually taper posteriorly from the second. The prothoracic
segment is of great width and size, and has a hard thick orange plate on its dorsal surface.
Length, 62 mm.

The beetle is usually to be found on the wing in Kumaun during July,

August, and perhaps September. I took full-grown

Life History. larvae of the insect in Pinus longifolia trees in the first

week of June. They were just commencing to pupate.

The eggs are laid in crevices in the bark of the trees during July and
August. On hatching, the grubs tunnel down to the bast, and at first
feed there, their tunnels soon, however, grooving the sapwood. These
tunnels increase in size with the growth of the grub, and wind about in an
irregular manner in the bast and sapwood, becoming very broad as the
larva reaches full size, though remaining shallower than the tunnels of a
longicorn grub of the same size. The tunnels are packed tightly with the
wood-dust and excreta of the larva. When full-grown the grub carries its
tunnel down into the sapwood, eats out there a pupal chamber parallel to
the long axis of the tree, and pupates. When mature the beetle crawls up
the entrance-tunnel, bites its way through the bark, and escapes from the tree.
A specimen in the Dehra Dun collections was taken from a jaman-tree
some 2,000 ft. below Kathian in Jaunsar.

Although the Capnodis is a comparatively common beetle in the

Himalayan forest, I can find no mention of its attacks

Damage Committed ,1 u • • T- ,, i ,- • j

in the Forest m *"e cmr Pme- rurther observations are required

on this head before its importance as a pest to the
tree can be determined.

The remedial measures described for the buprestid pest of the deodar
(Sphenoptera, p. 204) and the other one of the chir pine (Anthaxia, p. 212)
would apply as well to this insect.

PLATE XII.

i. Capnodis indua. Tlioms. — Larva and beetle. 2. Anthaxia osmastoni, Steb. — Larva and beetle.

I /'. — Ser.rinn of ctf>n-> r^f />;,,,,.• /.,, ,r;f.,i;.-. „!,„ .1.. i .1 n e u.^u i ..i_ •

FAMILY BUPRESTIDAE 203

Capnodis milians, Klug.

REFERENCES.— King. Symb. Phys. 15, pi. 2, fig. i (1821) ; Fairm. Bull. S.E.B. xxxv, 125 (1891) ; daedalea,
Stevens, Bull. S. N. Mosc. 93, pi. 3, fig. 6 (1830); albisparsa, Falderman, ibid. 107; miliaris, Mars.
L'Abeille, ii, 122 (1865); metallica, Ballion, Bull. S. N. Mosc. xlviii, 349 (1871).

Habitat. — Baluchistan : Quetta, Loralai, Fort Sandeman, Shinghar Hills,
Ziarat ; Kashmir. Also reported from Tripoli, Syria, Persia.

Trees Attacked. — Poplar (Populus euphratica) : Quetta, etc. ; ? Chenar
(Platanus orientalis) : Quetta; Pinus Gerardiana? : Zhob.

Beetle. —Black or coppery-black ; prothorax white or grey or
coppery ; elytra black, shining ; under-surface black. Head rugose-
punctate, bottom of punctures filled with a
Description. white squamose pubescence. Antennae

black. Prothorax punctate, the bottoms of

punctures filled with pubescence ; an elongate, irregular, black, smooth,
median raised area below anterior margin and not in contact with
it ; a rounded one medianly at base, its centre depressed into a deep
pit just above the scutellum ; four smaller rounded areas, two on
each side, one below anterior margin and two contiguous with
basal margin. Elytra with longitudinal punctate striae interrupted
at sides by dull grey or coppery irregular rugose areas, these areas
larger medianly and basally, smaller or mere rounded spots on pI(, ,,„

upper half of elytra. Legs black. Length, 21 mm. to 39.5 mm.; Capnodis miliaris,
breadth, 7 mm. to 18 mm. Baluchistan specimens varied greatly in Klug. Baluchistan,
size, the smallest taken being only 21 mm. in length.

Larva. — Elongate, body segments tapering, the prothoracic segment greatly developed, w.th
a longitudinal inverted V-shaped black marking on the median dorsal surface. Head and mandi-
bles black; median abdominal segments longer than broad. Length, nearly 72 mm. (Fig. 30, c.)

This beetle is common in Baluchistan. I have taken it in Quetta,

Loralai, Fort Sandeman, Ziarat, and in the Pin us

Life History. gerardiana forests in the Shinghar Hills. 1 have never,

however, actually found it in this latter tree nor in the

juniper forest at Ziarat. I found the beetle fairly plentiful in Quetta at the
end of May, usually taking it resting in the large holes rriade in the poplar-
trees by the ALolesthes sarta (Quetta borer, see p. 307) longicorn pest. The
buprestid doubtless made use of these places to leave the trees. The beetle
was also plentiful in the pine forests round Shinghar (elevation 8,000 ft.) in
North Zhob in June. In October of the same year (1905) the beetles were
still to be found on the wing fairly plentifully in and around Quetta. It had
been suspected that the grubs of this insect lived in the poplar and plane
trees which form the tine avenues of the station, the former trees bring
plentiful throughout Baluchistan.

That the insect infests the Popnlits citf>lii-jticti was prove.] by Mi. A. L. 1'.
Tucker, C.I.E., at the time Agent to the Governor-General in Baluchistan.
Mr. Tucker found the large larva shown in iig. 30, c, in one of the poplars
in the Residency Gardens at Quetta, and subse<|iientlv \\e took a number
of the grubs all nearly or quite full-grown. It would appear prob.ible ih.it
the larvae mature at different periods throughout the spring, summer, and
autumn months, the beetles thus issuing irregularK during this period. The

204 FAMILY BUPRESTIDAE

winter is passed in the larval tunnel in the tree either as a larva or pupa.
The grub cuts out long, rather shallow, broad, irregular galleries in the bast
and sapwood of the tree, thus destroying the cambium layer. The pupal
stage and resting period of the beetle is from six weeks to two months.

It is perhaps still doubtful whether the insect lays its eggs (they are
laid on the bark or at wounds on the tree) in the plane-tree, save sporadically
when there are no poplars near. Owing to its abundance it is capable of
proving a serious pest in a country like Baluchistan, where it is customary
to grow the species of tree it infests in masses or clumps together.

The remedial measures given for the Quetta borer on p. 315 will serve
equally to get rid of this pest.

Sub-family SPHENOPTERINAE.

Antennal pores concentrated in a terminal pit ; posterior coxae nearly con-
tiguous, dilated on outer edge, truncate exteriorly, their anterior margin nearly
straight, posterior oblique; scutellum wide, most often acuminate behind;
clypeus large, triangular; antennal cavities large, triangular, and terminal.

Only one genus of this sub-family is at present known in India. It
contains, however, a very large number of species.

SPHENOPTERA.

Sphenoptera aterrima, sp. nov. Kerremans.

Habitat. — Simla Catchment Area Forests ; Bashahr ; jaunsar ; prob-
ably throughout Deodar Forests of Western Himalaya.

Tree Attacked. — Deodar (Cedrus deodara}. Simla, Jaunsar, Himalaya.

The following is M. Kerremans' description of this species, which proves

new to science :—

SPHENOPTERA ATERRIMA, nov. sp.

Long, ii ; larg. 4 mm.

Siibovata, plafia, antice posticeque attenuata, supra nigerrima, ntttdissima, capitc
antics cuprescens; pronoto vix punctate j sciitello transversim carinato; elytris parum
costulatis, inter stitiis alternatim elevatis, apice valde tridentatis j subtus nigro-aenea,
nitidissimaj prosterno profunde canaliculate*, segmento primo sulcato

Ovalaire, peu convexe, attenue en avant et en arriere avec la dent externe des elytres
saillante en dehors, d'un noir vernisse intense et tres brillant en dessus ; dessous plus clair,
plus bronze, tout aussi brillant ; la partie anterieure du front cuivreuse.

Appartient au groupe des Sphenoptera ayant 1'ecusson carene (Tropeopeltis Jakit-'oh.}.

Tete assez fortement ponctuee, a points tres rapproche's, transversalement impressionnee
en avant ; le vertex sillonne". Antennes courtes et greles a troisieme article plus long que le
deuxieme et plus court que le quatrieme. Pronotum plus large que long, bisinue' en avant
et en arriere, arque sur les cotes, sans strie marginale anterieures ; la carene laterale sinueuse
et entiere ; la surface tres finement ponctuee, les points tres espaces. £cusson carene trans-
versalement. Elytres peu convexes, sinues sur les cotes avec la dent externe saillante en dehors ;
le calus humeral saillant et lisse ; la surface finement et inegalement ponctuee a stries fines et
peu profondes ; les interstries alternativement saillants et aplanis, ces derniers plus larges que
les autres. Dessous finement pointille ; prosternum profondement canalicule ; milieu du
premier segment abdominal sillonne, cotes des segments abdominaux impressionnes, sans
reliefs lisses. Pattes mediocres ; les tarses posterieurs greles et aussi longs que les tibias.

Hab.— Simla (Stebbing).

FAMILY BUPRESTIDAE

205

Plate xv, fig. 2, shows this beetle. The following are my descriptions of
the larva and pupa :—

Young Larva. — A tiny white grub with a greatly enlarged prothoracic segment. The

head small and yellow. The
body segments much narrower
than the thoracic segment
(fig. 134, rt).

Full - grown Larva. — The

larva is yellowish, flat, elongate,
"'.-]"': '-'I- ar>d narrow, with a large pro-

thoracic segment immediately
following the small yellow
head ; the segments succeeding
this large prothoracic segment
are very much narrower in
width, and are more or less
equal to one another in size,
save the last two, which taper
Its length is about an inch and
a quarter, and it is usually
found in its smllerv with its

o.i

FIG. 134. — Larva and pupa of Sphenoptera aterritna,
Kerremans. a, young larva ; />, natural size and enlarged ;
c, pupa natural size and enlarged. N.W. Himalaya.

lower segments curved round

so as to lie against the ones above them. Fig. In, b, show the larva natural size and enlarged.
Pupa. — Elongate-ovate, yellowish in colour. More ovate than the beetle, which it
generally resembles ; the antennae, legs, and wings are pressed against the chest. Fig. c\, c,
show the pupa natural size and enlarged.

The egg is laid by the female in June either on the bark or down on

the inner surface of the bast, since the young larval

Life History. gallery appears to commence here. The grub feeds in

the bast, at first eating out irregular chambers as shown

in fig. 135 ; as it gets larger it goes deeper and grooves both the outer
bark and the sapwood. This gallery has no definite direction. Sometimes
it is carried up the tree, at others down or across, especially when the larva
is young (see pi. xiii). It curves about, the
total length being from two to two and a half
inches, and the breadth at its widest part
about a sixth to a quarter of an inch. When
the grub is full-grown it bores down into the
sapwood at an angle for about half an inch,
and then eats out a pupal chamber in the

wood somewhat larger than the size of the future beetle; the section <>f the
entrance-tunnel in the wood is narrow elliptical, and the presence of these
entrance-tunnels in the sapwood is very characteristic of the beetle, and they
are clearly visible when the decayed bark above has fallen oft in patches. I lie
larva changes to a pupa in the pupal chamber, and the beetle on maturing
crawls out of the tunnel, eats it- \\,i\ through the l>;irk if it Ims not fillen
off already, and escapes from the tree. A characteristic feature of this
attack is shown in pi. xiv. The bark covering the hirv.il --.tileries bene.ith

FIG. 135. -- • Galleries of young
larva of Sphenoptera atsri'hna in
bast of deodar. .\.\\ Himalaya.

2cb FAMILY BUPRESTIDAE

apparently rapidly decays and falls off, or more often is pecked off by wood-
peckers to get at the grubs beneath, and thus an attacked tree shows at the
spots infested irregular-shaped areas of the whitish-yellow sapwood. This
feature is very often present in the case of saplings and young poles, and
enables attacked trees to be readily recognized.

For some years past the larva of this beetle has been known to infest
deodar. I took it in deodar-trees in Bashahr towards the end of June
1901, in newly felled trees at Pajidhar in the third week in June in 1902
(the grubs being from a day or two to a fortnight old only), and again in
November 1906 in the tops of converted green trees felled in that year near
Konain in Jaunsar.

In 1908 a bark-beetle attack started in the Simla Water Supply
Catchment Area, and investigation showed that this insect was also present.

During the years 1908-9 it was proved, with the help of Mr. V. Munro
and Pandit Gokal Dass, that this Sphenoptera passes through only one genera-
tion in the year. The mature beetles leave the trees during June, pair, and
the female lays her eggs in the bark of any newly felled unbarked trees she
can find or in standing sickly trees, in snow breaks and wind-thrown trees.

The young larvae hatch out from the egg in about a week, and at once
eat their way down to the bast and gnaw out little irregular-shaped patches
in the latter (fig. 135). The grubs on increasing in size go down deeper
and groove both the bast and sapwood. It is probable that in some
cases the grubs become full-fed in the autumn, and change into pupae
in late October or November in the small pupal chambers eaten down
into the sapwood by the grubs. The winter is then passed through
here either as a pupa or immature beetle.

Probably many of the grubs who pass the winter in the bast owing
to their not having attained full growth, and consequently not having
tunnelled down into the sapwood to prepare the pupal chamber, perish in
severe cold winters.

This is not the case in open dry ones, as was proved in the Simla
Catchment Area in 1908, when immature living grubs were found in the
trees at the beginning of April.

The damage committed by this insect when numerous in a forest is

very serious. The young larvae require absolutely fresh

Damage Committed i , ,, r ,, r, , . , .

in the Forest. green bast, and therefore the eggs are very often laid in

green, and apparently green standing, trees.

The irregular method of feeding of the grubs renders the insect more
destructive than would ordinarily be the case, as they girdle a tree much
more rapidly, even when but a moderate number of insects are present, than
is ordinarily the case with bark-borers. Instances have been seen where
trees attacked at the base only have been ringed by a comparatively few
larvae and so killed. Within the limits defined by their several life
histories, bark-borers of the Scolytus type go into a tree anywhere, and thus
require to be unusually abundant before their operations ring and kill a tree.

PLATE XIII.

t

Larval galleries (with living larvae in situ} Q{ Sphenoptera atcrrima. Kerrem.,
on the inner surface of the bark of the deodar (Cedrns dcodara}. Simla Catchment
Area Forests, North-West Himalaya.

FAMILY BUPRESTIDAE 207

The buprestid attacks trees of all sizes, but it was perhaps found
to be most abundant in the Simla Catchment Area in snow-bent and
broken green saplings, of which there were a number in the forest.

A characteristic of this insect appears to be that it always attacks the
trees on the sunny side, i.e. the southern ; if the tree is bent over, as in the
case of snow-breaks, it invariably attacks it on the upper side. This is in
exact opposition to the habits of the bark-boring insects, which usually attack
on the northern or, in the case of bent or felled trees, on the under side.
This habit renders the two pests, when working together as they were in
the Simla Catchment Area in 1908, more deadly, as they kill the trees
quicker.

The methods of dealing with the deodar bark-borer (Scolytus) beetle

when it has appeared in a forest in considerable

'"Remedies!" numbers, or of ascertaining whether it is in the forest

in any numbers, are fully explained on page 572.

These methods may be introduced to combat the attacks of the deodar
buprestid beetle.

It will often be found that the scolytid and buprestid are present in
the tree together, and the barking of the tree and burning of the bark
carried out to get rid of the scolytid will equally kill off the buprestid grubs
provided it is done between the months of July and October. If done
earlier you may not catch all your buprestid larvae, since the beetles will not
have finished egg-laying. If done later than October merely barking the
tree will not suffice, since many of the grubs will have already tunnelled
down into the sapwood and will be safe in their pupal chambers. Taking off
the bark and burning it will not be sufficient then. It would be necessary
to burn the whole infected tree.

Ephialtes viridipennis, sp. nov., Morley. Faun. BY. Ind. Hymenop.
Ichneumenidae.

Fly. — Elongate, black, with long antennae and two pairs of iridescent
veined wings and elongate legs. Body elongate and
curved downwards. In fig. 137. *>, bi, show the fly en-
larged twice and natural size, and c a side view of the fly enlarged twice.

Larva. — Elongate, white, the thoracic segments
having the greatest diameter, the prothoracic seg-
ment being constricted anteriorly. The six median a-1.
abdominal segments furnished with a circular ring
of four swollen tubercles situated medianly, dorsally,
ventral ly, and laterally ; the remaining segments
taper posteriorly. In fig. ijO, a, ai, show tin- larva
enlarged twice and natural s\/<-.

Life History. — It was noticed in August 1908

that small elongate hymenopterous grubs were EpMalt '>

present in some of the young buprestid galleries in MuiU-v. ,/.

208

FAMILY BUPRESTIDAE

the deodar-trees. These grubs were feeding parasitically on the buprestid
grubs. In pi. xiii a few of these long white grubs pointed at both ends are
to be seen in the buprestid galleries.

When full-fed (some time in the autumn) the parasitic grub spins a flat
elliptical paper-like cocoon and pupates within this, as shown in the figure.
The winter is passed in this stage, cocoons having been taken in April.

FlG. 137. — Ephialtes viridipennis, Morley. Fly natural size and enlarged.

N.W. Himalaya.

The fly on maturing eats through from the papery cocoon and the bark and
escapes. It issues at the same time as the buprestid beetles emerge, and
evidently lays its eggs near those of the buprestid beetle, probably depositing
them singly in crevices close to those of the Sphenoptera,

This insect is of course a valuable ally to the forester, and its
appearance both in the grub and imago stage should be known to the
Forest Officer.

Hymenopterous Fly.— In April 1908 small silky cocoons of what is a
second hymenopterous parasite of this buprestid were taken. These were
far smaller than those of the insect above described, and were found as
many as five together placed side by side in the one pupal chamber of
the buprestid. Each cocoon contained a small partially developed
hymenopterous fly which I was unable to rear. The fly is small, blackish,
with transparent iridescent wings.

Woodpeckers (Dendrocopus himalayensis, Harjitt ; and Gecinus squamatus,
Blyth). — The common hill woodpeckers, the pied woodpecker (Dendrocopus
himalayensis} and the scaly-bellied green woodpecker (Gecinus squainatus],
and doubtless other species, feed with avidity on the grubs of this buprestid
beetle, pecking off the bark in little round or elongate patches as shown
in pi. xiv, to get at the grubs in their galleries beneath. The yellow
sapwood exposed in this manner all up the length of one side of a standing
tree or along the uppermost part of the bark of a felled or fallen tree is
easily visible, and is most characteristic of the attack of this beetle and of
its presence in the forest,

PLATE XIV.

CD

O

CO

Portion of a deodar Cc</rus dcodara) pole showing patches of bark removed by wood-
peckers to get at the grubs and pupae of S/>/i,-ii,i/>tt-m alcrrima, Kerrein. Simla Catchment
Area, North-West Himalaya.

FAMILY BUPRESTIDAE 209

Sphenoptera la fertii, Thomson,
REFERENCE. — Thorns. Typ. Bupr. 65 (1878).

Habitat. — Chamba, North-West Himalaya. Also reported from North-
West Himalaya, Moradabad.

Tree Attacked.— Deodar (Cedrus deodar a}. Kalatope, Chamba.
Beetle. — Elongate, constricted at apex. Blackish bronze ; head and thorax with a
coppery punctation. Under-surface brilliant coppery, middle of sternal region metallic

green ; legs coppery ; antennae and tarsi black. Head flat, punctate.

Description. Prothorax with a smooth, sinuate, lateral carina and a very short

longitudinal furrow on disk ; irregularly and densely punctate, bottom

of punctures coppery. Elytra three and a quarter times as long as thorax, widened at
extremities owing to the outermost spine projecting outwards ; median spine wide, its tip
incurved towards the suture, sutural spine very short and sharp ; deeply striate-punctate, the
intervals between striae finely pitted and raised, resembling costae, of which three are more
prominent towards apex, being projected into the spines. Under-surface and legs rugose-
punctate ; the two first abdominal segments with a wide median channel ; anterior and
median tibiae strongly recurved in male, nearly straight in female. Length, 10 mm. ;
breadth, 3.25 mm.

I took an individual of this species on the bark of a large standing

green deodar-tree at Kalatope, Chamba, on 24 May 1909.

Life History. It is possible that the species infests the tree in

company with S. aterrima. It is far less common,

however, so far as present observations go.

Sphenoptera cupriventris, Kerremans.

REFERENCE. — Kerrem. C. r. Soc. Ent. Belg. xxxiv, 203 (1890).

Habitat. — Kanara and Belgaum-, Bengal, Konbir, Mandar, Barway
(P. Cardon).

Trees Attacked. — Anogeissus latifolia : Bengal. Taken in trees (spp. ?)
in felling areas in Kanara and Belgaum (Andrewes).

Beetle.— Very convex above, flat beneath. A dull bronze, with violet or coppery
reflexions ; brilliant coppery beneath, the sternal region greenish, sides of abdomen violet ;

antennae and tarsi black. Head bituberculate between the eyes,

Description. slightly channelled on vertex. Prothorax finely and irregularly

punctate ; punctures densest on sides. Elytra very convex, the

humeral calus smooth and prominent ; weakly punctate-striate : an elevate, slightly curved
costa on apical third of elytra, whose prolongation forms the median spine, which is large
and broad, the lateral one not being prominent and the sutural one scarcely visible. Abdo
minal segment channelled medianly. Length, 13 mm. to 15 mm. ; breadth, 2.5 mm. t<> 4.5 mm.

Larva.— Yellowish white, with stout black mandibles. Prothoracic segment broader than
any of the segments behind it.

I have taken this insect infesting .lim^ci^ns Litifolia in I'.engal. and
Mr. Andrewes has reported that it is very common in
Life History. I'.elganin and Kanara. where- it is often taken in ar,

felled over the preceding year in which the felled trees
are still lying. No mention is made of the species of tree in which he found it.

9003 O

210 FAMILY BUPRESTIDAE

The beetle appears on the wing about April or May, or even as late as
June, and lays her eggs on the bark of newly felled trees, or in the thick
portions of the tops of the trees felled during the latter part of the cold
weather, or in standing sickly trees. The grubs feed in the bast, eating out
rather broad, shallow, and very winding galleries in the bast and sapwood.
When full-fed they eat out small elliptical pupating-chambers, usually in the
sapwood, but in the case of old, thick, hard-barked trees, the pupating-
chamber may be in the bark. The larva changes to a pupa in this
chamber. I have not yet ascertained how long is spent in the larval stage
by this grub, nor whether the beetle passes through two generations in
the year.

Sphenoptera indica, Cast, et Gory.

REFERENCE. — Cast, et Gory, Man. Bupr. ii, 37, pi. 10, fig. 57 (1839).

Habitat. — Dehra Dun, Northern India. Also reported from Belgaum
(Andrewes) ; Kanara (Bell) ; Barway, Mandar, Konbir, Tetra (P. Cardon) ;
Pegu.

Tree Attacked. — In dig of era pulchella. Dehra Dun.

Beetle. — Elongate, cuneiform. Brilliant bronze, lighter on thorax than on elytra ; latter
somewhat dull at tips ; under-surlace brilliant purple mingled with blue and green, especially

on abdominal segments ; antennae and tarsi black. Head punctate-
Description, rugose, vertex channelled. Prothorax nearly square, scarcely as wide
as long, irregularly punctate, punctures denser and more regular

laterally ; disk with a median longitudinal channel. Elytra nearly three times length of
thorax, constricted regularly to apex ; latter slightly spined and slightly channelled along
suture ; a longitudinal series of punctures. Under-surface rugose-punctate. Length, 10 mm. to
12 mm. ; breadth, 3 mm. to 3.5 mm.

I took a specimen of this buprestid on Indigofera pulchella at Jhajera,
in the Dehra Dun, on 6 January 1907. I know nothing further about the
beetle.

Sub-family BUPRESTINAE.

Antennal pores concentrated in a pit on each joint, the pit being
situated either at the bottom or top of the joint ; antennal cavities variable ;
scutellem variable ; posterior coxae distinctly dilated on the inner side.

The sub-family is divided into three divisions, all containing repre-
sentatives of forest importance :

1. Dicerites. — Eyes oblique; antennal pores in pits placed at base of
joints ; metasternal epimera completely exposed. (Lampra.}

2. Buprestites. — Differs from Dicerites in having eyes parallel. {Buprestis

(Ancylochcirn) '-

3. Anthaxites. — Antennal pores in pits placed at top of joints. Meta-
sternal epimera partly covered by the lateral prolongation of the abdomen.
(Anthaxia.}

FAMILY BUPRESTIDAE 211

LAMPRA.

A new species of this genus was taken on young india-rubber plants
in Assam.

Lampra assamensis, sp. nov., Stebbing.

Habitat. — Darrang, Assam.

Tree Attacked. — Ficus elastica. Charduar Rubber Plantation, Darrang,

Assam.

Beetle.— Elongate, constricted behind, with brilliant metallic colouring. Head purple in
centre, metallic blue-green on either side. Disk of thorax purple, with a longitudinal median

area green, the lateral margins green anteriorly, the basal half crimson.
Description. Scutellum light blue-green. Elytra with basal margins green, merging

into dull coppery medianly, this latter colour produced in a longi-
tudinal median dull band to apex, a broad, crimson, longitudinal band laterally ending in the
apical fourth, the band interrupted by purple patches. A yellow coppery spot immediately
behind the band, apical fourth coppery-purple. Head strongly rugose-punctate, with a frontal
median d.pression and a weak longitudinal line basally on vertex. Prothorax much wider
than long, anterior margin weakly sinuate, sides rounded, base bisinuate, median lobe produced ;
rather finely rugose-punctate, coarsely so laterally, the purple areas on disk sparsely punctate.
Elytra slightly wider than thorax at base, sides sinuous at level of posterior coxae, thence
constricted sharply to apex, the edges, in slightly over apical half, toothed ; apices separately
rounded and toothed ; striate-punctate, the striae most prominent on apical sutural two-thirds ;
the punctures fine, densest laterally. Under-surface brilliant coppery-green. Abdominal seg-
ments crimson. Length, 9.5 mm. ; breadth, 3.1 mm. The species is figured in pi. xv, fig. 3.

I took a specimen of this brilliantly-coloured buprestid in April 1906

on a leaf of one of the young eight-foot sapling plants

Life History. in the rubber nursery at Charduar in Assam. \Vhen

disturbed the beetle feigned death, and dropped to the

ground. The insect proves new to science.

BUPRESTIS.
Buprestis (Ancylocheira) geometrica, Cast, et Gory.

REFERENCES. — Cast, et Gory, Man. Rupr. i, 141, pi. 35, fig. 194 (1837) ; decemnotata, Cast, et Gory, id.
J33> pl- 33. fig- J84 ; aurantiopicta, Cast, et Gory, id. fig. 183 (next text).

Habitat. — Ravi Valley, Chamba, North-West Himalaya. Also reported
from Simla, Himalaya, Bengal.

Tree Attacked. - I'iniis longifolia. Chamba, Ravi Valley.

Beetle.— Elongate, finely granulose. Dull bronze or black, \\ith yellow 01 \rlli.\\ is|M-ed
spots on elytra ; under-surface and legs coppery-bronze. Head broad, finely pmirt.itr. Imnt

yellow, with two small black spots placed one on each side ol .1
Description. middle line, a small depression on vertex placed niedianly behind the

yellow patch. 1'rothorux broader than Ion-, punctate, will) lien- and

there small smooth areas; a yellow spot at lateral cd-rs and on lateral halves of anterior
margin. Elytra slightly wider than thorax at base., constricted in upper louitli and truncate,
the extremities weakly sinuate; striate-punctate, with tour largish orange pai< lies placed on
external half of each elytron, the upper one near the humeral angle and coining down on to the
lateral edge, the basal irregularly triangular, not reaching apex, the other two between the>e at

O 2

212 FAMILY BUPRESTIDAE

equal distances. Under-surface finely punctate, with patches of yellow on the head and
thorax, and a spot placed laterally on the terminal segment. Length, 17 mm. to 18 mm.;
breadth, 6 mm. to 6.5 mm.

I took a specimen of this beetle on the bark of a Finns longifolia in
the Ravi Valley of the Chamba State, North-West Himalaya. I know
nothing further on the subject of its life history.

Buprestis kashmirensis, Fairmaire.

Habitat. — Kalatope, Chamba, North-West Himalaya.
Tree Attacked. — ? Oak (Quercus incana).

Beetle.— Brilliant green, the elytra with a number of prominent longitudinal carinae smooth
and darker green than the rest. Head wide, the front studded with an irregular network of

raised prominences. Antennae short, toothed from fifth joint. Eyes
Description. large, prominent-elliptical, brown in colour. Prothorax wider than

long, narrower in front than behind. A median longitudinal channel

not reaching to base ; disk punctate, almost reticulate, the punctures and reticulations coarser
laterally, where there is a median depression near the margin. Scutellum bright coppery, the
centre deeply impressed and golden green. Elytra incurved and impressed behind the
shoulder, constricted behind, apex truncate with two small teeth. Six longitudinal and
very prominent carinae on each elytra, the sutural and marginal ones the least prominent, the
fourth from the suture reaching only half-way down the elytra, second and third joining to
form the outer tooth ; the spaces between the carinae set with a coarse granulation. Under-
surface coppery with a green sheen, punctate ; the first abdominal segment with a broad
longitudinal furrow medianly. Length, 22mm. ; width, 8.2 mm.
PI. xv, fig. 4, shows this beetle.

I took a specimen of this beetle on an oak-tree in the Kalatope Forest
in Chamba on 23 May 1909. This insect has but recently been described.
Only three specimens are known to Kerremans, who states it to be very
rare.

ANTHAXIA.
The two species of this genus I have taken in trees prove new to science.

Anthaxia osmastoni, sp. nov., Stebbing.

REFERENCE. — Stebbing, Ind. For. Mem. Zool. Ser. vol. ii, pt. ii, p. So (1911).

Habitat. — Kumaun, Western Himalaya.

Tree Attacked. — Pinus longifolia. Bellek, etc., Kumaun.

Beetle. — Front of head golden green, vertex golden. Prothorax golden green, disk golden
with a coppery reflexion. Elytra darker greenish blue with a blue reflexion, the apical portion

darkest. Under-surface golden with greenish reflexions. Front of
Description. head flat, finely reticulate, the reticulations on vertex very fine. Pro-

thorax broad, sub-quadrangular, depressed laterally on either side in

basal half ; anterior margin sinuate, sides rounded ; surface reticulate, more strongly so on
lateral portions. Scutellum heart-shaped. Elytra flat, except near base, where they are irregu-
larly elevate above a transverse basal depression ; sinuate at level of posterior coxae , sharply
constricted behind, very finely toothed in apical fourth ; apices separately rounded ; surface
uniformly and finely rugulose-granulose. ^ength, 7.2 mm. ; breadth, 2.2 mm. ;The beetle
is figured in pi. xv, fig. 5.

PLATE XV.

Fig. i. Acmaeodera kerremansi, sp. nov., Stebbing.

,, 2. Sphenoptera aterrima, sp. nov., Kerremans.

,, 3. Lampra assamensis, sp. nov., Stebbing.

,, 4. Buprestis kashmirensis, Fairmaire.

„ 5. Anthaxia osmastoni, sp. nov., Stebbing.

„ 6. Anthaxia marshalli, sp. nov., Stebbing.

„ 7. Agrilns salweenensis, sp. nov., Stebbing.

.

.

PLATE XV

FAMILY BUPRESTIDAE 213

Larva. — Short, elongate, with a small brownish-yellow head, black mandibles, and a large,
flat, spherical segment following the head. The segments behind the large one are all very
much smaller in diameter and of approximately the same size save the last, which tapers
posteriorly. Length, £ in. (see fig. 2 in pi. xii).

The shape of the larva is most characteristic, and renders it easily distinguishable
from the longicorn pest (Nothorrhina, vide p. 281) with which it is occasionally found in
the tree.

Little appears to be known upon the life history of this small buprestid.

Grubs of various sizes were taken by myself in the

Life History. bast layer of chir-trees in the middle of October in

Jaunsar in 1906, and it is probable that these grubs

hibernate in this position in their larval galleries and pupate some time
during the spring. The perfect beetle was found mature and issuing from
the trees, or ready to issue, at the end of May (in Kumaun in 1908).

Thus it appears probable that the life-cycle takes a year to pass through
from egg to perfect beetle, as is the case with the small deodar buprestid
described above.

The egg is probably laid by the beetle in crevices in the bark of the
tree some time in June. The grub, on hatching out, at once tunnels down
into the bast layer and feeds in this, at first eating out a small gallery of
irregular shape ; as it grows larger the gallery increases in size and goes
down into the deep bast, and also grooves the sapwood (the smaller
galleries in fig. i, b, pi. xii). When full-fed the grub bores a short ellip-
tical tunnel down into the sapwood, and then eats out an elongate
pupating-chamber parallel to the long axis of the tree (top of fig. i, e\

The larval gallery in the bast is blocked with excreta and wood-dust,
but that in the sapwood is free of both. The beetle, on maturing, crawls
up this empty larval tunnel, and, on reaching the bast, bores its way through
it and the bark and escapes from the tree.

Anthaxia marshalli, sp. nov., Stebbing.

Habitat. — Changa Manga, Punjab.

Tree Attacked. — Sissu (Dalbergia sissoo). Changa Manga Pl.mt.ition,
Punjab.

Small, oblong, slightly convex. Head flat, coppery-green ; prothorax and elytra brilliant
coppery ; under-surface coppery-green. Head very finely reticulate. Prothorax wide, sub-
quadrangular ; anterior margin sinuate, sides but slightly rmim'nl ;
Description. finely reticulate and with \<-iy line granulations, reticulations coaiM-r

laterally and posteriorly ; a prominent triangular depression in lateral

posterior half. Scutellum triangular. Hlytra rather sharply sinuate at posterior coxae,
constricted apically, finely toothed in apical half, apices separately rounded with a small sutural
angle ; surface finely rugulose-granulose. Under-surface finely reticulate. Length, 5.75 mm. ;
width, 1.5 mm. Fig. 6 in pi. xv. shows the insect.

2i4 FAMILY BUPRESTIDAE

I cut out a dead specimen of this buprestid from its pupating-chamber
in the wood of a dying sissu-tree in the Changa Manga Plantation on
17 May 1905. The insect is new to science, and I take pleasure in naming
it after that eminent entomologist, Mr. Guy A. K. Marshall. The grub
eats out an elongate winding gallery entirely in the cambium layer, only
boring into the sapwood to pupate.

Sub-family CHRYSOBOTHRINAE.

Front of head constricted at insertion of antennae ; antennae bent,
third joint very elongate ; poriferous pits variable ; eyes oblique, placed
close together on vertex.

This sub-family contains the large genus Chrysobothris, of which there
are a considerable number of Indian species. The sub-family contains two
species known to infest forest trees. It is probable that a number of the
other known species will be found to oviposit in trees.

CHRYSOBOTHRIS.

A large genus with numerous species in India, some of which may
prove to be of importance in the forest. The elytra often have circular
depressions on them of a different colour from the rest of the surface.

Chrysobothris musae, Thery.

REFERENCE. — Thery, Ann. Soc. Ent. Belg. xlviii, 160 (1904).

Habitat. — Ceylon .

Tree Attacked. — •? Plantain (Musa sapientum}. Hovonapotam, Ceylon.

Beetle. — Oblong-oval, sub-parallel, but slightly convex. Front of head dull red, brilliant
behind the eyes and on vertex ; prothorax bluish black, edged anteriorly with red ; elytra

olive-green, with four lighter-coloured impressions ; under-surface

Description. green medianly ; posterior tibiae and tarsi blue. The prothorax is

furrowed behind the anterior margin, the latter nearly straight,

anterior angles acute, sides sinuate in middle, posterior angles rounded, base bisinuate, the
median lobe slightly truncate. Scutellum small. Elytra with the four impressions arranged as
follows : (i) on the basal lobe ; (2) smaller, behind the humeral calus ; (3) in centre of disk ;
(4) placed nearer the margin in the apical fourth ; a raised costa parallel to suture, a second
meeting first at base and ending in apical fourth. Length, lomm. ; breadth, 4 mm.

This beetle has been reported as taken on plantain-trees in Ceylon.
Chrysobothris indica, Cast, et Gory.

REFERENCE.— Cast, et Gory, Man. Bupr. ii, 12, pi. 3, fig. 17 (1838).

Habitat. — Kowloon Island, Salween River, Tenasserim ; Andaman
Islands.

Tree Attacked. — Terminalia tomentosa (Kowloon Island, Salween River).

FAMILY BUPRESTIDAE

215

indica.
Tenasserim.

Beetle. — Slightly dull coppery-bronze. Three
highly punctate coppery-red or yellow depressions on

each elytron. Under-surface
Description. brilliant green ; legs, sides,

and last abdominal segment

coppery. Head with a well-marked transverse
carina between the eyes. Sides of prothorax concave
just above the middle, anterior and posterior angles
oblique, anterior margin slightly sinuous, median
FlG. 138. — Larva of lobes slightly produced, base bisinuate, with median
Chrysobothrts lobe much produced, as are posterior angles. Elytra
with apical portions separately rounded, a longi-
tudinal depression at shoulder, and a well-marked
costa running parallel to suture in apical half, a less

well-marked one parallel to constricted edge in apical third, meeting the
sutural one at apex, and a third, broken, in the angle between these
two ; the three circular depressions are placed longitudinally and
medianly on each elytron : (i) just above base, (2) in basal half, (3) in
lower part of apical third. Last abdominal segment carinate down
middle, and furnished with two terminal sharp spines ; anterior femora
unidentate. Length, 12. 5 mm. ; breadth, 5mm.

The beetle appears on the wing in Tenasserim some
time during December or January, and
Life History. lays its eggs in crevices in the bark of
green sickly Terminalia toinentosa trees or
in newly felled ones. The larva, on hatching out, feeds upon
the bast layer at first, and then goes into the sapwood,
remaining in the outer layers, where it eats out a flat, wind-
ing, shallow gallery in the wood. This gallery is packed
with the wood-dust and excreta of the feeding grub.
The larval gallery varies greatly in direction ; it is usually
carried more or less parallel to the long axis of the tree, but
it may bend to right or left for no apparent cause. From
the appearance and size of the gallery it would appear
that the larva increases rapidly in size after first hatching
out, and more slowly at later stages. The larval gallery
shown in fig. 140 is almost seven inches in a straight line
from end to end without the curves. The larv;i. when

full-grown, eats out a pup;d
chamber by bonni; down into
the wood ;it ,i sh;ii-ji angli .
the chamber so c;itcii out
being about an inch in Imgth
(cf. fig. 140 I, r;itli(T bnnid, ;nnl

ov.il in shape. "Tins <-li;miliri
FIG. 140.— a, Pupal chamber • |t(. )rt.(. ,,,,,,, ,,„. W()()(,
in sapwood ; o, cross-section <>l
larval tunnel in wood. (E. P. S.) excreta and dusl wit h which

r.

FIG. 139.

Chrysobothris

indica,

Cast, et Gory.
Tenasserim.

;•$'•*'' <
FIG. 141.

l.:uv.il gallery in

ll.lM 1111(1 S.l|i\\nocl.

216 FAMILY BUPRESTIDAE

the larval gallery is filled ; the diameter of the tunnel is a quarter of
an inch. The beetle, on maturing, crawls up out of the pupal chamber
(the larva turning round in the pupal chamber so as to face upwards, as is
usually the case with these wood-pupating grubs), bores its way out through
the bark above, and escapes from the tree.

In the sapwood of a large Tcrminalia tree which had been felled
some time in September or October the preceding year I took a number of
dead beetles in situ in their pupal chambers ; also a few fully-grown larvae.
An examination of. the tree showed that the main bole had been attacked
from top to bottom by this insect, the major part of the bast having been
removed by the grubs. Most of them had matured and left the tree either
in December or January, the beetles found in the first week in March being
quite fresh, and, though dead, not yet dried and desiccated. The larvae
found were taken on 9 March, and were either very belated ones, or had
resulted from fresh eggs laid in the tree near the base of the butt (where the
sapwood was still moist) by the December or January generation of beetles
which had matured in the tree. The fact that a generation of the beetles
issues in the cold weather appears to render it certain that the insect passes
through at least two life-cycles in the year, and there may be more than two.

From the data on its life history already known this small buprestid

must be looked upon as one of the dangerous forest
Damage Committed -IITJ L i u ^u^u

in the For t pests. We do not yet know what trees, other than

the Terminalia, it infests, but it will probably be found

to have several hosts. It is a hardy insect, and capable of increasing
rapidly in considerable numbers when circumstances are favourable to it.
Its life history consequently requires to be understood.

Chrysobothris sexnotata, Gory.

REFERENCES.— Gory, Mon. Bupr. Suppl. iv, 159, t. 27, fig. 154 (1841) ; Thompson, Rep. Ins. Destr. to

Woods and For. p. 12 (1868).

Habitat — United Provinces Sal Forests. Also reported from Malda
(Bengal) ; Andaman Islands ; Hong Kong ; Java ; China.

Tree Attacked. — Sal (Shorea robusta}. United Provinces.

Beetle. — Resembles indica. A green-bronze with violet reflexions,
the latter most visible on the elytra ; posterior margin of head brilliant

blue-green ; prothorax with the posterior angles
Description. a bright golden-red ; three bright green depres-

sions on the elytra ; under-surface of head and

body and the legs coppery at sides, green in the middle. Head with the
transverse carina between the eyes more arched than in indica, and
FIG. 142. distinctly pubescent ; front rugose in appearance. Prothorax with a

Chrvsobothri* deep and rather dense punctation, the small transverse ridges more
se.vnotala, Gory. regular and parallel than in indica. Elytra regularly punctate, the three
United Provinces. Sreen depressions as in indica; costae shorter and less well-defined, the
sutural one most prominent. Under-surface punctate. Length, 10 to
13.5 mm. ; breadth, 4.5 mm. to 5 mm.

FAMILY BUPRESTIDAE 217

The life history of this insect is at present imperfectly known. The

beetle appears on the wing towards the end of the hot

Life History. weather and commencement of the monsoon season,

the grubs pupating either just before winter or in

March. The grub feeds in the bast layer (the eggs being laid in crevices in
the outer bark), eating out here irregularly winding galleries. When full-
fed the grub tunnels down into the sapwood, eating out an elongate tunnel
more or less parallel to the long axis, as shown in fig. 140.

Thompson, in alluding to this beetle, says: "A very pretty buprestid
was found by me in felled logs in the Kotree Dhoon. The larva, after
acquiring maturity, bores into the timber to the depth of from two to three
inches, making a diamond-shaped orifice. It then undergoes its meta-
morphosis in the pupa state. These beetles sometimes infest trees in vast
numbers, rendering the timber unfit for use afterwards."

I found numerous evidences of the presence of this insect in the
Horai Forest (Kumaun) about the middle of May 1908. In some fallen
dead sal-trees examined, both boles and branches had been riddled by this
beetle, most of the bast layer having been removed, whilst the entrance-
holes leading down into the pupal chambers were very numerous in
the wood (cf. fig. 128).

The number of life-cycles passed through in the year is unknown.

BELIONOTA.

Belionota prasina, Thunberg.
(The Mango Buprestid.^)

REFERENCES. — Thunberg, Nov. Spe. Ins. \, 90 (1789); pyrotis, Illiger, Wiedem. Arch. Naturg.
i, 119, pi. i, fig. 3 (1800); scutellaris, Weber, Obs. Ent. 72 (1801); prasina, Kerrem. Ann. Soc. Ent. Belg.
xxxvii, 235 (1893).

Habitat. — Chicacole, Ganjam, Madras. Also reported from Bengal ;
Kurseong ; Kanara (Bell) ; Ceylon, Senegal ; Zanzibar (Maurice) ; La
Reunion; Java; Sumatra.

Tree Attacked — Mango (Mangifera indica'). Chicacole, Ganjam.

Beetle.— Oblong, elongate. Head bronze, with a median line on
vertex, and edges of latter bright green, the lateral stripes stretching down

on to front. Prothorax olive-green with a coppery
Description. reflexion, posterior outer angles brilliant crimson

or red ; elytra dark green, with at times a coppery

or blue reflexion ; under-surface shining-green, with the sides dull bronze.
Ant< nnae dull bronzy-black ; legs coppery-green. Head very finely and
irregularly punctate. Prothorax punctate, punctures denser on sides.
Scutellum large, finely punctate, acuminate behind. Klytra rounded at
shoulder, constricted from posterior coxae on a regular curve to apex, |

the suture produced into a tine spine; four prominent, but not broad. /;,•//,,„,,/,, f<>-a*
longitudinal costae, the second and third meeting two-thirds up elytra. Tliimbrrg.

Length, 20 mm. to 29 mm. ; breadth, 7.25 mm. to 10.5 mm. Ganjam, Madras.

218 FAMILY BUPRESTIDAE

As fully described under the longicorns Ploccederus obesus (p. 295) and

Batocera titana (p. 367), mango-trees in gardens at

Life History. Chicacole, in the Ganjam district of Madras, were

reported by Mr. Cox, I.F.S., in March 1907 as very

seriously infested by beetle-grubs. As the result of careful observations
by Messrs. Cox and T. Reilly, I.C.S., the Sub-District Officer, it was dis-
covered that more than one kind of grub was present infesting the trees.
Specimens of grubs forwarded enabled me to state definitely that the
grubs were buprestid and longicorn ones. At various intervals, sections
of infested mango logs were sent to me at Dehra, and placed in a
breeding-cage with the object of procuring beetles from them, and thus
ascertaining the authors of the damage being done. The investigations
carried out met with complete success. From a log sent from Chicacole on
18 December 1908, specimens of the buprestid Belionota prasina issued in
the breeding-cage at Dehra on 23 April 1909.

The life history evidently takes a year to pass through in comparatively
cold climates such as Dehra. Whether this is the case in Ganjam has yet
to be ascertained. With Mr. Cox's first consignment of grubs taken early in
March, he sent some buprestid grubs which were probably those of the
Belionota. The grubs were small, and may have recently hatched from the
eggs laid by the beetles towards the end of February. This would mean
that the beetle appears on the wing towards the end of February in
Ganjam. If this is the case, it may pass through two generations in the
year in that locality.

The grubs confine themselves entirely to the bast and sapwood, eating
out winding, shallow, rather broad galleries in this. They only penetrate
deeper into the sapwood to pupate. The damage done is to the bast
layer of the tree, and when they accompany the longicorn grubs it will be
readily evident that the injury done to the trees is very serious.

Since the beetle has a wide distribution, it is possible that it may
infest other trees besides the mango. Methods of dealing with it and
its companions are described on p. 370.

Sub-Family AGRILINAE.

Antennal poriferous pits terminal ; antennal cavities broad and situated
at some distance from the eyes ; front constricted at the insertion of the
antennae; base of prothorax sinuous at the sides and lobed in the middle;
tarsal claws toothed or appendiculate.

A very large sub-family of small or minute buprestids, including
species of very considerable economic importance both in forestry and
agriculture.

Besides a large number of smaller genera, the sub-family contains the
two very large genera of minute buprestids Agrilus and Trachys.

FAMILY BUPRESTIDAE

219

CORAEBUS.

Coraebus cingulatus, Hope.

REFERENCE.— Hope, Gray, Zool. Misc. i, 25 (1831).

Habitat. — Mussoorie, North-West Himalaya. Neither of the specimens
in the London and Berlin Museums bears any definite
locality.

Shrub Attacked. — Ritbus niveus. Mussoorie, North-
W est Himalaya.

Beetle.— Sub-parallel, rather widened in upper third, constricted at
extremity. Shining indigo blue with a green reflexion ; three transverse

bands of dark violet purple in the apical half
Description. of the elytra, the area between these with a short

light whitish pubescence. Prothorax channelled

longitudinally on either side of the elytral depression. Elytra as wide
as prothorax at base, depressed on either side at base, the depressions
forming the prolongation of the prothoracic channels. Apex obliquely
truncate on either side between an outer long terminal spine and two
minor small teeth ; the suture gaping, ridged, ending in a small tooth
smaller than the inner pair of teeth. Length, 9 mm. ; breadth, '8 mm.

FlG. 144.
Coraebus cingu-

latns, Hope.
N.\V. Himalaya.

I have taken this insect abundantly in Mussoorie, almost invariably

on Rnbus niveus. The beetle is very plentiful from the

Life History. beginning of July to the end of September, pairing during

August and September. The eggs appear to be laid

on the Rnbus, but I have never found the larvae. There is only one
generation of the insect in the year.

AGRILUS.
Small, narrow, elongate beetles.

Agrilus birmanicus, Kerremans.

REFERENCE. — Kerremuns, Ann. Soc. Ent. Belg. xxxii, 211 (1892).

Habitat. — Changa Manga, Punjab. Also reported from Upper I'.iinna.

Tree Attacked.— Sissu (Dulhcr^ia sissoo). Changa Manga Plantation,
Punjab.

Beetle.— Elongate, very narrow ; black, uitli the sternal region dull purple. Elytra ea< h
with two white spots, one in the middle of the disk, the other at the apex, llc.ul deeply

furrowed its entire length, and 1 uiili small tnins\<r^- rid

Description. 1'roihorax as wide .it base as .it summit, nearly s<|ii.ire. longitudin.i Iv

furrowed medianly \\ith wavj tiansverse ridges. Scutellum tra

versely carinate. Elytra grannlose, \\ ith deep median lias.il impressions, sir. hii\ depri
along suture, sinuate at level of coxae, slightly widen, d in upper third, constricted at ap.-\,
latter with several very sharp teeth and a Ion;; median spine. Under-surface less rugose and
more shining than the upper ; legs very finely punctate. Length, <; mm. ; Im-adtli, .: nun.

220 FAMILY BUPRESTIDAE

A specimen of this buprestid was cut out of the pupal chamber in the

sapwood of a large dying sissu-tree at the Changa

Life History. Manga Plantation, Punjab, on 17 May 1905. An

examination of the tree showed that the larval gallery

is eaten out in the bast and sapwood of the tree, being carried in an
irregular manner.

Agrilus brevicornis, Guerin.

REFERENCE. — Guerin, Rev. Zool. 328 (1840).

Habitat. — Pondicherry.

Tree Attacked. — Albizzia lebbek. Pondicherry.

Beetle. — Bronze-green ; under-surface and legs covered with a whitish powdery pubes-
cence. Head as wide as prothorax, covered with fine longitudinal striae ; antennae short,

scarcely reaching the middle of the eyes. Prothorax slightly con-
Description, stricted behind, posterior edges sinuate ; finely and transversely
stiiate. Elytra with apices conjointly rounded ; finely punctate and
transversely striate. Length, 7 mm. ; breadth, 2 mm.

This beetle has been taken in August on the leaves of Albizzia Lebbek.
Nothing further appears to be known on the subject of its life history.

Agrilus salweenensis, sp. nov., Steb.

Habitat. — Tharrawaddy ; Sal ween River, Tenasserim.
Tree Attacked. — Pyinkadu (Xylia dolabriformis}. Tharrawaddy and
Salween River.

Beetle. — Very small, elongate, narrow ; antennae very short, dark emerald green ; front
of head brilliant bluish green ; vertex of head, prothorax, and elytra dark olive green, the

colour darkening on thorax and base of elytra ; under-surface bluish
Description. black, with a green reflexion. Front of head flat, finely granulose-

punctate. Prothorax moderately convex, flattened on sides, anterior

margin sinuate, sides rounded in front, posterior angles obtuse ; surface covered with very fine
irregular transverse striae. Scutellum large, triangular, with a fine transverse impression
below the base. Elytra somewhat flattened, depressed on either side of suture in apical half,
slightly wider than thorax at base, depressed behind humeral angle, sinuous at level of pos-
terior coxae, widened in upper third, thence constricted to apex ; apices conjointly rounded ;
finely rugose and granulose ; under-surface finely granulose. Length, 5.25 mm. ; breadth,
1.5 mm. The insect is figured on pi. xv, fig. 7.

Larva. — Small ; head bright yellow, followed by bright pink abdominal segments.
Length, 8 mm.

I first took specimens of the small grub of this beetle in pyinkadu-

trees in Tharrawaddy at the end of January 1905.

Life History. The grubs were engaged in eating out small winding

galleries in the bast and sapwood of recently felled

trees. I subsequently, on 8 to n March, took specimens of the beetle
just mature and other immature ones, with pupae in their pupal chambers,
in a tree felled a few months previously at Kamamaung on the Salween
River in Tenasserim. The insect was very abundant.

FAMILY BUPRESTIDAE 221

The larva eats out a fairly straight gallery in the bast and sapwood
(the bark of this tree is very thin, and the larval gallery even of this small
grub therefore grooves the sapwood). The larval gallery appears usually to
double back upon itself, the young grub starting in a certain direction and
then altering this and curving the tunnel so as to carry it in the opposite
one. This procedure is fairly constant. The larval gallery is always
tightly packed with wood-excreta and sawdust. When full-fed the grub
bores down into the sapwood, eating out a small chamber a quarter to half
an inch down, which is parallel to the long axis of the tree. On maturing
the beetle crawls up the entrance-tunnel, eats through the bark, and escapes
from the tree. Since the beetles were just commencing to issue early in
March it is probable that the insect passes through more than one life-
cycle in the year. It was very numerous in several trees examined, and is
capable of proving a serious pest.

TRACHYS.
Minute oval beetles.

Trachys lilliputana, Kerremans.

REFERENCE. — Kerremans, C. r. Soc. Ent. Belg. xxxiv, 208 (1890).

Habitat. — Belgaum, Konbir, Chota Nagpur.

Tree Attacked. — Unknown. Taken in the forests in Belgaum
(Andrewes).

Beetle. — Oval, constricted at the extremity. Dull bronze above, shining black beneath ;
densely and regularly punctate and covered with a short sparse greyish-yellow pubescence.

Prothorax straight anteriorly, trilobed at base, sides rounded. Elytra

Description. convex, sharply constricted at apex ; punctate with a short scattered

pubescence ; a longitudinal raised costa runs from the humeral calus

to apex parallel to outer margin. Under-surface punctate. Length, 2 mm. : breadth,
1.25 mm.

This insect was taken by Andrewes in torest areas in Belgaum in
May.

Trachys ball, Guerin.

REFERENCE. — Guerin, Rev. Zool. 329 (1840).

Habitat. — Pondicherry.

Trees Attacked. Albizziu Icbbek, Arbutilou tisuiticii, and C«clt>^crnnm
gossypium. Pondicherry.

Beetle.— Bronze, slightly pubescent ; under-surface the same. Head weakly emarginate,
punctate. Prothorax transversal; posterior margin with the median lobe produced;

irregularly punctate. Elytra punctate witli irregularly pl.i.nl
Description. smooth and shining spaces l>rt\\r<-n the punctures; i-lytial c<<

as in last species. Under-surface punctate. Legs -mooth. Length,
3.25 mm. ; breadth, 2 mm.

This insect has been taken in August on tlu- Leaves of Albizzia lebbek,
in the large yellow flowers of Coclo^crniiin ^nssy^imn, and in the ri pi-
capsules of Arbutilon asiaticn.

222 FAMILY BUPRESTIDAE

UNDETERMINED BUPRESTIDS.

/;/ Sandal-wood. — At Dhimbun in North Coimbatore. in August 1902, I observed a
dead sandal-wood tree which had been badly infested by a buprestid. The bast layer
was riddled by the galleries of the larvae, each of which was some inches in length. The
grubs pupate in the sapwood. In one of the pupal chambers I took a beetle in a poor state
of preservation. It \vas, however, recognizable as a buprestid. This insect must be borne
in mind as a possible pest of the tree if it is at all abundant.

/;/ Teak. — At Natchoung on the Ataran River in Tenasserim I took a full-fed buprestid
grub from a pupal chamber between the bast and sapwood of a teak-tree blown down a few
months previously. The larva had fed in the bast and was about to pupate.

( 223 )

CHAPTER XII.

POLYMORPHA (continued)— Family ELATERIDAE.

(Click Beetles.}

ALTHOUGH species of this family are often to be met with in the forests
throughout India, but little is at present known as to their habits. Elaterid
larvae are commonly found in the decaying bast and sapwood of dying
or dead trees, but few instances are on record of the beetles having
been bred from the grubs. On a few occasions I have obtained beetles in
this way, as e.g. Ludigenus and Pectocera which infest the semul (Bombax
malabaricum) in Assam, Alaus in sal wood from Balaghat in the Central
Provinces, and two other species, Lacon and Melanotus, in spruce in the
Himalaya. In all these cases the larvae obtained have answered to the
well-known circular, hard, shining brown type of elaterid grubs.

The elater beetle is easily recognized, the head being sunk in the large

prothorax, the latter being squarish in outline, with the
Characters. posterior angles prolonged into points behind. On the

under-surface this prothorax has a pointed process

medianly which fits into a caviiy or socket on the mesosternum. This
arrangement is directly adapted for a special purpose, the insect, which
is flat and rather broad in build, when on its back being unable to turn
over again. It accomplishes this operation by pressing upwards the pointed
process, and thus freeing it sharply from the socket ; momentum is thereby
obtained, and the insect is shot up in the air, coming down on its ventral
surface again. It is owing to this habit, present in some species, that the
insect obtains the name of skip-jack or click beetle, a sharp " click " making
itself heard when the process is released from the socket. The ank-miae are
often short and serrate, the serration being at times much prolonged. The
elytra are very hard, and cover the abdomen. The beetles vary in size from
about an inch or more downwards, the larger being often brightly coloured,
as in Alaus putridm shown in fig. 148. The smaller ones are usually dull-
coloured ; yellows, browns, and blacks predominating.

The grubs of the forest species known are elongate-cylindrical (figs.

30, d, and 150), ;ind sinning brown or yellow in colour,
Larva. usually darker above than l>d<>\v. with ihivr pans of

thoracic legs and one or more processes on the last

segment. The chitinous covering of the whole grub is extremely hard and
horny in consistency, there being but little clear definition of the abdominal
segments, which are more or less equal in si/e. I have taken grubs from
two inches in length downwards.

224 FAMILY ELATERIDAE

The pupae known are white, yellow, or orange in colour, having the
head bent vertically downwards, the wing cases curved
Pupa. on to the breast, and the abdomen elongate (see fig. 150)

and often serrate on the lateral edges.

As serious pests to the bast and wood of trees the family cannot at
present be considered a dangerous one. Some species

DalTale -?e are known to feed on the roots of young plants, and thus

the Family. . -r T *u tr- i

to cause serious damage to conifers. In the Himalaya

there is at least one elaterid grub which feeds in this manner on the roots
of young deodar seedlings, both in the nursery and forest.

The forest elaterid grubs known are, however, in all probability
mostly predaceous upon other bast- and wood-feeding insects, especially the
bark- and wood-boring beetle pests. It would appear that some of these
grubs, if not actually wood-borers themselves throughout their development,
at any rate tunnel into the hard wood of trees to pupate, thus ruining its
appearance and structure. Such a case is furnished by the large elaterid
beetle Alaus putridus, the entrances to whose pupal chambers and a chamber
itself (in section at the top of the picture) are shown in pi. xvi. In order to
settle definitely the relative importance of the family in the forest its further
careful study is required.

ADELOCERA.
Adelocera modesta, Boisd.

REFERENCE. — Boisd. Fauna Ent. Ocean, p. 108 (1835).

Habitat. — Katha, Upper Burma.

Tree Attacked. — Teak (Tectona grandis}. Mohnyin Forest, Katha.

Beetle.— Small. Dark rufous brown, shining. Front of head finely
punctate. Prothorax convex, longer than wide ; the anterior margin

concave ; posterior angles produced and pointed;
Description. uniformly and rather deeply punctate, the lateral

margins and basal part clothed with longish

sparse hairs. Scutellum large, punctate. Elytra with base depressed,
sides gradually constricted to apex ; punctate, the punctures arranged in
parallel rows and smaller than those on prothorax ; scattered yellow
jrI(; , , - hairs laterally and apically. Under-surface highly punctate, the punctures

Adelocera modesta, uniformly arranged ; covered with a very short sparse scattered whitish
Boisd. Upper Burma, pubescence. Length, 12 mm. to 20 mm.

I took specimens of this insect from a pupal chamber in the sapwood
of a large standing teak-tree which had been girdled in
Life History. the Mohnyin forests the year before. The larva appar-
ently feeds in the bast and sapwood, and, when full-fed,

eats out a tunnel at the end of the gallery down into the sapwood, and
hollows out the pupating-chamber in this latter. The beetles found
were fully mature and ready to issue from the tree. They were taken on
20 February 1905 in the bole just above the roots.

FAMILY ELATERIDAE

225

FIG. 146.

Lacon sp. prox.

davidi, Fairm.

X.W. Himalaya.

LACON.
Lacon sp. prox. davidi, Fairmaire.

REFERENCE. — Provisionally identified as close to L. davidi.

Habitat. — Tehri Garhwal, North-West Himalaya.

Tree Attacked. — Spruce (Picea movinda]. Deota, Tehri Garhwal, North-
West Himalaya.

Beetle. — Elongate, narrow. Red-brown, covered with a very short,
bright golden, fairly close pubescence. Head strongly punctate and

densely clothed with a reddish golden pubes-
Description. scence. Prothorax longer than wide, anterior

margin emarginate, sides rounded, posterior

angles shortly produced, disk moderately convex, depressed at base,
strongly and uniformly punctate. Scutellum large, longer than wide,
punctate. Elytra depressed at base, elongate, sides straight to posterior
coxae, thence rather sharply constricted to apex, latter conjointly
rounded ; finely and uniformly punctate, the punctures arranged in
narrow longitudinal rows. Legs dark brown covered with a yellow
pubescence. Length, 13 mm.

I have taken this insect in both larval and beetle stages in dying and
dead spruce-trees in the North-West Himalaya.

ALAUS.
Alaus sculptus, Westw.

REFERENCE. — Westwood, Cab. Orient. Ent. p. 72 (1848).

Habitat. — -Balaghat, Central Provinces. Also reported
from Bengal and Assam.

Tree Attacked.— Sal (Shorea robusta). Balaghat, Cen-
tral Provinces.

Beetle.— Large, broad, rather flat. Dlack mottled with white
patches, the white sometimes predominating ; the white patches

consist of a thick, close, short pubescence.
Description. Head with front black, depressed and punc-

tate medianly, white on either side. Antennae

black. Prothorax with usually a black area on disk of greater or
less size ; disk very convex, shining, with depressions and rugosities,
bordered laterally by white patches spotted with black ; anterior mar-in
deeply emarginate, the basal angles produced, the lateral mar-ins canaliculate. Scutellum
small, black, punctate. Elytra depressed basally. rather flat on disk, sides constricted to
apex, latter truncate; striate and finely punctate, tin- areas of \\liitc pubescence forming
patches and spots of variable size and position. I hider-surfai-e black inetlianK, shining
white and spotted laterally. Length, 24 mm. to 36111111.

A specimen of this beetle was taken from a pupat in--rliaml>ei- in a

large sal-log sent to Dehra Dun from linlagliai. Central

Life History. Provinces, as infested with the longicorn /-/<»/>/<imvwAv.v

spiniconiis. The beetle was found dead in the chamber

on 15 July 1905, the logs having been sent to Dehra lYom iSala-hat shorth
before.

Fie. 147-

sculptus,
\\Vstw. Central
Provinces.

I know nothing further about this insect.

9003

226 FAMILY ELATERIDAE

Alaus putridus, Candeze.

REFERENCE. — Candeze, Mon. Elater. vol. i, p. 233, pi. 4, f. 15 (1857).

Habitat. — Sal ween River, Tenasserim.

Tree Attacked. — Dalbergia cultrata. Kowloon Island, Salween River,
Tenasserim.

Beetle.— Elongate, rather narrow, with short antennae. A greyish mottled brown having
a great resemblance to the bark of a tree ; the greyish appearance on living specimens is due

to a grey bloom emanating from the grey pubes-

j Description. cence appearing in patches and spots on the

f dorsal surface ; this disappears after death,

the colouring becoming various shades of brown or greyish brown ; two
small black spots placed centrally on prothorax one on each side of the
median line ; an elongate crescent-shaped black patch laterally half-way
up elytra. Front of head deeply cleft on lower edge, punctate, and
clothed with a dense pubescence. The anterior margin of prothorax is
raised into two small teeth one on each side of a longitudinal median elevate
line which does not meet either margin. Disk highly punctate and
FIG 148 convex, the highest point just behind the two small teeth, from whence

it slopes backwards and laterally ; the outer posterior angles produced
Alans putridus. ... . „,

Candeze mto ^on§ blunt P°mts- Scutellem elongate, elliptical. Elytra depressed

Tenasserim. basally, the sides constricted to apex ; striate-punctate, the punctures
rather far apart in even rows ; patches of white pubescence on surface ;
apex truncate and toothed. Under-surface densely clothed with a short pubescence ; punctate.
Length, 20 mm. to 37 mm.

I took two specimens of this beetle in their pupating-chambers in the

wood of a dead Dalbergia cultrata tree, on Kowloon

Life History. Island, in the Salween River. The tree was only

recently dead. The insects were fully mature and

about to issue. Other tunnels and chambers investigated were found to be
empty, the beetles having left. The beetles were taken on 10 March 1905,
the flight-time being evidently the first weeks of this month. The tunnel
into the wood made by the larva is circular in section, the length 3-8 in.
straight or curved, and inclined at an angle to the perpendicular. The end
of the tunnel is lined with chewed fibre for the whole of the portion in
which the larva lies when it pupates, the bottom being plugged with a mass
of the same material. The larva itself feeds either in the drying bark and
bast layer and outer sapwood, or it is predaceous upon other wood- and bark-
feeding insects, as the circular tunnel into the wood is only made after it has
attained its full size.

The colouring of the beetle exactly resembles that of the bark of the
tree, the protective resemblance being almost complete. On the bark,
whilst ovipositing, the beetle would be extremely difficult to see. I can find
no other record of the life history of this insect.

PLATE XVI.

07

GC

^•^•••^^•B

Portion of trunk of a lar-e

entrance-tunnels of .•/ laits

/,i <i/lt>-,it<i, showing tlir pupating-chambers and

•ii/it.f, C.miKvi:. Sahvfc-n I\i\cr. Tenasserim.

FAMILY ELATERIDAE 227

The damage occasioned by this insect is probably to the wood alone.

The large tree in which the beetles were taken

Damage to Tree. was standing in a clearing, and contained a number

of the holes made for pupating purposes by the

grubs. Timber infested to this extent would stand little chance of being
disposed of at timber rates. PL xvi shows the extent of the damage
done.

LUDIGENUS.
Ludigenus politus, Cand&ze.

REFERENCE. — Candeze, Man. Elater. iv, 236 (1863).

Habitat. — Goalpara, Assam.

Tree Attacked. — S&m\A(Bombaxmalabaricum). Kachu-
gaon, Goalpara, Assam.

Beetle. — Elongate, rather narrow. Black with a golden sheen
due to the presence of a short, rather sparse golden pubescence.

Antennae and legs dark rufous brown. Head
Description. with a median depression on front ; strongly and

finely punctate. Prothorax convex, the posterior

and outer angles produced backwards into a point ; uniformly and finely
punctate. Elytra but slightly convex, depressed in humeral angles, sides
straight to hind coxae, and thence constricted rather sharply to apex ;
apices separately rounded; finely and very densely punctate. Under- Ludigenus 'politttst
surface dull black ; finely reticulate. Length, 30 mm. Candeze. J Assam.

Larva. — Elongate, circular in section ; dark brown above, lighter-coloured below ; blunt
and rounded behind. Length, 33 mm.

Mr. Perree and myself took two mature beetles and a few fully grown

larvae of this insect in a large, fallen, dry semul-tree

Life History. in the Goalpara sal forests on 14 May 1906. The grubs

were in the outer sapwood, the beetles in pupal

chambers in tunnels which had been gnawed deeper down into the sap-
wood. The grubs appear to feed in the drying bast and sapwood, or they
may be semi-predaceous.

PECTOCERA.
Pectocera cantori, Hope.

REFERENCE. — Hope, Proc. Zool. Soc. Land. p. 77 (1*72).

Habitat. — Goalpara, Assam.

Tree Attacked. — Semul (Boinbax malabaricum}. Kachu^aon, Goalpara.

Beetle. — Elongate, narrow, the head furnished with a pair of antennae, a number of
whose joints aru produced into long lamellae, forming a fan ^h iprd process. HUM

antennae are folded side by side, and n-st pressed against tin-
Description, abdomen of the beetle. Red-brown or dark brown in colour \\itl:

patches of golden yellow pubescence giving a TI-\ ish app<-.n.,

to the beetle. Head deeply cleft between the eyes, finely punrtate. 1'iothor.r. l.mjcr than

P 2

228

FAMILY ELATERIDAE

wide, the anterior outer angles shortly produced, the posterior ones produced into long points ;
the disk slightly convex, with a short longitudinal median channel ; rather strongly punctate, and

covered, as is the head, with a long, sparse

l pubescence. Elytra long, narrow, constricting

<v\ /fa in apical third to a sharp tooth ; striare-punctate,

^m l///r the striae well marked at the base, but less

prominent apically. Under-surface punctate,
covered with the sparse yellow pubescence.
Length, 25 mm. to 38 mm.

Larva.— Elongate, narrow, cylindrical ; yel-
lowish brown and shining in colour. Very hard
and horny.

Pupa — Elongate, with a long abdomen.
The head covered by the thorax, which is large,
having the wing-cases folded over on to the

VlG.l$o—Pectoceracantori,Rove. under-surface and covered by the antennae,
Larva, pupa, and beetle bred from semul. which lie pressed to the ventral surface of the
Goalpara. Assam. (E. P. S.) abdomen.

In company with Mr. W. F. Perree, I took specimens of the larva,

pupa, and beetle of this insect in the rotten wood

Life History. of a large blown-down semul-tree in the middle of

May, at Kachugaon, in Goalpara. The larvae were

apparently predaceous, feeding upon one or more of the numerous wood-
boring insects present in the tree. To pupate, the grubs eat out small
elongate chambers in the wood.

AGONISCHIUS.
Agonischius metallicus, Candeze.

REFERENCE. — Candeze, Elat. Nouv. fasc. 5, p. 62 (1892).

Habitat. — Darrang, Assam.

Tree Attacked. — ? Ficus clastica. Charduar Rubber Plantation, Dar-
rang, Assam.

Beetle. — Elongate, rather narrow. Black, shining, with a coppery metallic reflexion.
Head strongly and finely rugose-punctate. Prothorax convex in front, depressed behind,

sides almost straight ; the posterior angles
Description. produced outwards into long pointed processes.

Scutellnm elongate, punctate, and large, de-
pressed between the elevate convex shoulders of the elytra ; latter striatc-
punctate, the striations most prominent on basal portion ; lateral fourth
declivous, finely striate-punctate, and covered with a short, rather dense
yellow pubescence, which also sparsely clothes the lateral surfaces of
both elytra and prothorax and all the head. Abdomen reddish coppery.
Length, 18.5 mm.

I took a specimen of this elater on 7 April 1906,
in the Charduar Rubber Plantation. The beetle was taken
on a leaf of one of the trees.

FIG. 151.
Agonischius

metallicus, Cand.
Assam.

FAMILY ELATERIDAE 229

CARDIOPHORUS.
Cardiophorus sp. prox. maer (?), Candeze.

REFERENCE. — Provisionally identified as probably close to C. maer.

Habitat. — Tharrawaddy, Lower Burma.

Tree Attacked. — Cephalostachyum pergracile. Kadin Bilin, Tharrawaddy.

Beetle.— Small, elongate, narrow. Yellowish brown, head and prothorax red-brown.
Head finely punctate. Prothorax convex, anterior margin sinuate, sides rounded ; finely

rugose- punctate. Elytra finely striate-punctate,
Description. sides straight to posterior coxae, thence con-

stricted to apex, apices conjointly rounded. Legs
and antennae yellowish brown. Length, 8.5 mm.

[Description from a single specimen in poor condition.]

I cut a single specimen of this beetle from the dead

wood of the wall of a large, hollow,

Life History. dry Cephalostachyum pergracile bamboo,

in the Kadin Bilin Forest, Tharra- I'"I<;- >52-

waddy. The larva had lived in the innermost layer of the ,

wood, and when full-fed had tunnelled deeper into the Candeze.

wall and eaten out a pupating-chamber there. In this Lower Burma.
I took the beetle on 27 January 1905. The beetle was fully mature and
ready to issue.

Cardiophorus sp.
Habitat. — Vellore, Madras.
Tree Attacked. — Casuarina (Casuarina equisetifolia'). Vellore, Madras.

Beetle. Elongate, narrow, small, moderately shining. Head and prothorax black, elytra
red-brown, with a longitudinal black band down the suture, decreasing in width to apex.

Prothorax very convex, smooth, very finely punctate, the outer
Description. posterior angles but slightly produced. Scutellum large, impressed

in centre. Elytra strongly striate-punctate, the striae stron

basally ; sides sharply constricted to apex, which is conjointly rounded. (Jnder-surface dull.
punctate; legs brown. Length, 12111111.

A specimen of this elater was sent by the District Forest Officer from

Vrllore, Madras, in company with Sinoxylon sudanicum,

Life History. the insects being reported as injurious t<> (\i\Hiirinii

equisetifolia in plantations in that district. The Sin<>.\\-

lon has been already described on p. 176. I am unable to say whether the
elater was doing any damage to the tree.

MELANOTUS.

Melanotus sp.

Habitat. — Tehri Garhwal, North-West Himala\.i.

Tree Attacked. Spurt- (Ticca iimriiuhi >. I)r<>t;i. Tchri Garhwal, North-
West Himalaya.

23o FAMILY ELATE RID AE

Beetle.— Elongate, rather flat. Black, shining, the elytra with a reddish tinge which is
most pronounced in apical portions ; abdominal segments reddish coppery, glabrous. Head

with a median depression on front which is
Description, strongly and highly punctate. Prothorax longer

than wide, anterior margin straight ; sides

slightly rounded, the posterior angles produced outwards and then down-
wards into a blunt point ; the disk moderately convex, punctate, the
punctures large but not so close as on head ; a long sparse yellow pubes-
cence on lateral edges. Elytra elongate, narrow, constricting slightly
from posterior coxae to apex, apices conjointly rounded ; striate-punctate,
the striae and punctures not well marked in basal half except in basal
depression which encloses the large heart-shaped scutellum. Under- plo j-,

surface smooth, shining, punctate, with a sparse pubescence. Abdominal Melanotns sp.
segments shining, punctate. Length, 24 mm. N.W.Himalaya.

I have taken this insect in all stages of larva, pupa, and beetle, in the
bast and sapwood of dying and dead spruce-trees and
Life History. spruce-stumps in the North-West Himalaya. The
grub is, I think, predaceous upon other wood- and bast-
boring insects. It, however, penetrates into the wood to pupate. The
tunnel made into the wood is circular in section, the pupal chamber being
elongate and considerably broader. The insect was taken in June.

Undetermined Elaters,

REFERENCE. — Stebbing, Depart. Notes, i, 89 (1902).

Habitat. — North-West Himalaya.

Trees Attacked. — Deodar (Cedrus deodar a) : Taranda Forest, Bashahr
State ; Castanea vesca : Jaunsar, North-West Himalaya.

Larvae.— i. Larva light reddish-brown in colour, with a horny, shiny, chitinous external

covering ; flat in section, with three pairs of prolegs
on the first three segments of the body. Length, ijin.
This larva is shown in the figure.

2. Larva brown in colour, hard, shining, with

FlG. 154.— Deodar Elater Larva. three pairs of prolegs on the first three segments of
< 2. N.W. Himalaya. body. Length, | in.

Information at present possessed concerning these larvae.

i. One specimen of this "wireworm," as the grubs of elater beetles
are called, was discovered feeding at the roots of an English chestnut plant
(Castanea vesca) in a small plantation near Kathian, in the Jaunsar Division,
North-West Himalaya. It was noticed that several of the young plants,
which had been raised from seed sent out from home, were dying or dead,
and the cause was attributed to bad planting in several cases. One young
plant that I dug up had its roots rather badly gnawed, patches of bark
having been peeled off. This wireworm, a large specimen, was found at the
roots, and was responsible for the bad condition of the young plant.

FAMILY ELATERIDAE 231

2. These small wireworms were found in patches of deodar seedlings in
the Taranda Forest, in Bashahr, which were being destroyed by large
melolonthid larvae. The elaters were not very abundant, and their attack
was distinguishable from that of the cockchafer grubs, since they only cut
the roots beneath the surface of the soil. The young plants were seen to be
dead or dying without any apparent cause, until they were pulled up, when
they came away in the hand, the roots having been cut clean through.
Grubs of this family move down lines of young nursery plants in Europe,
cutting through the roots in this manner.

To clear the soil from such pests, digging in quicklime is recommended,

when it can be done with safety, before putting in the

Protection. seed. Flooding nursery beds and allowing them to

stand under water for a time is a good method. All

grubs appearing above the surface should be collected and killed, unless the
flooding is done so as totally to submerge the beds. Watering the beds with
a solution of copper sulphate is also at times effective.

Other Undetermined Elaterid Larvae and Pupae.

Elaterid larvae have also been taken :

1. In Milletia brandisiana, in the Kadin Bilin Forest in Tharrawaddy, on 23 January
1905. A number were taken beneath the bark of a stump of this tree in a 1904 tounggya
clearing. I am of opinion that the grubs were probably predaceous upon termites which
infested the stump.

2. At the roots of dying Dalbergia sissoo trees in the Changa Manga Plantation, on
19 May 1905. The larvae were here feeding upon the roots of the tree. I took one pupa on
this date, but no mature beetles.

( 232 )

CHAPTER XIII.

HETEROMERA.

THE tarsi of the first two pairs of legs have five joints, those of the hind
pair four joints.

Family TENEBRIONIDAE.

This is a curious family of dark-coloured beetles, members of which are
to be found distributed throughout the forests of the country, occasionally
in considerable abundance. Some forms resemble predaceous Carabidae,
whilst others bring to mind the lamellicorns, owing to the existence of horns
on the head.

The beetle is elongate or squarish in shape, the elytra often rounded
and convex ; the parts fit well together, giving the in-
Beetle, sect a compact and often flattened form. In some cases
the elytra are soldered together, lower wings being

absent. The antennae are short and eleven-jointed, the abdominal segments
five in number. Blacks or very dark browns and greys are the predominant
colourings in the family.

The larva of this family resembles the elaterid larva, being elongate

and circular in shape, and covered with a thick

Larva. brownish or yellowish hard coat of chitin ; there are

three pairs of thoracic legs used in walking, and a

ventral process used in wood-living species as a sucker, and two hooks on
the last segment (cf. fig. 159).

The pupa is yellowish white, convex dorsally, with a vertical head,
hooded thorax, the abdominal segments corrugated, the last ending in two
processes (figs. 157, 159).

The exact importance of this family cannot as yet be definitely stated.
A number of forms feed on dead and decaying materials — bark, wood, leaves,
fruits, etc. — but are of small economic utility. It is by no means certain*
however, that this function, or even that of sap-feeding from dying or newly
felled trees, forms the habit of the greater number of forest forms of the
family. Some species investigated are undoubtedly predaceous, whilst others
would appear to be bark- and wood-borers to some considerable extent.
From observations and investigations carried out, I should be strongly
averse to relegating the family to the position of mere scavengers, or to
commit myself to the statement that it contains no pests in the forest. The
habits of the genus Setenis, as will be shown, would appear to indicate that
some members of the family are wood-feeders and borers. The grubs of the
genus Hypophloeus are at least semi-predaceous upon bark-borer grubs.

FAMILY TENEBRIONIDAE

233

SETENIS.
Setenis indosinica, Fairm.

REFERENCE. — Fairm. Ann. Soc. Ent. Belg. xxxvii, 296 (1893); xl, 168 (1896).

Habitat. — North-West Himalaya.

Tree Attacked. — Blue Pine (Finns cxcelsa}. Lambatach, Jaunsar.

Beetle.- Elongate, rather broad. Black, dull. Head flat,

widest medianly, finely punctate ; antennae short, placed marginally.

Prothorax wider than long, broader than
Description. head, sides rounded, disk moderately con-

vex, finely rugose-punctate, with a fine

median longitudinal line, the basal margin channelled. Elytra

broad, sides almost straight to apical fourth, thence rather sharply

constricted to apex ; disk flat, with fine longitudinal rows of regular

punctures placed at rather wide intervals ; apical part depressed ;

pygidium small. Legs long, black, shining, the anterior femora

thickened. Length, 27-28 mm.

This beetle was taken from beneath the bark of
dead blue pine-trees at Lambatach

1 r l(j. 155'

Life History. in Jaunsar in the middle of June. Setenis indosinica,

The beetles were either just ma- Fairm. N.W. Himalaya,
turing in the trees or were pairing beneath the bark.

Beetles were taken from both sound timber and trees which had been
dead for several years. They were also found in large stumps of trees
of this pine.

I observed a pair of the beetles in coitu on 19 May 1902, under the
thick lower bark of a girdled nearly dead blue pine, and kept the pair under
observation for several days. The eggs are laid on the sapwood, and the
grubs feed here, tunnelling down into the wood to pupate. I took no pupae
in this tree, but found the pupal chambers at some distance down in the
wood.

The beetles are very shy insects, and if alarmed will remain without
movement for a long period of time. They dislike daylight, and at once
make for a shadow or dark corner if exposed to it.

The beetles have under-wings, and the elytra are not soldered together.

Setenis semiopaca, Blair, sp. MOV.

REFKKKNCK. — Blair, Ann. .\\if. Hist, i .ii, 57 (I«M

Habitat. — North-West Himalaya. Also reported from Sylhet, Assam.

Trees Attacked. — Spruce (Picea ni<n-indd\ : Drota, Jaunsar; Blue Pine
(Pimis excclsa) : Lambatach, Jaunsar.

234

FAMILY TENEBRIONIDAE

FIG. 156.

xemiopaca.
N.W. Himalaya.

FlG

Beetle.—Smaller than indosinica. Elongate, somewhat narrow.
Black, moderately shining. Head slightly convex, lateral anterior

margins raised in front of eyes, the ele-

Description. vation being continued down the inner

surface of eye, forming a crescent-shaped

ridge on either side of vertex ; finely punctate ; antennae short. Pro-
thorax wider than long, narrower behind ; anterior margin straight,
posterior emarginate, sides rounded ; moderately convex, a lateral
depression on either side of centre of disk ; finely and closely
punctate. Elytra broader than prothorax, widest in apical fourth,
thence constricting to apex ; apical portion depressed ; disk mode-
rately convex, sloping laterally, surface smooth with longitudinal
rows of very fine punctures, at times confluent, placed far apart, the
interspaces set with very fine scattered punctures, the sides and
posterior declivity with minute granules ; pygidium short, yellow.
Under-surface black, shining, strongly and finely punctate. Legs
long, rather slender, black, shining ; femora thickened and unarmed.
Length, 21 mm. to 23 mm.

This and three other species of the family have been very
kindly described for me by Mr. K. G. Blair, of the British Museum.

Pupa. — Large, thick, elongate, rather curved, whitish yellow.
Prothorax large and hood-like ; body segments thick, fleshy, and
tuberculate, the last ending in two processes. Legs long and well
developed ; antennae short. Length, 37mm.

I first obtained mature individuals of this beetle

from the bark and wood of a large Pupa of Setenis semi-
Life History. girdled and newly dead spruce-tree °Paca- ^-W. Himalaya.

near Deota in Jaunsar in the middle

of June 1902. This tree was very badly infested by the great Himalayan
Sirex, S. imperialis, and other wood-boring Siricidae. A few days later
I obtained mature beetles of 5. indosinica, and pupae which at the time I
thought to be those of S. indosinica, from blue-pine trees at Lambatach.
I was able to rear one of the pupae, the beetle maturing on 2 July (from a
white pupa taken on 19 June). It proved to be an undescribed species of
Setenis. The grubs had obviously fed on the wood of the tree, pupating
when full-grown deeper down in the wood.

Setenis laevis, Fairm.

REFERENCE. — Fairm, Notes, Leyd. Mus. xviii, 230 (1896).

Habitat. — Assam.

Tree Attacked. — Sal (Shorea robusta). Haltugaon
and Kachugaon, Goalpara.

Beetle. — Elongate, thickened behind. Head and prothorax
black, dull ; elytra chestnut brown, moderately shining. Head

widest in front ; eyes large, set well into sides
Description. of head about middle ; strongly punctate and

rugose, slightly canaliculate anteriorly. Pro-
thorax wider than long, narrowest behind, sides rounded ; disk

Setenis laevis, Fairm. rather flat, with a deep pit placed rather behind the middle on
Assam. either side of a fine longitudinal median line ; punctures fine and

FIG.

FAMILY TENEBRIONIDAE

235

very scattered. Elytra widest in apical fourth, thence constricted
sharply to apex ; moderately convex and depressed behind ; punc-
tate, the punctures in longitudinal rows placed rather far apart, the
individual punctures at some distance from one another. Legs
elongate, black, and shining. Length, 22 mm.

Larva. — Elongate, narrow cylindrical, outer surface very hard
and thickened ; dark chestnut brown to blackish in colour, the
segments marked by a dark narrow transverse band ; three pairs of
legs are present which are functional. Length, 30 mm. to 36 mm.

Pupa — Thick, curved, whitish yellow, the prothorax hooded, the
abdominal segments slightly tapering and narrower than thoracic
ones. Length, 28 mm.

This tenebrionid beetle is very plentiful in dead
sal-trees in the Assam sal forests.
Life History. In the first fortnight in May 1906
Mr. W. F. Perree and myself took
it in all stages of larva, pupa, and beetle, in the trees.

FIG. 159.

Larva and pupa of

Setenis laeins. Assam.

(E. P. S.)

FIG. 160.

Setenis semivalga, Blair, sp. nov.

REFERENCE. — Blair, Ann. Mag. Hist. (ser. 8), xii, 57 (1913)-

Habitat. — Central Provinces. Also from Ceylon
(Bates Coll.).

Tree Attacked.— Sal (Shorea robusta). Kudrahi,
Mandla.

Beetle.— Elongate, the elytra much broader than the head and
prothorax. Black. Head flat, narrow, broadest medianly, punctate.

Prothorax wider than long, sides but slightly
Description. rounded, the median furrow entire and promi-

nent, the pits on either side small and incon-
spicuous ; punctate, the punctures rather fine and scattered. Elytra
slightly wider in apical fourth, thence constricted to apex ; apical
fourth depressed ; moderately convex ; strongly and rather deeply
striate-punctate, the striae rather close together and rather coarsely
punctured, the interstices convex. Legs long, black, shining ;
anterior tibiae thickest and subdentate in middle. Length, 23 mm.

I took a specimen of this insect, in April 1909, from beneath the bark
of a green sal-tree felled the previous February in theMandla s;il forests.

HYPEROPS.

Hyperops unicolor, llrrbst.
REFER] \CK.— Herbst. A'.i;. viii, p. 163, i. [27, f. a (:
Habitat. Madras.
Tree Attacked. -Casuarina (Cflswan'wa equisetifolia).

Vellore.

Beetle.— Small, elongate. lilack, dull. Head tlat, \\idot
medianly; very finely and uniformly punctate. I'rothorax Ion

|,-[( than wide, narn>\\cst behind : anterior margin concave, sides

Hyperops unicolor, rounded ; moderately convex, finely and uniformly punctate.
Hbst. Yellore, Madras. Elytra elongate, narrow, sharply constricted and depressed in apical

Ulair, sp. nov.
Central Provinces.

-I
236 FAMILY TENEBRIONIDAE

fourth ; disk rather flat, punctate, the punctures very fine, placed in longitudinal rows.
Legs black. Length, 7.5 mm. to 8 mm.

Specimens of this insect were sent to me by the District Forest Officer
in Vellore, with the report that they had been taken from casuarina-trees
in a plantation in that district.

HYPOPHLOEUS.
Hypophloeus flavipennis, Mots.

REFERENCE. — Mots, Etudes Ent. vii, 99 (1859).

Habitat. — North-West Himalaya ; Siwaliks.

Trees Infested. — Blue Pine (Pinus excelsa), Spruce (Picea morinda),
Deodar (Ccdnts deodar a), and the Chilgoza Pine (Pinus gerardiana) : North-
West Himalaya ; Erythrina suberosa : Siwaliks.

Beetle. — Small, elongate, flat, shining. Head large, exposed, black, and punctate.
Antennae short, yellow, as are legs. Prothorax black, longer than wide, narrower in front,.

squarish behind, sides rounded, moderately convex and uniformly

Description. punctate. Elytra rufous brown, elongate-elliptical, rounded at

their apices ; finely but broadly striate, with scattered punctures ;

pygidium brown. Under-surface black, shining, punctate ; five visible ventral segments
of the body. Length, 3.5 mm. to 3.9 mm. (See fig. 162.)

This little beetle is one of the commonest insects present in newly felled
or dying and newly dead blue pine, spruce, and deodar

Life History. trees in the North-West Himalayan
forests. The beetle is often found

swarming in the galleries of the Polygraphus, Tomicus
(p. 510), and Pityogenes bark-borers which infest these
trees, and even in those of the scolytid beetles in deodar.
The beetle itself probably feeds only on the sap of the
tree, but I am of opinion that its larvae are predaceous
or semi-predaceous, feeding upon the grubs of the bark-
borers when these are available. As I have said, the
beetles are at times to be found swarming in incredible
numbers in the egg-galleries of the bark-boring beetles FlG l6,,

and ovipositing in them. Hypophloeus

In the middle of February 1902 Student B. Sen Gupta,
of the Imperial Forest School, took specimens of a Siwaliks/

beetle, which were identified at the British Museum as
H. flampennis, from under the bark of a recently felled dead Erythrina
suberosa tree at Bulawala in the Siwaliks.

Hypophloeus sp. nov.

REFERENCE. — Determined as an undescribed species of Hypophloeus by Herr H. Gebien.

Habitat— North-West Himalaya.
Tree Infested. — Pinus longifolia. Jeramola, Jaunsar.

Beetle.— Small, elongate. Brown, shining, the elytra yellowish, the lateral edges and
suture black, widening out into a black patch on the sutural margin in apical fourth ;

FAMILY TENEBRIONIDAE 237

pygidium and abdominal segments dark brown to black. Head
depressed, red-brown on front, very finely punctate. Prothorax
rather square, longer than wide, very finely punctate. Elytra
elongate, rather narrow, apex truncate ; disk rather convex ;
depressed at apex ; finely striate-punctate. Legs light yellow.
Length, 2.7 mm. to 3.1 mm.

This insect is probably predaceous upon Poly-
graphus longifolia. I have taken the insect abundantly ," .

in the galleries of this beetle in Finns longifolia in FIG. i62A.

Taunsar (vide p. 527). Hyt?t!ll0'£ s?' nov'

N. \\ . Himalaya.

GONOCEPHALUM.

Gonocephalum depressum, Fabr.

REFERENCE. — Fabr. Eni. Syst. Suppl. p. 41 (1789).

Habitat. — Siwaliks and Terai forests of United Provinces ; Changa
Manga, Punjab. Probably common throughout Northern India,

Trees Attacked. — Sal (Shorca robusta) : Siwaliks and United Provinces
Terai forests ; Sissu (Dalbergia sissoo) : Changa Manga.

Beetle. — Small, flat, ovate-elliptical. Greyish brown or rusty black. Head depressed in
front, eyes placed laterally and posteriorly, the antennae inserted in front of them ; punctate.

Prothorax much wider than long, the anterior margin concave, sides

Description. much rounded ; disk moderately convex, punctate ; elytra wider in

apical fourth, thence constricting to apex ; apices conjointly rounded ;

finely striate-punctate. Legs rather short ; antennae with the terminal joints knobbed.
Length, 6 mm. to 6.5 mm.

This is a very common beetle, found in large numbers on the bark or

stumps of sal-trees. It apparently breeds in dead and

Life History. decaying wood, and is probably of small economic

importance. I have also taken it plentifully beneath

the bark of sissu trees at Changa Manga.

Gonocephalum elongatum, Guer.

REFERENCE. — Guer. Mag. Zool. 1837, Milas, p. .5-'.

Habitat. — Common in the plains of Northern India.
Tree Attacked. — Breeds in the decaying wood and bark of a variety of
species of trees.

Beetle. — Resembles depression, but is narrower, the elytra markedly wider than pro
thorax, the eyes being situated higher up on head ; sides of thorax are rimed aniei loHy and

straight behind : thorax is slightly tuberculate. Klylia i.ulually
Description. \\idcn from base apically, ronstrirtin- on .1 uniform curve at apex

punctatc-striate, the striae rather lar apart. Knobs on antennae not
so prominent. Length, 8.2 mm.

This is another very common species of Gonocephalum, and is to be
found in the beetle stage almost throughout the year. It is found com-
monly in the forests, but is probably of small economic importance.

238

FAMILY TENEBRIONIDAE

TRIBOLIUM.

A genus of small beetles found feeding on dying and dead wood and
bark and other materials, and on dried insects, etc.

Tribolium ferrugineum, Fabr.

REFERENCE. — Fabr. Spec. Ins. i, 324 (1781).

Habitat. — North-West Provinces.

Tree Infested. — Sal (Shorea robusta}. Dehra Dun.

Beetle. — Elongate, narrow, flat. Light brown, moderately
shining ; under-surface and legs the same colour. Head flat,

prominent ; the elytra short, thickest
Description. apically. Prothorax broader than head,

wider than long ; sides rounded, mode-
rately convex ; punctate. Elytra striate-punctate, the striae most
prominent on lateral half ; apices conjointly rounded. Under-
surface finely punctate, shining. Length, 5 mm. to 7 mm.

FIG. 163.
Tribolium ferru-
gineum, Fabr.

I bred out this insect from sal logs brought by myself from Goalpara

in Assam. These logs were cut from green trees in May

Life History. 1906, and beetles were obtained in Dehra on the I3th

(and successive days) of November 1907. It is probable

that the eggs from which these insects were reared were laid in the logs

whilst in the store depot of the museum at Dehra. The larvae feed in the

decaying bark, and are perhaps semi-predaceous upon insect grubs.

Tribolium confusum, J. du Val.

REFERENCE. — J. du Val, Gen. Col. d'Eur. Cat. p. 181, nota i (1866).

Habitat. — Siwaliks, North India.

Tree Infested. — bamboo (Dendrocalamus strictus).
The Dun forests, Siwaliks.

Beetle. — Larger \haaferrugineum. Dark brown in colour, the
elytra moderately shining. Prothorax wider than long, highly and

uniformly punctate ; a narrow depression

Description. on each side near basal margin. Elytra

constricted apically, the apices conjointly

rounded ; moderately striate-punctate, the striae less well marked
than in ferrugineum. Under-surface dull, punctate. Length,
5 mm. to 8 mm.

FIG. 164.
Tribolium confusum,
Siwaliks.

J. du Val.

I have obtained specimens of this beetle from drying and dead bamboos

cut in the Siwaliks. The bamboos were attacked by

Life History. Dinoderus pilifrons, and this beetle and the Tribal i it in

were bred out together. The grubs are not improbably

predaceous or semi-predaceous on the bostrychid. They are also predaceous

upon the grubs of Caryoborus sp., which infests the seeds of A Ibizzia lebbek

(vide p. 252).

FAMILY TENEBRIONIDAE 239

Tribolium castaneum, Herbst.
REFERENCE. — Herbst. K'df. vii, p. 282, t. 112, f. 3, E. (1797).

Habitat. — Calcutta.

Tree Infested. — Bamboo (Dendrocalamus str ictus).

Beetle. — This greatly resembles both in size and appearance T. ferrugineum, with which
species it is considered by many to be identical.

During the experiments carried out with the bamboo-borer Dinoderus

minutus at the Indian Museum in Calcutta in 1903

Life History. I bred out a number of specimens of this Tribolium.

It and its grubs feed in the walls of the bamboo and

perhaps on the masses of wood-powder eaten out by the Dinoderus beetles
and their grubs. The grubs are probably semi-predaceous, as I have also
found them in company with Caryoborus gonagra in the seeds of Bauhinia
racemosa (vide p. 252).

Tribolium sp.

REFERENCE. — Determined as an undescribed species of Tribolium af the British Museum.

Habitat. — Siwaliks, North India.

Tree Infested. — -Sal (Shorea robusta). Dholkhand, Siwaliks.

Towards the end of January 1902 I obtained specimens of the

beetles of a minute Tribolium from beneath the bark

Life History. of some dead felled sal-trees. The beetles were between

the bark and sapwood, and were active. It is possible

that the insect hibernates as a beetle.

MESOMORPHA.

Mesomorpha villiger, Blanch.

REFERENCE. — Blanch. I'oy. /'<>/. Sud. iv, 15.1, pi. 10, fig. 15 • i

Habitat.— Siwaliks and Terai sal forests, North
India; Katha, Upper Burma.

Trees Attacked. — Sal (Shorea robust n ) : Siwaliks
and Terai, North India; Teak (Tcctonn ^nnuHs] :
Mohnyin Reserve, Katha.

Beetle. -Ovate-elongate. Dull br<i\\nisli black or rusty hi. irk.
Head depressed, front strongly granulose. I'rothonx \\ider th.m

long, sides strongly rounded ; disk convex,
Description. strongly granulose. Elytra widest in apical j.-|,; [^

fourth, where tliev arc \\idi-r th;m pro-

Mesomorpha
thorax ; constricted from apical fourth, apices conjointly rounded : 7'////"vv I'.laiu-li.

rather strongly striate and granulose. Under-surface strongly North India : I pp«i
punctate. Legs rather short. Length, 7.5 mm llurma.

24o FAMILY TENEBRIONIDAE

I have taken this beetle commonly in March, April, and May in crevices
of the bark of sal-trees and on the bark of stumps in the

Life History. Northern India sal forests, and found the insect beneath
the bark and wood of dead trees, where it evidently

breeds. I also took specimens of the insect from beneath the bark of a large
standing girdled teak-tree in the Mohnyin forests in Katha on 19 February
1905. In this latter case the larvae were found feeding in the bark and
outer sap wood.

The beetle only infests dying and dead trees, is found in thatched roofs,
and would appear to be of small economic importance. Lefroy in Indian
Insect Life (p. 336) thus alludes to this insect :—

"A yearly feature is the emergence of numbers of the very common
beetle Mesomorpha villiger, which breeds in dry leaves and wood, and which
emerges abundantly to fly in the warm evenings in March in the plains. In
the warm winter of 1907 these beetles emerged on 25 February, an excep-
tionally early date."

BLAPS.

Blaps armata, Blair, sp. nov.

REFERENCE.— Blair, Ann. Mag. Hist. 8th ser, xii, 56 (1913).

Habitat. — North Zhob, Baluchistan. Also reported from Chitral.
Tree Attacked. — Chilgoza (Pin its gerardiana). Shinghar, North Zhob
(Captain E. H. James).

Beetle. — Large, black, dull ; antennae and legs shining black.
Head depressed, longer than wide ; antennae placed at side in

front of eyes ; latter reniform, transverse,
Description. yellow ; an elevate wavy ridge stretch-

ing across front of head between the

juncture of antennae ; very finely punctate, punctures scattered.
Prothorax wider than long ; sides evenly rounded, base nearly
straight, disk moderately convex, with very fine, rather scattered
punctures. Elytra elongate-ovate, as wide as prothorax at base,
sides evenly rounded ; width greatest in apical fourth, thence
constricting to a pointed apex ; disk moderately convex, depressed
towards apex ; finely striate with rather scattered, often almost
obsolete, punctures, and at times irregularly rugose ; lateral
carina completely marginal. Legs long, the anterior femora with
•a prominent median tooth on inner edge. Length, 27.5 mm. Blaps armata, Blair, sp. n.
The female only is known. $ North Zhob.

Whilst examining infested trees in the chilgoza forests at Shinghar in

the autumn of 1908 in North Zhob in Baluchistan,

Life History. Captain E. H. James, Assistant Political Agent, Fort

Sandeman, cut out a specimen of this beetle from

.a dead tree. The grub has not been taken, but it apparently tunnels down
into the sapwood to pupate.

The insect has been very kindly described for me by Mr. K. G. Blair
as a new species

FAMILY TENEBRIONIDAE

241

ENCYALESTHUS.
Encyalesthus foveoseriatus, Fairm.

REFERENCE. — Fairm. Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr. (6), viii, 358 (t888).

Habitat. — Mohnyin Forest, Katha, Upper Burma.

Tree Attacked. - - A Istonia scholaris.
Forest.

Mohnyin

FIG. 167.

Encyalesthus

foveoseriatus, Fairm.

Burma.

Beetle. — Elongate, the head and prothorax narrower than the
elytra, antennae knobbed. Dark brown, with a coppery reflexion,

head and thorax almost black, legs dark

Description. brown, shining. Head depressed in front,

the vertex convex, smooth, shining, the

front rugose. Prothorax wider than long, anterior margin indented
on either side, disk irregularly elevate, with the punctures scattered
and varying in size. Elytra impressed in humeral angle, widest
three-fourths up from base, thence sharply constricted to apex ;
depressed in apical fourth ; strongly punctate, the punctures deep
and larger laterally in basal three-fourths, small in apical depres-
sion ; much smaller on sutural area. Under-surface black, shining
punctate. Length, 17.2111111.

This insect was obtained by myself during a tour in Burma. The
specimen was cut out of a large felled Ahtonia scholaris tree on Kadu Hill in
the Mohnyin Forest in Katha.

CAMARIMENA.
Camarimena rugosistriatus, Blair, sp. nov.

REFERENCE. — Blair, Ann. Mag. Hist. 8th ser. xii, 58 (1913).

Habitat.— North-West Himalaya; "Ind. or." (Bates Coll.).

Tree Attacked. — Deodar (Cedrus deodar a). Konain,
Jaunsar (A. J. Gibson).

Beetle. — A thickset beetle with small head and prothorax and
short antennae. Dull coppery-brown. Head flat, depressed, finely

rugose and irregularly striate. Prothorax

Description. slightly wider behind, base straight ; densely

punctate, the punctures largest on disk, and

at times confluent with a few wavy sir, at ions. Klytra stout, base
straight, sides straight to apical fourth, thence constricted on a rune :
strongly striate-punctate, the striae deep, the punctures of striae !•[<;. i .

very closely placed and transversely elongate. Under-surface covet o 1 ' 'amarimena
with a short silky whitish-yellow pubescence. Legs densely pmn-- >\;i\r. SP- n"v-

tate. Length, 1 8. 2 mm.

Blair adds the following note to his description of tin- species :— 'This species hail been
separated by Bates from Camarimena under the name 1'i^cnx, but without < hara< -in i/ation of
the genus. For the present, however, until the group comes to be revised, I consider it best to
leave it in Camarimena.'1''

9003 Q

24-2

FAMILY TENEBRIONIDAE

Specimens of this beetle were taken on young deodar - trees by

Mr. A. J. Gibson, Imperial Forest Economist, Forest

Life History. Research Institute, Dehra Dun. The beetles were

obtained on 6 May 1908 at Konain in Jaunsar, and were

found feeding on the young male flowers. Two days later the insect was again

taken feeding on the flowers, and on this occasion a species of Cistelomorpha

(annuligera, Fairm.) was taken occupied in the same manner (vide p. 244).

OPATROIDES.
Opatroides vicinus, Fairm.

REFERENCE. — Fairm, Ann. Soc. Ent. Belg. xl, 21 1896).

Habitat. — Fort Sandeman, Zhob.
Tree Infested. - - Vines (Vitis vinifera). Fort
Sandeman.

Beetle. — Ovate-elongate. Black, slightly shining. Head with
frontal margin semicircular, surface uniformly densely and finely

punctate. Prothorax wider than long,
Description. anterior edge straight, sides slightly curved,

the posterior angles pointed ; uniformly and

finely punctate. Elytra convex, depressed in apical fourth, sides
straight to level of posterior coxae, thence constricted, apices sepa-
rately rounded ; the lateral margin flattened horizontally, the edge
finely serrate ; very finely punctate, the rows of punctures rather far
apart. Legs short, black. Length, 7.8 mm.

I took this beetle in the soil at the foot of grape vines in the station
garden at Fort Sandeman. The beetle was mature and
Life History. evidently ready to leave the soil. I have not ascer-
tained whether its larvae feed on the roots of the vine
or are predaceous on other grubs which do so.

FIG. 169.

Opatroides vici/n/s,
Fairm. Zhob.

FK;. 170.

A marygmus cuprariitt,
Weber. Tenasserim.

AMARYGMUS.
Amarygmus cuprarius, Weber.

REFERENCE. — Weber, Obs. Ent. p. 70 (1801).

Habitat. — Tenasserim.

Tree Infested. — Dalbergia cultrata. Sal ween
River, Tenasserim.

Beetle. — Ovate-elliptical. Dark olive-green with a bril-
liant metallic-coppery reflexion. Head coppery, small, finely

punctate, eyes large. Prothorax

Description. much wider than long, anterior

margin convex, sides rounded ;

finely and rather irregularly punctate. Elytra very convex,
elongate, humeral angles rounded, sides rounded, constricting
in apical fourth; striate-punctate, the interstitial spaces broad,
the punctures small. Legs long, black, shining. Length,
i i mm. to 12.5 mm. $ smaller than $.

FAMILIES TENEBRIONIDAE AND CISTELIDAE 243

I took a number of specimens of this beetle from beneath the bark of a

large standing dead Dalbergia cultrata on Kowloon Island

Life History. on the Salween River in Tenasserim on 9 March 1905.

The beetles were found together beneath the bark in the

angle between the wings of the enormous buttress which formed the lower
ten feet of the trunk of the tree. The beetles are very active, and ran
rapidly up the trunk as soon as the bark was stripped off. The insect is
probably carnivorous, and may have been feeding on one or more of the
insects with which this tree was infested (vide pp. 427, 449, 598).

ALPHITOBIUS.

Alphitobius piceus, Oliv.

REFERENCE. — Oliv. Ent. iii, 1795, 58, p. 17, t. 2, f. 13, a, b.

Habitat. — Tenasserim.

Tree Infested.— Yindiak (Dalbergia cultrata}. Nat-
choung Reserve, Ataran River, Tenasserim.

Beetle. — Small ; black, moderately shining. Head small,
rounded on anterior margin, the edge reddish ; finely punctate.

Prothorax wider than long, the sides
Description. rounded, posterior margin thickened ; uni-

formly and densely punctate ; scutellum
rather large, punctate. Elytra with rounded sides, the apices sepa-
rately rounded ; striate-punctate, the lateral margins flattened Alphitobius piceus,

^ , Oliv. Tenasserim.

horizontally. Legs rather short. Length, 4.5 mm.

During a visit paid to the Natchoung Reserve on 16 March 1905,
in company with the Divisional Forest Officer, Mr. Parker, I obtained a
specimen of this beetle from beneath the bark of a felled Dalbergia
.cultrata tree.

Family CISTELIDAE

The beetles of this family closely resemble Tenebrionidac, but the\
have pectinate instead of simple claws to the feet. The beetles have Ion-
antennae, longer in the male than in the female.

The members of the family are said to live and feud beneath the lurk
and sapwood of dead and decaying trees, but some species appear to
feed on the flowers.

Cistelomorpha andrewesi, Fairm.

Habitat. — Siwaliks, North India.

Tree Infested.— Sal (Shorca i-obitstti). Siwaliks.

" 2

244

FAMILIES CISTELIDAE AND LAGRIIDAE

FIG. 172.
Cistelomorpha

andrewesi, Fairm.
Siwaliks.

Beetle. — Elongate, widest behind. Dark canary-yellow. Elytra
black, the basal sixth canary-yellow, produced on lateral edge with a

narrow edging of same colour along suture ;
Description. a longitudinal egg-shaped yellow spot in

basal third near suture, a larger roughly-
circular one about middle near lateral margin, a third transversely
crescent-shaped with wavy edges three-fourths up, and a fourth at
apex. Under-surface dark canary-yellow. Head narrow, elongate ;
antennae and eyes black. Prothorax widest behind, very finely and
closely punctate. Elytra widest three-fourths way up, thence con-
stricting to apex ; striate and rugose-punctate, the striae and
punctures obsolete in parts. Length. 12 mm.

I took a specimen of this beetle from beneath the
bark of a dead sal-tree in the Dun forests of the Siwaliks.
I know nothing further about its life history.

Cistelomorpha annuligera, Fairm.
Habitat.— North-West Himalaya.
Tree Attacked. — Deodar (Cedrus deodar a). Konain, Jaunsar (A. J. Gibson).

Beetle. — Dark canary-yellow, head and legs orange, apical half
of elytra marked with narrow transverse black stripes. Head

sloping, finely punctate, a transverse chan-
Description. nel between the antennae, which are

inserted a short distance in front of eyes.

Prothorax broader behind than in front, wider than head, sides rounded
in front, straight behind, disk finely reticulated. Elytra shining,
smooth, wider than prothorax at base, widest about one-third up,
depressed laterally and apically, striate and very finely punctate ;
an elongate, narrow, elliptical area in basal half enclosed by a fine
black stripe, a second egg-shaped area above, nearer lateral margin,
and a third larger transverse crescent-shaped area in apical third,
both enclosed by fine black bands, these latter being finely rugulose- FIG. 173.

punctate. Under-surface greenish, abdomen canary-yellow, very Cistelomorpha annuli-

finely punctate. Length, 19 mm. xA^Lr^'T1'

N.YV. Himalaya.

Mr. A. J. Gibson, Indian Forest Service, obtained specimens of this

beetle feeding, in company with the tenebrionid Canni-

Life History. riincna rugosistriatus, Blair, already described, on the

male flowers of young deodar-trees at Konain in Jaunsar.

The beetle was taken on 8 May 1908. This is the only observation on its
life history I can find. It is of considerable importance in view of this
observation that the habits of the insect should be correctly ascertained.

Family LAGRIIDAE.

The beetles resemble Tenebrionidae, but have the last joint but one of
the tarsus bilobed and pubescent, the claw being simple. Until compara-
tively recently nothing was known about the habits of the forest species in
India. A member of the family is likely to prove, however, of some
economic importance in Assam.

FAMILIES LAGRIIDAE AND MONOMMIDAE 245

Lagria sp. nov.

REFERENCE. — Determined by Herr H. Gebien as a new species of Lagria.

Habitat. — Assam, Buxa Duars.

Tree Attacked. — Semul (Bombux malabaricum). Goalpara, Buxa Duars.
Beetle. — Elongate, the head and prothorax small and narrow.
Dark indigo-blue, shining. Head inclined at an angle, tuberculate

on front, vertex rugose. Prothorax nar-
Description. rower behind, finely punctate. Elytra wider V.. ,-/

than prothorax, widest two-thirds up,

thence constricted on a curve to apex ; disk covered with irregular
transverse fine striae, the base closely punctate ; lateral edges of
insect and legs set with sparse coarse hairs. Legs black. Length,
6.2 mm.

During a tour made in April and May 1906
through Goalpara with Mr. W. F.
Life History. Perree, he mentioned that he had LagriaY™.'™v*' Assam.

noted that the semul-trees in the

division were seriously defoliated by a small beetle. The semul is of con-
siderable importance in Assam, as the wood is largely used for the manufacture
of tea-box planking. I was afforded opportunities for studying this attack.

My investigations showed that the real aggressor was the small weevil
Myllocerus lincatocollis (vide p. 400). Individuals of this small Lagria were,
however, also present, and were engaged in defoliating the trees.

Family MONOMMIDAE.

Lefroy mentions, in Indian Insect Life, that this family is represented in
India by a single genus and species only. In some respects this insect
resembles the oval forms of the Staphylinidae.

Monomma brunneum, Thorns.

REFERENCE. — Thorns. Monogr. Ann. Fr. p. 23, t. 2, f. 5 (1860).

Habitat. — North India.

Trees Infested. — Sal (Shorea robu^ta] ; Tcnniiiiilia touicnt»\d. Siwuliks
and United Provinces Terai forests.

Beetle.— Elongate, convex, dark brown in colour. Head small, not hidden by pn»tlm].i\
the antennae ending in a club and fitting into grooves in the sides of the prothorax when
the insect is at rest. I'mthorax narrowest in front; shining-punctate; elytra rather
coarsely striate-punclate. Length, 9 mm.

This beetle is found occasionally beneath the bark of s;il and Tcnninalia
ttniu'iilosa trees in North India and, I think, in the
Life History. Chota Nagpur sal forest:-. The beetle is either a dead-
bark or sap feeder, but I know nothing of the habits of
the larvae nor where the eggs are laid.

The family is only represented by this species in India, and cannot be
considered at present to have any economic importance in the forests.

246 FAMILIES PYTHIDAE AND CANTHARIDAE

Family PYTHIDAE.

A small family, closely resembling the Tenebrionidae, from which they
differ by characters of small importance save to the systematist. The
family contains a small heteromerous forest form, found under the bark of
trees. In fact, evidence is showing that it is probable that the forests of
India will add a number of new species of minute bark-living forms to these
heteromerous families.

Doliema spinicollis, Fairm.

REFERENCE. — Fairm. Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr. Ixii, p. 27 (1893).

Habitat. — Siwaliks, North India.

Tree Infested. — Sal (Shorea robusta). Dholkhand, Siwaliks.

Beetle. — Elongate, small. Head black, prothorax very dark brown ; elytra, antennae, and
legs lighter brown. Head flat, widest across middle, very finely punctate ; antennae short,

the joints thickening to apex. Prothorax wider than long, anterior

Description. edge straight, sides rounded to near base, thence straight ; disk flat,

very finely punctate. Elytra with base straight, sides straight to

posterior coxae, thence gradually constricted, apex rounded ; strongly striate-punctate, the
punctures small, the interspaces raised ; a few scattered spiny yellow hairs on surface.
Length, 4 mm.

This small insect is to be found beneath the bark of felled and drying
sal-trees in the Dun forests of the Siwaliks. I took it in this position
towards the end of January, but know nothing about its habits nor those of
its larva.

Family CANTHARIDAE.

A family of beetles easy to recognize owing to the moderate-sized head
being joined on to the prothorax, which is narrower than the head, by a
'neck." In external form the insects resemble to some extent the mala-
coderms, as the elytra are rather soft and do not fit well together or cover
the abdomen. The antennae are long and simple; the legs long, with
elongate tarsi and an appendage to the claw. Some of the common forms
are vividly marked with bands of colour — red, orange, etc. — whilst others
are of brilliant metallic hue throughout, blues and browns ; others, again,
are dull browns or blacks or purples. The forest species known reach up to
about i^in. in length.

Many of these insects fly and run quickly and well, and are to be found
on the wing both in the sunshine and heavy rainy weather. Some forms
appear to move about in swarms after the fashion of the locust or the bark
beetles. The beautiful green Cantharis antennalis has this habit in the

FAMILY CANTHARIDAE 247

Western Himalaya, and the traveller may occasionally in the early summer
suddenly find the road and neighbouring jungle covered by a crawling mass
of this very beautiful cantharid.

The genus Meloe is wingless, the elytra also being very short.

In habits the family varies. Some forms feed on the leaves and flowers
of plants, shrubs, and trees, others eating the fruits. The habits and life
histories of the forest forms are not well known. The insects are of some
commercial importance owing to the oil which they excrete. This comes
from the femora of the legs, and is present in the genera Mylabris, Cantharis,
and the wingless Meloe.

MYLABRIS.
Mylabris pustulata, Thunb.

REFERENCE.— Thunb. Diss. Nov. Spec. Ins. vi, p. 113, f. 13 (1791).

Habitat. — Throughout Northern India.

Trees Attacked. — Artocarpus sp., Hibiscus, and other garden shrubs.
Dehra Dun.

Beetle. — -Elongate, black, the elytra marked with orange
or red bands and blotches. Head large and prominent,

broader than prothorax anteriorly
Description. and attached to it by a .slender

neck ; the black antennae rather

short, thickest apically. Head densely punctate and pu-
bescent beneath. Prothorax widest medianly, densely punc-
tate, disk very convex with a central depression, margins
and under-surface set with a long dense black pubescence.
The elytra are soft and leathery, wider than the prothorax
at the base, rounded and broadest apically. They are
pent-roof shaped and do not meet accurately along suture. Mylabris ph
A rounded yellow or orange blotch near the base ; an irre- .Northern India,

gular transverse band just below the middle and a second

usually broader zig-zag one in apical third. Under-surface black, pubescent, and punctate.
Length, 18-29 mm.

In Northern India, at Dehra Dun, this beetle makes its appearance on

the wing at the beginning of July, soon after the burst

Life History. of the monsoon, and may be found from then onwards

till October; it is in greatest abundance perhaps in July

and August. The beetles feed on the leaves, green rind of twigs, and (lowers
of a variety of shrubs. They are particularly fond of the Ifiln^ii^, of
which they destroy the flower-buds, petioles, and leaves, and -trip the rind
from the green shoots. When abundant I have also watched them feeding on
the fruit of a species of Artocurpn* in Dehra, peeling and stripping the
pericarp down to the stone. Haifa dozen beetles will easily strip a fruit
to the stone, and the injury done to shrubs and small trees, more especially
in the garden, in a year when these beetles are very numerous, is extensive.

FAMILY CAXTHARIDAE

I think it is quite possible that the insect may pass through two generations
during the monsoon, the insects occurring in late September and October
resulting from eggs laid in July by the beetles first appearing. This point
I have not, however, proved definitely, as I have not been able to rear the
larvae. The eggs are laid in bunches on the leaves of shrubs and grass
stems near the ground.

To get rid of the beetles in the garden or nursery I have found the best
way is to put on boys to collect them by hand and pay them so much for
every hundred caught. Each boy should be given a kerosene tin with a
little kerosene and water in it. All the beetles collected are thrown into
this and counted afterwards.

CANTHARIS.
Cantharis (Epicauta) antennalis, Mars.

Habitat. — North-West Himalaya.

Tree Attacked. — Lonicera angiistifolia and L. qiiinquelocularis. Jaunsar.

Beetle. — Elongate, narrow, brilliantly coloured. Head, basal joint of heavy prominent
antenna, anterior half of prothorax, and legs brilliant shining metallic green with a yellow

reflexion. The basal half of prothorax and a narrow longitudinal
Description. band along elytral suture a dark blue green or purple with a

green reflexion ; rest of elytra and remaining joints of antennae

a rich dull chrome yellow. Head ace-of-clubs-shaped, irregularly punctate, the basal and
apical joints of antennae much thickened. Prothorax narrower than head, sides produced
into a point medianly ; finely punctate anteriorly. Elytra narrow, sides parallel, apices
separately rounded, do not meet accurately along suture ; closely and densely reticulate.
Under-surface brilliant metallic green. Length (without the long, heavily jointed antennae),
24 mm. to 30 mm.

This beetle was first reported as defoliating species of Lonicera by the
Director of the Imperial Forest School, Dehra Dun.

Life History. The insects were taken on 16 June 1893, and sent to
the Indian Museum, Calcutta.

I have taken the insect on several occasions in the same month
in the Western Himalaya at elevations of between 7,000 and 8,500 ft.,
and have found it feeding on the leaves of various shrubs forming the
undergrowth of the deodar, spruce, and silver-fir forests of this region.
The beetles have the curious habit of keeping together in swarms, at
any rate for a time after first emergence on the wing. It is also
apparent that a brood of the insects must mature at the same time
without a very considerable overlapping of generations. It is a curious
experience suddenly to find a swarm of these brilliantly-coloured and
handsome insects settling on the path and undergrowth around one,
glistening in the sunlight like so many gorgeous jewels. The insects couple
towards the end of June. I have not found the larvae.

FAMILY CANTHARIDAE

249

ClSSITES.

Cissites testaceus, Fabr.

REFERENCE.— Fabr. Spec. Ins. i, 256 (1781).

Habitat. — Rangoon, Burma ; Calcutta.

This insect is predaceous upon the carpenter-bee Xylocopa latipes, the

beetle entering the tunnels in the wood and ovipositing

Habits. in them. The grubs of the beetle

feed upon those of the Xylocopa,

pupating in the wood when full-grown.

I took this insect in the tunnels of the carpenter-
bee in pyinkadu logs in Calcutta in 1903. The logs
were imported from Rangoon a short time previously,
and portions of them were kept under my observa-
tion at the Indian Museum during the year (vide
Xylocopa, vol. ii).

Green has recorded * a similar habit in the case of

Cissites dchvi. which oviposits in the galleries of

, , , . TTT Cissites testaceus.

Xylocopa tenmscapa, Westw. Fabr. Burma.

HOLOPELTIS.

Holopeltis 3-cornis, Fairm.

REFERENCE.— Fairm. Ann. Soc. Ent. Belg. xxxviii, 22 (1894).

Habitat. — Salween River, Tenasserim.

Tree Infested. — Schleichera trijn^ti. Kowloon Island, Salween River.

Beetle. — Small, elongate-ovate, Hat. Black. Two small teeth on upper part of head,
with a larger upcurved brown one on lower part of front, giving the beetle a resemblance to

a miniature Oryctes rhinoceros (vide p. 88). Prothorax wider than

Description. long, deeply emarginate on anterior edge, sides curved, widest behind,

with an irregular depression on each side of disk just above base ; very

finely punctate. Klytra moderately convex, sides rounded and flattened horizontally on
margin, the flattened part brown ; finely striate-punctate, the striations and punctures almost
obsolete mcdianly. Cinder-surface dark brown, black medianly, finely punctate. Legs bi«
Length, 5 mm. to 5.5 mm.

I found this small beetle in fair numbers beneath the bark of a standing

green SclilcicJicra li-ijnga tree. The insects appeared to

Life History. be feeding on the sap of the tree. I do not know the

larval form. The iimtmv beetles were taken mi i) M.uvh

1905 on Kowloon Island in the Salween River in Tenasserim.

( irccn. 1'lnt. .l/i'/!. Mag. -' \-. i

( 250 )

CHAPTER XIV.
PHYTOPHAGA.

TARSUS four-jointed, the third joint very often bilobed and pubescent.
The head is not prolonged into a beak.

The group contains three families — Bruchidae, Chrysomelidae, and
Cerambycidae — the second and third of which are of considerable size.

The Bruchidae will not unlikely prove of considerable importance in
the forest as destructive to the seed of many of the plains species of trees.

The Chrysomelidae are leaf-feeders, and cause a certain amount of
defoliation.

The Cerambycidae are one of the most important families of bast-
eating and wood-tunnelling beetles in the forest.

Family BRUCHIDAE.

The Bruchidae are small hairy beetles, rarely exceeding eight millimetres
in length ; the colours greys and dull browns or blacks.

The beetles are commonly found in the seed of some forest trees,
especially in the Leguminosae, and their importance in the forest lies in this
fact. In all probability a far greater amount of the seed of forest trees is
annually destroyed by bruchids than our present knowledge of the family
leads us to expect, and for this reason the insects require a close study on
the part of Forest Officers. Within my experience, the only Forest Officer
who has given this form of attack close investigation is Mr. G. M.
Ryan, I.F.S., in the Bombay Presidency.

The beetle is small and squat in shape, with a thickened body and
thickened hind legs. The head is small, with a short
Beetle. rostrum and serrate or pectinate eleven-jointed antennae.

The elytra are truncate, leaving exposed the last seg-
ments of the abdomen. The tarsi are four-jointed, the third joint bilobed.

The grub is white, corrugated, and curved. The eggs are usually

laid by the beetles on the newly forming seed-pod, and

Larva. the larva on hatching out tunnels through the walls of

the pod and thence into the seed, which it entirely

hollows out, leaving only the seed-skin. When full-fed the larva may
pupate within the seed, or leave it and spin a cocoon within the pod and
pupate within this.

The beetles to some extent feed upon the leaves of the tree.

Only two species (of the genus Caryoborus} are known to be pests in the
forest.

FAMILY BRUCHIDAE 251

CARYOBORUS.
Caryoborus gonagra, Fabr.

REFERENCES.— Fabr. Ent. Syst. Suppl. 159 ; Stebbing, Depart. Notes, 365 (1906).

Habitat. — Throughout plains of India.

Trees Attacked. — Bauhinia racemosa : Central Thana, Bombay (G. M.
Ryan); Tamarind (Tamarindus indica); Calcutta; Cassia montana : South
Cuddapah, Madras; Cassia iniiritura : Cuddapah, Madras; Cassia fistula
(the Indian Laburnum): Calcutta; Ca.sua.rina.(Casuarinaequisetifolia}: Vellore.

Beetle.— The beetle is greyish or yellowish-brown. It is somewhat elongate, with a small
head consisting chiefly of two large prominent eyes ; antennae brown. Thorax triangular,

narrower in front than behind, hind margin produced backwards into
Description. a point medianly. Elytra wider than thorax, with parallel sides, con-

stricted behind, the apices separately rounded ; surfaces striate, with

longitudinal rows of fine pits down them, and covered with short hair. The elytra rest flat
upon the large thick body, which is greyish in colour. The most striking characteristics about
the insect are the largely developed prominent femora of the hind legs ; these, as is the
case with all the legs, are covered with fine hair. Abdomen truncate behind. Length,
$ 5 mm. ; £ 6.25 mm.

Larva. — A small whitish curved grub with a distinct yellowish head. Length, 8 mm.
Cocoon. — To pupate the larva encloses itself in a white cocoon.

In BombaythebeetlesemergefromthejBazfAwmpods at the end of February

and beginning of March. The exact position where the

Life History. eggs are laid has not yet been reported, but it is probable

that they are laid on the flowers or young forming pods,

since the tree flowers between March and June. The larva on hatching out
burrows into the pod and lives in one of the seeds, the interior of which it
entirely cleans out, leaving intact only the external thin brown skin. When
full-fed it changes to the pupal state within this brown seed-skin, and this
stage would appear to be a short one, as larvae are found in the seeds at the
beginning of January. On maturing the beetle bores through the skin and
the pod-covering and escapes. This exit-hole is usually made near the base
of the seed-skin and near one edge of the pod-covering. I have never yet
found more than one of these beetles in any one pod, although there are
always several other holes in the pod, the work of other beetles, one of
which may perhaps be the male insect. The beetles do not all mature and
issue at once, as from pods sent me by Mr. G. M. Ryan and kept in Calcutta
adults issued during the latter portion of February, all through March and
April, and on into May.

The insect was found attacking tamarind seed in Calcutta in July ici<n,
by the Secretary of the Agri-Horticultural Society. The insect was in all
stages of development (Indian Miiscn/n \otcs, iii, 34).

In South Cuddapah the larva pupates Towards the end of June or
beginning of July. The larva here also lives entirely in the seeds of the
tree.

25-2

FAMILY BRUCHIDAE

Relations to the
Forest.

In the mature state the beetles feed to some extent on the leaves of the
host plant, and cause slight defoliation in this manner. In the Eastern
Range in Vellore the beetles are said to damage casuarina by eating the
needles. They have also been reported as infesting the seed of Cassia
mur itura in Cuddapah.

This insect belongs to a family of seed-eating beetles, and it is probable
that a certain proportion of the seed of the Bauhinia,
as well as that of Cassia fistula, C. nwntana, and C.
ninr itnra, is lost every year from its attacks. The
more serious aspect of the case is that these beetles at times multiply
to such an extent that they kill off the whole of the seed of the year.
It is not unlikely that C. gonagra will be found to attack the seed of other
trees, as it appears to have a wide distribution. I was able to identify the
insect at the British Museum in 1904 with the valuable assistance of
Mr. Gahan.

Tribolium castaneum. — This minute beetle, and its companion T.
confiisniii, are often to be found plentifully in seeds infested by the
Caryobonis. Its larva is probably predaceous upon the grubs of the bruchid

(ride p. 239).

Caryoborus sp.

REFERENCE.— Stebbing, Depart. Notes, 367 (1906).

Habitat. — Bombay Presidency.

Tree Attacked.— Siris (Albizzia lebbek}. Bombay Presidency.

Beetle.— Resembles the last in shape, but is greyish in colour ;
the elytra leave the last two segments of the body disclosed. The

antennae are short, the thorax small and
Description. triangular, and the elytra greyish with

longitudinal darker

markings. The insect is of stout, thick
build. The figure shows a dorsal and side
view of the beetle.

The larva of this beetle feeds
upon and de-
Life History. stroys the
seeds of Al-
ia Icbbck. These seeds are
large, flat, and squarish, and are
contained in a pod 9111. to 12 in.
in length. The grub completely
hollows out the interior of the seed,
leaving only the outer skin intact. When full-fed it pupates within the
seed. Mr. G. M. Ryan, who forwarded specimens of this insect and the
attacked pods, states that the damage done is very considerable. The
figure shows a seed with a mature beetle half-emerged from it.

Fi<;. 177. Caryoborus

Bomba.

FAMILIES BRUCHIDAE AND CHRYSOMELIDAE 253

The beetle issues from the pods, which persist on the tree for a long
time, in the hot weather about March and April in the Bombay Presidency,
and evidently lays its eggs on or in the flowers or young forming pods in
April and perhaps on through May. Only one grub is found within each
seed. The pods mature about October, and the insect perhaps passes the
cold-weather season as a pupa within the hollowed-out seed.

The siris-tree is very common all over India and Burma, and it is
therefore necessary to ascertain whether this insect attacks the seed in this
way all over the country.

Tribolium confusum (p. 238) is probably predaceous upon this
bruchid.

Family CHRYSOMELIDAE.

(Leaf-eating Beetles.}

A very large family of brightly coloured, often metallic-looking beetles of
moderate size, whose principal diet consists of the green parts of trees,
shrubs, and plants. In addition to the damage done by the grubs the
beetles themselves feed on leaves, often causing a considerable amount of
defoliation to trees.

The family contains numerous forest species, and much remains to be
learnt on the subject of the habits of the grubs.

To some extent the beetles resemble bruchids, but they have not

the greatly thickened body and thickened hind legs

Beetle. of the latter family. The antennae are longer and are

placed on the head away from the eyes. The head

and thorax are comparatively narrow, the elytra much broader and varying
considerably in shape. The head may be bent vertically downwards and
the ventral sutures of the abdomen curved, but the members of the family
vary in this respect, a number of divisions being based upon the differences.

The larva varies greatly in shape and appearance according to whether
it lives free on plants, mining in leaves or in roots or
Larva. down in the soil at the roots, or again in cases or

coverings made of various materials. According to it-
method of feeding, therefore, the larva may be an elongate whitish grub or .1
flattish grub protected by a covering of excrement which often gives it .1
greyish appearance, at times resembling a lichen.

The forest species known will be considered under tin: four divisions I-'.np^da. (,//;.
somes, Cyclic a, and Cryptostomes, the third <>f which is by far ihr largest division of the

family.
Classification. I-li/pm/ii.— The head constricted between the eyes and produced

anteriorly ; prothorax much iiarmwer at base than eKlr.i.
CamptosoHies. — Ventral abdominal sutures curved.

Cyclica.— Prothorax not much narrower at base than elytra, acute laterally.
C>'\'pli>sl«»ies. — Head bent clou nuanh. anienna<: inserted < lose together on head.

254

FAMILY CHRYSOMELIDAE

EUPODA.

ESTIGMENA.

Estigmena chinensis, Hope.

REFERENCES. — Hope, Col. Man. iii, p. 175, t. 2, f.'i ; Ind. Mus. Notes, in, no. 5, p. 80.

Habitat. — Berar, Madras, Lower Burma.

Trees Attacked. — Bamboo (Dendro calamus sp. strictus'?'): Melghat Forest,
Berar; Dendrocalamus strictus: Anaimalai Hills, South Coimbatore ; Cephalo-

stachyum pergracile : Kadin Bilin Forest, Tharra-
waddy.

Beetle. — Elongate. Head and prothorax narrower than
elytra. Head black, with some red tubercles on vertex. Pro-
thorax chestnut, red-brown, or red-
Description, dish yellow, shining. Elytra dark
red or dark chestnut-brown or black.

Antennae and tarsi black, rest of legs brown. Head with
some prominent tubercles between th'e large black eyes ;
antennae long and heavy. Prothorax convex, with smooth,
shining, irregular, elevate portions, the rest deeply pitted
with larger coalescing punctures and depressions. Elytra
rather flat, constricted at level of median coxae, thence
widened to anterior fourth, and from there constricted on a
regular curve ; strongly and regularly striate-punctate, the
interspaces smooth and shining. Under-surface rather
flat, smooth, shining, dark brown, the abdominal segments
very finely pitted. Legs stout and strong, with prominent
tarsi. Length, 11.5 mm. to 16 mm. <$ smaller than °..

FIG. 178.

Estigmena chincnsis, Hope.
Berar, Madras, Burma.

Considerable damage to bamboo shoots was reported by the Conservator
of Forests, Berar, in November 1892. The insects

Life History. responsible were identified in the Indian Museum,
Calcutta, as the chrysomelid Estigmena chinensis.
The damage done, as reported from observations made by the Forest Ranger
from personal inspection in the forest, was to the tops of the shoots, the
insect eating away the young succulent rolled-up leaves of the new shoots,
thereby either arresting the growth or killing the stems. The destruction
was done by the beetle itself.

At the end of July 1902 I found this insect fairly numerous on scrub-
jungle consisting of the bamboo Dendrocalamus strictus in the Anaimalai
Hills in South Coimbatore. The beetles were pairing at the time, and were
engaged in feeding on the green shoots and leaves of the bamboo.

Whilst in the Tharrawaddy forests in Lower Burma in January 1905
I noticed numerous elongate holes in the young stems of the bamboo
Cephalostachyum pergracile. Towards the end of the month a number of
these stems were cut open, and some of the beetles of this insect were
discovered inside. In no instance were beetles obtained from the stems of
old bamboos. The investigations made show that the eggs are laid on the

FAMILY CHRYSOMELIDAE

young stems of the bamboo, and the grub tunnels
right down the interior of the stem through the
nodes.

One egg only is apparently laid on the stem be-
tween two nodes and near the upper one, and the grub
tunnels down through the interior of the internode
until it reaches the lower node, by which time it is
full-fed and pupates. Under the operations of the grub
the whole of the interior of the internode is eaten away.
The beetle matures in the interior of the internode, and
when fully developed it leaves by a hole in the stem
which would appear to have been eaten out or partially
•eaten out by the larva. Towards the end of January
I found the beetles mature in the interior of the inter-
nodes, and ready to leave the bamboo.

Although in some cases a young bamboo had been
infested by several grubs, in no case did I find more
than one beetle in any one internode, and it was fully
apparent that only one grub had occupied the space
between any two nodes.

It has been shown that the beetles appear in
November in Berar and in July in Coimbatore. It is
thus possible that there may be two generations of the
insect in the year. This is, however, doubtful.

The insect must be looked upon as a serious pest
of bamboos, since the beetle feeds upon the young
shoots and leaves, whilst its grubs hollow out the
interior of the stem.

It is the first instance I have met of a chrvso-

255

melid acting in this manner.

CRIOCKKIS.

f

A B

FIG. 179. — Cephalo-
stachyum pergracile
bamboos infested by
Estigmena chinensis.
A, beetle in situ in inte-
rior of bamboo ; B, exit-
hole of beetle in wall of
bamboo near the upper
node. (E. P. .v

Crioceris impressa, Fabr.

REFERENCES. — Fabr. Mant.Ins.i, 1787, p. 88 ; id. Ent. Syst. i, pt.a, 1792, p. 6; Olivier. /•'»(-. .Mi-ih. vi, i
p. 187; id. Entom. vi, 1808, p. 730, pi. i, lit;, i ; Lacord. Mon. 1'hytoph. i, 1845, B rrans.

Ent. Soc. Land. 1865, p. 32 ; var. castanea, Lacord. Mon. Phytoph. 1,1845, !'• 5(14 : v:ir- f iixwrcn H/.V,
Oliv. Ent. vi, 1808, p. 731, pi. i, fig. 6; var. omophloides, Lnconl. Mon. I'liyt^p/i. i, is.is. p. i !
F.B.I. Coleoptera, vol. ii, Chrysomelidae, p. 72.

Habitat. — The whole continent of India ; Ceylon, Andaman Islands,
Nicobars. Also Malayan Islands, Philippines. China, Siam.

Tree Attacked. — India-rubber (Ficuselastica). Charduar. 1 )arrang, Assam.

Beetle. — Iteneath, fulvous or piceous with silvery patches ; thorax bluish or Mack ; elytra
fulvous or tlavous. This is one of the most variable and widely distributed of all the sp<

of the Chrysomelidae. Scarcely tun specimens are evei .dike, ami

Description. this applies not only to coloration but also to sculpture. Some

specimens are much narrower than others ; the head is either fulvous

•or black, the antennae are sometimes much shorter than is the rule, also equally variable in

256 FAMILY CHRYSOMELIDAE

colour as the other parts ; the punctation of the thorax is generally
rather close over the middle of the disk ; the elytral punctation is
also variable, usually closest over base. The colour varies, being
often a bright yellow. The general shape of insect is broad and
robust ; the thorax has rounded anterior angles, but sometimes
these are furnished with a tubercle. Length, 7 mm. to 10 mm.
(After Jacoby.)

I found specimens of this well-known chrysomelid

in the rubber nursery at theCharduar pIG> jg0

Life History. Rubber Plantation in the Darrang Crioceris impressa,

Division in Assam. The beetles Fabr. India ; Ceylon,
were either flying about in the hot sunshine or settled

upon the young seedling plants and eating off the epidermis of the leaves
of the rubber plants.

The beetles were chiefly noticed on 10 April 1906, on which date they
were pairing.

CAMPTOSOMES.
Ventral abdominal sutures curved.

CRYPTOCEPHALUS.
Cryptocephalus pusaensis, Jacoby.

REFERENCES. — Jacoby, Faun. Br. Ind. Coleop. ii, Chrysomel. no. 374, p. 211 (1908); Lefroy, Ind. Ins.

Life, 356 (1909)-

Habitat.— Pusa, Bengal.

Tree Attacked.— Tamarix gallic a. Pusa (Lefroy).

Beetle.— Testaceous ; thorax with four more or less distinct black spots or bands
surrounded by fulvous ; elytra also with four or more small black markings placed on the

punctured striae. Head strongly and rather remotely punctured,
Description. antennae black, short, extending to base of elytra. Prothorax twice

as broad as long, strongly narrowed in front, middle of disk with two

obscure piceous or dark fulvous longitudinal bands, more or less marked with black, sides with
broader similarly coloured patch, marked with a black spot, rest of disk testaceous, extreme
basal margin black. Scutellum oblong, apex truncate. Elytra sub-cylindrical, strongly
punctate-striate, punctures deep and closely placed, partly transverse in shape, nearly black ;
shoulders with an irregular black elongate spot, another near the scutellum and two
immediately behind the middle ; these spots are often mere elongate short streaks. Length,
2.5 mm. (Description after Jacoby.)

Larva. — White, with the abdomen tapering and doubled back under the body so that the
apex reaches the thoracic legs. The grub lives in a small oval case.

According to Lefroy, from whose specimens the species was described
by Jacoby, the larvae are commonly found on the Tamarix gallica near
Pusa and are easily reared.

FAMILY CHRYSOMELIDAE

257

CYCLICA.
Prothorax not much narrower at base than elytra, acute laterally.

LINA.

Lina populi, Linn.

REFERENCE.— Linn. Syst. Nat. ed. x, p. 370.

Habitat.— North-West Himalaya.

Trees Attacked.— Salix elegans : Mahasu Ridge, Simla (J. H. Lace);
Salix babylonica : Naini Tal (T. Carr).

Beetle. — Elongate-ovate. Head, prothorax, antennae, and legs
brilliant metallic greenish-blue ; elytra rather dull chrome-yellow ;

under-surface brilliant metallic blue. Head
Description. small, punctate, with a median depression,

the antennae placed on lower outer edge.

Prothorax wider than broad, anterior margin deeply concave, sides
rounded, a longitudinal depression sloping outwards on either side
of disk ; latter moderately convex and finely punctate, punctures
stronger on lateral edges. Elytra very convex, strongly and rather
irregularly punctate, the punctures finer on the apical depression.
Under-surface flat, very shining, the abdominal segments set with L'tu/»/> // 1 im
parallel, wavy, fine striae at rather wide intervals. Length, Nortn_ -\yest Himala
1 1 mm. to 12 mm.

Specimens of this beetle were taken by Mr. J. H. Lace, C.I.E., Chief

Conservator of Forests, feeding on the leaves of Salix

Life History. elegans on the Mahasu Ridge near Simla in June 1901.

I was present with Mr. Lace at the time, and the insect

was found to be defoliating the trees. Only the mature beetle was taken.

On 10 May 1909 further specimens of the insect were forwarded to me
by Mr. T. Carr, I.F.S. He found the beetle defoliating the Salix babylonica
in Naini Tal. Only mature beetles were sent to me. No observations on
the life history of the larva appear to have been made.

FIG. i Si.

KM;. 182.
Chrysomela

Gebl. Kuinaun

9003

CHRYSOMELA.
Chrysomela guttata,

,Ci-:.— C.ebl. Mem. Mosc. v, p. 31

Habitat. — Kumaun, North India.
Tree Attacked. -Sal (Shm-di robusta). Horn
Forest, Kumaun.

Beetle. Elongate-ovate. Ula. k, shining, \\ith a yellowish-green
metallic reflexion ; antennae and legs with a strong \iolct retlexion.

I lead small, coarsely rugose - punctate.
Description. I'mtlioiax nearly tuice as wide as long,

ant< i ioi ed < emarginate, sides mumle.l ;

finely and irregularly punctate, the punctures strongest on lateral

K

258 FAMILY CHRYSOMELIDAE

edges. Elytra shining, convex, highly but irregularly punctate except for a series of roundish
shining spots placed in five longitudinal rows, which consist of small areas, free of punctures,
numbering some thirty in all. Under-surface flat, shining, with a violet reflexion, punctate,
the abdominal segments with fine transverse striae. Length, 11.5 mm.

I took this chrysomelid on the leaves of the sal-trees in the Horai

Forest in Kumaun on 15 April 1905. I found the

Life History. beetles sitting on the leaves and adjacent twigs,

but at the time they were not feeding on the leaves,

though it is possible that they may do so.

Chrysomela ? sp.

Habitat. — Kumaun Terai, North India.

Tree Attacked. — Sissu (Dalbergia sissoo}. Chorgallia, Kumaun.

Beetle. — Shining. Head, thorax, and antennae canary-yellow ; eyes black ; elytra dark
blue-black. Under-surface and legs canary-yellow. Length, 9 mm.

I took several specimens of this beetle defoliating the sissu-tree in the

river beds and elsewhere in the Terai forests of Kumaun

Life History. in the first fortnight of April 1905. The beetle feeds

on the leaves, eating out patches from the young new

tender spring foliage.

GYNANDROPHTHALMA.

Gynandrophthalma sp. ?
Habitat. — Terai Forests, Kumaun.
Tree Attacked. — Sissu (Dalbergia sissoo}. Chorgallia, Kumaun.

Beetle.— Elongate, elliptical. Head and thorax orange, shining ; elytra orange-brown ;
eyes, greater part of suture, and sides of elytra medianly, black. Head depressed, with a median

fovea between eyes. Prothorax triangular, narrowest in front, sides

Description. rounded, smooth and shining ; a median depression above scutellum.

Scutellum large, triangular, finely punctate. Elytra wider than thorax

at base, constricted at posterior coxae, thence widened, broadest in apical third, constricted
and separately rounded at apex ; striate-punctate, the punctures moderately large and regular ;
apical depression smooth, orange in colour. Under-surface darker-coloured. Legs orange,
shining. Length, 3.8 mm.

This little beetle was taken in April 1905 feeding on the flowers of the
sissu-tree in the Terai forests of Kumaun. The insect was not abundant.

PODONTIA.

Podontia i4-punctata, Linn.

REFERENCES. — Linn. Syst. Nat. ed. xii, p. 599; I.M.N. iv, 68 (1897).

Habitat. — Calcutta, Dehra Dun, Darrang, Assam. Also reported from
Murshidabad, Sikkim, Shillong, and Andaman Islands.

Trees Attacked.— Spondias mangiferae : Calcutta (C. O. Bateman), Dehra
Dun (jjiihi) ; Ficus elastica : Charduar, Assam.

FAMILY CHRYSOMELIDAE

-'59

Beetle.— Oblong, thick-set. Head, prothorax, antennae, and legs
shining ; eyes canary-yellow, and mouth parts black ; elytra a bright

salmon-pink in colour, each with eight spots,
Description. the upper and lower ones of which coalesce

when the elytra are closed, and thus give

fourteen spots. Beneath the basal median spot is a large round
or square one on each elytron, another large one beneath this, and
then the large apical one. On the outer margin of each elytron
are four smaller spots placed more or less equidistantly from one
another. These spots sometimes coalesce to form transverse
bands. Under-surface of abdomen canary-yellow, darker on
thoracic region. Length, 13 mm. to 17 mm. ; breadth, 7 mm. to
8.6 mm.

FIG. 183.

Podontia i^-punctata,
Linn. United Pro-

Larva.— Dirty yellow or yellow-brown, the body thick and
corrugated. The grub is thick, soft, and fleshy, and 'has a black

shining head, a black patch on dorsal side of prothorax, and three pairs of black shining legs.
Length, 16 mm. The larva covers its body with its own excrement, and so has the appearance
of the droppings of a bird, and is thus able to escape the attacks of foes.

Cocoon and Pupa.— The grub pupates in a coarse earthen cocoon in the soil. This
cocoon resembles in size and shape a hazel-nut.

In October 1895 Mr. C. O. Bateman of the Indian Museum, Calcutta,
presented specimens of this insect in all stages of larva,

Life History. pupa, and imago to the museum, with the information
that the insect stripped the leaves from a Spojidias

mangiferae tree in his compound in Calcutta. Mr. Bateman stated that the
beetles appeared almost every year when the tree was in full foliage in July
and August, and disappeared in October. The injury done is confined to
the leaves, which are consumed, the trees being often rendered leafless.

Investigations have been made into the life history of the insect in
Dehra Dun. Here the beetle and its grubs also attack the Spomlnis
mangiferae. I first noticed this attack on a tree in September 1902.
The insects commenced work in the first week of the month, and by the 23rd
the tree was entirely leafless. So numerous were the insects towards
the end of the period that they looked like brightly coloured fruits on the
branches.

Nearly every year between 1904 and 1909 I noted this attack in the
station, and a particular tree was either partially or entirely defoliated
each year by the beetles.

As has been already pointed out, the larva is a most curious and
interesting subject for study, owing to the wonderful methods of srlf-
protection it has adopted. In many cases it is almost impossible to
distinguish the grub upon a branch from the excrement of a bird so Ion-
as it keeps still. The beetle when disturbed or alarmed feigns death and
keeps quiet for a considerable period.

In the year 1906 I found this insect on the wing in April in the
Charduar Rubber Plantation in the Darning Division in Assam. I first
noticed the insect in some numbers in several compartments of the

R 2

260 FAMILY CHRYSOMELIDAE

plantation on 5 April. Two days later I found a tree almost entirely
defoliated by the beetles, who were in hundreds upon it. Hard by two
other trees had been completely stripped. Some of the beetles were coupling.
I could find no larvae on the trees.

The fact that the beetle appears in the adult stage as early as the first
week in April in Assam points to the possibility of there being two broods
of the insect in the year in the hot and damper parts of its habitat.

This chrysomelid must be looked upon as a dangerous defoliating pest
in the forest, and more especially in areas of young
Vorest° growth. The insect (both grub and beetle) is of con-

siderable size and coarse, heavy build, and strips the
trees of foliage and the green cortex from the younger branches in a ruthless
manner which cannot but seriously affect the growth of the plants subjected
to the treatment.

We know that the insect pupates in the soil, and the only possible

method of combating a serious attack would be to

Treatment. endeavour to kill off the insects whilst in the cocoon

in the soil. In the case of serious infestations over

considerable areas in valuable plantations and forests I should recommend
the judicious use of fire as the only effective means of dealing with the
insect.

BLEPHARIDA.
Blepharida hirsuta, Jac.
Habitat. — Poona, Bombav.

J

Tree Attacked. — Boswellia scrrata. Bhamburda
Reserve, Poona.

Beetle.— Elongate - elliptical. Pale canary - yellow, the elytra
and femora of hind legs darker and mottled with brownish mark-
ings. Head with vertex smooth and front
Description. covered with a fine silvery pubescence.

Prothorax flat, wider than long, anterior

edge straight, sides rounded ; a small depression on either side of
disk almost glabrous, with a very fine and short silvery pubescence.
Elytra elongate, constricted to apex, moderately convex, strongly
FIG. 184. striate-punctate. Under-surface yellowish brown, clothed with a

Hie fill iir i da hirsuta. fine short silvery pubescence. Femora of hind legs much thickened,
Jac. Poona. the legs rather long. Length, 12 mm.

In company with Mr. R. Wroughton, formerly Inspector - General of

Forests, I took several specimens of this weevil defoliating

Life History. the Boswellia scrrata in the Bhamburda Reserve near

Poona on 2 August 1901. The insect was in company

with the Haltica ? sp. described below, the latter being by far the more
numerous of the two present. A serious amount of defoliation had taken
place under the attacks of the beetles.

FAMILY CHRYSOMELIDAE

261

Ophrida marmorea, Wiedem.

REFERENCE. — Wiedem. Zoo/. Mag. i, 2, p. 181 (1819).

Habitat. — Rangoon Forests, Lower Burma.

Tree Attacked — Holarrhina antidysenterica. Magayi Forest, Rangoon
Division.

Beetle. — Elongate-elliptical, shining. Head and prothorax and
legs red-brown ; elytra dark red-brown, mottled with light yellower

patches. Front of head tuberculate, dull,
Description. very finely punctate. Prothorax rather

flat, wider than long, anterior edge con-
cave, sides rounded with a constriction medianly ; disk surrounded
by a heart-shaped depression ; a few scattered rather large punc-
tures on basal area. Elytra convex, depressed apically, the sides
constricted to apex ; strongly punctate-striate. Under-surface dark
red-brown, shining, finely punctate ; femora of hind legs thickened.
Length, 12.5 mm. FIG. 185.

Ophrida marmorea,
This chrysomelid does a certain amount of de- Wiedem. Lower Kimna.

foliation in the beetle stage. I
Life History. found the insect feeding on the leaves of Holarrhina

antidysenterica in the Magayi Forest of the Rangoon
Reserves on 8 February 1905. The tree formed the lower story of the
forest growth, and in the case of trees here and there a considerable
percentage of the leaves had been partially eaten by the beetle.

HALTICA.
Haltica ? sp.

REFERENCE.— This beetle was identified at the British Museum as doubtfully a species of Haltica ; Steb-

bing, Depart. Notes, i, 179 (1903).

Habitat. — Bombay Presidency.

Tree Attacked. — Boswellia serrata. Bhamburda Reserve, Poona.

Beetle.— A medium-sized thick-set insect with small yellow head and two prominent black
eyes. Thorax yellow, slightly broader than long, small. Elytra broader than thorax, yellow

to brownish in colour, the yellow being generally in irregularly shaped
Description. faint blotches. At times a few faintly marked black spots are pre;-<

In the $ the elytra are sometimes all yellow with scattered bn>\\nMi

markings and small spots. The elytra are broadly striated with rows of punctures between
the striae, and are detlexed posteriorly, leaving one segment of the body exposed. Tin- Ixnh is
thick and pointed posteriorly, yellow to yellow-brown bciu-ath, ;m<l shining. Antennae and
legs canary-yellow, the former being slender and short. Posterior p;iir nt" legs are Ion- and
have their femora remarkably thickened and developed, thus enabling the insert to leap
the great distances it is capable of doing. These femora are at times dark ydlnv. to
brown in colour. The posterior tibiae are spinal at their bases. The third tarsal joint is
deeply bilobed.

Length, $ ,•";, in. ; $ ^ in. I'l. viii, tig. 4, in Depart. .\<>t<-s show , a dorsal and -ide view
of this chrysomelid.

262 FAMILY CHRYSOMELIDAE

This beetle appears on the wing at the beginning of August, and possibly
during the latter part of July.

Life History. It feeds upon the leaves of Boswellia serrata. These

leaves are compound ones, and it apparently attacks the

upper leaflets first, feeding downwards until about two-thirds of the com-
pound leaf (from top downwards) has been more or less eaten away. At
other times all the leaflets disappear entirely. The beetle begins by eating
the leaflet irregularly round the edge, patches being gnawed out, or it com-
mences on the inner part and eats out holes in the leaf tissue. The effect
of this defoliation is to cause the leaflets to shrivel up, turn brown, and
fall off.

At the beginning of August, when these beetles were observed at work,
the insects were pairing; the male, the smaller insect of the two, being
carried about on the back of the female. This chrysomelid is a powerful
jumper, and even when coupled the $ will often take a long leap. Like
many Chrysomelidae the beetles are extremely wary, and take to flight
at the slightest motion which alarms them. If too late to fly, they drop
off the food-plant like a stone and sham death on the ground, where owing
to a similitude in colouring they are extremely difficult to see. When
coupled, they appear to lose some of their extreme wariness.

I have described above the manner of feeding of this chrysomelid.
There can be no doubt that when in any numbers it is
'0 capable of doing a large amount of defoliating damage.

We do not yet know where its larval stage is passed or
upon what the grub feeds.

CLITEA.

Clitea picta, Baly.

REFERENCE. — Baly. Trans. Ent. Soc. p. 287 (1877).

Habitat. — Bengal, North India.

Tree Attacked.— Bael (Aegle marmelos). Bengal (Lefroy) ; North India

{jnih i ) .

Beetle. — Small, oval in shape ; black and brown in colour.

Larva.— Soft, whitish, with a few very short hairs; the head brown, the tiny round
spiracles on the dorso-lateral line. Behind the head is a distinct prothoracic shield, and over
the anus is a flat black plate with short hairs round ; this plate is at an angle to the long axis
of the body, facing dorsally and posteriorly, and may be for the purpose of enabling the larva
to exert pressure by placing this against the wall of the tunnel. (Description after Lefroy.)

This is a common small chrysomelid found on the bael-tree (Aegle

marmelos,}, whose leaves the beetle defoliates by eating

Life History. patches out of them. The beetle jumps actively when

disturbed. I have not taken the larva myself. Lefroy,

in Indian Insect Life, has the following account of its habits: "The
larva is found boring in the shoots of this plant' (i.e., the bael), "the
slender twigs being tunnelled down the centre, but little harm being done."

FAMILY CHRYSOMELIDAE 263

LUPEROMORPHA.

Luperomorpha weisi, Jacoby.

REFERENCES. — Jacoby, Ann. Soc. Ent. Belg. xlii, 180 (1898) ; Ind. Mus. Notes, v, 125.

Habitat. — Chota Nagpur.

Tree Attacked. — Mango (Mangifera indica). Purulia, Chota Nagpur.

Beetle. — Small, shining. Chocolate brown, prothorax orange ; antennae chocolate,
femora of hind legs chocolate brown, rest of legs yellow, tarsi darker-coloured. Head vertical,

eyes large, placed at sides, antennae long, slender, inserted in front, at

Description. some distance from each other, and reaching to slightly below middle

of elytra. Prothorax wider than long, sides rounded ; disk smooth,

shining, and very finely punctate. Elytra impressed basally, smooth, glabrous, finely punctate.
Under-surface of abdomen yellow.

This beetle was first reported from Ranchi in Chota Nagpur, and

proved new to science. In August 1900 it was again

Life History. sent to the Indian Museum, this time by Mr. W. H. P.

Driver. Mr. Driver reported that the chrysomelid was

destroying all his mango-trees.

MlMASTRA.
Mimastra cyanea, Hope.

REFERENCES. — Hope, Gray, Zoo/. Misc. 1830; Ann. Soc. Ent. Belg. Ixxxiii (1890).

Habitat.— Dehra Dun, North India.

Tree Attacked. — Grewia asiatica. Dehra Dun (Rogers).

Beetle. — -This small beetle is yellow in colour, shining, with filiform antennae about three-
quarters the length of the body. The head is small, round, and separate from the pro-
thorax. Prothorax quadrangular, slightly longer than broad. Elytra oblong-oval, diluted
behind and very obtuse. Legs longish. Length, 9 mm.

The beetle appears on the wing about the middle of June or perhaps

earlier, it having been found by Mr. C. G. Rogers,

Life History. Deputy Conservator of Forests, defoliating trees on the

i8th of the month. Neither larva nor pupa appr.us

to have been noted, and no further observations on its life history are forth-
coming as regards the dates of the larval and pupal stages and the numl'iT
of generations in the year.

This beetle was reported from the Dchra Dun district in 1896. .V.

cyanea defoliates both young and old trees of the

Relations to the Species Grewia <(SM/H •«. In the: attack noticed in 1896

the beetles were said to havi- appr;nvd in l.ir-e numbers.

flying freely and being sufficiently numerous to produce a humming noise as
of a swarm of bees passing overhead. The majority of the leaves were
badly eaten by 18 June, in many cases only a short piece of the base of the
midrib remaining intact. No birds were present feeding upon these beetles,

264 FAMILY CHRYSOMELIDAE

and it is probable, as noted by Mr. Rogers, that the thick orange liquid
which they have the power of emitting from their heads has some distasteful
quality in its composition.

These leaf-feeding beetles are best attacked by one of the arsenical
solutions sprayed over the plants to be protected, and

Protection and his ing should be done either in the very early

Remedies. J ° . _ ...

morning or late in the evening. The beetles feeding

upon the leaves take the poison internally, and are thus killed off.

More facts about the life history, such as where the eggs are laid, where
the larvae feed, etc., are required to be known before one can state definitely
how such pests can be best attacked.

MELASOMA.
Melasoma sp. prox. populi, Linn.

REFERENCES. — Ind. Mus. Notes, iii, no. 5, p. 43 ; Rogers, Ind. For. vol. xxii, 429.

Habitat. — North-West Himalaya.

Tree Attacked. — Willow (Salix elegans). Deoban, Jaunsar (C. G. Rogers).

Beetle. — I have not seen this beetle.

Larva. — Head black, body yellowish white, with black markings ; the dorsal surface
furnished with numerous paired glands. Length, o. loin, to 0.51 in. (C. G. Rogers.)

Pupa. — The pupa has not the same general markings as the larva. It remains partially
enclosed within the larval skin. It is suspended from the under-surface of the leaves and
branches of the tree. (C. G. Rogers.)

The damage done by this insect to willow in the Western Himalaya
was first reported by Mr. C. G. Rogers. The

Life History. following details on the life history are from a
note drawn up by him and published in the Indian
Forester: "The larvae were first noticed on 9 June 1893 in Deoban,
elevation 9,000 ft. From the paired glands on the back of the larvae
little transparent globules of strong pungent-smelling fluid exuded when
the insect was touched. After a while the globules were drawn in again
into the glands, but could be again extruded two or three times before
the insect became exhausted. The odour, wrhich is compared to prussic
acid, scented the whole bush where they were feeding, and was a very
characteristic feature of the insect. Larvae which were kept in captivity
moulted once before pupating. Pupae were found between 14 and 21 June.
On the plant the larva suspends itself from a twig or under-side of a leaf
before pupating. Beetles began to emerge on 22 June, and continued to
appear in the rearing-box till 27 June. They afterwards lived for about
a week in confinement, but as in this period they were carried down to
Dehra Dun (elevation 2,100 ft.), their ordinary period of existence in this
stage is likely to be much longer."

FAMILY CHRYSOMELIDAE 265

The larvae were feeding upon the willow-leaves. On several occa-
sions I have found the larvae upon this willow in Jaunsar, and I have
been able to corroborate Mr. Rogers's observations.

Mascicera ? sp. — Out of fifty-one larvae and pupae six were found to be
parasitized by a dipterous grub. This grub pupates inside the body of the

chrysomelid larva. From the dipterous pupae flies

Parasitic Insect. emerged on 30 July. The specimens sent to the

Indian Museum were, however, said to be in too

poor a state of preservation for identification. It was thought that they
were possibly species of the well-known parasitic genus Mascicera.

It is an observation of high value that Mr. Rogers should have bred
out the fly from its host.

CRYPTOSTOMES.
Head bent downwards ; antennae inserted close together on head.

PLATYPRIA.
Platypria andrewesi, Ws.

REFERENCES. — Ws. Deutsche Ent. Zeitschr. p. 404 (1906) ; Lefroy, Ind. Ins. Life, 364 (1909).

Habitat. — Plains of India.

Tree Attacked. --Ber (Zizyphm jujuba). Pusa ? (Lefroy).

Beetle.— A broad squarish beetle; the sides of the pro thorax' and elytra produced into
processes of varying length, the apical edges of the elytra being serrate. The elytra are very
broad, with a series of longitudinal parallel ridges elevated at points into sharp teeth.

Larva.—" Flat, the head large and hard, with short antennae and a lateral cluster of
ocelli ; the prothorax bears a dorsal and a ventral shield ; the segments are produced laterally
and bear a terminal backwardly-curved process ; the spiracles are on the dorsum ; the legs are
well developed, and the larva runs actively ; the abdomen terminates in a llat chitinous pl.iu-
with a lateral process, the anus being ventral. It pupates in a special pocket in the leaf."

Pupa.— "The pupa is similar, but the fourth abdominal segment is drawn out laterally
into a strong backwardly-directed process on the dorsum." (Description after Lefroy.)

This is one of the leaf-mining Chrysomelidae, the egg being laid in the

tissues of the leaf and the grub mining in the KM!

Life History. parenchyma. In the case of this insect, according to

Lefroy, the larva "does not remain in one mine, but

moves about, eating into the leaf, eating out a kind of pocket, and then
emerging to commence a fresh pocket."

266 FAMILY CHRYSOMELIDAE

Platypria ? sp.

Habitat.— North-West Himalaya.

Tree Attacked. — Kharshu Oak (Quercus semicarpifolia). Deota Forest,
Tehri Garhwal ; Deoban, Jaunsar.

Beetle.— Head dark orange-yellow, shining ; antennae long and black ; eyes black.
Prothorax canary-yellow, shining. Elytra metallic green. Segments of the abdomen

beneath the same colour, the head and thorax beneath being yellow.
Description. Legs black, except coxa, trochanter, and femora, which are canary-

yellow. Third tarsal joint with a yellow pad or brush beneath ;
claws short. Length, 15 mm.

This is a somewhat large chrysomelid, which defoliates the Kharshu

oak to some extent in the beetle stage. I first took the

Life History. beetle engaged in this manner above Deota at about

8,000 ft., at the end of June 1902. On 9 July I again

took the insect engaged in the same way at Deoban in Jaunsar, elevation
9,300 ft.

PSEUDOCOLASPIS.

Pseudocolaspis indica, Baly.

REFERENCE. — Baly. your. Linn. Soc. xiv, p. 249 (1877).

Habitat. — North- West Himalaya.

Tree Attacked. — Sweet Chestnut (Castanea vesca). Nachar, Bashahr
State.

Beetle. — Bright metallic green tinged with indigo. Antennae orange-yellow. The
trochanter and femora of legs blue-green, tibiae and tarsi yellow. Length, 4.5 mm.

I found this beetle in large numbers on 22 June 1901, feeding on the
inflorescences of the sweet chestnut in the compound of

Life History. the Nachar bungalow on the Himalayan-Tibet road in
Bashahr. The inflorescences were being totally destroyed
under the attack of this small beetle.

CALOPEPLA.
Calopepla leayana, Latr.

REFERENCES. — Latr. Gen. Crust, et Ins. iii, p. 50, pi. n, fig. 7 ; Ind. Mus. Notes, iii, no. 5, p. 80.

Habitat. — Poona.

Tree Attacked. — Shiran Tree (Gmelina arborea). Poona (Gleadow).

Beetle.— Black, with red markings.

This insect is to be found on the wing in September in Poona. In that

month in 1893 it was reported by Mr. F. Gleadow, of

Life History. the Indian Forest Service, as defoliating the Gmelina

arhorea, cutting large and unsightly holes in the leaves.

The insect was identified in the Indian Museum.

FAMILY CHRYSOMELIDAE

267

ASPIDOMORPHA.
Aspidomorpha sanctaecrucis, Fabr.

REFERENCE. — Fabr. Ent. Syst. iv, App. p. 446.

Habitat. — Tharrawaddy, Lower Burma.

Tree Attacked.— Teak (Tectona grandis*). Kadin Bilin Forest, Tharra-
waddy.

Beetle. — Brightly coloured spherical-ovate, resembling in shape
a tortoise-shell. Upper outer surface shining yellow, with the

median portions, consisting of the " body,"
Description. "head," and "legs," brilliant coppery.

Antennae yellow with a black club. Legs
canary-yellow. Length, 10 mm. to 12 mm.

I took some specimens of this beetle on teak

leaves in the Kadin Bilin Forest JTIG-

Life History. on 23 January 1905. The insects Aspidomorpha sanctae-

were defoliating to a slight extent cr/^/.^Fabr.

the teak leaves of the saplings in a 1902 tounggya
teak plantation, but the damage was slight and the insect not abundant.

The beetle is a very handsome and easily recognizable object in the
brilliant sunlight. The insect lives for a considerable period without food
in the adult stage. I kept beetles taken on 23 January in a box without
food, and they were still alive and active on 22 February following.

( 268

CHAPTER XV.

PHYTOPHAGA (continued)— Family CERAMBYCIDAE.
(Longicorn or Long-horned Beetles.)

THE longicorn or long-horned beetles as they are often termed, owing
to the pair of long, prominent, jointed antennae which adorn the head,
are probably the members of the Coleoptera best known to the Forest
Officer. Not that they are to be found commonly on the wing in the
daytime, for this is not usually the case, although, as we shall see, there
are some diurnal forest-living species, such as, e.g., Thysia wallichii ;
nor because they are brilliantly coloured, for dull browns, greys, and
blacks predominate in the family. The insects will be known owing to
the fact that they are often found in tunnels inside timber- — that, indeed,
timber is often ruined or disfigured in the forest by tunnels which, in a
general way, the Forest Officer attributes to the operations of these insects ;
and he is very often correct in his surmises, although in many instances he
may be unacquainted with the pest itself, either in the larval or beetle stage.
Another manner in which these insects — many of which are of bulky and
massive form and lumbering flight when in the neighbourhood of light-
bring themselves into prominence, is by entering the bungalow at night.
Information of considerable importance to the forester can be gained by
their nocturnal visitations ; for their appearance means that the insect is
at that period egg-laying in the forest, and for this purpose is searching
for newly felled unbarked trees, or for sickly, perhaps dying, standing ones.
We thus, by noting these dates of appearance, secure firstly the date of
appearance of the insect on the wing, or one of the dates should the beetle
pass through more than one life-cycle in the year ; secondly, the date, or
approximate date, on which eggs are laid in the trees, since but a short
period is usually passed by these insects in the perfect, or imago, state ;
thirdly, the date, or approximate date, on which the young grubs or larvae
hatch out from the eggs, observation having shown that but a short period
is passed in the egg stage by many of the forest-living members of the
family, often forty-eight to sixty hours only.

The life histories of many of the forest-living Cerambycidae are of con-
siderable interest, and in nothing, perhaps, are the beetles so remarkable
as in the possession of an instinct which enables them to seek out newly
felled or sickly or dying trees. Nothing is more striking than the undoubted
possession of this wonderful power or instinct by the beetle Hoblocerambyx

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

269

spiniconris. Green sal-trees in Goalpara, Assam, felled one day, were found
the next to have a hundred or two of the beetles crawling about in the
shade of the outside of the bark nearest the ground, all intent on pairing
or egg-laying. The forest contained hundreds and thousands of these
beetles, and yet there was no sign of them until sought for, as the insect is
not a diurnal one, as is the case with its companion in these forests, Thysia
wallichii, which is found at the same time flying about or sitting on the
bark of the trees in the sunlight.

The larger forms of this family have a powerful flight, and they will
be found on the wing at night apparently very little incommoded by the
severest of spring storms.

Briefly, as will be seen by a reference to fig. 187, the beetle is of elongate

form, with well-marked "shoulders" to the elytra,

Beetle. a prominent prothorax, and a vertical or horizontal

head. The antennae are very characteristic of the

insects, having eleven (sometimes twelve) joints each, usually long, the
basal one swollen, and the
others tumid at the nodes.
These antennae are held
over the back in the position
of rest ; the basal joint fits
into the eye on one side,
the latter being hollowed
out to take this insertion,
and becoming thus reni-
form, or kidney-shaped. It
will be usually found that
the antennae are longer in
the male than in the female.
The mandibles are long and
powerful, and the palps
prominent. The thorax is
usually square, and may be
spined, and is at times
corrugated on the dor-
sal surface. The legs
are strong and long ; the
tarsus of the foot is four-
jointed, the first three joints
being bilobed, and spongy
and hairy. The elytra are
flat, and the beetles of all
sorts of colours, but rarely
metallic (as in the case of
the Buprestidae). They are

. 187. — Afasstcus unicolor, Gahzn. $ \.

.Sinn licni Shun States.

270 FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

at times covered with hair, the pubescence being often silk)', and giving
silvery reflections under the play of light ; or the hair may be in tufts on
them, with often additional tufts on the antennae, as in the case of the
brightly coloured diurnal Thysia wallichii (fig. 17). The female, in addition
to having shorter antennae than the male, has at times the pygidium exposed
below the apices of the elytra, and has a strong non-extruded ovipositor
for egg-laying, the egg being often put into deep crevices in the bark by
means of this instrument (cf. figs. 28, 29).

The larva (fig. 30, e) is a stout, elongate, segmented, practically legless

grub when full-grown, as shown in fig. 30, e, and is

Larva. usually white, or yellowish white, or pale orange in

colour; the segments taper only slightly from the anterior

end downwards. Those we shall consider here are all wood-feeders, and have

powerful black biting jaws or mandibles, with which they are capable of

tunnelling down into the hardest timber. The grubs have short, four-jointed

antennae, and may have very short legs in some cases. The upper surface

of the head and of the thoracic segments is covered with a hard, horny

plate ; the segments of the body have often tubercles on them, and the

spiracles on the sides of the segments are well marked.

The grubs spend their lives burrowing either in the bast and sapwood,
into the sapwood, or down into the heart-wood of trees, making galleries in
the latter which have a more or less square section. They may live for one
or more years feeding in this manner, or they may spend only a few months
or weeks in this stage of their lives. Before they change to the pupal state
they usually enlarge the end of their tunnel, and this enlargement may be
made in the bast layer in the sapwood, or the grub may bore down into
the heart-wood with the sole object of placing the pupal chamber there.
This latter procedure, as we shall see, is undertaken by several of our worst
cerambycid pests.

The pupal stage is the resting stage, and during this period the insect

gradually changes from the larval to the perfect or beetle

Pupa- stage. The grub gradually takes on the appearance of

the beetle, and when the pupa is fully formed we can

see in it the shape of the future beetle with the antennae, legs, and wings
pressed close down the sides and against the chest, all the parts being free
and unenclosed in any silk covering or cocoon (fig. 31, c]. In fact, the pupa
usually lies quite naked in the pupal chamber at the end of the larval tunnel.
In rare cases, of which we have a curious example in India in the beetle
Plocaderns obesus, Gahan, the larva constructs a calcareous cocoon resembling
a pigeon's egg, in which it transforms to the beetle state (see fig. 206).

The actual change from the grub to the pupa would not seem to last,
in the case of the Indian forest Cerambycidae, for more than a few weeks,
and an examination of the pupal chamber will then disclose the fully formed
beetle with all its parts perfect. A superficial inspection will show that

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE 271

the colouring is still imperfect, the shades being probably light yellow or
brown, and a close examination will disclose the fact that the outer parts
are still rather soft and that the insect is only able to walk in a tottering
manner and is quite unable to fly. This resting stage of what appears to be
the perfect insect is common to most bark- and wood-boring beetles, and
the rest is undertaken with the sole object of allowing the thick and very
hard outer covering of chitin to consolidate and dry. A knowledge that
such a stage is passed through is of considerable importance for two reasons.
Firstly, several instances have come to light where the discovery of beetles
in this stage has been recorded, and quite wrongly recorded, as the date of
appearance on the wing of the insect in question, and with that emergence
have followed incorrect inferences of the periods of oviposition and hatching
out of the larva. Observations in the forest have led to the discovery that
these apparently correct dates of appearance of the beetle were solely
based on the fact of the beetles having been found in the resting stage
in the trees, the knowledge that the beetles would have remained in such a
position for another two or three months having been lacking.

I shall have occasion to allude to one or two such records having led
to confusion in drawing up the life histories of the insects in question.

The insects I propose to deal with here will be treated of in the order
of their at present accepted scientific position in the family as given in
Gahan's volume in The Fauna of British India. I would not have it
understood that we know at present anything like a tithe of our Forest
Cerambycidae. We do now know, however, some of the most important
of the pests of the family with which the forester has to deal, and their
description here will, it is trusted, lead to a fuller knowledge of the family.

The bulk of the Cerambycidae are probably forest-living insects, and

this is almost certainly the case with the larger
Habits of and Damage members of the famil As a general rule the insect
done by the Family.

lays its eggs in crevices of the outer bark as near to

the bast layer as possible, or, when occasions serve, at the edge of some
wound in the bark. This latter is commonly the case with the poplar and
willow longicorn, sEolesthes sardi.

The young grub on hatching bores down into the bast layer and eats
out a small tunnel parallel to the long axis of the tree. As it grows in
size this tunnel becomes broader and deeper in extent, and when the
mandibles are sufficiently powerful it grooves down into the sapwood.
For some months the grub continues to carry this tunnel onwards in the
bast and sapwood, curving about to a certain extent, but usually keeping a
more or less up-and-down direction parallel to the long axis, \\ith the
increase in size and strength of the grub the tunnel heroines very broad,
two to four times the breadth of the grub itself, the latter entirely removing
all the green bast from the bark and grooving deep into the sapwood.
It thus becomes obvious that when the grubs are in numbers in a tree

272

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

they may entirely remove all the bast, on which they feed, round a
section, or even in course of time from the whole of the stem of a
tree, which thus becomes completely girdled and dies. When such an
attack is in progress, if the outer dead bark be removed a mass of

wood, sawdust,
and larval excreta
will be found
blocking these
galleries, consist-
ing of the undi-
gested residue of
the bast and sap-
wood consumed
by the gr ub,
which it ejects,
and leaves block-
ing its gallery
behind it as it
tunnels onwards
in the tree. When
such a mass is
found beneath
the bark of a
dying or dead
tree it forms an
evidence of the
former and pre-
sent presence of
longicorn beetles
in the tree. Ex-
ternally the tree
itself shows by
its sickly appear-
ance and the
falling of its
needles or leaves
that it is suffering
from some attack
which is killing

FlG. 1 88. — Section of a stem showing large flat galleries eaten out
in the sapwood by ccrambycid grubs and the entrance-holes to the
pupating-chambers in the wood.

it. Noteworthy
examples of such
attacks actually

observed and reported, although the aggressor was still unknown, were
the great longicorn (sEolesthes sarta) attack which decimated the poplar
and willow avenues on the roads in Quetta, reported in 1904 by Col. A.

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE 273

Archer, C.I.E., the attack of the longicorn Hoplocerambyx spinicornis in
the sal forests of Goalpara, reported by Mr. W. F. Perree, I.F.S., in
1905, and the attack of the longicorn JEolesthes holosericea in a block of the
sal forests of the United Provinces Terai, reported by Mr. R. Milward in
1908.

When full-fed the longicorn grub tunnels further into the sapwood
for an inch as in the case of the deodar Trinophyllum, or may go right down
into the heart-wood, as in the case of Atolesthes sarta and Hoplocerambyx
spinicornis, to pupate. In the first instance, after making a tunnel of about
an inch down in the sapwood the grub eats out a slightly broader elongate
chamber parallel to the long axis of the tree and pupates in this. The
tunnel in the sapwood and the pupal chamber are both kept entirely free of
wood particles and excreta, all of which are ejected from them (cf. pi. xviii
and fig. 237).

In the case of the grubs who go right into the heart-wood the tunnels
are eaten out to a varying depth. When the grub is satisfied that it is
deep enough it also turns and eats out a wider elongate chamber parallel
to the long axis of the tree, and, turning round so as to face upwards, the
grub pupates here (cf. pi. iv and fig. 25).

The damage done to the tree by both these kinds of grubs is the same
so far as the growth of the tree is concerned. The green bast layer is
removed by the larvae, and when they are numerous the tree dies. In the
case of the grubs who go right down into the heart-wood the injury is
even more serious, as the timber itself is also ruined owing to the
numerous tunnels penetrating into the heart-wood in all directions. This is
one of the gravest features of the attacks of some of the larger longicorns,
such as, for instance, the well-known sal cerambycid Hoplocerambyx
spinicornis, which is rightly dreaded in the Assam sal forests, where
it works with amazing rapidity and destructiveness.

Gahan in the Fauna divides the family into two sections, the Cerambycinae and
the Lamiinae, which may be distinguished by the following characters :—

Cerambycinae. — Head in front oblique or sub-vertical, last joint
Classification. of palpi not pointed at the end ; fore tibiae not grooved beneath.

Lamiinae. — Head in front vertical or bent inwards well below
the thorax ; last joint of palpi pointed at the end ; fore tibiae generally with a groove beneath.

CERAMBYCINAE.

This group contains some of the most important of the longicorn pests
of the forests. As a general rule the larvae f<vd in the bast and sapwood of
the tree, eating out ramifying tunnels here. They only penetrate deeper
into the sapwood to pupate. Genera of importance in the forests are known
in three of the four sub-families into which Gahan divides the Cerambycinae,
namely, Prionini, Disteniini, Lepturini, and Cerambycini.

No species of the Disteniini have yet been discovered as of forest
importance.
9003

274 FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

Sub-Family i.— PRIONINI.

Fairly easily distinguishable by the fact that the prothorax is marginate
at the sides ; the front coxae are strongly transverse.

LOPHOSTERNUS.

Only one species of this genus is at present known to infest forest
trees.

Lophosternus hugelii, Redtenb.
(The Oak Timber Longicorn Borer.)

REFERENCES. — Redtenb. (Cyrtognathus) Hugel's Kaschmir, iv, 2, p. 550, pi. 28, fig. i (1848) ; Gahan,
F.B.I. Coleopt. vol. i, Ceramb. no. 8, p. n (1906); Stebbing, Insect Pests Himal. Oak, Ind. For.
Rec. vol. ii, pt. i (1909).

Habitat. — North-West Himalaya Oak Forests. Gahan in Fauna gives
Kashmir, North-West Provinces, Punjab, Assam.

Trees Attacked. — Ban Oak (Quercus incana). Probably also the Moru
Oak (Quercus dilatata).

Beetle. — $ The beetle is chestnut-red in colour, the head and prothorax darker than
elytra, at times the thorax being almost black. Head closely punctured ; the last joint of the

palpi distinctly widened towards the extremity. Eyes large and
Description. placed rather close to the insertion of the antennae behind. An-

tennae a little shorter than body, the first joint not reaching beyond

the hind margin of the eye, third to tenth joints acutely produced at the apex on the anterior
side. The prothorax is finely and closely punctured in front and along sides, smooth and
shining medianly, the hind angles obtuse and projecting, and the side margins produced
outwards into two sharp points ; elytra rugulose, the ridges finely punctured, and each with
two or three weak raised costae. The hind breast beneath covered with a tawny-coloured
silky pubescence. The last ventral segment is sinuate at the apex.

$ The antennae hardly reach to middle of elytra, and are more slender than in male.
Hind breast with no tawny pubescence. Last ventral segment with rounded hind margin.
(Descr. after Gahan.} Length, $ % 29-53 mm. Plate xvii, fig. 2.

Larva. — A large, yellowish-white, elongate, much-corrugated, thick grub, with stout black
mandibles, and a large hard prothoracic shield dorsally. Fig. i in plate.

Pupa. — Yellowish-white, stout, with the general appearance of the beetle, the parts such
as the antennae, wings, legs, etc., being free and pressed against the sides and breast.

The beetles appear on the wing during the monsoon, July and August,.

pair, and the eggs are laid at this period. The egg is
Life History. placed in an interstice in the bark, and on hatching out

the small grub bores down to the bast and sapwood
and feeds in this. Whilst young the sapwood is only slightly grooved
(pi. xvii, fig. 3, A), but as the grub increases in size and its mandibles become
stronger it works down deep into the sapwood, filling the whole of the gallery
and depression thus made between the outer shell of the bark and the inner
layer of the sapwood with wood particles and excreta (fig. 3, B). A large
irregular area is thus eaten out which may be as much as 5 in. across and
4 in. high, the edges being irregular and stretching at times a fifth or a
fourth round the tree. When full-fed the grub tunnels down into the wood
to pupate, usually from a point at one of the lower edges of the depression

PLATE XVII.

I .<'f<li«st, run* lii/^-.'lii. Redtenb. — r, larva : 2, hectic : ^ poiti'm ot the base of an oak stem (w/th
pan of the bark removed) showing the shallow gallery, .7. made in the sapwood by the voting larva :
also the deeper excavation, />', made as the larva reaches full growth, and the entrance-hole, C, to the
tunnel eaten down into the wood for pupation. Kumaun. North-West Himalaya.

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE 275

(fig. 3, C). This tunnel is carried deep down into the wood, curving upwards
at its orifice in the outer sapwood. When the grub has got far enough
down into the hard wood it eats out a pupating-chamber parallel to the
long axis of the tree and of larger diameter than the tunnel leading to it.
Both tunnel and pupating-chamber are free of all wood particles and
excreta, and to get rid of these latter a hole is cut through the bark, and
they are pushed out through this. It is the presence of these holes and the
heaps of wood-dust and excreta to be seen at the foot of the tree which
renders it easy to recognize the presence of the insect in the tree, although
externally no trace of the depression in the bast and sapwood is visible.

The larva eats out the pupating-chamber in May and changes to a
pupa in June. The total period passed in the larval stage is unknown.
The life-cycle is, however, unlikely to be of more than a year's duration.

The grub's method of feeding destroys portions of the bast layer,
whilst its mode of pupation results in large tunnels
Forest an<^ chambers being driven into the heart-wood of the

tree. The insect must infest a tree in considerable
numbers to kill it, and probably only does so when the oak is sickly
owing to serious infestations of the bark beetle Dryocoetes hewetti (p. 545),
or by the parasitic Loranthus vestitus. The damage done to the timber of the
tree is, however, more serious. The large circular holes and borings in
oak timber, the work of this beetle's grubs, are well known in the Western
Himalaya, and often render the wood unfit for other than firewood purposes.

This beetle is the common pest of oak timber known to the Breweries,
and reported from Naini Tal and Mussoorie on several occasions. The
beetle is to be found commonly on the wing in the early part of the mon-
soon in Mussoorie, Naini Tal, etc.

The cutting out and conversion of sickly trees which are found to be
badly attacked by the bark bettle or by the parasitic Loranthus should
prove a sufficient remedy against the increase and spread of this pest.*

PARAPHRUS.

Only one species of this grub is at present known from the Indian Region.
Paraphrus granulosus, Thorns.

KI.FKKKNCK. — Thorns (Cyrtognathus), Essai Class. Ceramb. p. 329 (1861); Gahan, F.H.l. < idne,

no. 13, p. 14 (1906).

Habitat.— Bashahr State, North-West Himalaya. Also reported from
Mungphu (Sikkim); Burma, Thayetmyo, Moulmein, North Chin Hills
(Watson); Thaungyin Valley (Binghum) ; Kakhien Hills i'B. L. StantoiM
Siam.

Tree Attacked. —Oak (Quercus ilex). Kotgahr, I'.ashahr.

* I'ide my paper, " The /.ora/i/liii* parasite on O"''> '<'"•»' iiiliit<it,i ami (j. hif<i>ni."—J^nr>
As. Soc. Hciigal, v, 189 (1909).

S 2

276

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

Beetle. — Brick-red in colour, head and antennae sometimes dark brown, the latter twelve-
jointed. Prothorax almost flat above, with three spines on each side, the posterior ones the

shortest ; finely and very closely punctate over its whole area. Elytra

Description. somewhat rugulose, closely and very finely punctulate. Last ventral

segment of body with an arcuate emargination at the apex. Third

joint of tarsus with its cleft extending three-fourths of the way to the base, and its lobes
obtusely rounded at the end. Length, <J 2 33 mm. to 65 mm. ; breadth, 1 1 mm. to 25 mm.

Towards the end of July 1909 Mr. A. J. Gibson, in charge of the

forests of the Bashahr State beyond Simla, procured

Life History. specimens of a longicorn which has been identified

as either this species or a new species of the genus.

Mr. Gibson states that the grubs of this longicorn tunnel into the wood

of the Quercus ilex and are responsible for the holes and tunnels found

in the timber of this tree. This seems to be the first record of the insect

responsible for this work.

PRIONUS.

Both the known Indian species have been taken in the forests. The
antennae are twelve-jointed.

Prionus corpulentus, Bates.

REFERENCES. — Bates, P.Z.S. 1878, p. 720, $ ; id. Scientific Results Second Yarkand Mission, Coleopt.
p. 21, pi. i, fig. 18 J (1890). Gahan. F.B.I. Ceramb. i, no. 14, p. 15 (1906).

Habitat. — Kalatope Forest, Chamba, N.W. Himalaya. Gahan gives
Murree, Kashmir.

Tree Attacked. — ? Kharshu Oak (Quercus semicarpifolia) . Chamba Oak
Forests.

Beetle This beetle is

readily distinguished from the
Lopliosternits, which it resem-
bles in shape, by the heavy-
jointed antennae, each joint
being produced laterally into a
long process.

$ Pitchy brown in colour ;

the antennae are a little longer

than body,

Description. 12 -jointed,
each joint

from third to eleventh produced
laterally into a long process, third
joint twice as long as first and
about half as long again as fourth,
fourth to eleventh sub-equal in
length, twelfth longer than
eleventh. Prothorax much

broader than long, bispinose at FlG- l89-~ Prionus corpulentus, Bates, x

each side, dull with two small North-West Himalaya. (F.B.L)

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE 277

slightly raised glossy spaces near the middle. Elytra more than twice as long as broad,
dull ; finely rugulose and very minutely punctulate. Thorax beneath rather thickly covered with
long tawny hairs, abdomen with very short sparsely scattered hairs. Last ventral segment
sinuate at apex.

2 Antennae much shorter (see fig. 189). Abdomen glabrous, the last ventral segment
with rounded hind margin. Length, 36-46 mm. ; breadth, 11-17 mm.

I am of opinion that this insect infests the Kharshu oak in the Western

Himalaya. I have taken the beetle on oak trees of this

Life History. species towards the end of June, and longicorn grubs of

large size, and resembling the grubs of this group of

the Cerambycidae, infest this tree.

Prionus elliotti, Gahan.

REFERENCE. — Gahan, F.B.I. Ceramb. vol. i, no. 15, p. 16 (1906).

Habitat. — Fort Sandeman, Baluchistan. Gahan in Fauna gives Balu-
chistan (near Quetta) (C. Elliott) ; Fort Sandeman (Capt. James).
Tree Attacked. — Poplar ?

Beetle.— Resembles the last in having the heavily jointed antennae with the long side
prolongations to joints. Only the male insect appears to be known. Black above; antennae, legs,

and body beneath pitchy brown ; tarsi reddish brown. Head im-
Description, pressed with a median groove less distinct behind. Antennae

scarcely extend beyond middle of elytra, joints third to eleventh each

with a long process projecting obliquely ; third about one-third longer than first, and twice
as long as fourth, its process half as long as joint itself ; fourth to eleventh sub-equal in
length, the ramus of each much longer than stem ; twelfth nearly twice length of eleventh.
Prothorax with two spines on each side — one short at anterior angle, the other long and
slightly recurved just before the middle. Elytra less than twice as long as broad. Breast
thickly covered with long greyish hairs ; the abdomen with some shorter sparsely scattered
hairs ; third joint of hind tarsus cleft in middle. Length, 33 mm. ; breadth, 13 mm.

This insect was apparently first taken near Quetta by Mr. C. Elliott,

late Conservator of Forests (then Deputy Conservator

Life History. of Forests in Baluchistan). Gahan's original description

of the species was made from this specimen. The only

other record of this insect I know is that of Captain James, Officiating
Political Officer, Zhob, who sent me a specimen of the male beetle from
Fort Sandeman in January 1909. The tree it infests is unknown, but is
not improbably a species of poplar.

ACANTHOPHORUS.

The single species as yet reported from India is one of the largest
tree-infesting longicorns known.

Acanthophorus serraticornis, Oliv .

REFERENCES. — Oliv. (Prionus), l-'nl. iv, no. t,t,. p. i .), pi. 9, B <=>) ; Serville (Aciiiitlii-: inn.

Soc. Ent. Fr. i, p. 153 (1832) ; Gahan, F.B.L Ceramb. i, no. 20, ] 106) ; Stebbing, Injur. Ins. ;

For. p. 80 (1889).

2/8

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

Habitat. — Sal Forests of Chota Nagpur and Ganjam.
gives Madras, Mysore, Trivandrum.

Gahan in Fauna

Tree Attacked. — Sal (Shorea robusta, Gaertn.). Singbhum (niihi) and
Ganjam (S. Cox).

Beetle. — <J Reddish tawny in colour, with the
head, basal half of the antennae, and prothorax

black or brownish black.
Description. Head punctate or granulate

behind ; eyes large, the

space between them rather less than one-third of
whole head ; mandibles variable in size and form.
In large specimens they are longer than the head,
divergent from the base to the middle, and thence
gradually incurved to the tip, each armed with two
or three strong teeth on the inner side between
the middle and the tip ; in small males they are
similar in size and form to those of the females.
Antennae twelve-jointed, with the joints from the
fifth to the eleventh produced each into a strong
dentiform process at the apex. Prothorax unevenly
convex, glossy in the middle, more or less pubescent
near the sides ; front and hind margins fringed
with tawny hairs. Elytra for most part coriaceous
and dull, but sparsely punctured and glossy near the
base ; each with a very closely punctured basal spot.
Breast pubescent.

$? Mandibles not so long, straight from the
base to about the middle, incurved at the end,
armed with several teeth along the inner edge.
Antennae shorter ; last ventral segment longer
and rounded at the apex. Length, 53 mm. to
92 mm. ; breadth, 17 mm. to 28 mm. (Descr.

FIG. 190.
Acanthophorns serraticornix^\\\. £.

Singbhum and Ganjam. (F.B.I.] after Gahan.)

I first took this beetle in the sal forests in Chota Nagpur (Singbhum), in
August 1896. In 1897 I discovered that the insect lived
Life History. in the tree, the larvae tunnelling into the bast and
sapwood. The beetle appeared on the wing early in
June, and the egg-laying period for this locality may be taken to be between
July and August, and perhaps later. The grubs feed in the tree throughout
the remainder of the year from July onwards. The period passed in this
stage of their existence has not yet been recorded. In the year 1907
Mr. S. Cox forwarded to Dehra specimens of the beetles from Ganjam.
They were taken on the wing at night in June, and were sent in connection
with a serious attack of longicorn and buprestid borers in the mango plan-
tations at Chicacole (vide pp. 218, 297, 369). There was no evidence,
however, to show that the Acanthophorus had issued from the mango-trees,
and the fact of its infesting this tree has not been substantiated.

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE 279

AEGOSOMA.

With Gahan's revision of the Cerambycinae only one species of the
genus has now been reported as a pest, and that doubtful.

Aegosoma costipenne, White.

REFERENCES. — White (Megopsis), Cat. Coleop. B.M. Longic. i, p. 28, pi. 2, fig. 2 (1853) ; Aegosoma lacertosuin,
Pa.sc. A.M.N.H. (3), xix, p. 413 (1867); I.M.N. ii, p. 12; Gahan, F.B.I. Ceramb. i, no. 45, p. 49
(1906).

Habitat. — Kulsi, Assam. Gahan gives Assam ; Sikkim ; Manipur
(Doherty).

Tree Attacked.— Teak (Tectona grandis). Kulsi Teak Plantation, Assam.

Beetle. — $ Ferruginous red and opaque, the elytral costae
nitid and of a brighter red colour. Upper surface bare of

pubescence. Antennae a little longer

Description. than body, the third and a few of

following joints tipped with black at

apex, third rather more than twice as long as first. Prothorax
with a sharp angular process at the base on each side ;
unarmed at the anterior angles. Elytra each with four costae,
the outer one reaching the apex, whilst a second nearly
does so, the remaining two being short ; apex subtruncate
near suture, armed with a short spine at the suture.

$ Antennae reaching to posterior third of elytra. Pro-
thorax with a reddish callosity occupying space between the
prosternal suture and the lateral edge. Ovipositor short

and compressed. (Descr. after Gahan.} Length, 25 mm. to Aegosoma costipenne, White.
30 mm. ; breadth, 7 mm. to 9 mm. Assam.

In 1890 the Forest Officer, Kamrup, Assam, reported that the young teak
trees in the Kulsi Teak Plantation were suffering from
Life History. insect attacks. Specimens previously sent to the Indian
Museum had shown that the insects were species of
Stromatium (see p. 292). The Forest Officer was asked to send further speci-
mens of beetles. In reply three distinct species of longicorns were sent, one
of which proved to be this species. The record does not state whether the
beetles were actually taken from the trees (I.M.N. ii, p. 12). This is at
present the only authority for stating that this beetle infests teak.

Sub- Family 2.— LEPTURINI.

Head elongate and gradually or abruptly narrowed behind eyes ;
antennae fairly close to base of mandibles ; latter frequently provided with a
ligamentous fringe and molar tooth at base; front coxae conical and
prominent.

Only two genera are at present known to contain species of forest
importance.

280

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

APATOPHYSIS.
Apatophysis sp. prox. modica, Gahan.

REFERENCE. — Gahan states that this species appears to be near to but quite distinct from modica, Gahan.

Habitat, — Fort Sandeman, Zhob, Baluchistan.
Tree Attacked.— Vitis vinifcra.

Beetle. — Small, rather slender, yellowish brown, head and
prothorax darker ; antennae covered with a greyish pubes-
cence except basal joint, which is
Description. shining-brown. Head finely rugose,

eyes large ; first joint of antennae

long, swollen anteriorly, second joint very short, rest sub-
equal, shortening apically. Prothorax convex and rough on
disk, sides produced medianly into a blunt point, the outer
posterior angles produced into sharp points. Elytra smooth,
glabrous, constricting behind, apices separately rounded ;
finely punctate, apical portions covered with a short, fine,

FlG. 192.

golden pubescence. Under-surface slightly darker, pubescent. Apatophysis sp. prox. modica,
Length, 1 1 mm. to 13 mm. Gahan. Fort Sandeman.

This beetle was sent to me in December 1908 by Captain E. H. S.
James, Assistant Political Agent, Zhob, from Fort Sandeman, where
he reported it as having been found on the vines in the gardens of the
station.

TELEDAPUS.

It is possible that there may be more than one species of this genus
infesting the conifers of the North-West Himalaya.

Teledapus dorcadioides, Pascoe.

FIG. 193.

Teledapus dorcadioides,
Pascoe. $. x 4.

(1871);

REFERENCES. — Pascoe, A.M.N.H. (4), viii, p. 269, pi. 13, fig.
Gahan, F.B.I. Ceramb. no. 72, p. 77 (1906).

Habitat. — W e st e r n H i m a 1 a y a — M u s s o o r i e,
Jaunsar.

Trees Attacked.— Deodar (Cedrus deodara) ;
Spruce (Picea morinda).

Beetle. — Apterous in both sexes. Elongate. Varies from
reddish brown to dark brown in colour. Head large, strongly

exserted ; finely and very densely punc-

Description. tate, with a faint short grey pubescence ;

vertex impressed with a median line

extending along base of clypeus. Prothorax almost as wide at
apex as at base, a little protuberant medianly, broadly constricted
between the middle and apex, a shallow sinuate groove near base
and a median line along the disk ; surface finely and very densely
punctulate. Scutellum covered with a dense greyish tawny
pubescence. Elytra densely and strongly punctured all over.
Body beneath and legs somewhat more pubescent than on the

Western Himalaya. (F.B.I.} upper side. Femora gradually and slightly thicker from the base

PLATE XVIII.

Not fuirrli iua muricata, Daln., in Finns longifolia, — i, la, ib, larva, pupa, and beetle ; ic, larval galleries
in the outer sapwood ; \d, pupal chambers in the sapwood. Kuniaun, North-West Himalaya.

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE 281

to a little past the middle of their length ; the hind pair in the male reach to the apex
of the elytra. In the male the first joint of the hind tarsus is longer than the remaining
joints united ; in the female the first joint is equal in length to the two others together.
Length, 14 mm. to 20 mm. ; breadth, 3 mm. to 4! mm. (Descr. after Gahan.)

Little is at present known on the subject of this most curious ceram-

bycid. According to Gahan it is the only species of

Life History. the genus Teledapus known. To my knowledge it is

the only wingless longicorn that has yet been reported

in connection with damage in the Indian forests. Specimens of the beetle
were taken on two occasions on 19 April 1902, by Babu B. Sen Gupta,
then a student at the Forest School at Dehra. The first specimen was
taken in a standing dead but not dry deodar-tree at Mundali in Jaunsar,
and another in a standing dead spruce, both in the sapwood. The grubs
evidently feed in the bast and outer sapwood, and the beetles probably
emerge from the tree some time in May or early June to pair and oviposit
in fresh trees. This is as far as the life history has been taken at present.

NOTHORRHINA.

The genus contains a notable pest of the Pinus longifolia. This is the
first report of the occurrence of the genus in India.

Nothorrhina muricata, Daln.

REFERENCE. — Daln. Schonh. Syn. Ins. i, 3, App. p. 193 (1817).

Habitat. — Pinus longifolia tracts in North-West Himalaya.
Tree Attacked. — Chir Pine (Pinus longifolia). Jaunsar, Tehri Garhwal,
Kumaun, Almora, Chamba.

Beetle.— Narrow, elongate. Black or rufous-brown, moderately shining ; antennae
brown ; under-surface brown to orange-brown, shining. Head finely rugose-punctate between

the roundish black eyes placed on each side ; antennae short,
Description. slender, first joint swollen, second short, third longer than second,

shorter than first, rest longer except last two, which are short. Pro-
thorax flat, wider than broad, the posterior outer angles rounded, coarsely rugose on sides,
the rugosities and imbrications strongest anteriorly, the disk convex medmnly. smooth,
shining, and finely punctate. Elytra broader than prothorax at base, sides parallel, apices
separately rounded ; striate-punctate, the longitudinal striae rather indistinct, the punctures
irregular and tine and interrupted by short irregular transverse striae and reticulations.
Under-surface finely punctate. Legs slender, light yellowish brown. Length, i, mm. to
1 8 mm. Plate xviii, fig. if>, shows this beetle.

Larva. — A thick whitish elongate grub with a pale brown prothorax which is broader
than the other segments ; the latter are tuberculate. Head small, yellow, mandibles black.
Length 18 mm. to 25 mm. (fig. i.

Pupa. — Elongate, white, slender, narrow, tapering posteriorly. Antennae, legs, and wings
are pressed against the chest. Length, 15 mm. to 21 mm. Fig. \a shows the ventral surface
of the pupa.

282 FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

The beetle appears on the wing in the forest some time in June,
probably first issuing about the middle of the month.
Life History. The female oviposits in June and July, the eggs being

laid in crevices of the thick bark of the tree. The grubs
on hatching out bore down to the bast layer, and feed at first entirely in
this, eating out a winding gallery. With the growth of the grub this gallery
increases in depth and width and grooves the sapwood as well as removing
all the inner bast layer of the bark. These galleries differ to some extent
in appearance, being taken either straight up parallel to the long axis of
the tree, or winding about indefinitely with a good deal of horizontal
direction (fig. ic in plate). The larval galleries are always packed with a
mass of wood excreta and dust ejected by the grubs, which fills them, and
owing to their darker brown colour renders them conspicuous objects in the
inner bast and on the outer sapwood. The winter is passed in the half-
grown larval stage, the grub remaining at the end of its tunnel in a semi-
comatose condition, and not feeding during the colder and frosty months of
this season. With the advent of spring the larva wakes up, recommences
feeding, and carries the larval gallery in the bast and sapwood for some
distance further. When full-fed it bores down into the sapwood, eating
out a tunnel about three-quarters of an inch to one inch in length. This
tunnel is carried down either at right angles or at an acute angle to the
surface of the sapwood, and ends in a chamber of two or three times the
diameter of the tunnel, which is eaten out parallel to the long axis of the tree ;
this chamber is the pupal chamber, and the larva changes to a pupa in it
(vide fig. id). The head of the pupal chamber is always blocked with
a mass of wood fibres, and the larva may close the entrance to it with
a similar mass before pupating. The grub changes to a pupa towards
the end of April, and about six weeks are spent in the pupal and imma-
ture beetle stages. When mature the beetle crawls out of the pupal
chamber and up the tunnel made by the larva in the sapwood, this tunnel
as well as the pupal chamber being always quite free of wood-dust and
larval excreta, and bores its way through the bark, and so escapes from the
tree. After pairing the female lays the eggs of the next generation in the
bark of fresh trees. The insect passes through only one life-cycle or
generation in the year.

It will be seen from a study of the life histories of the buprestids Capnodis

and Anthaxia (pp. 202, 212), and of this longicorn, all of

Damage Committed whom j f t th hir - th t th j consider-

in the Forest. . . J

able similarity in the method of attack of these beetles.

The egg is laid in crevices of the bark of the tree, and the grub on hatching
out feeds in the bast and sapwood. If the insects are plentiful in a tree
they will in time destroy all the bast layer and the tree will die. And
this is the danger to which the chir pine is subject from these insects.
The beetles attack the tree from the sapling stage upwards, and are at
times to be found in considerable numbers. Only green, sickly, or dying

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

283

trees or newly felled ones are infested. Dead trees are not attacked.
This longicorn beetle appears to be commoner in the trees than either
of the buprestids.

The remedies and methods of protection against this pest which can
be instituted will be found detailed under Crypto-
%»c/»<s brandisi (p. 433). _ The best time to put them
into force \vould be the winter months, when all these
insects are in the larval stage in the bast layer of the tree. A simple plan
to ascertain the abundance of the insects in the forest is to fell a fewr trees,
or, better still, ring them and leave them as trap trees. A monthly
examination of these trees will show how plentiful the insects are on the
area. If the trees are found to be heavily attacked by the buprestid,
longicorn, or weevil larvae, it will mean that the insects are numerous
in that area, and steps will have to be taken to get rid of them.

LEPTURA.

A number of Indian species of these small longicorns are known, but
only one as of forest importance.

Leptura rubriola, Bates.

REFERENCES. — Bates, P.Z.S. 1878, p. 720 J ; id. Scientific Results Second Yarkand Mission, Coleopt.
p. 22, pi. i, figs 21 and 22 £ Q (1890) ; Gahan, F.B.I. Ceramb. vol. i, no. 75, p. 81 (1906).

Habitat. — Kainthli, Chamba, North-West Himalaya. Gahan gives
Kashmir, Murree, near Gulberg, 5, 000-9,000 ft. (Dr. Atchison), and Lidder,
11,000 ft.

Tree Attacked. — Spruce (Picea morinda). Chamba State.

Beetle.- <$ Ulack, with the elytra from the base to a little
beyond the middle yellowish red (at times the elytra are com-

pletely black). Head dull, finely and
Description. closely punctured. Antennae nearly as

long as body, third joint scarcely longer

than fourth and a little shorter than fifth ; eleventh about one-
third longer than tenth. Prothorax a little longer than broad,
slightly constricted, and transversely channelled just behind the
front margin, widest at base, narrowed in front, dull and closely
punctured. Elytra strongly and closely punctured and dull save
at apex ; apices broadly truncate and slightly sinuate, leebly
dentate at each of the angles. Hind tarsi very long, the I'IIM
joint nearly twice as long as the next two united ; third joint
cleft to the middle ; claw-joint long.

$ Prothorax, except along front and luiul borders, and Leptura
the whole of the elytra, red. Antennae not extended beyond ^

the middle of the elytra, with fourth joint distinctly ^hortei th.m
third. Length, 11 mm. to 15 mm. ; breadth, 3' mm. to , mm.

I took a specimen of this beetle on a large girdled dying spruce-tree at
Kainthli in Chamba on 22 June 1909. The insect, a female, was deep
down in a crevice of the bark and was egg-laying.

IG. [94.

\\rsirrn
1 lim.ihxa. /•'./•'./.

284

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

Sub-Family 3.— CERAMBYCINI.

Head variable in form, but seldom distinctly narrowed behind eyes ;
mandibles never provided with a ligamentous fringe or molar tooth at base.
So far as at present known this is by far the most important sub-family of
the three to the forester.

Eighteen genera comprising twenty-five species are known to be
injurious to forest trees in the country. Some of these are pests of first-
class importance, such as Hoplocerambyx spinicornis of the sal in the
Central Provinces and Assam, Molesthes holosericea of the United Pro-
vinces sal areas, Trinophyllum cribratum of the deodar, and sEolesthcs sarta
of the soft-wooded but valuable poplars and willows of Baluchistan.

TETROPIUM.

This would appear to be a genus of some importance in the North-
West Himalaya.

Tetropium oreinum, Gahan.

REFERENCE. — Gahan, F.B.I. Ceramb. i, no. 88, p. 95 (1906).

Habitat. — Bashahr State. Gahan gives West Kashmir (Lt.-Col.
Steatham) ; North-West Himalaya (E. P. Stebbing).

Tree Attacked.— Deodar (Cedrus deodara). Ralli Forest, Bashahr State ;
Jaunsar — Konain, Pajidhar.

Beetle. — Black or brownish black, the upper side for the most
part dull, the under-side and legs somewhat glossy. Head sparsely

clothed with tawny setae ; densely rugulose-
Description. punctate, marked along the vertex and front

with a median groove. Prothorax sparsely

setose ; widest a little before the middle, narrowed more towards the
base than in front, marked with a transverse groove a little in front
of the basal margin, the latter not raised ; surface finely and very
densely granulated, except on two or three small areas in front which
are punctate and slightly nitid, and on a small smooth median
callosity near the base ; disk with a slight depression along the
middle. Elytra densely punctate and somewhat glossy near the
base, the rest of their surface covered with a very short dark
pubescence, more or less opaque. Body beneath very sparsely clothed with tawny pubescence.
I-Vmora fusiform, laterally compressed. Length, 9 mm. to 14 mm. ; breadth, 23 mm. to 3! mm.
A specimen of a mature beetle was taken by myself from the sapwood
of green felled deodar-trees in the Ralli Forest of the
Life History. Kailas Range in the Bashahr State on 24 June 1901.

The following year I took the same insect in green

deodar at Pajidhar in Tehri Garhwal. The beetle appears on the wing
from the middle of June into July. It lays its eggs in crevices of the
bark of newly felled green deodar-trees or in standing sickly ones.
The young larvae, on hatching out, feed at first in the fresh sappy bast
layer, afterwards grooving the sapwood. The gallery is long, rather
broad, shallow, and is carried in a wavy manner in the long axis of the

FiG. 195.
Tetropium oreinum,

( iahan. x 3_
N.W.

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE 285

tree. When full-fed the larva eats out a longish narrow pupal chamber
in the sapwood and pupates here. This pupating-chamber is usually from
half an inch to an inch down in the sapwood, and is parallel to the long axis
of the tree. The beetle on maturing crawls up the entrance-tunnel to the
pupating-chamber, eats a hole through the bark above, and escapes from
the tree. .

That the beetles lay in absolutely green trees is evidenced by the fact
that I took tiny larvae at the most two weeks old from a tree which had
been felled less than a month previously. The inner surface of the bark of
this tree contained numerous small flat shallow chambers made by the
newly hatched grubs. Some were so tiny that they could not have been
more than a day or two out of the egg. Scarcely one was yet old enough
or had sufficiently strong mandibles to be able to feed in the sapwood. At
the same time a number of the beetles were taken ovipositing in crevices in
the bark of the tree. They flew about quickly in the sunshine, and do not
appear to be affected by the light as is the case with some of the larger
longicorns. The length of time spent in the larval stage has yet to be
ascertained. It is, I think, improbable that there are two generations in
the year, though it is possible that the beetles issue irregularly through-
out the summer and early autumn.

On 7 November I took numerous partly grown longicorn larvae,
having the appearance of Tctropinm ones, from the upper portion of the
main stem of a large green deodar felled on i October at Konain in Jaunsar,
and at the time being converted into sawn material. It would seem prob-
able that these larvae had issued from eggs which were laid on the
tree after it was felled some five odd weeks before. The tree was a
perfectly healthy large old one.

An examination of several deodar logs near Konain showed that tin-
beetle had infested them in large numbers. It evi-
Parasitic Insect. dently attacked the trees in conjunction with Scolytn*
major (see p. 568), a bark beetle which was also

exceedingly plentiful. The longicorn had gradually increased in con-
siderable numbers, and apparently with it one of its insect parasites,
probably an ichneumon. I was unfortunately unable to find any of
the flies, as they had all left the trees; but the greater proportion of
the longicorn pupal chambers in the sapwood contained a small, white,
elongate, narrow pupal case with vertical sides, which was evidently the
pupating-chamber of a parasitic hymenopterous insect. In e\vr\ instance
examined these cases had a small holt; at one end, with a corresponding
hole in the bark above it, through which the parasite on maturing had
escaped from the tree. It appeared therefore that tin: numbers of the
longicorn had been decimated this year by the parasite, its grub having
lived parasitically on or in the longicorn larva till it had reached full size,
when the latter had died from exhaustion, and the parasitic grub then
pupated.

286 FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

Tetropium sp.

REFERENCE. — Mr. Gahan identifies this as a species of Tetropium near to the European fuscum, Fabr., but
requires further specimens to make certain of the identification.

Habitat.— Deota, Tehri Garhwal, and Simla, North-West Himalaya.
Tree Attacked. — Spruce (Picea morindd). Deota,
Simla.

Beetle. — <J A stoutish beetle. Head and prothorax black,
covered with a yellow pubescence when living ; head and thorax

punctate. Antennae about same length as

Description. insect, brown in colour, basal joint large.

Legs long, dark brown, with broadly ovate

flat femora. Elytra brown with a purplish tinge, and a yellowish
pubescence on basal portions ; each with two well-marked raised
lines running down it. Under-surface black, the abdominal seg-
ments thickly set, especially laterally, with short yellow pubescence. FlG>

Length, 16 mm. Tetropium sp.

$ Slightly longer and narrower than $. Thorax narrower and North-West Himalaya,
shorter, head smaller ; elytra narrower across base and leave the

pygidium exposed. Antennae shorter than body, about half length, the basal joints less
swollen than in <$. Femora of posterior legs not so enlarged and flattened. Under-
surface black, more or less shining on head and thorax ; abdominal segments shining,
with only a slight pubescence laterally. Length, 19 mm.

The beetle appears on the wing about the middle of June, pairs, and
lays eggs in spruce-trees. From the appearance of the

Life History. trees in which beetles and grubs have been taken it
would seem probable that this beetle will lay in trees
almost if not quite dead, and that the grubs can feed upon bast which has lost
the greater amount of its sap. In this respect this insect wrould appear to
differ in its habits from the deodar Tetropium, whose larvae require perfectly
fresh bast to feed upon. The larvae feed in the bast and sapwood, eating out
long winding galleries five to seven inches in length, which have a general
direction parallel to the long axis of the tree. These galleries are packed
with wood-dust and excreta. When full-fed the grubs tunnel down into
the sapwood and eat out a small elongate chamber parallel to the long axis
of the tree and pupate in this. In the cases where the tree infested is an old
one with a thick bark on the lower parts of its trunk the larvae eat out their
pupating-chambers in the thick bark instead of going down into the sap-
wood. The larvae spend from about the end of June to February or the
first part of March in this stage, and then pupate, about five or six weeks being
spent as a pupa, and the balance in the resting stage as a beetle. I cut
out a beetle in this resting stage from its pupal chamber in a large standing
dead spruce-tree in the Simla Catchment Area on n April 1908. The pupal
chamber is from half an inch to one inch down in the sapwood. The en-
trance to it is blocked up with wood fibres. The beetle bores straight through
the bark to escape from the tree when mature, and I have noticed that the
escape holes are generally situated in a crevice, so that on issuing the beetle is
sheltered from the gaze of birds, insect foes, etc., by theoverhanging bark flakes.

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

287

North Zhob.

I have not yet ascertained whether this beetle exists in the forests in
any serious numbers.

I have found parasitized dead grubs of this insect in their tunnels or
pupating-chambers in the wood, but I have never taken a specimen of the
parasite, which is possibly an ichneumon fly.

CRIOCEPHALUS.
Criocephalus tibetanus ? Sharp.

REFERENCES.— Sharp, Trans. Ent. Soc. ; Stebbing and James, A further note on the Chilgoza Bark-boring

Beetles of Zhob, Ind. For. Records, i, p. 251.

Habitat.— North Zhob Chilgoza Forests. Gahan states that the type
is from Tibet.

Tree Attacked. — Chilgoza (Finns gcniniianu).
Beetle.— Head and prothorax dull black. Elytra dark
aeneous brown, slightly lighter apically, dull ; antennae

black, apical joints brownish. Front
Description. of head with a transverse furrow

above clypeus, rugose and set with

fine transverse striae on vertex. Prothorax widest medianly,
sides rounded, the disk with three rounded depressions, the
two largest placed on either side medianly, the third just
above base on median line ; the surface covered with fine
irregularly transverse striae. Elytra wider than thorax at
base, slightly broader at level of hind legs and thence con-
stricting to apex, latter truncate and slightly spined in outer
angle ; striate-punctate, the striae not prominent, strongest
in basal half ; the punctures irregularly scattered, strongest in
basal half. Under-surface black, moderately shining, covered
with a fine short yellow pubescence. Length, 24 mm. to 28 mm.

Larva.— A small white corrugated but slightly tapering
grub about an inch to i£ in. in length when full-grown.

When investigating the chilgoza bark-beetle attacks in the North Zhob
forests in 1905 it was noted that many of the infested

Life History. trees contained numerous longicorn larvae feeding

in the bast layer and sapwood. The grubs eat out

elongate winding galleries which groove both bast and sapwood, the
eggs being evidently laid by the beetle on the thin outer bark of the tree.
When full-fed the grubs bore down into the heart- wood and eat out in
it an elongate pupating-chamber parallel to the long axis of the tree. The
grubs seem to become full-fed about the end of June or first weeks in July,
the beetle appearing on the wing during August and ovipositing. The life-
cycle takes a year from egg to beetle, the grubs hatching from the August
eggs hibernating as such in their tunnels in the tree.

Not having taken the perfect insect during my visits in June and again
in November 1905, I made no allusion to this insect in my monograph
entitled Note on the Chilgoza Hark-borin^ Hectics of /huh.* In a letter received

* Forest Hit/I, tin, no. 3

FIG. 197.

tibetanus ': Sharp.
North Zhob.

288 FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

during the same year from Captain Barren, I. M.S., from the Shinghar
Forest in North Zhob (where I had been carrying out my investigations in
June), he made allusion to the work of this beetle as evidenced by the
numerous holes to be seen in dead logs, etc.

To Captain E. H. S. James, Officiating Political Agent, Zhob, belongs
the credit of having been the first to draw public attention to the
presence of this insect in a Note on the further ravages of the Borer Beetle of
Shinghar for 1907, addressed to the Revenue Secretary, Baluchistan
Government. In this report Captain James wrote :—

Mr. Stebbing, in his book,* mentions three varieties of Boring Beetle at Shinghar,
viz., Polygraphus trenchi, Phloeosinus, and Pityogeties conifer ae. This season, I
believe, a fourth species, not mentioned by Mr. Stebbing, has been discovered. The
beetle is much longer and thicker than the other species, being about half to three-quarters
of an inch in length without its antennae, and of a dark brown colour. I secured two
specimens of both beetle and larva, which have been sent to the Forest Extra Assistant
Conservator. He has been asked to give any information about them that he can, and
then send them to the Quetta Museum. This species is far more destructive than the
borer. It appears to attack dry trees as well as green ones, and in the latter the larvae
were invariably found among those of the Polygraphus trencJii. In. dry trees they leave
a clean-cut hole extending far into the wood which looks as if a rook-rifle bullet had been
fired into it. ... In some parts of the forest there are large numbers of old holes made
by this species, but not many living specimens were found. They were discovered,
however, in both Old and New Shinghar.

This is a valuable note on the life history of this beetle. These longi-
corn beetles, when in numbers, can of course kill off trees with as great a
facility as the bark-boring Scolytidae, as is evidenced by the attacks of
jEolesthes sarta in the trees at Quetta (p. 307). Sometimes, however, they
come into trees which have already been infested by the bark-borer beetles,
and this was the case in Zhob during the great bark-beetle attack of 1900-05.
Of course, when present, they greatly assist the bark beetles to kill off the tree.
I am of opinion that the beetles of this species do not lay their eggs on the
bark of dead trees. The young larvae require a sappy bast during the first
portion of their lives. The holes seen in dead timber are the old entrance-
tunnels leading down to the pupating-chambers from which the beetles have
long since issued. When beetles are found in the pupating-chambers in the
wood of newly dead trees it is probable that the eggs were laid in the tree
the previous year whilst it was still alive or newly felled or blown down.

The subject of remedial measures against this insect will be found
discussed under the chilgoza bark-borers (p. 517).

HYPOESCHRUS.
Hypoeschrus indicus, Gahan.

REFERENCE. — Gahan, F.B.I. Ceramb. i, no. 97, p. 104 (1906).

Habitat. — United Provinces. Gahan gives Karachi; Calcutta, Belgaum.
Tree Attacked. — Sal (Shorea robnsta). United Provinces.

* Forest Bulletin no. 3, 1905.

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

289

Beetle. — Light brown. Head impressed with a median line.
Head and prothorax very finely granulate and dull. Antennae

longer than body in male, not so in $ ;

Description. third joint longest. Elytra somewhat

glossy, very closely punctured ; each with

seven raised lines, the third and fifth most prominent and con-
nected with one another, and the seventh by means of oblique
cross lines posteriorly ; the first runs close to posterior edge, the
sixth and seventh obsolete in front, and the sixth obsolete posteriorly.
Length, 12 mm. to 20 mm. ; breadth, 3 mm. to 45 mm.

This beetle has been taken in pupating-chambers
in the sapwood of the sal in the United Provinces and
Oudh. The grubs live in the bast layer, but the life Hypoeschrns indie us.
history has not been worked out. Gahan. $. x §.

7

FIG. 198.

XYSTROCERA.

An important species with a wide distribution is known to infest
pyinkadu.

Xystrocera globosa, Oliv.

REFERENCES. — Oliv. (Cerambyx) Entom. iv, no. 67, p. 27, pi. 12, fig. 81 (1795) ; Coquerel, Ann. Soc.Ent.
Fr. 1848, p. 180, pi. 7, iv, fig. 2, a, b (larva) ; Gahan, F.B.I. Ceramb. vol. i, no. 99, p. 106 (1906).

Habitat. — Salween River, Tenasserim ; Assam. Gahan gives India :
Mussoorie, Darjeeling, Assam, Madras, Mysore, Bombay ; Ceylon, Burma.

Siam, Malay Peninsula, Java, Celebes, Philippines,
Egypt, Mauritius ; Hawaian Islands.

Trees Attacked. — Semul (Bombax malabaricum} :
Assam ; Pyinkadu (Xylia dolabriformis) : Salween River,
Tenasserim.

Beetle. — Reddish brown ; prothorax with the front and hind
borders, a narrow median longitudinal band (sometimes obsolete)

and a broad lateral band, which in the
Description. $ runs obliquely from the side of thethot.ix

in front towards the medio-basal lobe
behind, metallic blue or green ; elytra testaceous yellow, the out' t

1 '99- and apical borders and, on each, a median longitudinal band, which

Xystrocera rloaosa, . ,.

Qij , "v anteriorly is directed oblique. y towards the shoulder, also metallic

Assam; Burma. (/"./>'./.) blue or green. Head densely punctate. First joint of antennae

asperate, with spiniform anterior process at the apex ; third to tilth

strongly asperate, each in <J with apex thickened ami dentate beneath ; thud joint thicker and
about a quarter shorter than fourth. Prothorax densely and finely granulated on the disk in
c5, less densely so in $? ; prosternum of the male with a transversely striated gloss\ hand of
metallic colour close t'o the front margin, the rest dull red in colour. Elytra densely and
rather strongly punctured ; each with three slightly raised longitudinal lines two dorsal
and one lateral. Length, 15 mm. to 32 mm.

Larva. — The larva is bright yellowish white with a small brown head and black
mandibles.

Pupa. — White, and of ordinary longicorn shape.
9003 T

290

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

This insect was taken in all stages of larva, pupa, and beetle in a
large pyinkadu-tree in a clearing close to the Salween

Life History. River. The tree had been felled about a month pre-

viously, and was still green. Specimens of the insect

were taken between the 8th and nth March 1905. The grubs feed in the bast
and sapwood, principally in the latter, as the bark of the tree is very thin.
The grubs were mostly full-grown at this period, but the majority of the
beetles were still immature. A few perfectly developed insects were, how-
ever, taken from the pupal chambers.

The grubs feed at first in the bast and sapwood, eating out winding
galleries which become broader as they proceed. These galleries are tightly
packed with excreta and wood particles. Each gallery is distinct, but
when the grubs are as numerous as in this case the galleries are liable to
interlace at times. When more than half-grown the larva bores down into
the wood (at A, fig. 200), the tunnel down into the wood being straight at first
and then gradually curving until it again becomes parallel to the long axis
of the tree. A broad irregular gallery is then eaten out in the wood (as
shown in fig. B), which is closely packed with excreta and wood-dust.
When full-grown and ready to pupate the grub curves the gallery once
more, eating out a narrow chamber parallel to the long axis of the tree, but
deeper in the wood (c). This chamber is at times situated below the
portion B of the gallery. In this chamber, which is quite free from wood
particles and excreta, the larva changes to the pupa stage.

Fu;. 200. — Larval gallery and pupating-chamber of Xystrocera globosa, Oliv., in pyinkadu.

Salween River, Tenasserim. (E. P. S.)

As I have said, the insect was taken in all the stages of larva, pupa, and
beetle, though no beetles had yet left the tree so far as I was able to
observe. It is probable that the beetles appear on the wing in April, and it is
perhaps possible that the insect passes through two generations in the year.

Although in the tree in which it was found the insect was extremely nu-
merous, I was unable to find any predaceous or parasitic insects infesting it.

The larvae, when numerous, completely destroy the bast layer of the
tree, and the insect must therefore be classed as a pest of some importance
so far as the pyinkadu is concerned.

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

291

I have also taken this beetle on the wing in Mussoorie, but in spite of
its wide distribution, as shown by Gahan, nothing appears to be known
about its habits in the Himalaya. It undoubtedly lives on a variety of
different trees.

In Assam this longicorn lays its eggs in the semul (Bombax malabari-
cuni). A log of this wood was sent to Mr. A. J. Gibson, Imperial Forest
Economist, in 1908, and from it he bred out specimens of the beetle.
The larvae lived in this wood in a similar manner to those infesting the
pyinkadu. Beetles issued from the semul in Dehra Dun in the middle of
August. It is probable that they issue at an earlier date from this tree in
Assam, and not improbable that the insect passes through two generations
in the year in that province.

I saw the attacks of this species in Albizzia lebbek trees in Egypt
during a tour I made in a part of the country in 1907. It was reported in this
connection by Mr. Willcocks, who stated that it committed very serious
damage.

STROMATIUM.

The genus is by no means such an important one as was supposed.
Gahan, in his Fauna volume, reduces the known Indian species to two in

number.

Stromatium barbatum, Fabr.

REFERENCES. — Fabr. (Callidium), Syst. Ent. p. 189 (1775) ; Oliv. Entom. iv, no. 70, p. 10, pi. 4, fig. 41
(1795); Callidium fenesum, Boisd. Voy. d' Astrolabe, ii, p. 481 (1835); ^"^- A/MS. Notes, vol. i, p. 59 ;
ii, p. ii ; Stebbing, Depart. Notes, vol. i, p. 182 (1902) ; Gahan, F.B.I. Ceramb. vol. i, no. 108, p. 114
(1906).

Habitat.— Assam; North-West India; Central Provinces; Ravi Valley,
Chamba State. Gahan, in Fauna, gives India; Ceylon; Burma;
Andamans ; Mauritius; Bourbon; Madagascar.

Trees Attacked. — Teak?: Assam; Acacia catechu: Dehra Dun; Sissu :
United Provinces Terai ; Dendrocalamus strictus : Raipur, Central Pro-
vinces; Mango: Pusa ? (Lefroy).

Beetle. — Varies in colour from brownish black to reddish brown,
faintly covered with a tawny pubescence. Head densely and rather

coarsely punctured above and at the sides ;

Description. as densely, but less strongly, punctured in

front. Antennae much longer than body

in (J, not so in $. Prothorax very densely covered with strong,
coarse punctures ; the disk, with rive slightly raised tubercles, less
distinct in the <£, placed two anteriorly, one behind the middle,
and two near the base ; the sides broadly and obtusely protuberant
except near the base in the $ ; straighter, with a tomentose depres-
sion, in <J. Elytra coarsely and very densely punctured ; each with
two fairly distinct dorsal and one or two short lateral costae, the Stromatium barbatum,
latter sometimes obsolete; a short sutural tooth at apex. Length, Fabr. £ . N.\V. India.
1 2 mm. to 29111111. ; breadth, 4 mm. to 7 £ mm. (Descr. after Gahan.} Assam, Central Pro-
Larva.— A white, thick grub, with a wide, dark brown head, vincc

black mandibles, and a pale brown shining prothorax, larger in breadth than the rest of
the segments. The body segments are flatfish. Length, 25 mm. to 30 mm.

T 2

292 FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

This beetle has a wide range in the country, and it is probable that

the date of its appearance on the wing varies slightly

Life History. in different parts. The insect has been reported as

infesting a variety of trees, but so far as I have been

able to ascertain it is typically an example of that group of longicorns
which confine their attention to dead wood, and breed in this latter. Of
this group we at present know very few examples in India.

In Indian Museum Notes, Cotes remarks in the first number of that
periodical issued (1889) that damage was noticed as being done to deal-wood
boxes lying in the godowns of the museum by the larvae of this beetle.
That such damage is common to the specimens in wood museums is well
known. Both Messrs. Gamble and Oliver, Directors of the Imperial Forest
School at Dehra Dun, as also Messrs. Smythies and Gleadow, reported from
time to time damage to the museum wood specimens from beetles which,
when identified, proved to be this pest. In addition to Acacia catechu I
have taken it in sissu wood, and commonly in packing-case wood, etc.,
in Dehra. The insect is also well known in the Museum of the Reporter
on Economic Products in Calcutta.

The insect was sent to me by the late Mr. A. M. Long, I.F.S., from
the Raipur Division in 1901, where it was taken in dry bamboos. I have
since taken it numerously from bamboos, and it is one of the insects
responsible for the holes with a squarish section to be seen commonly in
bamboos in thatched roofing and elsewhere.

H. M. Lefroy, in Indian Insect Life (p. 378), mentions it as infesting
mango wood.

The only record I can find of its being supposed to have been taken
infesting green trees is the reported beetle attack in the Kulsi teak planta-
tions in Assam, mentioned in Indian Museum Notes, vol. ii, pp. n, 12. An
examination of the note given there will show that the insect responsible for
the severe destruction in the plantations between 1873 and 1878 or 1879 was
identified as Stromatium asperulum (S. longicorne, see below). In February
1890 the attack had again made itself evident, and larvae were forwarded
to the Indian Museum. As the result of a request for mature insects, no
less than three distinct species of longicorns were sent to the museum,
viz., Stromatium barbatum, Neocerambyx (JEolesthes) holosericea, and Aegosoma
lacertosum (costipenne) , 5. asperulum not being represented. The fact that
these beetles were actually taken from the affected trees is not stated
in the note, nor have I been able to obtain an authoritative statement on
this head. From the life histories of two of these species as at present
known to us, it would appear doubtful, therefore, whether we can accept the
statement that Stromatium barbatum lives in green trees.

The life history as known at present is a simple one. The beetle
appears on the wing as early as the latter part of April or May in some
parts, in June and throughout July and on into August in Dehra Dun, and

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

293

requires dry and hard wood in which to lay its eggs. It does not
oviposit in rotten timber. The grubs live in the wood, eating out winding
tunnels, which are blocked with wood-dust and excreta. When full-fed,
they eat out a short length of tunnel, which curves to a certain extent, and
pupate here. The work of these larvae, as also of the mature beetles, as
they gnaw through hard wood with their mandibles, can be often heard in
the wood specimens in museums in India. The beetle, on maturing, bores
its way out of the wood.

I think there is only one generation of the insect in the year, but. am
not certain on this point.

To protect \vood specimens they should be soaked in a dilute solution
of arsenic. In Dehra I have found that this does not afford a permanent
protection either against this insect or the bostrychid borers, and specimens
have to be resoaked when the wood is seen to be again attacked.

Stromatium longicorne, Newman.
(The Kulsi Teak Borer.}

REFERENCES. — Newman (Arhopalus), Entomol. i, p. 246 (1840) ; Stromatium asperulum, White, Cat. Col.
Brit. .Wus. Longic. p. 300 (1855); ? Stromatium laticolle, Pascoe, Trans. Ent. Soc. Land. (3) iii>
p. 532 (1869); A. G. Mien, Ind. Forester, vol. iv, p. 347 (1879); Cotes, Ind. Mus. Notes, vol. ii,
p. u; Gahan, F.B.I. Ceramb. vol. i, no. 109, p. 115 (1906).

Habitat. — Kulsi Teak Plantations (Gauhati, Assam). Gahan gives
Assam (Doherty); Upper Burma; Tenijo (Fea); Hong Kong; South China;
Siam : Malay Peninsula ; Philippines ; Borneo ; Celebes ; Ceram, Amboina ;
Batichan.

Tree Attacked. — Teak (Tectona grandis). Kulsi, Assam.

Beetle. — Varies from testaceous to dark brown in colour, rather
densely covered with greyish-tawny pubescence. Antennae nearly

twice as long as the body in the $, a little

Description. longer than body in 9. ; first joint closely

punctulate, caniculate anteriorly near the

base in the <$. Prothorax strongly and densely punctate, the
punctures more or less hidden by the pubescence, dilated and

somewhat rounded at the sides in the
male, its width across the middle equal
to that of the elytra, and marked with

a large, densely tomentose depression

b / . . , , , Stromatium lonncorne.

on each side ; more sharply rounded Kcumm 9

at the sides in the female ; the disk

with four very feeble obtuse tubercles, and a submedian callosity.
Elytra rounded at the apex, armed each with a sutural spine ; the
surface rather densely punctured, the punqtures more or less
covered over by pubescence, marked also with numerous large,
conspicuous punctures, with raised front edges, each with a
tawny seta. Length, 17111111. to 25111111.; breadth, 4.1 mm. to
FIG. 203. ' 7* mm. (Descr. after Gahan.)

Stromatium longicorne. Mr- f»ahan adds : "This is a widely distributed species, and

A. Assam. the variation in size is pretty considerable. In some males the

294 FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

prothorax is relatively not so wide as in larger males ; it is possible that 5. laticolle, Pasc.,
founded upon a large male from Batichan Island, is only a form in which the prothorax
has reached its maximum of development."

Larva. — A whitish-yellow, thick-set, tuberculate grub,
with a dark brown head, black mandibles, light brown
shining prothorax broader than first abdominal segment ;
abdominal segments taper slightly posteriorly, all save the
last two, with an elliptical-shaped area of minute tubercles
on the dorsal surface. Length, 37 mm.

FIG. 204.
There can, I think, be little doubt that this Larva of stromaiinm

is the true Kulsi Borer of longicornc.

Life History. teak, the insect of which

Mr. A. G. Mien, I.F.S., studied the life history in 1877,

and of which he wrote an account in the Indian Forester in 1879. Mr. Mien
found that larvae were present in infested stems throughout the year, and so
was of opinion that the insect passed through two generations in the year.
The grubs were first observed to be injuring the trees in 1873, but the mature
insect was not discovered until 1877. At the end of March in that year
Mr. Mien collected some sections of stems containing larvae .and kept them
under observation, obtaining beetles from them on 21 June. The pupating
and resting stage is thus probably about two months. The following is an
extract from Mr. Mien's interesting note* on this subject :—

" Simultaneously with the establishment of the experimental teak
plantations at Kulsi, Assam, there appeared an insect which may
yet cause considerable damage amongst the young teak, although up
to the present time its attacks have not been very serious, only a
small percentage of the trees having suffered, many of which recovered
partially or entirely.

" The first symptom to be observed is the swelling just above the
ground, or sometimes a couple of feet up, of the stem, which is
occasionally of a considerable size. On close examination, small
punctures in the bark may be noticed, just beneath the swelling,
from which the excrements of the larvae exude.

" After a hot day the young trees have a fading appearance,
though not invariably, and the leaves shrivel up. Frequently this
symptom is, however, not present, and the young tree remains appar-
ently vigorous until the larvae have bored their way so far into the
stem that the tree is snapped off by the wind. The globular swell-
ing is evidently the result of the efforts of Nature to repair the
damage, and is sometimes successful, insomuch that the tree
continues to live and thrive, though with diminished vigour. On
cutting over the stem, and slitting it carefully open so as to bisect
it longitudinally, the larva may be discovered a little above the

* Note on the occurrence of the Teak Borer Beetle in Assam : Ind. For. iv, p. 347.

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

295

swelling, in the cavity formed by its having eaten away the pith ot
the tree completely for several inches in an upward direction.

" It appears usually in one- and two-year-old trees, but has also
been found in trees of five to six years' growth."

The small punctures in the bark referred to by Mr. A. G. Mien would
be the holes made by the grubs to admit air into the gallery, which,
as he states, is blocked with wood-fibre and excreta, part of which is got
rid of at the aeration outlet. Some of these fibre particles are used to make
a rough kind of semi-cocoon, when the grub pupates, in a manner similar
to that shown for Coelosterna scabrata (pi. xxv).

Some of the beetles bred out by Mr. Mien were evidently sent to the
Indian Museum in Calcutta, since a specimen in the collections is marked
" Kulsi Teak-borer." In 1890 the attack again broke out, and larvae were
again sent to the Indian Museum.

It was the consignment of beetles subsequently sent, consisting of
species of JEolesthes and Aegosoma, with Stromatium barbatum, not appa-
rently specifically stated to have been taken from the trees, which gave
rise to the confusion over the true Kulsi Teak-borer. That this insect was
indisputably identified and determined as the author of the damage by
Mr. A. G. Mien eleven years before seems hardly open to doubt.

According to Mr. Mien, the treatment instituted at the Kulsi planta-
tions to get rid of the pest was to coppice all young
Treatment. and badly attacked poles, and encourage the growth

of the strongest shoot from the stool by removing the

rest when they appeared. Older and more vigorous trees, which did not
appear otherwise sickly or fading, were left alone, and often recovered from
the effects of the borer's attacks, though traces of the globular swelling
invariably remained.

PLOC^DERUS.

The genus was for long thought to contain the worst sal longicorn pe^t.
Investigation has shown that this is not so. The known Indian speci< -
of importance, obesus, has, however, a wide range in the forest.

Plocaederus obesus, (iahan.

REFERENCES.— Gahan, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (6) v, p. 51 and (6) vi, p. 259 (1890):

Cotes (nee White), Ind. Mus. Notes, i, no. 2, pi. v, fig. 4 : .V.»i <'<-/;.< »/;.<•. sp., Thompson. AY/V Ins,
Injur. Woods and Forests, Allahabad (1878); Stebbing, /V/MJ/. Notes, i, 368 (1902 Gahan
Ceramb. no. 117, p. 121 (1906).

Habitat. — Throughout India, with the exception of the Honibay Presi-
dency, from which at present there is no record of its presence

Trees Attacked. — Sal (Shorca robusta) : Dchra Dun ; Odina ,r<>(//(T
(Jhingham): Dehra Dun; Bombaxheptaphyllum: United Provinces Terai ; llntca
frondosa (Dhak): United Provinces Terai; llomhax malabaricnin (Semul>:
United Provinces; Spondias mangifcra : Tista Valley, Eastern Himalax.i

296

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

Chica-

(900 ft.) — Thapal, Saharanpur District; Mango (Mangifera indica]

cole, Ganjam, Madras.

Beetle. — The beetle is chestnut-brown in colour
above, clothed with a short dense tawny-grey pubes-
cence, and lighter-coloured
Description. below, the legs and an-

tennae being of the same

colour as the upper surface ; the head, upper and
lower edges of thorax, and outer and inner edges of
elytra, black. The head slopes forward at an angle,
the eyes are kidney-shaped, the antennae taking off
from the inner angle of the eye ; the first joint of the
antennae is large and swollen, the remainder long
and swollen at the nodes, where they are black ;
they are longer than the total length of the insect
in <J, of the same length or slightly shorter in !£.
The thorax has a transverse ridge at upper and
lower edges, and the vertex is covered with small raised
irregular transverse ridges ; the outer edges are pro-
duced into a spine medianly. The elytra have a
distinct shoulder to the upper outer angle, the tips
being truncate and spined. In the $ the last segment
of the body projects beyond the elytra. The legs have
four-jointed tarsi, the third joint is deeply cleft in a
heart-shaped manner, the fourth joint being inserted
in the cleft near the upper end of the third. Length,
27 mm. to 45 mm. ; breadth 9 mm. to 15 mm. FIG. 2o$.—Ploc(e(terns obesus, Gahan.

Larva. — The larva when quite small is elongate, <$ . * f. India. (F.B.I.]

never curved, white in colour, with soft yellowish

head and mandibles and twelve segments of nearly equal size. As it increases in size the
head becomes yellowish brown, the mandibles large, powerful, and black, and the body-
segments roundish, wrinkled, and thick, the hind ones tapering slightly, the prothoracic one
being the largest and hardest. Length, i\ in. to 3 in.

Pupa. — The pupa is yellowish white and has the shape of the mature beetle ; the elytra,
however, are soft, white, and curled down on the breast ; the antennae are held pressed over
the back, and the legs are pressed against the sides. The eyes are large, prominent, and black,
the tips of the mandibles also black, and the jointed palpi prominent. Length, i| in.

Cocoon. — The pupa lies free in a curious calcareous whitish cocoon, which to some
extent resembles a pigeon's egg. These cocoons are to be found lying at the ends of the
larval tunnels in the wood of infested trees (tig. 206).

Observations made in the Siwalik forests in the United Provinces,
with others carried out in Sikkim, practically complete

Life History. the life history of this insect for the more northern parts
of India, in the Terai, and foot-hills of the Himalaya.

The beetles appear on the wing in March, and soon after pair and
lay eggs in the bark of either sickly or freshly felled trees. From these
eggs small grubs hatch out in April and feed for a time in the bast
layer, making winding galleries in the bark and sapwood. As the larvae
increase in size and their mandibles become stouter, they bore down deeper
into the sapwood, and spend the time until nearly full-grown eating out

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE 297

deep, winding galleries, which remove all the bast below the outer bark and
groove deeply into the sapwood. When nearly full-grown, they tunnel down
into the heart-wood and eat out a pupal chamber in this, which is more
or less at right angles to the long axis of the tree. About August-
September the larva is full-fed, and changes into the pupal state within the
curious calcareous cocoon peculiar to this insect. Fig. 206, from a photo-
graph taken by M. E. Stebbing, sho\vs these cocoons in situ in the tree.
Pupation takes place at various depths in the tree. If some of the cocoons are
broken open at the end of November the fully developed beetles will be found
inside them, mature, but not ready for flight, as their outer covering is still
soft. The pupal state is evidently a short one, but the beetle on maturing
rests within the cocoon between December and March, whilst its outer
parts are slowly hardening. If the insect is examined in December, it will
be seen that the elytra are still quite soft, and that the legs and antennae are
by no means ready to perform their respective functions properly. The
beetle can walk about only in a weak, halting manner. It is probable that
this habit of the beetle of maturing and resting for some months is the
cause of the statement so often made that the insect appears on the wing in
November and March in the Siwaliks. It is improbable that the insect
would appear when the sharp winter of the North-West has set in,
although it can be easily obtained at this season. The writer has had
numbers brought to him during the winter months. Fuel-choppers con-
tinually come across them, and it is probable that the beetles obtained
by them have given rise to the statement. From the above it will be
evident that this insect takes a year to pass through all the various stages
of its life history from egg to mature beetle.

The late Mr. R. Thompson, Conservator of Forests, was probably
the first to draw attention to the damage committed in the forest by this
pest in his Report on Insects injurious to Woods and Forests, published by the
North-West Province and Oudh Government in 1878.

On p. 37 Mr. Thompson wrote : " They >: (the cocoons) " were
discovered beneath the bark, embedded 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. . . .

" I have since obtained numerous specimens of these beetles and their
cocoons embedded to a depth of eight inches in logs of Odina <cmlicr ami
Bombax hcptaphyHiun. They are the commonest and earliest variety of
Monochami out, the perfect insects having been obtained as early in the
season as November."

We also bred out this beetle at Dehra Dun from the mango logs sent
from Chicacole, Ganjam, in December 1908, as seriously infested by the
Batocera titana borer (see p. 367). The 1'locucicnt* beetles issued in the
breeding-cage at Dehra on 17 March and 7 April 1909.

298

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

'

FlG. 206. — Larval galleries and pupal chambers, with
cocoons and beetles in sit it, of Ploccedcnts obcsus, Gahan,
in the interior of a stem of Butea frondosa. Siwaliks.

Damage Committed in the
Forest.

The damage done by
this insect is both to the
bast layer and to the tim-
ber of the tree it attacks.
Trees cut down in cold-
weather fellings will have
eggs laid in their bark in
March and April, and un-
less the wood is removed
before the ensuing rains
the larvae hatching from
the eggs will riddle it, and
render it useless for any
save firewood purposes ;
the weight of fuel obtained
from such trees is very
considerably lessened
owing to the large winding
borings of the larvae and
the enlarged pupal cavity
they eat out. The damage
thus caused to the timber
is probably usually of more
importance than the dam-
age done to the standing
trees in the forest, though
it must be remembered
that the insect will ovi-
posit in sickly standing
trees and thus injure them,
and even cause their death
when the insect is in any
numbers. In some locali-
ties green standing trees
have been found severely
attacked and killed by this
beetle. As the insect is to
be found in other parts of
the country, it necessarily
follows that it feeds upon
a variety of trees. At pre-
sent it has been actually
reported as taken from sal

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

299

(I think it only infests this
tree exceptionally), jhin-
gham, dhak, Bombax hcpta-
phyllum, semul, Spondias
inangifera (taken by myself
in the Tista Valley forests
in 1896-97), and mango.

Protection and Remedies.

Observations would
tend to show that this in-
sect is both hardy and has
great powers of self-repro-
duction. It is therefore one
which may cause consider-
able trouble in the future..
Several of the trees it in-
fests are for a variety of
purposes of importance to
the forester, and therefore,
whenever possible, practical
protective measures should
be enforced against it.
The most important are :

(i) Removal of dying
and sickly trees from the
forest.

(ii) Bark all fellings,
whether poles in thinnings
or mature timber, as soon
as made.

(iii) If it is not pos-
sible to bark the felled
material, whether poles or
logs or unbarked fuel-
wood, it should be re-
moved from the neighbour-
hood of the forests by the
end of April.

Predaceous Insect.
Colydiid, sp.— The
grub of this beetle is pre-
daceous upon the larva, Kl<;. 207. — ColyiUiti -nib at X f>n stem of Hi/tea

pupa, and immature beetle >™*»* J»adl infested by Plocaderus dbesus The
rV»/ 7 Rrub was taken from a co.uon ol this beetle. Siwaliks,

ot Ploca'dcnis obesns. X. India.

300 FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

Grub. — The larva is an elongate yellow grub, consisting of a square black
head with large stout mandibles. The thoracic segments are squarish, each
having a stout dorsal hard chitinous brown shining plate, and a pair of long-
jointed legs. The body segments are flat, yellow, darker medianly , the eleventh
ending in a stout sucker leg. The twelfth ends in a pair of stout black callipers.

Beetle. — I have not yet taken the beetle.

Life History. — The grub of this insect was taken in December inside a
broken calcareous cocoon in which it was curled up, apparently hiber-
nating or pupating. The cocoon was situated in a pupal chamber in
the heart of a Butea frondosa tree which had recently died and was very
badly infested by the longicorn, a large number of cocoons containing
living beetles in situ being taken from pupal chambers in the heart-
wood of the tree. In or alongside the broken cocoon containing this grub
were the remains of the immature beetle it had consumed, the harder
chitinous parts, such as head and jaws and legs and antennae, having been
rejected. The grub was fat and swollen, in a comatose state, and was
probably about to pupate. It is shown in fig. 207 on the piece of wood in
which it was found, from a photograph taken on the spot by M. E. Stebbing.

NEOCERAMBYX.

One species of this genus has been reported from Taunggyi in the
Southern Shan States as infesting oak.

Neocerambyx sp.

REFERENCE. — Provisionally identified by Gahan as probably two species of possibly Neocerambyx at

present unknown to him.

Habitat. — Taunggyi, Southern Shan States.

Tree Attacked. — Oak (Quercm griffithii). Taunggyi (H. W. Watson).

Beetle.— Elongate. Head and thorax black, covered with a fine silky golden pubescence ;
elytra chestnut brown, often very dark, covered with a very fine golden pubescence giving a

silky appearance to the insect. Head longitudinally channelled

Description. between the eyes and antennae, front with a deep transverse elliptical

depression medianly, vertex very finely punctate, the whole except

the hind portion of vertex covered with a fine golden pubescence. First joint of antenna
obconical, thickened ; 2nd very short ; 3rd longer than ist and 2nd together ; 4th equals ist ;
5th longer than 4th but not as long as 3rd ; rest sub-equal. Prothorax widest medianly,
covered with wavy irregular transverse ridges with a raised " collar " on anterior and posterior
margins. Elytra much \\ider than head and prothorax, moderately shining, smooth, sides
slightly constricted at level of posterior coxae, thence straight to apical fourth and then con-
stricted sharply to apex, which is slightly truncate ; very finely punctate beneath the pubescence.
Under-surface densely set with a fine silky yellow pubescence, as also are legs and antennae.
Length, 61 mm.

These beetles were sent to me by Mr. H. W. A. Watson, as infesting

oak (Quercus griffifhii) in Taunggyi in the Southern Shan

Life History. States, in company with the Massicus unicolor described

below, p. 317. The Massicus appears to be the chief

offender, although the life history of this Neocerambyx is likely to be somewhat
similar to that observed by Mr. Watson for the former.

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

301

/EOLESTHES.

The beetles of this genus are easily distinguishable by the silvery or
golden reflexions on their elytra. The genus is of considerable importance
in the forest.

/Eolesthes holosericea, Fabr.
(The United Provinces Sal Longicorn.}

REFERENCES. — Fabr. (Cerambyx), Mant. Ins. i, p. 135 (1787) ; Pachydissus velutinus, Thorns. Syst.
Cerainb. p. 576 (1865); Pachydissus similis, Gahan, A.M.N.H. (6) v, p. 52 (1890); Neocerambyx
holosericeus, Cotes, Ind. Mus. Notes, i, no. 2, pp. 60 and 89, pi. 5, fig. 3 (1889) ; Thompson, Rep. Ins.
Injur. Woods and Forests, p. 24 (,1867) ! Gahan, F.B.I. Ceramb. no. 124, p. 127 (1906).

Habitat. — United Provinces and Oudh Sal Belt ; Hyderabad ; Central
Provinces; Dehra Ismail Khan; Ganjam. Gahan gives the habitat as
North- West India, Bombay, Nilgiris, Ceylon, Assam, Tenasserim, Andaman
and Nicobar Islands ; Siam ; Malay Peninsula.

Trees Attacked. — Sal (Shorea robust a} : United Provinces and Oudh Sal
Belt ; Tcrminalia tonicntosa : United Provinces and Oudh ; Hardu'ickia binata :
Oudh and Central Provinces; Chloroxylon swietenia : Hyderabad; Tamarix
articulata and Acacia arabica : Dehra Ismail Khan ; Guava : Bengal (Lefroy) ;
Mango (Mangifera indica) : Chicacole, Ganjam, Madras.

N.B. — The statements in Indian Museum Notes* that the insect infests
the teak in the Kulsi plantations, Assam, and Shorea assamica in Assam,
require confirmation. The note in question does not state that the
beetles of this species were actually taken from the trees.

Beetle.— Dark brown or reddish brown, densely covered with
a greyish or golden brown pubescence which has a remarkable

satiny sheen as the elytra of the beetle are
Description. presented in different positions to the light,

giving them the appearance of being
coated in silk. This easily distinguishes it from both

obesus and Hoplocerambyx
with which forest officers are liable lo
confuse it. The head has a straight or
very feebly bisinuate furrow beneath be-
f.vcen the cheeks, this distinguishing it
from . A . indiita. The prothorax is
rounded at sides and irregularly wrinkled
above, with a smooth space on disk.
Length, 20 mm. to 35 mm. ; breadth,
t;i mm. to 10 mm.

KM;. 208.

•///«'.*' //<>A'.v<V/<V<7.

Fabr. $. f India.

FlG. 209.

sEolesthes holoscrn <-<i,
Fabr. $. \

Larva. White in colour, almost , vlmdnral, constrirtmg
sli-litly to extremity, corrugated : the head is brown, with bla< k
mandibles; prothorax with a brown hard plate on the dorsal
surface.

Pupa.— "\Yhitc, of usual ceramb; < id shape.

* Vol. ii, pp. 1 1-12.

302 FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

This beetle was first reported as destructive to sal by Mr. R. Thompson,
in his Report on Injurious Forest Insects in 1867.

About 1889 the Director of the Imperial Forest School at Dehra Dun
forwarded specimens of the insect to the Indian Museum as
Life History. injurious to sal and Terminalia tomentosa. Neither of these
reports contains information as to the exact life history
of the insect, though they mention that the larvae were excessively common
in sal wood. Observations on this insect were carried out by myself between
1901 and 1909, aided by Mr. R. C. Milward in 1908. As a result the various
stages in the life-cycle have been worked out for the United Provinces and
Oudh, where the insect is a sal pest of the first importance. The beetles
make their appearance on the wing about the latter half of June and on into
July. The female, after the pairing with, the male, which takes place in dark
crevices of the bark or on the under-side of fallen logs or other shady
situations, deposits her eggs in little crevices of the bark of green fallen or
felled trees, or in standing green sickly trees. That green trees are used
was proved by an inspection of some large old standing ones in the
Mandal Range, west of the Patli Dun, which were reported by Mr. R. C.
Milward as dying under the attacks of an insect. These trees were full of the
grubs and maturing beetles, and were obviously being killed by the insect.

The grubs on hatching out feed at first in the inner layers of the thick
bark, eating out shallow narrow galleries here. As soon as their mandibles
become stronger they leave the bark and eat out in the sapwood large,
broad, flat, irregular-shaped, longitudinal or transverse galleries. These
galleries may be as much as twelve inches or more in length, three inches in
breadth, and a quarter of an inch deep, grooving both bark and sapwood.
When the bark is thin this gallery is almost confined to the sapwood.
Whilst engaged in eating out this gallery, the grub bores at intervals two,
three, or more openings or aeration holes to the outside, these openings
increasing in size with that of the grub. When about half to two-
thirds grown, the larva leaves the outer sapwood and bores down
into the heart-wood, the tunnel going in at an angle and continuing for
a varying distance in the inner sap- and outer heart-wood till the grub is
full-grown. It then bores down into the older heart-wood and eats out a
chamber more or less parallel to the long axis of the tree. This chamber is
wider than the tunnel leading to it, is of varying width and length (as the
larvae when full-grown and the perfect insects vary in size considerably),
and forms the pupal chamber. A mass of triturated wood fibres forms a plug
at the bottom of the chamber, whilst the upper end is covered over with a
curious calcareous semi-cocoon or shell, concave on the inner surface, and
having the appearance of a brazil-nut on the outer. This covering, which
is hard and white, is made by the larva before changing to the pupal
form. It resembles the one made by Hoplocerambyx spinicornis and is
shown in fig. 210 (cf. also pi. iv).

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

303

The larvae usually be-
come full-grown towards the
latter part of the year, about
November, and may pupate
then ; or more rarely perhaps
they hibernate in their tun-
nels, and with the first
warmth of spring eat out the
pupal chamber in the heart-
wood and change into the
pupal form in it in the latter
part of April. In the first
and more usual case, as is
evidenced by the numerous
holes closed by the calcareous
covering seen in felled and
converted timber in the cold
and hot weather months, the
winter is passed through in
the immature beetle stage
within the pupating chamber,
the insect being fully formed,
but all its outer chitinous
parts still soft, as we saw in
the case of Ploccederus obesus.
I have taken beetles in this
stage in January and Feb-
ruary. These form the early-
issuing beetles of the species,
and account for the appear-
ance of the beetle in June.
In the second case, the insect
spends a portion of May and
J Line, some six to eight weeks,
in the pupal stage, and issues
as a beetle some time in July.
Thus some four or five
months are spent by the grub
actively feeding in the tree.
It may then either pupate
(most often) at the com-
mencement of winter, or
hibernate, and pupate in the
spring. The larval period in
this case extends to about

\

H<;. 210. — Sal house - post, showing
pupal chambers of . !•'.<> lest lie s /i<>/<>s<-ru <-<i.
the wood. Garhwal, January 1907.

-alii 1 ies

and
Fabr., in

3o4 FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

nine months. The pupal stage is usually from six to eight weeks. The
beetle probably lives in the mature state a couple of weeks or there-
abouts. It may spend several months resting in the pupal chamber
to allow the chitinous parts to harden (in the case of the autumn-pupating
larvae), or it may spend a few weeks (up to a month at the most, probably)
in this condition.

The life history is very similar when the insect infests Terminalia
tomentosa in the United Provinces and Oudh forests, and probably is more
or less similar in the Hardwickia binata in Oudh and the Central Provinces.
Mr. D. O. Witt, I.F.S., reported it as infesting this latter tree in the
Central Provinces, finding specimens of both beetle and grub in January
1909. PI. xix shows a section of a log of this tree riddled by the
insect.

The beetle also infests the mango ; specimens of the insect were bred
out at Dehra Dun in the breeding cage from a log of mango, forwarded
from Chicacole, Ganjam (see p. 370), in December 1908. The beetles issued
between 17 March and 7 April 1909.

Specimens of a longicorn identified as this species were forwarded to
the Indian Museum, Calcutta, from the Deputy Commissioner of Dehra
Ismail Khan. He procured them from Tamarix articulata, Acacia arabica,
and the?"sarin" trees in November 1892. The Deputy Commissioner
stated that .the trees were usually attacked in the lower part of the trunk,
but that branches were also infested on occasions. Trees growing in dry
places appeared to be usually attacked.

•

The result of this insect's attacks in sal will be known to every Forest
Officer in the United Provinces and Oudh. Evidences
of the tunnelling work of the larvae and their pupating-
chambers covered over with the curious white calcareous
covering are plentiful in freshly cut sal logs and tors, etc., in almost every
sal forest in the province, although more plentiful in some than in others.
The damage this pest does to the timber therefore is obvious and needs no
insistence on here. It is unfortunately certain, however, that the insect is
equally a pest to the green tree, as once the latter has from any cause fallen
into a sickly condition, from which it might have otherwise recovered, the
beetles lay their eggs in it and the larvae proceed to remove the cambium
layer. In the large old trees already mentioned as having been infested by
this insect in the Mandal Range (Garhwal), the whole of the upper two- thirds
of the bast layer of the tree had been removed by the grubs, the inner face
of the bark and outer sapwood consisting of a mass of large irregularly
winding galleries going either up or down the tree or across it. Large holes
appearing here and there in the sapwood showed where the grubs had bored
down into the heart-wood. Again, the heart-wood is seriously destroyed by
the pupating operations of the grubs, the large elliptical pupating- chambers
being at times very numerous (cf. fig. 210).

PLATE XIX

Section of stem of 1 ItirJ-^'ickia />/;/, i/,r, showing ilic ;;.dl( Ties in the
«ap\\ood, and the entrance-holes to the pupal rh;imlx-rs down in the

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE 305

One method of ascertaining the abundance of this insect in a forest is
to examine the timber stacked in the temporary depots

. in the forest for. checkin§ and marking purposes.
Whilst the wood is still in these depots it is always
easy to ascertain from which forests or blocks of forest it has come.
I have found that the wood in these depots in the Ganges and Garhwal
Divisions showed great variableness as regards attack, that coming from
certain areas having been invariably badly infested (from twenty to sixty
per cent, at times), whilst lots from other blocks appeared almost free from
the tell-tale holes and tunnels. These depots thus form a valuable means
of allowing the Divisional Officer to ascertain in which blocks of his
forests the insect is most abundant and is consequently committing the
most damage, and with this important knowledge ascertained it should be
possible to take steps in such areas to check or stamp out the beetle.

One of the most important means of checking the insect is to bark all
timber as soon as felled, or at any rate before the middle of April in any one
year. Green logs lefc unbarked from May onwards are certain to have eggs
laid in them as soon as the first beetles of the year commence to emerge.
Similarly, sickly dying trees should be felled and barked even if they are in
localities where the timber c innot be disposed of, as if left they serve as
so many centres of infection.

Ichneumon ? — Thompson in his above-quoted report stated : " In their

larval state these insects are open to the attacks of both

Predaceous Insect. Ichneumons and Acari, both parasitical insects, the

larvae of which feed upon the young grubs." In a large
firewood billet of sal I took one February from a pupal chamber enclosed
by the calcareous covering a thick elongate white grub constricted at
each end and having the appearance of an Ichneumon grub. The
shrivelled skin of the dEolesthes grub was close by. The Ichneumon grub
had apparently fed upon it as an external parasite, gradually killing it,
but not before the calcareous protecting cover had been made to the pupal
chamber. The grub was evidently full-fed, but had not changed to the
pupal stage. It is thus probable that the parasite only puputrs in thr
spring, though becoming full-fed in November or December.

^olesthes induta, \\-\vnian.
(The Stilin-^'noi/ llorcr.)

REFERENCES.— Newman (Hammaticherus), Entomologist, i. p. 245(1842); Armii.i.i;.', Ind. Forester, xx\ii,
p. 486 (1901) ; Gahan, F.B.I. Ceramb. no. i 26, p. [28 i<>o6).

Range. — Low Country Forests, Ceylon. Gahan in the Funiui gives
Ceylon, Upper Burma, Bhamo Ova), Siam, Sumatra, Java, Borneo,
Philippine Islands.

Tree Attacked. — S.itin-wood (Chloroxylon ^-icleniii). Ceylon.

9003 U

3o6 FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

Beetle. — This beetle greatly resembles holosericea, described above, in size, form, and
coloration. It can be easily distinguished from the latter by the fact that the furrow crossing

the under-side of the head between the cheeks is very clearly and

Description. strongly marked, and strongly arched backwards in the middle ;

whereas in holosericea the furrow is either straight, slightly arched

forwards, or feebly bisinuate and not quite so deep and well denned (Gahan). Length,
23 mm. to 28 mm. ; breadth, 6| mm. to 1 1 \ mm.

The observations on the life history of this insect were made by
Mr. H. P. C. Armitage, Assistant Conservator of Forests, and recorded
in the Indian Forester in 1901. I give them here in cxtenso as they appeared :

"Flight. — At end of February and March. The eggs are laid in the
bark of newly felled or injured trees; so far as is yet

Life History. known they do not attack healthy trees. A large
number of eggs must be laid in each tree, as I have

found as many as thirty larvae in one small sapling, and never less than a
dozen or so in one tree. The young larvae when hatched commence
boring a tunnel in between the bark and the sapwood. The tunnels are
exceedingly tortuous, and completely ring the tree. The sapwood of the
tree has precisely similar markings on it. The larva, when full-grown, bores
a hole into the sapwood, but sometimes penetrates as far as the heart-wood
(my specimens went in about September, but I have known cases of their
going into the wood earlier). Here he pupates, shutting off his house from
the outside world by a neat door made of some calcareous substance.
I annex a sketch* showing the chamber made, which is always of much the
same shape and size. Here he remains until the end of the following
February or March, when he undergoes his last change and emerges as a
beetle. I am so far of opinion that there is only one brood a year, but this
requires further investigation. Imago emerges March ; larvae from April-
May to October; pupal chamber excavated, September to November.

' Any one walking through our low-country forests in Ceylon, through-
out which satin-wood is to be found, cannot help
noticing scattered through the forest either dead
branches of living trees or young dead trees of satin-
wood, completely barked and studded with fairly large holes. This is the
work of the sEolesthes. The effect of these tunnels is to cause the bark to
drop off in large pieces.

" Natives frequently wound the bark of the satin to obtain the gum,
which flows fairly freely, and here the beetle generally finds an opening to
attack.

' Viscum orientale, a mistletoe, also grows on satin branches, frequently
strangling and killing off the branch it is on ; this is another chance for the
borer, while trees growing on ridges are particularly liable to attack, as
they so often have branches broken off by the wind. So far as I know,
satin-wood (Swietenia chloroxylon) is the only tree attacked by this beetle.

c 1 have not been able to reproduce the sketch. PI. iv and hg. 210 show the method of
pupation of this grub.

X4

X4 3

PLATE XX.

,\

X4

tEolesthes sarta, Solsk. — i, eggs ; 2, empty egg-skin ; 3, 4, 5, young and full-grown larvae ;
6, 7, pupa ; 8, male beetle ; 9, female beetle. Ouetta, Baluchistan, 1905.

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE 307

'All satin logs felled for sale should be immediately barked, as then

the beetle has no place to lay its eggs. Satin branches
Protection and , , , , , , , , r

Remedies. not marketable should be left as traps for two or three

months, and then all burnt off, as twenty to thirty
larvae will probably be found in each branch of any size, and hundreds
could be killed off each year.

" Frequent thinnings and quick removal of all sickly trees."

^olesthes sarta, Solsky.
(The Quetta Borer.}

REFERENCES.— Solsky (Pachydissus), HOY. Soc. Ent. Ross, viii, p. 150, pi. 5, fig. 4 (1871) ; Stebbing, Note
on the Quetta Borer (^Eolesthes sarta), Calcutta Supt. Govt. Printing (1905) ; Gahan, F.B.I. Ceramb.
no. 128, p. 129 (1906).

Habitat.— Baluchistan : Quetta, ELoralai, Fort Sandernan, &c.; Afghani-
stan. Gahan gives Baluchistan : Quetta (E. P. Stebbing) ; Turkestan,
Western Tibet.

Trees Attacked. — Poplars [Populus alba, P. euphratica, P. sp. (raemer)} ,
Willows (Salix alba, S. babylonica), Plane (PI at anus orientalis), Elm
(Ulmus sp.).

This, insect attained a wide notoriety in Quetta and throughout Baluchi-
stan, where, under the name of "the Borer," it did enormous damage
in the years 1900-07 to the avenues of poplars, willows, and elms in Quetta
itself and in other stations and gardens in the province.

Beetle. — -This beetle can be distinguished from the other species of the genus by the
pubescence thickly coating the elytra, which is glistening silvery or satiny grey in life, instead

of a golden or coppery satiny sheen. The plate on the disk of

Description. prothorax is not well defined, and more or less rugose. The elytra

are obliquely truncate at the apex, the outer angle being unarmed

and the sutural one dentate or shortly spined. The antennae are more than twice length of
body in £, less than length of body in $? . Length, 33 mm. to 44 mm. ; breadth, 9 mm. to 13 mm.
I'l. xx, figs. 8, 9, shows the g and $ beetles.

It will be often found that beetles taken on the wing or from off the bark of trees some
time after they have issued from the pupating-chamber will have lost some or perhaps most
of the distinguishing silvery grey pubescence from the upper surface of the elytra, which then
show black with a faint violet sheen or dull olive green in living specimens.

Egg- — The egg is milky-white in colour, elliptical in shape with pointed ends, and from
3.2 mm. to 4.2 mm. in length. I'l. xx, figs. I and 2, shows the eggs.

Larva — When first hatched out the larva is a small grub about a quarter of an inrh in
length; the head is brownish, with small black mandibles and \ello\\ b:>,l\. Alter
a few days the body segments become a duty bl irk in colour. The full-gnu\ n larva is a la-
thick, yellow to yellowish-white grub as much as three inches in length anil live-eighths of an.
inch across at the upper and broadest end. The coloration is sometimes almost orange in
tint. It consists of ahead followed by twelve, well-marked segments, the hm.ln ones bei
more deeply constricted than the four front ones. The head is small, black, the base being
brown ; the mandibles black and powerful. The segment following the head is very
much enlarged, as are also the following two ; from the latter the segments gradually
taper backwards, the last bein;; about half the width of the first and bluntly pointed;

U 2

308 FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

the spiracles, situated on each side of the second and fourth to eleventh segments, are narrow,
somewhat elongate, and brown in colour ; a pair of minute legs are present on the under-side
of each of the thoracic segments. Figs. 3, 4, and 5 show a young grub, a grub a third
grown, and a full-sized larva.

Pupa.— The grub changes into a white or whitish-yellow object bearing some resemblance
to the future beetle. It is, however, broader and quite soft. The legs, wings, and antennae
of the future beetle can be seen pressed against the body ; as they grow longer, the
wings are seen to be curved round so as to lie on the breast of the pupa ; the legs are
pressed tightly against the lower surface, and the antennae are pressed close to the sides.
Gradually, as these parts reach their full development, the beetle is seen to have acquired its
adult form. Size of a female pupa, 31 mm. to 43 mm. in length by 9 mm. to 15.5 mm. across body.
Figs. 6 and 7 show a ventral and side view of the pupa.

The beetle appears on the wing in Baluchistan towards the end

of the first week in May, and is found in greatest

Life History. abundance till the end of the month ; fewer issue

in June, and by the middle of the month the

mature insect disappears.

The Egg Stage. — The eggs are laid in small clumps of from five to eight
or ten together at wounds such as are left at spots where branches have
been lopped or at other places on the bark from which the sap is oozing.
The beetle evidently seeks for such spots to save herself trouble, since
if they are not available she has to pierce through the bark to reach the
cambium before the eggs can be laid. This is necessary, as the young
larvae require the sappy bast to feed upon as soon as they leave the egg.
The number of eggs laid by the beetle appears to be about fifty, this
number having been taken from the bodies of females on several occasions.
Scattered eggs have been found in the sappy bark, but the eggs are usually
laid in clumps. The period passed in the egg stage is short, probably at
most from five to ten days, as young larvae half an inch in length and as
much as a week or ten days old were found in the trees at the end of the
month. The period would, however, vary \\ith the temperature — the
greater the latter, the shorter the time passed as an egg.

The Life History of the Larva. — The young larva on hatching out feeds
in the soft sappy bark until its mouth parts are strong enough for it to
attack harder substances, when it goes deeper down until it reaches the
sapwood and commences boring out a winding gallery which grooves
both this and the bast. The sapwood is grooved deeper and deeper
as the grub grows older. The gallery eaten out is a broad irregular
winding one and is packed with triturated materials ejected by the
grub after having been passed through the body ; the gallery is very
broad, as much as twice to two and a half times the breadth of the
grub making it, and the grub can turn round in the free space at the
end in which it is lying. It is evidently a voracious feeder. Several
galleries in the sapwood measured were as much as 9 in. to 16 in. in
length excluding curves, and 4 in. in breadth. The grub spends all
the summer and autumn making this gallery. As soon as the winter sets.

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE 309

in it eats a tunnel down into the heart of the tree. The tunnel
so made may be carried more or less horizontally, or may go in at
an angle; it is 3 in, to 5 in. in length, being much broader than the
diameter of the grub constructing it, and the latter can easily turn round
in it (see fig. 211). The winter is spent in eating out this tunnel, and
the larva thereby escapes the cold which it would feel in severe seasons
if it remained just beneath the bark in its gallery in the sapwood. This
accounts for the at first inexplicable fact that the great cold experienced
in Quetta during the winter does not apparently in any way affect the
number of beetles issuing from the trees in the spring, even after very
severe winters. As spring approaches, the larva commences to carry
this tunnel in the wood in the direction opposite to that in which it
originally proceeded, and the portion of the tunnel now eaten out is the
pupal chamber. This is some three inches in length, and may be
completed by about the end of May (see fig. 211). A number of full-
grown larvae at rest in this chamber and just about to pupate were
taken on the last day of this month. It was noted that these larvae varied
greatly in size, but this has no significance, since the beetles themselves
vary very greatly in size. This difference in size may be due to a certain
extent to the degree of hardness of the wood of the tree in which tin-
grub is living. It was noted, for instance, that the galleries in elm were of
smaller dimensions than those usually found in the white poplar, these
latter being invariably large. The size of the tunnel in the wood itself will
also of course vary with that of the larva, but from the commencement
where it leaves the sapwood gallery down to the turn into the pupal
chamber it is always of considerable width, so broad that the larva can
turn round in it. Its length, however, may be but little more than that
of the grub itself.

It will be seen from the above that the larva takes from twelve to
fourteen months to reach its full growth after leaving the egg.

The Pupation of the Larva. — The larva pupates in the long axis of the
tree, and the pupal chamber appears to be invariably bored out in a
direction contrary to that in which the larva was lying at the time it com-
menced this work. This chamber is always straight or but slightly curved,
and comparatively narrow \vhen compared with the rest of the gallery in
the wood above it. Having prepared the chamber, it plugs the top with a
mass of gnawed wood, and lines the sides at times, if not always, with a
papery lining of a brownish fibrous material. If it has not previously done
so, it now backs out of the chamber into the broader tunnel above, turns
round in this, and proceeds backwards down into the chamber again and
builds across the top of the latter a thick white wall of some calcareous
substance, lining the sides of the chamber with the same material for a
short way down. This wall effectually blocks up the chamber and prevents
the entrance of enemies, who would be able to attack and feed upon the
helpless insect whilst in its quiescent or pupal state. The time of pupation

3TO

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

FlG. 211. — A split-up willow-stem showing pupating-chambers of ^.-Eolesthes sarta,
Solsky, in the heart-wood. Ouetta, May 1905.

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE 311

of the larva will vary by a week or so, depending upon the climatic con-
ditions ; but the end of the month of May and during June may be taken as
the period during which the greater bulk of the grubs in the trees change
into the pupa state. Larvae hatching from eggs laid by beetles issuing
as late in the year as July and August will pupate in these months of
the succeeding year. Fully formed pupae have been cut out of the pupal

' ic,. 212. — Section of willow-stem sh<>\\in ; entrance-tunnels '»
chambers and pu|i.nin < h;unl»rs <>f .]''(>lt-st/icx siir/a.
< Mie'.ta, Octol er

chamber in the trees in September and October. The firt ili.it tin- fully
formed beetles have been taken from the pupal ch.imbers in February
indicates that the time passed in the pupal stage is probably about four to
five months.

3i2 FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

The Adult or Beetle Stage. — The insect commences to acquire its adult
form in November or December (this period will vary by a week or two),
and then passes several months resting in the pupal chamber, whilst its outer
parts harden and solidify. When they have done so, the beetle may, in
exceptional circumstances, bore its way out of the tree by gnawing a tunnel
straight to the outside through the wood. The insect does not, however,
usually leave the tree in this manner. It simply breaks the calcareous
partition made by the larva at the top of the pupal chamber and crawls up
the broad larval tunnel in the wood and gnaws its way through the bark.
In the majority of cases this would appear to be its method of leaving
the white poplar trees. The beetles commence to appear from about the
beginning of May, and probably in April in years of mild winters and early
\v.irm springs. Considerable numbers are still to be found in the first
part of June. The adult is much scarcer in July and August, though
individuals are said to continue to issue during these months. The
beetles pair soon after issuing, and the eggs are probably laid by the
female within a week to ten days afterwards. As has been already
mentioned, the eggs are deposited by the female in the sappy bark of the
tree, and to reach this, unless she can find any convenient wounds such
as are made by lopping branches, abrasions to the trunk during heavy
storms, etc., she bores down through the bark by means of her mandibles,
forming small saucer-shaped depressions, and, pushing her ovipositor
down into these, deposits a cluster of eggs. She probably repeats this
operation five or six times in different spots on a tree or trees. The egg-
laying as also the safe hatching out of the eggs is undoubtedly greatly
facilitated by (a) the presence of wounds on the trees, and (b) a warm dry
spring, since a greater number of the young larvae hatching from the fifty
eggs laid will reach full development. The male beetle dies after pairing
with the female, and the latter after she has deposited all her eggs in the
trees. The dead bodies of the beetles are to be found lying at the foot
of the trees ; they are, however, probably quickly eaten up by small
rodents and other insectivorous mammals and also by birds, since even
towards the latter part of May (in 1905), when the beetles were issuing
in thousands from the trees in Quetta, dead insects were by no means
numerous. From the above notes on the life history it will be seen that
the insect takes two years to pass through its life history or life cycle :
a fortnight in the egg; 5^ months feeding in the bast and sapwood
beneath the bark ; 6£ months in the wood in the interior of the tree ;
5 months as a pupa ; about the same time resting as a beetle in the pupal
chamber ; and 2 to 3 weeks in the beetle form outside the tree engaged
in pairing and egg-laying. When annoyed or frightened, the beetles, both
male and female, produce a squeaking sound by rubbing the posterior inner
dorsal edge of the prothorax over the anterior outer dorsal edge of the
mesothorax, the thorax being moved up and down in the vertical plane to
produce the sound.

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

313

In walking the
beetle stands high upon
its legs and holds its
antennae in front of
the head, alternately
tapping the ground
with them after the
fashion of ants. These
antennae are undoubt-
edly used as sensory
organs of one kind or
another. The insect
sits low when at rest
on the trunks of the
trees. It usually takes
refuge in the daytime
in old larval borings
or its own exit-holes
which have weathered
or rotted on the ex-
terior of the trunk
under the influence of
the climate. The grey

silky colouring of the
wing-covers gives it a
wonderful resemblance
to the bark of white
poplar trees, and this
undoubtedly serves as
a protection to it, ren-
deringit difficult to pick
out on the trees at any
distance. It is this
great resemblance
which would seem to
give additional force to
the argument that the
insect's original food-
plant was this tree.

The trees reported
to date as infested by
this beetle in Baluchi-
stan are the white
poplar (Populus alba),
raemar poplar (P. sp.),

213. — Portion of a willow-stem \\ilh the bark fallen oft
in places, exposing the attacks of the grubs of .Eolcttlics holo-
xericca. Ouetta.

314 FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

or

b

Euphrates poplar (P. euphratica), Kandahar willow (Salix alba}, weepin
willow (5. babylonica], chinar (Platanus orientalis] (only slightly), and the
elm (I'linitx sp.). The black poplar, Kabul willow (S. aeuiophylla), ash,
mulberry (Monts alba), apricot (Primus armenica), horse chestnut (Aesculus
indica), and robinia (Robinia pseudo-acacia] were not attacked by the beetle.

The two stages in the life of this pest during which actual damage
is done to the tree are the beetle and grub ones.

Damage done to the Wounds, such as those made by lopping branches,

Tree; Methods of , . '

detecting it. abrasions during storms, etc., are taken advantage or

by the female beetles for laying their eggs in. Failing
fresh wounds on the bark, the beetle has to bore through the trunk down to
the sappy portion of the bark in order to deposit her eggs in a position to
ensure there being an abundance of soft food for the young larvae on
hatching out. After feeding upon this for a period, the grubs, as they
become older, work their way into the bast and sapwood of the tree, sub-
sequently proceeding down into the wood to pupate. It is in the former
stage of its life that the insect effects the greatest damage to -the tree. An
examination of many trees in Quetta in 1905 showed that owing to the feed-
ing of the grubs beneath the bark the larger part of the green bast is eaten
away by the larvae. Now, if the grubs are at all numerous in the tree, these
eaten-out patches gradually join all round the stem, and the result is that the
tree is ringed and dies. Even with the insects as plentiful as they were in
Quetta between igoo and 1905 the trees took some time to die, and this must
be attributed to the fact that the beetles will lay their eggs on any part of the
stem from the base up to the crown, in fact as high as there is a sufficient
thickness to ensure there being a sufficiency of wood for the insect to bore
into to form its pupal chamber. Owing to this fact, it takes longer for the
patches eaten out by the larvae to coalesce all round the stem in one band,
and the tree only dies slowly, as is shown in the case of the willow depicted
in pi. xxi. At first sight this prolongation of the life of the tree might be
considered an advantage, since it gives time for the growth of others to
replace it. In reality, however, the position of affairs is very different.
Trees so infested merely serve as centres of infection for neighbouring
unattacked trees, and the insects will go on laying in them until the trees
have arrived within a year of death. No beetle will then oviposit in them,
since an abundance of fresh sappy bark and wood is essential for the grub's
food, Cutting out dead trees, therefore, has absolutely no effect one way
or the other in mitigating the damage done by the pest.

The detection of infested trees is comparatively simple.

(a) Seriously Affected Nearly Dead Trees or Dead Trees. — These are
easily recognized. Large areas of the bark will have fallen away, disclosing
the wrood beneath deeply scored with the galleries of the larvae, some of
which may be still filled with the large masses of chewed wood and fibrous
excreta. If this latter has already fallen from the galleries, the pulling off

PLATE XX

A living willow-tree infested by the grubs of . Eolesthes .<<vt<i, Solsk. Tlie numerous
larval galleries in the sapwood are visible where the bark of the tree has fallen away.
Quetta, 1905.

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE 315

of another portion of the bark will disclose masses of it in situ in the
galleries ; from one portion of the gallery a hole will be seen proceeding
down into the wood, and if this is traced downwards the empty pupal
chamber will be found.

(b) Trees Less Badly Attacked, but which will Eventually Die under the
Attacks. — Holes and small rotting areas on the bark, often at the junction
of branches with the main stem, are visible, and, below these, exudations
of sap, either fresh and trickling or dried to the bark beneath the hole.
These exudations are usually in large irregular masses, tailing off below
into thin trickles, the sap having dried on its way down the stem. PL vii
shows a heavy outflow of sap down a poplar-tree. If some of these holes
with the fresh exudations trickling from them are cut into towards the
end of May and commencement of June and examined carefully, they
will be found to contain one or more little clusters of eggs placed on the
edges of the bark and well down in the sappy inner portion of it ; later on
in June numerous young larvae may be found here. If examined later in
the summer, the careful paring away of the bark will disclose the grub in
its half-formed gallery which grooves both the inner bark and sapwood. If
holes on which the exudation has dried but is still fresh are cut into, they
will show (provided they are not merely the old exit-holes of the beetle,
when they may or may not disclose other insects, depending upon whether
female beetles took advantage of them to lay eggs in) one of the following
stages: if cut into in the autumn, the grub will be found nearly three-
quarters or more grown, having nearly completed its sapwood gallery;
later on in the winter the grub will be found to be boring its tunnel down
into the wood, or quiescent, hibernating for a part of this period; late in
May it wall be necessary to cut right down into the wood, when the grub
will be found in the interior in, or making, its pupal chamber.

If the exudation below the holes is dry and old-looking, an examination
of them will disclose in the autumn the pupae in the pupal chamber in the
interior of the wood, in the winter about January or February the fully
formed but still soft beetle in the same position, and about the beginning of
April the fully formed beetle commencing to make or engaged in making its
way through the layer of wood and bark or up the larval tunnel, or no insert ;it
all, but merely this exit-tunnel, if the galleries are more than two years old.

(c) Trees but Slightly Attacked. — These may show only one or two holes
or patches of sap exudation, but according to the appearance oi the latti i
and the time of the year it will be quite possible to form an accurate estim

of the stage arrived at by the insect in them.

The life history shows that the beetle seeks out wounds on tin- trees it
affects in which to lay its eggs. It follows, therefore,
that all wounds made in trees at the laying period
are so many facilities to tin- beetle in her egg la\ing
operations. Since she lays her fifty ci^s in clusters of al.oiit ten, failing
wounds in the trees she has to bore out small areas herself in which to

3i6 FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

deposit them. If the sap does not flow freely at these places it is obvious
that a high proportion of the young larvae hatching out will die before
reaching the bast layer. In the case of a large wound the majority will
probably reach it with facility, and mature into full-size grubs and eventually
into beetles. Observations have shown that it is probable that the most
critical period in the life of this hardy insect is the initiatory stages of the
larval life.

It is therefore of the first importance that trees, whether grown in
gardens and avenues, or in copses and groves, should not be pruned or lopped
in the springtime. If pruning is necessary it should be done in the autumn
and winter, after the wood has ripened, and the pruned surfaces be thickly
coated with tar.

If trees are blown down or branches broken off in the spring, under
the devastating effect of high winds and storms, they should, in the first
instance, be cut up and removed at once; in the second, the point at which
the injury has taken place should be carefully trimmed and a thick coating
of tar be applied to it. In the case of garden and avenue trees injuries
to the bark between the end of March and end of June should be
immediately given a thick coat of tar. All infested trees form so many
centres from which the beetles maturing from them will carry on the
infection to trees as yet unattacked. Therefore such trees should be
felled in the autumn and cat up and burnt, or the material converted into
charcoal during the ensuing winter.

Trap Trees. — These are trees which are selected to serve as lures for the
insect to lay in, the intention being that they should subsequently be
removed, cut up, and burnt as soon as they are full of larvae and pupae.
The selection of such trees depends upon circumstances, and whether they
are required for the protection of trees in a garden, avenue, or plantation.
In the great attack of A. sarta on the Quetta avenues between 1900 and
1907 so many of the trees were found to be infested in 1905 that the selec-
tion of trap ones to leave over the following year was a comparatively easy
matter. Ordinarily the selection would be more difficult, but in the case of
an attack the partially infested trees should be selected, for additional
beetles will resort to them in the following year, as plenty of bast still
remains unattacked. Very badly infested trees should be cut out, cut up,
and converted into charcoal.

Should all the trees infested be in a very bad state they should be
removed in the autumn, and a tree or two be partially (not totally) ringed so
as to lower their vitality and reduce them to a moribund and sickly condition.
The beetles issuing the following spring will resort to these trees to oviposit,
and the trees will then be felled and removed, as already prescribed, in the
following autumn.

That the removal of infested trees in the autumn and their conversion
into firewood or charcoal during the winter will stamp out an attack of this
pest has been abundantly proved in the case of Quetta, where the appalling

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE 317

state of affairs as existing in 1905 is entirely a thing of the past, the beetle
being now almost scarce in the station, whereas it existed in thousands in
the year mentioned.

If infested timber is converted into firewood, the fuel must be utilized
during the winter of its conversion. If allowed to remain in store during the
following spring mature beetles will issue from it and carry on the attack.

./Eolesthes sp. prox. aurifaber, White.

REFERENCE. — Ind. Forester, xxxiv, 216.

When investigating the attacks of what was known throughout Burma
as the " Bee-hole Borer of Teak ' in the Mohnyin Forest in Katha the
Deputy Ranger and myself took a large number of longicorn larvae from
a green teak-tree which had been attacked by the Bee-hole borer (Duomitus
ceramicus). The grubs I noted resembled either sEolesthes, Ploccederus, or
Hoploccrambyx ones. They were feeding in the bast and sapwood in con-
siderable numbers. Some had already bored down deeper into the wood to
pupate. This was on 24 February 1905. I could find no pupae or
mature beetles.

Mr. T. A. Hauxwell, Conservator of Forests, Pegu Circle, took, in 1908,
a specimen of a longicorn beetle issuing from a hole in a teak log which
was being squared in a Rangoon mill. This log was found to be badly
bored. The insect was dispatched to Mr. C. J. Gahan at the British
Museum, and by him identified as a species of Eolesthes closely related to
aurifaber, but whether distinct or not it was impossible to say without a
specimen of the female insect.

Teak is, as is shown in this chapter, tunnelled into by several
longicorn beetles, but the work of a longicorn larva is very easily dis-
tinguishable from that of the caterpillar of a moth. There is of course no
connexion or similarity between these tunnels of the Cerambycidae in teak
and those of the true " Bee-hole borer " Duomitus ceramicus, the author of
the " bee-holes " in teak logs which have been known for well over a
century.*

MASSICUS.

Little is known upon the importance of this genus in the forest. The
credit for observations so far carried out belongs to Mr. H. W. A. Watson,
I.F.S.

Massicus unicolor, Galian.

REFERENCE. — Gahan, l-'.i:.l. Ceramb. vol. i, no. 129, p. 130 i [90

Range. — Southern Shan States iTaunggyh. (iahan gives in the J-\imui
Assam ; Patkai Mountains (Doherty).

Tree Attacked. -Oak (Oncrcn^ ^rittitliii). Taungyii ill. \Y. A. WatsonL

* Vide my " Note on the I>ee-hole Borer of Teak in litirma," ///</. l-'in-. /!////. no. i 1905 .
(lovt. Press, Calcutta.

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

Beetle. — A large stout beetle. $ blackish brown, covered all over with short pubescence
of a uniform greyish tint. Antennae not quite twice length of the body, the first joint short

and thick, not reach-
Description, ing to the front mar-
gin of the prothorax,

sharply edged, and angulate in front at the apex ;
third half as long again as the first, and strongly
thickened from the middle towards the apex ;
fourth sub-equal in length to first, thickened
less strongly than third ; fifth larger than third,
and shorter than sixth ; sixth to eighth sub-
equal in length ; ninth and tenth shorter ;
eleventh nearly twice as long as tenth ; sixth
to tenth angulated at the apex in front, unarmed
posteriorly. Prothorax somewhat rounded at
the sides, constricted a little behind the apex ;
marked with one transverse furrow near the
apex, and with two near the base, the whole of
the upper surface between the grooves coarsely
and irregularly corrugated. Elytra transomely
truncate at apex, with the outer angles obtuse,
and the sutural ones spined.

5 smaller than g with shorter antennae,
with differences in the sculpture of the pro-
thorax. Length, 55 mm. to 63 mm. ; breadth,
1 5 mm. to 1 8 mm. Fig. 1 8 7 shows the $ beetle.

Larva.— A long, stout, cylindrical, corru-
gated grub, ivory white in colour. Length,
about 65 mm. The larva shown in fig. 215 is
much shrunken.

FlG. 214. — Massicus nnicolor, Gahan.
%. \. Southern Shan States.

Pupa.— Large, stout, yellowish in colour, with a prominent head and prothorax, the

long thick antennae and

legs pressed
sides and chest.

against

the

FlG. 215.
Larva of Massicus nnicolor, Gahan

FIG. 216.
Pupa of Miissici/
color, Gahan. |

Life History,

The fact that this
insect lives in green
oak-trees in the
Southern Shan States,
at about 5,000 ft. ele-
vation, was discovered by Mr. H. W. A. Watson,
I.F.S., the Divisional Forest Officer, in 1907, and all
that is at present known of the life history of the in-
sect is due to his careful and untiring investigations.
His observations, which he considers require further
careful verification, are as follows :—

" Fertilization takes place apparently in
the tunnels. One ? of those sent contained
about fifty large eggs.

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

FlG. 217. — Galleries of Aftim\-//.< it >iii <>I<»\ Gahan, in the heart-wood of Q/tercits

ii. Soutlieni Shan St ites.

320 FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

" I cannot make out where the eggs are laid. Beetles appear in
September, and apparently the eggs are laid at the end of the
month.

" Larval stage — at least two years. Pupal stage — about six weeks.

" Larvae in wood in my house " (Mr. Watson cut some large
sections of trees containing larvae, and kept them in his house under
observation) "pupated about end of July or beginning of August,
and beetles were found beginning to middle of September.

" Larvae pupate at end of tunnel, stopping up the tunnel with
sawdust, more or less cemented together apparently with saliva.

" The larvae make a distinct noise when tunnelling, and eject
large quantities of sawdust.

" The larva moves apparently up and down its tunnels, which
are elliptical in shape, and fully i^ in. by f in. in section ' (cf.
fig. 217).

" Mature beetles seem to skulk a lot in the old tunnels."

In reporting this insect, Mr. Watson wrote :—

" I am sending you a specimen of a beetle larva that appears to
do a lot of tunnelling in green oak wood in Taunggyi. When inspect-
ing newly erected posts round the fuel reserve
here> T noticed one oak post (from a freshly felled
green tree) to have several holes in it from which
sawdust was being ejected, and had part of the post cut off and
brought to me. In it were three of these larvae. The two others are
still living in the piece of wood. They have now been in my house
some three and a half months, and as yet show no signs of pupating."

This note was written on 14 November 1907. The observations were
carried on up to the middle of June 1909, with the excellent results detailed
above.

HOPLOCERAMBYX.

Only one Indian species of the genus is known. It is one of the most
pernicious of the sal-tree pests of the Central Provinces, Chota N^gpur,.
Eastern Bengal, and Assam.

Hoplocerambyx spinicornis, Newman.

REFERENCES. — Newman (Hammaticherus), Entom. i, p. 245 (1842) ; Cerambyx ? morosus, Pascoe, Trans..
Ent. Soc. (2), iv, p. 92 (1857); Hoplocerambyx relictus, Pascoe, P.Z.S. 1866, p. 528; Hoplocerambyx
morosus, Pascoe, Trans. Ent. Soc. (3), iii, p. 515 (1869); Stebbing, Inj. Ins. Ind. Forests, p. 71 (1899);,
Ibid. Note on Life Hist, of Hoplocerambyx spinicornis, For. Bull. no. 8 (1906) ; Ibid. Some Assam Sal
(Shorearobusta)Pests,For.Bull.uo.n(igo'j)\ Gahan, F.B.I. Ceramb. 131 (1906).

Range. — Central Provinces, Chota Nagpur, Kusunda (Bengal Coal
Fields), Bengal Terai and Duars, Eastern Bengal and Assam, Southern
Shan States.

PLATE XXII.

Hoplocerambyx spinicornis, Xewn. — I, 2, larva, two-thirds and full jjrown : 3, 4, 5, female
pupae ; 6, 7, female beetles ; 8, male beetle. Central Provinces and Assam.

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE 321

Gahan in the Fauna gives Allahabad, Nepal, Assam (E. P. Stebbing),
Tenasserim, Thagaea (Fea), South Afghanistan, Penang, Singapore,
Sumatra, Borneo, Philippine Islands.

Trees Attacked. — Sal (Shorearobusta) : Central Provinces, Chota Nagpur,
Bengal Coal Fields District, Bengal Terai and Duars Sal Areas, Eastern
Bengal and Assam Sal Areas; Duabanga sonnatioides and Pentacme suavis :
Taunggyi, Southern Shan States (H. W. A. Watson).

This is one of the most remarkable of the Indian forest longicorn
beetles. It is the only known Indian representative of its genus, has a very
wide habitat, occurring throughout the sal areas of Central and Eastern
India and in other trees in the Southern Shan States, and commits very
serious depredations in the forest. A most curious feature in connexion
with the range of the insect is the fact that it appears to be absent from the
United Provinces and Oudh sal forests, where its place is taken by the
longicorn &olesthes holosericea, which, as has been shown, is a serious pest
in these areas. I have not taken this latter beetle in sal in any locality
where the tree is infested by Hoplocerambyx spinicornis. The first record of
the latter as a pest of the sal-tree appears to have been made by myself
in 1897. During that year it was taken in numbers from logs and newly
converted green sal sleepers in the Singbhum Division in Chota Nagpur.

Beetle. — A narrowish elongate black or brown-black longicorn, with a prominent projecting
head and long antennae. The elytra vary in colour from piceous to reddish brown. Light-
coloured red beetles are immature insects taken from the pupal
Description. chambers before the outer parts have hardened and darkened to the

normal colour. Head, prothorax, antennae, legs, and under-surface

are covered with a fine greyish pubescence ; the elytra are more densely covered with a silky
yellowish grey pubescence, which alters as the light falls upon it at different angles. Head
with the eyes separated above, the space between being deeply grooved. Antennae of males
longer than body by a fifth to a third of their length, according to the size of the individual ;
antennae of $ shorter than body. Prothorax longer than broad, the disk with a slightly raised
oblong space in the middle, the rest of the surface strongly transversely wrinkled, the ridges
broken at sides. Each elytron obliquely truncate at the apex, with a spine at the suture, and a
small tooth at the outer angle. The beetle varies remarkably in size (cf. fig. 32), specimens
varying in length from 20 mm. to 63 mm. ; breadth, 5 mm. to 17 mm. In pi. \\ii, tigs. 6, 7
show the $ and 8 the $ beetle.

Egg. — The freshly laid egg is elongate, cylindrical, slightly swollen at the anterior end ;
white, opaque, shining, with blunt rounded ends. Length, J in. The egg-shell is white-
and of a papery-like consistence (fig. 218, rt, b).

Young Larva. — The newly hatched grub is about Jin. in length, yellow, shining, thickest
anteriorly. (See fig. 218, c, d.)

'

II < I

FlG. 2l8. — a, Eggs of Hoploccramhyx s/>inu<>r>iis natural sixc and magnified (one) ;

b, empty egg-skin ; <:, young larvae ; d, larva four to five days old. Assam.
9003 X

322 FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

Larva. — Elongate, tubercular, with a squarish section, consisting of the head and twelve seg-
ments. Head black, transverse, with powerful mandibles. The segment following the head
(the prothorax) is greatly enlarged, dark yellow in colour, with a dorsal shining plate of thicker
consistency than the rest of the body ; the following two prothoracic segments are narrow. They
and the other nine segments of which the body is composed are yellow in colour. There are
two prominent elevations or tubercles placed transversely on the dorsal surface of segments 4
to 10 inclusive. The twelfth segment tapers to a blunt point behind. There are a pair of minute
legs on each of the thoracic segments, and a pair of short sucker-feet on each of the segments
4 to 10, being most prominent on segments 7 to 10. Length of full-grown larva, 3^ in. ; size
variable. In pi. xxii. fig. I, 2 show a two-thirds grown and fully grown larva.

Pupa. -Whitish yellow in colour. Exhibits the form of the perfect insect in part. The
head is, however, pressed down upon the upper part of the chest, upon which, below
it, are folded the legs and the rudimentary wings, the latter being curved round so as to
lie in this position. Seven abdominal segments are visible on the dorsal surface of the nymph.
The antennae are curved backwards, and lie pressed against the sides of the insect. Length,
2 in. ; variable in size. In pi. xxii, fig. 3, 4, 5 show side and ventral views of female pupae.

Of such importance is this beetle in the sal forests of the country that I
have deemed it expedient to give here in full the life

Life History. history of this insect as it has been ascertained, with the
valuable and untiring help of Mr. W. F. Perree, I.F.S.,
and one of his Range Officers, Mr. Rama Nath Mukerjee, for Assam; and
with the assistance and observations of Mr. C. P. Percival, I.F.S., in the
Central Provinces. The careful and systematic investigations carried out by
these officers in the course of their ordinary divisional duties have proved,
if indeed such proof were necessary, how greatly executive officers can
assist in the study of the forest insect pests of the country. The work
done also shows how essential it is that the Provincial and Ranger classes
should have a thoroughly sound knowledge of economic forest zoology.

The life history of this insect in Assam, as detailed in my monograph

Life History on ^ome Assam Sal Insect Pests, will be first considered.

in Assam. The Assam area may be taken to include Assam, the

Bengal Duars and Terai sal areas, and adjacent sal

tracts in Nepal.

Appearance of Beetle on the Wing. — This beetle was exceedingly plentiful
in the Kachugaon forests of the Goalpara Division in the latter half of
May 1906. Mr. Perree is of opinion that it first begins to appear towards
the end of March or beginning of April. It is present in the forests all
through June, but begins to get scarce in July, as proved by the observations
made by Rama Nath Mukerjee after my departure from Goalpara at the end
of May. He kept some careful enumerations by felling trees to attract the
beetles. I shall allude to these later on.

I cannot at present say whether this insect is again found on the wing in
Assam later on in the year, but I think it is just possible that it may appear
again in September-October. Immature specimens of the beetle were taken
from the pupal chambers in green standing trees in the Apalchand Range,
Jalpaiguri Division, in November.

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE 323

Instinct of Beetle. — The beetles are gifted with an instinct which enables
them to seek out unerringly newly felled or standing trees in the forest in
the condition they require for oviposition. This can easily be proved by
felling a green tree in the forest. One such felled on 13 May was inspected
next morning, and a large number of both male and female beetles were
found on the lower side of the bark between the trunk and the ground.

Pairing and Egg-laying. — The male seeks the female in such places
and pairs with her on the bark of the tree. It has been noted that the
insects vary greatly in size, but this fact appears to be immaterial in the
pairing of individuals, a small male pairing with a large female or vice versa.
Opportunities occurred of watching the insects in coitu, and the procedure
is rather curious. The male insect mounts on to the back of the female,
and oviposition alternates with the act of fertilization. The penis of the
male is hard and horny, very long, and curved scimitar-shape backwards and
downwards. The actual act of pairing appears short. The female possesses
a long, flat, bluntly-pointed, tapering, telescopic ovipositor about half an inch
in length and brown in colour. With this she deposits her eggs here and
there in crevices in the bark or on the flakes of bark. The ovipositor is very
flexible, and is used for groping and searching out suitable places for
oviposition.

Position where Eggs are Laid. — The eggs, which evidently develop very
rapidly in the ovisac, are laid singly, and are scattered about in a most
erratic manner. The female appears to choose preferably moist sappy areas
of bark on the lower sides and under-side of the fallen trees, or on the shady
side of standing ones ; but eggs are also to be found in dry crevices and on
the outer surface of dry bark, or amongst short wet moss on the bark. They
are found most numerously, however, in the moist bark areas. She will also
deposit them on the upper surface of the bark of felled stems and on the
sunny side of standing trees in dull weather, and very little attention appears
to be paid to the actual site chosen for deposition. I have even found them
forced down the entrance-holes of the Sphaerotrypes bark-boring beetle in the
bark. Pairs in coitu were watched. The female walked slowly over the bark,
laying an egg here and there at intervals, and in the intervals the insects
paired. It was thought that the beetles commonly laid eggs in the sleepers
or on barked logs, but although young larvae have been found in both I do
not think it has been yet proved that, as a general rule, the eggs from which
they hatched had not been previously laid in bark which was subsequently
removed. Mr. Rama Xnth Mukeijre took in June some eggs on newly
converted green sleepers, and I myself found some small larvae two weeks
or so old in logs brought out shortly before to the forest tramway.

Xinnbcr of liggs Laid. — I have not yet been ;ible to ascertain the number
of eggs laid by a female. Some countings were, however, made to ascertain
the number of eggs laid on a tree. On a i5-ft. strip of bark taken round
the whole circumference of a newly felled tree 150 eggs were laid between

x 2

324 FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

the night of 14-15 May and the igth of the month, or 6,000 eggs on
a 55-ft. bole.

\ umber of Beetles Laying in Trees. — -Eggs were laid subsequently to this
date. From this tree, which was felled on the I4th, 54 beetles were taken
on the I5th and 40 beetles on the igth.

Mr. Rama Nath Mukerjee kindly carried on these observations until
17 July, and submitted the following interesting note :—

PERIOD AT WHICH BEETLES BEGIN TO DISAPPEAR FROM FOREST.

Result of inspection of sal-trees felled for the purpose of determining at what periods of
the year the longicorn beetles are to be found on the wing.

Sal-tree No. 3. — Green, blown down by storm on 29 May 1906. Girth, 5 ft. 4 in. Length,
50 ft. Forked at a height of 21 ft. ; stem full of knots, all the roots (except few small side ones)
were found to have been attacked by fungi. There was no other external sign of disease.

{at 7 A.M. = 207
,, 10 A.M. = 189
^^^ „ 4 P.M. — 2IO

31 ,, ,, Beetles found 19

i June „ „ „ 7

3 „ „ The eggs collected on 30 May 1906 were

found to have hatched in the tube.

4 „ ,, Beetles found 15

Total beetles found on tree No. 3 .... 647

Sal-tree No. 4. — Green, felled 8 June 1906. Girth, 4 ft. 3 in. Length, 61 ft.

9 June 1906. Beetles found 228

10 11 11 11 11 -4

13 » ii 11 ,,........ 9

Total . . 261

Sal-tree No. 5. — Green, felled 20 June 1906. Girth, 4 ft. 5 in. Length, 61 ft.

21 June 1906. Beetles found 128

22 ,, ,, ,,,,.... ... 47

23 ,, ,, ,, ,,........ 21

25 » » ,> 11 20

26 „„ ,, „ . 9

9 July »i i, i, .... . . 8

Total . . 233

Sal-tree No. 6. — Green, felled 8 July 1906. Girth, 4 ft. 3 in. Length, 72ft.
9 July 1906. No beetles were found.

IO )' 11 5) 11 11 11

"^ " » » 11 11 11

17 „ ,, Beetles found 4

In November 1905 Ranger Rakhal Das Chakravarti reported that he
had discovered longicorn grubs tunnelling into living sal-trees, "trees of
5 ft. in girth having completely succumbed on account of their attack."
These grubs were collected on 6 November. A fortnight later the ranger

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE 325

took some immature living beetles from the same locality. They proved to
be H . spinicornis.

Trees Chosen for Egg-laying. — The beetles invariably choose newly felled
or green sickly standing trees in the forest for egg-laying. An inspection in
May 1906 of some large trees felled in the preceding February, and still lying
unbarked in the forest, showed that no fresh eggs had been laid on the bark,
although the sapwood contained young larvae. Trees which are being
suppressed or slowly strangled by heavy creeper growth are apparently often
chosen for egg-laying purposes.

Habits of Beetle. — The beetles fly at night. In the daytime they hide
either beneath the bark of newly felled trees, large numbers being invariably
found here in the last fortnight of May 1906, or in the undergrowth in the
forest. More rarely they are found in interstices of the bark of standing
trees, their coloration approaching that of the sal bark. They are powerful
fliers, and probably travel a considerable distance in search of suitable trees.
During a heavy storm one night numbers of beetles were blown from the
forest about four miles distant into the veranda and rooms of the Kachu-
gaon Bungalow; in this way they probably get dispersed over large areas.
The incident proved that the beetles are sufficiently powerful to fly at
night in heavy wind and rain.

Hatching out of the Grubs. — The small grubs hatch from the eggs within
five to eight days after oviposition. In hatching the egg-shell splits longways

l\

FlG. 219. — Galleries of young larvae (four to five days old <>f H,>f>locci'amhy.\- s/<i>u\'»nii ^ in

the outer surface of sal sapwood. Assam.

326 FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

down one side (fig. 218, b). The newly hatched grub is about an eighth of
an inch in length. A green tree free from the insect was felled on the I3th. It
was at once attacked (on the night of I3th-i4th) by the beetles, and on the
23rd was full of young larvae a few days old, whilst others were just hatch-
ing out. The largest found was a quarter of an inch in length, and probably
four to five days old (fig. 218, d). This larva was taken from the gallery
shown in fig. 219, if. Others are shown in ic. Unlike the larva of many
longicorn grubs, this one does not spend any time feeding in the bast, but
at once bores straight down through it to the sapwood and commences to
bore an irregular shallow gallery in this latter. This gallery is at first
narrow, and consists of two or more arms (fig. le). It is entirely packed
with the wood excreta ejected by the larva, the only free space in it being
that occupied by the body of the grub.

Life History of Larva. — The larva spends its whole life feeding in the
wood, remaining in the sapwood until it has attained full growth. It is to
be found in the larger roots, main stems, and in the larger branches of the
crown of the tree. It bores large irregular galleries here which are invariably
blocked with wood refuse. In these operations the cambium layer is usually
completely destroyed (cf. pi. xxiii). The grub has evidently a very rapid growth
when in favourable situations as regards food supply. This is proved by
the fact that larvae evidently hatched out during the year were found over an
inch in length early in May. In thedamp heat of the Assam climate eight to nine
months would appear to be the maximum time usually passed by the larva in
this stage of its existence, and the period may perhaps be much shorter, not
exceeding five months. Its work in the tree, performed at a greater rate, is
of a similar nature to that of the insect in the Central Provinces, and it
pupates in the same way by boring down into the heart-wood and eating out
a pupal chamber in the long axis of the tree.

I came across several instances of trees felled in February 1906 which
contained larvae at least half-grown in the latter part of May. The explana-
tion is to be found in either of the two following suppositions :—

(a) The beetles appear more than once in the year, winged beetles making
their appearance in the autumn months, although there is no true second
generation, the insect taking a year to pass from egg to beetle.

(b) The grubs spend the cold weather hibernating in the pupal
chamber in the heart of the tree, the period of feeding being in the one
case from March to about November, by which time they are full-grown ;
in the other from June to March and March to June, when they would
pupate. As a matter of fact larvae were found in the heart of logs, or on
their way there, in the latter half of May. These may issue as beetles about
the middle of July, or perhaps later.

Plates xxiii and iv show the work of the grubs in the sapwood and some
larvae and beetles in the pupal chambers in the heart-wood of a log. The
curious white calcareous coverings made by the larvae so as to close the

PLATK XXIII.

.,

II'. I-'. 1'crrte, photo.

1'ortion of the trunk of a sal-tree showing the work of the >,rrubs of
Hoplocerantbyx </>init<» nis, .\C\\n., in the bast and sapwood. Living larvae
are seen hi situ in the galleries, (ioalpara, Assam, 1906.

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE 327

pupal chamber against the attacks of predaceous foes are also well shown
in the latter plate. The illustrations are from photographs taken in May by
Mr. W. F. Perree of a green tree felled in the forest in February 1906. Both
boring grubs and one or two beetles just read}- to emerge were found in
it ; also some pupae taken from the wood in April 1906. To ascertain the
number of larvae which reached maturity, I examined on 30 May a green
tree felled near Rajabhatkhowa on 15 February. From a circular section
of a log 15 in. long, taken midway up the length of the bole, 60 grubs of
various sizes up to apparently nearly full-grown were cut out, this number
giving 2,840 grubs in the 55-ft. bole of tree. The tree proved a fair
example of a badly attacked one. Larvae examined when boring down into
the heart-wood and excavating the pupal chamber were found to contain in
their bodies a large amount of a peculiar white substance doubtless secreted
by them for the purpose of preparing the white calcareous covering to the
pupal chamber.

The Pupal Stage. — Pupae have been taken from the pupal chambers in the
heart-wood in February (on the authority of the Range Officer), and one which
is probably this insect on 28 April. I think it possible that the insect
pupates about February in the case of the beetles issuing in May-June; but
in the case of those issuing in March it would probably pupate in November,
and for those issuing in the autumn (if any do so) in May-June. The pupal
stage is probably two to three months, varying according to the time of
the year when the larva pupates.

The Beetle. — The insect on assuming the beetle form remains in a
resting condition in the pupal chamber, whilst the outer parts slowly
harden. It then breaks the calcareous covering, closing the mouth
of the pupal chamber (vide pi. iv), and makes its way up the broad larval
tunnel in the heart-wood, which is always free of wood particles, since whilst
boring it the grub probably feeds little and ejects from it the wood parti-
cles gnawed out, pushes or gnaws its way out through the mass of wood
refuse in the broad larval galleries in the sapwood, and bites its way out
through the bark, the escaping orifice always being a large one.

The beetles invariably appear to leave the tree at night. Careful
inspection has never disclosed the fact of any beetle boring or pushing its
way out in the daytime. There seems, however, to be little doubt th.it
the beetles, although they do not take wing readily, arc active on cloudy,
dull, rainy days, and that they pair a good deal in dark shady places in
the forest during the daytime.

The observations carried out on the life history of this insect were com-
menced in Chota Nagpur in iN'ij, \\hen it was first dis-

Life History in ,, as a pest of the s;1l. Th(. larv;, was found and thc

Central Provinces.

approximate date of pup.it n >n and the dates of emergence

of the beetles in considerable numbers in May and June were ascertained.*

* Injurious fnse< A ,>/ Indian l-\>rcsts, 71 1X99).

328 FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

These observations were much augmented by Mr. A. P. Percival, I.F.S.,
in Balaghat in 1905. Mr. (now Sir Sainthill) Eardley Wilmot, Inspector-
General of Forests, during a cold-weather tour in Balaghat had noticed some
fine large green sal-trees dying under the attacks of an insect. The trees
were suffering so severely that the infestation was considered to be of
serious importance, and instructions were issued that an investigation
should be carried out at an early date. The result of Mr. Percival's
observations very materially forwarded our knowledge of the life history
of Hoplocerambyx in the Central Provinces, and I published them in Forest
Bulletin No. 8.* Both here and in my short notes published in Injurious
Insects, it was considered that the grub spent more than one year in
this stage of its existence. The beetle was thought to first appear on
the wing at the end of May and chiefly in June. The eggs had not been
found.

In April and May 1909 I toured in the Mandla district adjacent to the

Balaghat forests, and had the opportunity of studying further the habits

of this interesting longicorn. As a result of my investigations, during

which I took the beetle ovipositing and found numerous eggs, it has become

necessary to modify the opinion that the larva spends more than a year

in this stage of its existence, and that consequently the life-cycle takes

over a year to pass through. In Assam we have seen that it is possible

that the insect may pass through two, or nearly two, life-cycles in the

year, i.e. that an autumn generation of beetles may issue, their offspring

issuing probably in the following July. In the very hot damp climate of

Assam the larva would doubtless develop quicker than in a hot dry one.

In the Central Provinces no beetles appear on the wing in the autumn;

but the first beetles of the year appear early in April, and in the third

week of the month they are to be found egg-laying in the forest. Thus

the fact would seem to be established that in this part of the country

the beetles are to be found in the forest, and that consequently eggs are

laid in the trees in the forest, between the middle of April and about the

middle of July, or approximately during a period of three months. This

would account for the difference in the size of larvae found in the trees.

That this is the case is, moreover, borne out by the fact that an examination

of infested trees in Mandla in April in no case brought to light young larvae.

Very few old ones were visible, and they in every case full-grown. The bulk

were at the time down in their pupal chambers in the heart-wood of the

trees, either in the form of pupae or as immature or mature beetles.

We will now glance at a few of the other differences of the life history of

the insect in the Central Provinces.

Egg-laying. — The beetle here lays its eggs on the outer bark and in the
crevices, as is its habit in Assam. It appears, however, invariably to lay

'• Note on the Life History of Hoplocerambyx spiniconiis. For. Bulletin no. 8
(1906).

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE 329

them on the under-side of fallen trees and on the north side of standing
sickly trees with the object of safeguarding them from the hot rays of the
sun, which are very fierce at this season of the year.

Larvae. — The fact that comparatively young immature larvae have been
found in the wood in November may be due to their having originated
from the eggs laid by the late July beetles. The grubs probably usually
pass the winter in the heart-wood in their pupal chambers, or spend part
of this period in eating out these pupal chambers. Those who com-
pleted the pupal chamber by February pupate and issue in April. The
later ones pupate in March and April, issuing respectively as beetles in May,
June, or July. In no case under ordinary circumstances are more than
two months passed in the pupal stage. The period would appear to be
usually six weeks, with three to four weeks in the resting stage as an
immature beetle.

Investigations carried out in a number or sickly or dying standing
trees and in some newly felled ones in the middle of April in the Banjar
Valley in Mandla showed that there were practically no larvae to be found
in the new large larval galleries in the bast and sapwood. The grubs had
all gone deep down into the heart-wood to pupate, as was evidenced by
the large orifice holes of numerous tunnels leading down into the wood.
Beetles on issuing search for standing sickly or dying trees in the forest
or newly fallen or felled ones. I examined a large number of the large
trees which had been felled on the line of a broad new cart-road being
driven through a portion of the Mandla forests at the time of my visit.
The trees inspected had been felled three months or over; they were thus
already to some extent dry on the outside, and the bark had lost a certain
degree of moisture. In no instance could I find that the beetles then
ovipositing in the forest had made use of these trees to oviposit in. Sickly
standing trees and newly felled ones were found towards the end of April
to have numbers of beetles on their northern or lower shady sides all
pairing or egg-laying. This point that the young grubs require absolutely
fresh sappy sapwood during the first few days of their existence lias been
established for the insect in Assam, and appears to be the rule in the
Central Provinces. The practical outcome is that if it is required to tell
and not bark timber to be left in the forest the trees should be cut at latest
by the end of January.

In an interesting communication received in 1909 from Mr. II. \\ .

Watson he reported that beetles which have been

Life History in the identified as this insect infest the trees l)itdki)i^i

Southern Shan States, srnnnilioidcs and PentaCme SUClvis in Taunggyi. Southern

Shan States, the wood being riddled by the tunnels

and pupating-chambers of the grubs. The life history of the insect in
this locality has not yet been worked out.

33o FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

The damage committed by Hoplocerambyx in the forests is of a two-
fold nature : (i) The grub feeds in and destroys the

bast layer of the trees' thus eventually killing the tree ;
(ii) the grub tunnels down into the heart-wood and
thus spoils or ruins it for commercial purposes.

The beetles, beyond enlarging the exit-holes in the bark to enable
them to leave the tree, do no actual harm to it. The damage is of
the same nature both in Assam and the Central Provinces and neigh-
bouring sal areas. In both the insects must be regarded as a most
serious pest.

It is probable that in Assam, owing to the hotter and moister climate,
Damage Committed the life-cycle is shorter, and therefore the beetle in-
in the Assam and creases with the greater rapidity. Also in Assam the
Eastern Bengal creepers have a much more luxuriant growth, and tend
Sal Belt. to mcmce sickness and loss of vitality in the trees to a

much greater extent, and thereby engender a state of growth particularly
favourable to the attacks of the cerambyx. Observations would seem to
show that this creeper growth is one of the greatest dangers the trees
have to contend with in these forests. Not only is it in itself parti-
cularly harmful, eventually strangling the life out of the tree, but,
if cut back too late, the tree has lost so much vitality that it falls an
easy prey to both the longicorn beetle and the bark-borer Sphaerotrypes
(P- 48i).

Besides being a serious menace to the trees themselves, the beetle is
equally noxious as a pest to the timber, and, unless barked, the wood of the
trees felled in the forest will be found to be full of the larvae within two or
three months. Both logs and sleepers examined in the Hultugaon and
Kachugaon forests of the Goalpara Division and the sal areas round
Rajabhatkhowa in the Buxar Duars Division were found to contain the
tell-tale holes made in the wood by the larvae of this pest ; and Mr. Perree
has informed me that the depredations of the insect are now so well known
and are of so damaging a character that the most serious losses are suffered
if barking is not undertaken at once.

I think it may be taken as proved that the beetle will not lay eggs
in dead bark or even in bark of trees felled two or three months before it
appears on the wing, nor will it lay in dry wood. That the beetle lays
eggs in standing green trees was proved by Mr. Perree himself showing
me a tree of this description which bore evidences of being attacked by
the beetle. Woodpeckers had bored circular holes into the bark in several
places to get at the grubs or pupae (vide fig. 222). The tree had a girth
of 3 ft., and the top was absolutely green. We felled the tree and split
up the last eighteen inches of the stump above ground. In it were two full-
grown larvae pupating in their newly constructed pupal chambers, each
chamber being covered with a newly formed calcareous covering and having

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE 331

a direct connexion with the outside. In another pupal chamber a mature
beetle was found just ready to emerge. This latter was in the heart of
the tree. Many beetles had evidently previously issued from this tree,
the stump being riddled with pupal chambers right down into the crown
of the roots.

The beetle in the Central Provinces would appear to have a habit
Damage Committed of destroying the trees in patches. It has been men-
in the Central tioned that Sir S. Eardley Wilmot's attention was drawn
Provinces and Chota to its depredations in Balaghat by finding a group of
Nagpur Sal Belt. fine krge trQQS dying. In Mandla I noticed the same
thing on several occasions. sEolestJics holosericea has the same habit when
infesting the sal in the United Provinces. Another serious aspect of the
beetle's attack in the Central Provinces is that, as in Assam, it is accom-
panied and assisted by a species of Sphacrotrypes bark-borer (p 487) which
I discovered seriously infesting the trees in Mandla. As we have seen, the
United Provinces sal longicorn is often accompanied by the Sphaerotrypes
bark-borer of that locality.

The evidences of the Hoplocerainbyx attack (so often disguised by the
luxuriant growth of creepers on the trees in Assam and Eastern Bengal)
are very visible in the Central Provinces :—

(1) The trees pour out masses of resin at the points where the grubs
are working below the bark. These masses coagulate on the tree and are
very visible in a bad attack.

(2) In old attacks the bark of the tree may be seen to be lifted and
broken or hanging in pieces, thus exposing the galleries of the larvae, filled
with condensed masses of excreta and wood-dust, in the sapwood.

(3) Woodpeckers tunnel into the tree to get at the grubs beneath.
(This may be seen in Assam as well as in the Central Provinces.) A large
number of small holes on the trees show where woodpeckers have botvd
in to get at the grubs. These holes are not large in the Central Provinces,
and it is evident that the birds only attempt to reach the young grubs
whilst they are still in the outer sapwood. The holes made are not IM-
enough to haul out large grubs by, and quite unlike the enormous himiel-
shaped orifices made by the birds in Assam (see fig. 222}.

It is extremely important that every possible means of combating this

insect in the forest should be made use of, since tin-
Protective and , . . , ,

Remedial Measures, damage it is capable of committing

cultural and economic point ol vi<-\v is very great.

(i) The most effective form of protection would of course be to
undertake fellings only at periods when it is known the beetle is not on the
wing, and therefore not egg-laying. It has been shown in the case of trees
felled in February that no fresh eggs were laid on the' bark by the beetles

332 FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

flighting in May. This would seem to prove that the beetles will not lay
on the bark of trees two months or more old. Now, the great increase or
the presence of this insect in constant large numbers in areas where fellings
are taking place is not so much due to the insects arising from eggs laid in
the bark of the convertible bole, since the bole may have been barked and
cut up before the larvae have reached even half size, as to those bred in the
large crowns of the trees which are left in the forest unbarked and unused
owing to there being no demand for such wood. This is one of the
great sources of danger, since it is impossible at present to hope either to
make use of this material or to get rid of it in any cheap manner. This
source of danger can be minimized or entirely obviated by felling the trees,
provided such a practice is possible, at times when the beetles are not
present in the forest, and at least two months before they are likely to
appear.

(2) Bark every tree within a week of felling, and when possible remove
the bark from the larger branches in the crown.

(3) In the case of an insect of this kind there is but one way at present
of combating it successfully in India, and that is the drastic one of cutting
out seriously infested trees. These should be barked, and if it is seen that
they contain a large number of grubs the trees should be logged and burnt.
It will not be necessary to reduce the whole to ashes, if there is no demand
for charcoal in the locality. If the sapwood is properly burnt sufficient
heat and smoke will have penetrated into the interior of the heart-wood
down the larval tunnels to have killed off all pupating grubs, pupae, or
nearly mature beetles. This operation may be carried out at any time of
the year except when the beetles are issuing, i.e. between the beginning
of May and end of July.

It must be remembered that infested trees in a block of forest mean
the spreading of the pest to neighbouring healthy ones, and that conse-
quently the sacrifice of the infested patch will save the rest of the block.
In carrying out the operation the greatest care should be exercised in seeing
that the logs are properly burnt and that any large branches showing signs
of the presence of the beetle are treated in the same way.

Range Officers should be instructed to report the fact of there being
dying trees or dying patches of trees in their charge, and with the report
they should be able to state whether the damage is due to the presence of
this pest. If the trees are being killed it may, if the matter is taken in
hand sufficiently early, be possible to save a portion of the timber from
being ruined in the case of those not very seriously infested.

(4) The numbers of the beetles present in a forest may be easily ascer-
tained by felling trap trees at the periods when the beetles are on the wing.
These trees should be visited every morning for at least a week after felling,
and all the beetles found on the bark and in the adjacent low jungle growth

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE 333

should be collected. The bark should be removed from these trees at the
end of the week, unless it is wished to study the life history of the insects
further.

(5) In the case of severe infestations of the beetles in the forest, a
number of trap trees should be felled for the purpose of attracting the
beetles to them to lay eggs. By collecting and killing all the beetles
present, and barking the trees at the end of the week, a severe check will
have been put on the increase of this pest. The bark should be stacked
and burnt unless it can be exposed to a hot sun for a few days, which will
serve the purpose equally well.

Ichneumon sp. — The Ichneumon grub feeds parasitically on the Hoplo-
cerambyx one, killing it.

Pupal Covering or Cocoon. — Smoky grey, papery in texture,
Parasitic and elliptical lozenge shape, with vertical sides.

Predaceous Foes. Length, 27 mm.

Fly. — Shining, elongate, slender. Head

yellow ; thorax red ; basal part of wings, which are membranous,
yellow, apical half black ; tibiae and tarsi black. Length, about 24 mm.
Described from a poor specimen taken dead from a cocoon. The
figure shows the pupal case of this insect and the fly.

Life History. — The egg or eggs of this fly are laid
by the female in the tunnel near or on the Hoplocerambyx
larva. On hatching out the young parasitic grub feeds FIG. 220.

upon the tissues of the beetle-larva either as an internal Ichneumon sp

. i -11 j parasitic on Hoplo-

or external parasite. The former is not killed under cerambyx spinl-

the attack until it has reached its full size and formed its cornis. Cocoon and
pupal chamber in the interior of the tree. This is evidenced
by the fact that the beetle-larva has strength enough to enclose its pupal
chamber with the calcareous covering before it finally dies from exhaustion.
The Ichneumon grub then pupates in safety in the closed pupal chamber,
first spinning a smoky-grey papery elliptical cocoon with vertical side walls,
resembling an elliptical lozenge, as shown in the figure. How the fly gets
out of the pupal chamber through the calcareous covering is not apparent.
The only specimen taken was found dead in the cocoon. It is quite
possible that the only chance of the fly getting out of the tree lies in its
grub killing the beetle-larva before it closes in the pupal chamber with
the calcareous covering. That more than one Ichneumon grub ferds upon
the beetle one is evidenced by the fact that two of the papery cocoons
were found side by side in the latter's pupal chamber. Although this fly
does not prevent the damage being done to the trees, since it would appear
that the larva forms, or nearly forms, its pupal chamber in the tree and
therefore is not killed until it has done all the damage it can, the insect
is of undoubted value in the forest, since it keeps down the number of
future beetles. It is therefore of considerable interest that its life history

334

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

should be fully worked out. Where the eggs are laid, the number laid in
one beetle-tunnel or on the larva, how the grub feeds upon the beetle-larva,
whether the latter is usually killed before making its calcareous covering to
the pupal chamber, how the fly leaves the tree, and the number of generations
of the insect in the year, are some of the points requiring investigation.

Bothrideres? sp. (p. 112)— The grub of this beetle apparently feeds upon
the Hoplocerambyx grub as an external or internal parasite, eventually killing
the latter before it pupates.

Cocoon. — The cocoon consists of a yellowish-coloured parchment material which appears
to be made of very closely spun fine fibres of a ligneous nature. It is elliptical in shape
and 4.2 mm. in length. The cover was spun with a few
fine silk threads to the shrivelled skin of the cerambyx
larva.

Beetle. — Elongate, narrow, reddish brown in colour.
Thorax square, anterior margin concave, disk convex,
punctate. Elytra moderately convex, punctate-striate.
Length, 5.8 mm. Fig. 221 shows cocoon, beetle, and a
shrivelled skin of a Hoplocerambyx larva.

FIG. 221.

Life History. — In a larval gallery of H.
spinicornis, opened out whilst splitting up a
green sal-tree felled in the Kachugaon forests
on 16 May 1906, a blackish shrivelled skin of
the grub of this beetle was found. The larva
had been engaged in eating out the gallery in
the heart-wood which finally terminates in the

pupal chamber, and had died from exhaus- Bothrideres ? sp. Cocoon and

, . . beetle. Shrivelled skin of Hoplo-

tion whilst performing this operation. Beside cerambyx\avr* (on the left) from
the shrivelled skin was the small elliptical which the beetle was bred. Assam.
cocoon described above. Both skin and

cocoon were transferred to a tube and kept under observation. An
examination of the tube on 19 May disclosed the fact that one-half
of the cocoon had been eaten down longitudinally, a reddish-coloured
beetle being observable inside. No material change occurred on the 2Oth.
On the 2ist an inspection showed that the beetle had eaten almost all the
cocoon away and had emerged from it.

I explain the life history as follows : The colydiid larva feeds upon
the longicorn grub either externally or internally, most probably the former,
parasitically, the grub eventually dying of exhaustion. The parasite then
spins a cocoon, which it attaches to the drying skin of the dead grub, and
pupates.

Whilst this insect is a most useful one, further observations are
required to ascertain its abundance in the forest before its value as an
aid towards keeping down the sal-borer pest can be decided. The points
in the life history already given under the Ichneumon parasite require
investigation in the case of this insect also.

FAM I LY C ERA M B YC I DA 1C

335

Attacks of Wood-
peckers on Hoplocer-
ambyx. — The large green
woodpecker, which is
fairly plentiful in the
Goalpara forests, drills
holes in the green stand-
ing trees to get out the
larvae engaged in cutting
out their pupal cha.mbers
or those already in the
latter either in the larval
or pupal stage. Whilst
engaged in this operation
the bird destroys the
timber of the tree by
making holes of a con-
siderable size, which
holes may subsequently
become enclosed by a
growth of later super-
imposed layers of wood.
These, when the tree is
not seriously infested,
will result in greater da-
mage to the timber than
the mere presence of a
few pupal chambers in the
wood would have caused.
At the same time the bird
probably does a great
deal of good by boring in-
to and extracting grubs,
etc., from badly infested
trees, the wood of which
had been already irre-
trievably ruined by the
insect. Fig. 222, from a
photograph by Mr. R. N.
Mukerjee, shows the
trunk of a sal-tree badly
riddled by woodpeckers
in searching for Hoplo-
ceranibyx larvae in the
sapwood and heart-wood.

, '

-

1

'

I-'li;. 222. I Idles lliinlc li\ lllC lui ;.'.'• ' . M •< '! I \\ ' >< >< 1 1 irckc T in

voting sal-trees to i^rt ;it the l:irv;ic nt //,</</,<, <-i\i>nl<y.\' spini-
innii.f in the bast and s.i|i\\i>ntl. < ioalpara, Assam.

336

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

Description.

second very short

FIG. 223.

Pachydissus sp.

Siwaliks.

PACHYDISSUS.
Pachydissus sp.

Habitat. — Siwaliks, United Provinces.
Tree Attacked. — Jhingham (Odin a wodier). Jumna
Bridge, Kalsi (M. Kauli Ghosh).

Beetle. — Elongate, narrow. Black, covered with a golden pubes-
cence, giving a silky reflexion to the upper surface. Front of head
coarsely rugose and channelled between the an-
tennae ; vertex transversely and finely striate
behind the eyes ; first joint of antennae swollen ;
third as long as first and second together ; fifth

longer than fourth ; sixth equal to fifth and fourth together. Pro-
thorax widest medianly, narrow in front, the disk coarsely and trans-
versely corrugate and channelled. Elytra elongate, sides straight,
constricted abruptly near apex, latter truncate and spined ; disk finely
and irregularly punctate. Under-surface densely covered with the
yellow pubescence, punctate. Length, 28 mm.

A specimen of this insect was cut out of its pupal chamber in the sap-
wood of a half-dead Odin a wodier tree by Student M. Kauli Ghosh of the
Imperial Forest School at Dehra, on 9 January 1902. The beetle was dead, but
a living larva was obtained from another gallery. This note and the insects
were made over to me by the student. No further specimens would seem to
have been taken since then.

DlALEGES.

Only one species of forest importance is known.

Dialeges pauper, Pascoe.

REFERENCES. — Pascoe, Trans. Ent. Soc. (2), iv, p. 47, pi. 16, fig. 7 (1856) ; id. ibid. (3), iii, p. 521 ; Dialeges
tenuicornis, Pascoe, Trans. Ent. Soc. (3), iii, p. 522(1869), J ; Gahan, F.B.I. Ceramb. no. 144, p. 142
(1906) ; Stebbing, Some Assam Sal Ins. Pests, For. Bnll. no. u, p. 18 (1507).

Habitat. — Sal Forests,
Goalpara, Assam. Gahan in
Fauna gives Allahabad, Dar-
jeeling, Assam, Patkai Moun-
tains (Doherty), Perak,
Penang, Singapore, Borneo.

Tree Attacked. — Sal

(Shorea robusta). Goalpara,
Assam.

Beetle. -- Elongate, slender.

In colour varies from reddish brown

to dark brown ;

Description. rather densely
covered with a

greyish - brown silky pubescence,
save on prothorax, which has a
few longitudinal depressions bare
of pubescence ; the pubescence on

JTIG ,,.,.

Dialeges pauper, Pascoe. $ and
head of $. y. Assam.

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

337

FIG. 225.
Young and ma-
ture larvae of
Dia leges

the elytra somewhat denser and arranged so as to give short, ill-defined longitudinal bands
or patches of lighter or darker shades (the latter often looking black), according to the
play of light upon them, the reflexions in certain lights being silvery ; two bands, darker
in colour than the rest, are situated near together a little behind the middle of each
elytron. Head elongated posteriorly, the eyes being completely divided.
Antennae one-third or more longer than the body in <J, about one-sixth
longer than the body in $ ; second joint as broad as long ; third nearly
or quite as' long as fourth and fifth together ; fourth to eighth and apex
of third fringed beneath with hairs in <$. Prothorax constricted before
and behind, longer than its width across middle in £, shorter in $? :
transversely but irregularly wrinkled above, and marked with some longi-
tudinal or oblique depressions. Elytra truncate at the apex, each armed
with a short spine at the suture and tooth at the outer angle. Femora
stout in the <£, bind tarsus narrow, first joint much longer than the next
two united. (Descr. after Ga/ian.) Length, i6mm. to 31 mm. ; breadth,
3^ mm. to 8 mm.

Larva. — -The grubs are of the ordinary longicorn type and are shown
in fig. 225. White with blackish-brown heads and mandibles, and
orange streaks on the thoracic segments The youngest found was J in.
Fully mature grub i in. to 2 in. in length.

A generation of the beetles appears on the wing about
the middle of April. The eggs are evi-

Life History. dently laid in the interstices of the bark of the tree. They
probably soon hatch out, and the young grubs feed at

first in the bast. As they grow in size they feed in the bast and sap\vood,
mining out irregular galleries which are shallow and packed closely with wood)'
excrementitious particles. The larval galleries are roughly eight to twelve
inches in length or at times longer. When the larva is full-grown it bores into
the sapwood at an angle to its previous direction, going in three to four inches,
and then gnaws out a pupal chamber in the longitudinal axis of the tree.
This pupal chamber is always made in the sapwood. Near the upper end it
is covered over with a cap of some calcareous material white in colour ami
similar to that made by Hoploccranibyx spiniconiis, but much smaller ami
without the keel-shaped edge. The gallery in the sapwood is square in
section and a quarter of an inch across. The pupal chamber is ij in. long.

The insect was found in both larval and beetle t<>rm on 29 April.
The larvae were either quite young or mature. I do not know the length of
time spent in the larval and pupal stages, but it is probable that the mature
larvae and the beetles found were those of the first generation of the year.
and that the young larvae were those of a second generation. As only a feu-
beetles were found active it appeared probable that the majority of the
insects had already left the tree and laid their egi;^. The insect may pass
through two life-cycles in the year.

This insect was evidently plentiful in the Anguri Block of the Hultugaon
Forest (Cioalpara) in 1906. Dead trees showed the sap-
Damage Committed wood oft(,n tunni.]](,j out from top to bottom with the

in the Forest. ,.

larval galleries, and dead beetles were cut out from tin

pupal chambers in such trees. Stag-headed or dead tops of living trees also

9003 Y

338

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

disclosed the evidences of past attacks. Lower down in the green still-living
portion of the stem grubs were found at work and also beetles just ready to
emerge. The insect would appear to be a pest of considerable importance,
since the grub feeds entirely in the bast layer and sapwood, destroying
the former when numerous. A dead tree examined showed the whole of
the bole from top to bottom covered with a mass of old larval galleries,
indicating that the major portion of the cambium layer of the tree had been
destroyed by the insects. It is not improbable that the trees are reduced
to the sickly condition best adapted for the attacks of this insect by being
partially strangled by the creepers which infest these forests. The insect
is also favoured by being able to lay in all newly felled trees and unbarked
tops left in the forest.

The cause of death of the beetles found in the pupal chambers has not
been discovered, but the insect is apparently parasitized by the Ichneumon
fly described below. Methods of combating attacks of this pest are identical
with those described under H. spinicornis.

Bracon sp. — The Bracon grub feeds upon the Dialeges larva as an
external or internal parasite, finally killing it.

Cocoon. — Smoky grey, flat, elliptical in shape, consisting of
a very thin shining papery material.

Fly. — Elongate, slender, shining orange-
Parasitic Insect. red. Head dark red with black rather

short antennaeand a long curved ovi-
positor longer than the total lengthof the insect ; the wings are
membranous, slightly longer than the insect ; anal tips with smoky
bands and upper wings with three black spots, two on the exterior
edge of the upper half and one on the inner edge in a line with the
lower spot. Length, 18.2 mm.

Life History. — This Bracon would appear to
lay its eggs in the neighbourhood of those of the
longicorn or on the grub itself after it has hatched
out. The parasite feeds upon the latter, but does not
apparently eventually kill it until it has eaten out the
pupal chamber and closed it over with the calcareous
covering. The parasite then leaves its host, the

latter shrivelling up, and spins the papery elliptical cocoon and pupates
inside it. I do not yet know at what period or periods the fly issues, since
I have only taken dead flies in situ in the pupal chamber. They were taken
from pupal chambers in the tree in which the dead beetles were discovered.

Further investigation into the life history of this insect is required.
How many life-cycles the Ichneumon passes through during the year,
how its grub feeds upon the longicorn one, how the fly gets out of the
closed pupal chamber, and its abundance in the forest, are some of the
points which present themselves for decision.

FIG. 226.

Bracon sp. Cocoon

and Fly. Parasiticon

Dialeges pauper.

Assam.

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

339

FIG. 227.

Xoanodera regnlaris, Gahan.
x £. Assam. (F. B. /.)

XOANODERA.
Xoanodera regularis, Gahan.

REFERENCES. — Gahan, A.M.N.H. (6) v, p. 52 (1890); ? Xoanodera pascoei, Brongn. Nouv. Archiv. du Mus.
(3) iii, p. 239 (1891) ; Gahan, F.B.I. Ceramb. i, no. 155, p, 150 (1906).

Habitat.— Darrang, Assam. Gahan gives N. India ?, Burma: Ruby Mines,
Karenee (Doherty), Tenasserim, Thagata (Fea),
Tavoy (Doherty).

Tree Attacked.— India-rubber (Ficnsclnstica).
Charduar Rubber Plantation, Darrang, Assam.

Beetle. — Dark brown or almost black in colour ; the
elytra covered for the greater par with a dense yellowish-
white pubescence, each with a
Description, basal spot close to the scutellum,

and a lateral plaga that extends

from the shoulder to a little past the middle, deeply and very
strongly punctured and bare of pubescence, the narrow
border between the submarginal carina and the outer
margin sparsely pubescent. Disk of prothorax with four
or more straight, sharp, longitudinal ridges, and a rather
dense covering of yellowish-white pubescence on the sides.
Breast and abdomen rather densely, the legs less densely
covered with a greyish-white pubescence. Length, 17 mm.
to 2i mm. : breadth, 5 mm. to 6 mm.

I took a specimen of this beetle in the Charduar Rubber Plantation in

the Darrang Division in Assam on 6 April 1906. Its

Life History. flight time in this part of India may be taken, therefore,

as the first weeks in April. The insect had just issued

from a hole in the bark of a rubber-tree of pole growth, the larval gallery
being traceable inside the tree between the bast and sapwood. I have no
further notes on the life history of the insect. The beetle is remarkable
owing to the close approximation of its colouring to that of the bark of the
rubber-tree. The light markings on the elytra blend in an astonishing
manner with the bark, so much so that at a very short distance from the
tree the beetle is indistinguishable from the bark surface.

GELON/ETHA.
Only one Indian species of the genus is known.

Gelonaetha hirta, Fairm.

REFERENCES. — Fairm. (Stromatium), Rev. ct Mag. de Zool. 1850, p. 60; Gel<-"i,ct!ia cm-tipcs, Thorns. Rev.
ct Mag. de Zool. 1878, p. 13; Astrimus obscnnts, Sharp, Trans, I'nt. Soc. 1878, p. 204; Gahan, F.B.I.
Ceramb. i, no. 161, p. 155 (1906).

Habitat. — Salween River, Tenasserim ; Southern Shan States. Gahan
gives Calcutta; Coromandel Coast; Nilgiri Hills; Siain ; Philippine
Islands; Sandwich Islands; Tahiti.

Tree Attacked. — Teak (Tcctomi ^nvulis). Wutgyi, Salween River
(uiilii); Southern Shan States (Watson).

Y 2.

340 FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

Beetle. — Reddish brown to dark brown in colour ; scantily clothed with greyish depressed
pubescence interspersed with moderately long sub-erect tawny setae. Head densely punctate,

marked above with a feeble median groove which extends anteriorly
Description. between the antennal supports. Prothorax

densely rugulose - punctate. somewhat

sparsely asperate at sides ; the disk with a postero-median and two
nearly obsolete anterior callosities. Elytra densely punctate, the
punctures somewhat unequal in size, rather strong on the anterior
half and gradually smaller towards the apex ; each elytron with one
or two feebly raised longitudinal lines. Abdomen very sparsely
punctate. Length, 9 mm. to 16 mm. ; breadth, 2j mm. to 4$ mm.

I took a specimen of this insect from its pupating-

chamber in the sapwood of a re- Gelonatha hirta,

Life History. cently felled green teak-tree on Fairm. x 2. Tenasserim.

7 March 1905. The larvae feed in

the bast and sapwood, eating out rather narrow winding galleries blocked
with wood-dust. When full-fed they bore about half an inch into the sap-
wood, and then eat out there an elongate narrow chamber parallel to the
long axis of the tree. The beetles evidently fly early in March. It is
possible that there are two generations of the insect in the year.

The Geloncetha accompanies Xylotrechus smei (p. 347) in its attacks on
the teak-tree in Tenasserim.

Mr. W. H. A. Watson found the insect in teak in the Southern Shan
States in 1910. He wrote : " I notice that, after girdling, teak-trees in this
division are extensively attacked by a beetle. The main period of attack
appears to be the first eighteen months after girdling . . ." This is a most
interesting observation. Although the insect does no damage of any im-
portance to old trees, since it only goes into the outer sapwood to pupate,,
its increase in any large numbers, owing to the provision of the necessary
breeding places in the newly girdled trees, may have the most serious effects
on young teak areas in the future. The larva is a bast feeder, and quite
capable, when in numbers, of killing pole growth.

TRINOPHYLLUM.

Only one Indian species is known. It is probably one of the most
serious pests of the deodar.

Trinophyllum cribratum, Bates.
(The Deodar Longicorn Bast-eater.)

REFERENCES.— Bates, P.Z.S. 1878, p. 720; id. Scientific Results Second Yarkand Mission, Col. p. 22, pi. i,

fig. 19 (1890) ; Gahan, F.B.I. Ceramb. p. 156, no. 162.

Habitat. — The beetle is probably to be found throughout the entire area
occupied by the deodar in the Western Himalaya.

Gahan in the Fauna gives Murree; Kashmir; Assam; Sylhet — a somewhat
curious distribution. This is the only species of the genus given in the Fauna*

Tree Attacked. — Deodar (Cedrus deodara). Deodar tracts, North-West
Himalaya.

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

341

Beetle. — Chestnut brown in colour, more or less nitid, sparsely furnished above with short
semi-erect fulvous brown hairs. Head and basal joints of antennae finely rugulose-punctate.

Prothorax closely and rather strongly punctured ; marked with a
Description. feeble sinuate groove or depression near the apex and another near

the base ; the disk slightly depressed along the middle with a very

narrow impunctate space behind. Elytra closely and strongly punctured, less strongly near
the apex. Body beneath reddish brown, sparsely pubescent, less closely and rather finely
punctured ; prosternum transversely depressed a little behind the front margin ; abdomen
narrowed posteriorly, first segment longest, second to fourth successively shorter. Legs
reddish brown, minutely and sparsely punctate. (Descr. after Gahan.) Length, n mm. to
13 mm.; breadth, 3^ mm. to 4 mm.

Young Larva. — The young larva is a tiny white grub of about half an inch in length with
a large prothorax,
brownish weak man-
dibles, and narrow
body segments (fig.
231, a).

Full-grown Larva.
— White to whitish-
yellow in colour, with
a brown head and
powerful black man-
dibles. The prothorax
is greatly enlarged and
is hard. The succeed-
ing segments are
rather corrugated, ta-
per posteriorly. Seg-
ments 2 to 10 have
each a stigma placed
laterally near the ven-
tral surface. Length,
25111111. (fig. 231,^,^1).
Pupa. --The pupa
is elongate, white to
whitish - yellow in
colour, and has the
appearance to some

extent of the future beetle. The antennae are pressed against the sides and the legs and
wings against the chest. Fig. 231, ci, c shows the pupa natural size and enlarged.

It has been known for some years that deodar-trees, and especially
felled or blown-down green deodar-trees, soon become
Life History. infested with longicorn larvae.

In 1901 I found trees of this species infested with

both buprestid and longicorn grubs in Bashahr.* The following year at
Pajidhar in Jaunsar in a recently felled large green deodar I took on
24-28 June young buprestid and longicorn larvae, some perhaps a fortnight
old, others probably but a couple of days old.

* Depart. Notes, i, p. 49.

FlG. 22C).— 'f/'inopkyllt/>/i cribratitm, Bates. </, f, Female, en-
larged ; _/,/!, Male, enlarged and natural size. North-West Himalaya.

342

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

FIG. 230.

Galleries of young larvae of

Trinophyllum cribratu >/i

in bast of deodar.

b.1.

These had made little shallow galleries, as
shown in fig. 230, on the inner surface of the bark
all over the main stem.

At Konain in Jaunsar again I took numerous
partially grown grubs in November 1906 in the
tops of green trees felled and converted during
the year ; I had never found the beetle in the
tree, however.

The life history of this longicorn beetle was worked out during the
years 1908-9 in the Simla Catchment Area Deodar Forest with the aid of
Mr. V. Munro, the Divisional Officer; Pundit Gokal Das, Extra Assis-
tant Conservator of Forests ; and the Range Officer. This area was
visited by a bark-beetle attack (Scolytus and Polygraphus) which began
in October 1907. To combat this attack trap trees were felled over
the area about 22 May 1908 and a few days subsequently.

On 9 and 10 August
1908 I inspected a number
of these trap trees and
found them to contain
young longicorn grubs. It
was therefore obvious that
the beetles must have ap-
peared on the wing in the
forest some time between
the commencement of June
and the end of July, and
oviposited in the felled
green trees.

The trees containing
the grubs were kept under
surveillance by the Divi-
sional Officer and Range
Officer during the rest of
the year and up to June
1909, in which latter month

pupae and beetles were obtained from them in considerable numbers.
We are thus now in possession of the complete life-cycle of the insect.

I may mention here that the longicorn appears to be often accom-
panied by the buprestid Sphenoptera aterrima already described (vide p. 204).
The beetle issues from the trees and appears on the wing in the forest
in June, pairs, and the female then searches out newly felled trees or sickly
standing trees in the forest, and oviposits on them. The eggs are laid
singly in crevices in the bark, on the lower part of felled trees, and on the
northern or shady sides of standing trees, the number laid by each female
being unknown.

c.i.

FIG. 231. — Trinophyllum crilu-atum, Bates, a, Young
larva; b, bi, full-grown, enlarged and natural size;
t~, ci, pupa enlarged and natural size.

PLATE XXIV

W. F. Pti-rt'e, photo.

Larval galleries containing living larvae (in some cases) oi'Trinophyllum 'cribratitm, Bates, on
the inner surface of deodar (Ccdrus deodard] bark. Simla Catchment Area Forests, North-West
Himalaya.

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE 343

On hatching out the young larvae at once bore down into the cambium
layer and feed in this for a time. As they grow bigger the gallery grooves
both bast and sapwood. These galleries curve about in an irregular
manner and increase in width and depth with the growth in size of the
grub. PI. xxiv shows a photograph of the inner surface of a piece of bark
stripped from an infested tree in September. The photograph was very
kindly taken for me in the forest by Mr. W. F. Perree, at the time Assistant
Inspector-General of Forests.

It depicts very well the stage in the development of the larvae some
three months after oviposition, and also shows the amount of cambium
they are capable of destroying in this period when numerous in a tree.
It will be noticed that the larval galleries are blocked for their whole
length, with the exception of the space occupied by the grub itself, with
wood refuse and excreta of the grub.

The larvae continue feeding in the bast and sapwood until the rirst
snap of cold of the winter, when they cease feeding and hibernate at the
end of their galleries. A few may have bored the pupating-chamber in the
wood, but the majority are still far from full-grown.

Some time in April the larvae recommence feeding, and lengthen their
galleries to some extent. In May they commence tunnelling down into the
sapwood, boring out a short gallery of a half to three-quarters of an inch
in length and of squarish section. This tunnel may go in at an angle
or be straight. It is always kept quite free of wood-dust and excreta.
When this depth in the wood has been reached the larva turns and bores
out an elliptical elongate chamber parallel to the long axis of the tree and
of wider diameter than the entrance-tunnel to it. When this is complete
it turns round and changes into a pupa.

The period passed as a pupa and immature beetle is about a month to
six weeks, and the beetle is then ready to leave the tree. It crawls up the
entrance-tunnel in the sapwood, gnaws through the outer bark which covers
it, and escapes from the tree to mate and, if a female, lay eggs in fresh trees.

From the above it is apparent that the deodar longicorn beetle has
only one life-cycle or generation in the year, and passes through the winter
as a grub, perhaps the easiest stage and period to attack it in.

This longicorn must be looked upon as one of the serious pests of the
deodar. Like its companions Scolylits major, 7V/v-

Damage Committed ,,,,„/,/,„,, ,mjor and the buprestid Shliciiohtcru, it is ever
in the Forest.

ready to take advantage <>( any sicklmess or injury to .1

tree or any reduction in vitality resulting from a fhv having passed over the
area. It is probable that it only attacks green trees when it is in large
numbers, and when the supply of newly felled and sickly trees is small. It
will not, however, oviposit in dry trees, since it requires for its larvae that
the cambium should be in a state of considerable freshness.

The danger to be feared from this and the other pests is when a sudden
storm leads to a large number of wind-falls in the forest during the egg-

344

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

laying season of the insects, or when heavy snow-breaks result in a large
number of partially broken-down and sickly trees being present in the
forest. To such places this longicorn will invariably repair to oviposit.

These are the same as already detailed for the buprestid pest (Sphenoptera
aternma). At present my observations have not resulted

Protective and -n discovering any parasitic foes of this longicorn. I am
Remedial Measures. ,, , , n T-// • n u- u

not aware whether the Ichneumon fly, Ephialtes, which

parasitizes the buprestid grubs (vide p. 207) also infests the longicorn grubs.

CERESIUM.

The genus contains several Indian representatives. One is well known
as a serious pest to the casuarina plantations in Madras.

Ceresium simplex, Gyll.

REFERENCES.— Gyll. (Stenochorus), Schbnh. Syn. Ins. app. ii, p. 178 (1817) ; Arhopalus ambiguus, Newman,
Entomologist, i, p. 246 (1842); Stebbing, Depart. Notes, vol. i, p. 374 (Stromatium sp. prox.
barbatum) (1906) ; Gahan, F.B.I. Ceramb. i, no. 175, p. 162 (1906).

Habitat. — North Arcot, Cocanada. Gahan gives N. India; Burma;

Tenasserim ; Ceylon ; Nicobar Islands ; Philippine Islands ; Sumatra and

Java to New Guinea; Mauritius and Madagascar. Recorded also from Mexico.

Tree Attacked. — Casuarina (Casnanna cquiseti folia). North Arcot,

Cocanada.

Beetle.— Brownish testaceous ; antennae and legs yellowish.
Head rather densely covered above with pale yellowish pubescence.

Antennae a little longer than the body in

Description. £, not quite so long as it in $ ; third

joint not longer than first, distinctly longer

than fourth ; fifth and sixth sub-equal, each longer than third.

Prothorax almost as broad as long, slightly rounded at sides, these

covered with greyish pubescence ; disk faintly covered with greyish

pubescence in the middle, marked with two spots or a longitudinal

band of dense tawny-yellow pubescence at each side ; a narrow

median and some small laterally placed callosities, smooth and

glabrous ; the intervening spaces sparsely and irregularly punctured.

Elytra closely and strongly punctured from the base to the middle,

the punctures nearest the base somewhat granulate, the punctures

becoming feebler as they approach apex. Femora fusiform-clavate, thickened gradually almost

from the base. Length, u mm. to 16 mm. ; breadth, 3 mm. to 4^ mm. (Descr. after Gahan.}

Larva. — Elongate, but slightly corrugated; white ; about i in. in length.

The first notice of this insect occurring as a pest in Madras was furnished

by Mr. C. D. Thornton, I.F.S. Larvae were found in the

Life History. cambium layer of casuarina-trees, occurring apparently

more especially in old trees. The grubs eat out long

galleries which groove both bast and sapwood, and when in numbers they
completely ring the tree, thus causing its death. Larvae were first taken in
December, about half-grown, the beetles issuing from the trees in June.
The grubs probably pupate about April, the following two months being
spent in the pupa and resting- beetle stages. The larval life, during which

FIG. 232.

Ceresium simplex,
Gyll. Madras.

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE 345

the damage is done to the tree, thus lasts from some eight to nine months,
unless there are two generations in the year, which appears improbable.

This is the longicorn beetle whose white grubs have been reported to
infest the casuarina in company with those of the moth
Damage Committed AMa tctraonis which has proved such a scourge to the
in the Forest.

tree. In December 1900 Mr. C. D. Thornton reported

that the grubs "had nearly ruined the casuarina-trees in the Aminundi
Plantation. . . . The grub is found in the cambium layer, under the bark
of old trees, on which it feeds." Since then reports have come in from
several quarters that longicorn insects, which have proved to be this pest,
have committed serious damage in the plantations.

In plantations the only method of getting rid of a bad attack is to cut
out and burn all badly infested trees. When this has

been done a few green trees should be felled just before
Remedies.

the appearance on the wing of the beetles. The

latter will oviposit in these trees in preference to green standing ones, and
about January the trees can be cut up and burnt. The trap trees should be
felled some three weeks before the beetles will appear.

PURPURISCENUS.

The species known to attack trees were reported from Baluchistan and
the North-West Himalaya.

Purpuriscenus haussknechti, Witte.

REFERENCES. — Witte, Berl. ent. Zeit. xv, p. 207 (1871); Purpuriscenus haussknechti, va.r.aleppensis,\Vi\.\.e,
I.e. p. 208 ((£) ; Gahan, F.B.I. Ceramb. i, no. 202, p. 186 (1906).

Habitat.— Fort Sandeman, Baluchistan. Gahan in the Fauna gives
Kashmir; Punjab ; Turkestan.

Tree Attacked.— Populns ciliata (Baluchistan).
Beetle. — 5 Black ; prothorax with a red spot of variable size
on the middle of the disk, sometimes also with a red spot on each

side united by a red band with the discal
Description. spot ; elytra with a broad red band across

the middle, widened from the suture to-
wards the outer margin and extended anteriorly to a greater or less
extent as a marginal band. Head closely and somewhat roughly
punctured ; the antennal supports raised and acute on the inner
side. Antennae longer than the body, with the last joint longer than

the penultimate and tapered towards the end. Pn>th<>ra\ > Insrlv,

,. . . ' Purpuriscenus naitss-

strongly, and roughly punctate above ; a small median tubercle just knechti \Vilte

behind centre of disk and a smaller one behind this on each side. j;,),, |lM ;]i

Elytra very closely punctured, the punctures gradually smaller

they recede from the base. (Dexcr. after Gahan.} Length, u mm. u> 23 mm. j breadth.
4 mm. to 7 mm.

5 Prothorax red above with a narrow edging of black on anterior and posterior-
margins. Antennae shorter than body, elytra with the red band very broad, occupying two-
thirds of the basal portion save for a narrow black edging mi basal margin ; apical third black.
Slightly smaller than some of the males.

FIG.

346

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

In October 1907 the Extra Assistant Conservator of Forests in Balu-
chistan forwarded me a specimen of the female beetle

Life History. of this insect. Towards the end of April 1909 Captain

E. H. James, Officiating Political Agent at Fort

Sandeman in Zhob, sent me a female specimen of this beetle, and in
December of the same year a male. Captain James's specimens were caught
on the wing in the station garden, but the specimen sent by the Extra
Assistant Conservator was found infesting Populus ciliata. It is difficult to
account for the males being taken in the late autumn and commencement
of winter, whilst the female was taken in the spring. It may be, however,
that the females hibernate and oviposit in the spring.

The Extra Assistant Conservator took some grubs in the trees.

Purpuriscenus montanus, White.

REFERENCES.— White, Cat. Col. B.M. Longic. p. 138 (1853) ; id. P.Z.S. 1850, pi. 8 ; Gahan, F.B.I. Ceramb.

vol. i, no. 203, p. 186 (1906).

Habitat. — Tehri Garhwal, North- West Himalaya. Gahan gives West
Kashmir; Campbellpore ; Himalaya; Tibet.

Tree Attacked.— Blue Pine (Pinus exceha). Kulni, Tehri Garhwal
(V. Subramarian Iyer).

Beetle. — Relatively long and narrow for this genus ; variable in colour, sometimes
entirely black, most commonly black with the outer borders of the elytra to a greater or less

extent red ; in some specimens the elytra are red with a broad black

Description. band along the middle of each, and the prothorax is marked with a

red spot or band on each side in front of the lateral spine. Head,

prothorax, and elytra densely rugose-punctate, the prothorax sometimes with a smooth narrow
callosity in the middle. Antennae twice or nearly twice as long as the body in the g, shorter
than the body in the $ . Prothorax with a small acute tubercle on each side. Elytra long,
parallel-sided, rounded at apex. Femora sub-linear, very slightly thickened in middle ; first
joint of hind tarsus shorter than the next two joints united. Length, 1 1 mm. to 16 mm.; breadth,
3 mm. to 4^ mm.

Whilst a student at the Imperial Forest
School at Dehra a specimen of this insect was
taken by Mr. V. Subramarian Iyer, of the Madras
Provincial Forest Service, from the sapwood of
the blue pine at Kulni in Tehri Garhwal on 18 Ma)'
1901. This is the only record I have of the
insect being taken from the tree.

CHLORIDOLUM.
Chloridolum alcmene, Thorns.

REFERENCES.— Thorns., Syst. Ceramb. p. 568 (1865); Gahan, F.B.I.
Ceramb. i, no. 218, p. 199 (1906) ; Agric. Jour. Ind. i, p. 129.

Habitat. — Coorg, Nilgiris. Gahan gives As-
sam; Andaman Islands; Burma; Karenee (Fea);
Ruby Mines (Doherty).

FIG. 234.

Coorg.

Tree Attacked.— Orange (Citrus anrantinm}. Chloridolum alcmene, Thoms.

Madras.

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE 347

Beetle. — Metallic green ; legs and antennae dark blue, passing into bluish-black or black
towards extremities; prothorax with a closely rugulose punctured area, more or less covered

with black pubescence on each side of middle of disk ; the elytra

Description. with a faint covering of a short pubescence in parts. Head rugulose-

punctate posteriorly, transversely striated at sides. Prothorax with

a sharp tubercle at the middle of each side, and a narrow obtuse transverse tubercle near
the front margin ; the upper surface transversely striated in front and at the base, and also
in curving lines at sides of disk ; longitudinally rugulose along the middle of the disk between
the pubescent areas. Length, 20 mm. to 36 mm. ; breadth, 4^ mm. to 8 mm.

The larvae of this insect tunnel in the bast and sapwood of orange-
tree?.

XYLOTRECHUS.

The genus is represented by a number of species in India, several of
which would appear to be of considerable importance as pests in the
forests.

Xylotrechus smei, Lap. et Gory.

REFERENCES. — Lap. et Gory (Clytus), Hist. Nat. et Iconogr. des. Ins. Coleop. (Mon. du genre Clytus), p. 37,
pi. 8, fig. 46 (1841); Clytus vicinus, Lap. et Gory, I.e. p. 38, pi. 8, fig. 47; Gahan, F.B.I. Coleopt.
vol. i, Ceramb. no. 270, p. 241 (1906) ; Steb. Ind. For. Rec. ii, n (1909).

Habitat. — Siwaliks, North India ; Salween River, Tenasserim. Gahan
skives Bhutan ; Calcutta ; Deccan.

Trees Attacked. — Sal (Shorea robusta): Siwaliks, United Provinces; Teak
(Tectona grandis): Wutgyi, Salween River, Tenasserim.

Beetle. — Brown above, with a greyish or yellowish pubescence
covering the head and most of the prothorax, and forming bands and

spots on the elytra placed as follows : (i) A

Description. transverse band on each at the base, followed

a little behind by (2) a short transverse

spot ; (3) a narrow band which begins near the scutellum, passes
close to the suture, diverges a little from it posteriorly, and at a
short distance before the middle curves outwards to the side, thence
it bends forward a little before reaching the margin ; (4) a narnm.
obliquely transverse somewhat wavy band, placed a little behind the
middle ; (5) an apical band, which is slightly produced forwards ai
the suture. Body beneath marked with spots or bands of whitish
pubescence. Vertex of head marked with a line c.arina, which
divides anteriorly into two finer carinae ; front with four carinae, Xylotrechus .*•/
the lateral ones oblique or slightly curved ; the intermediate two IVuaxxerim.

converge downwards and unite so as to form a single median carina

on the lower part of the face. Prothorax rounded at the sides, widest behind the middle,
narrowed gradually in front, more strongly towards the base, slightly raised along in
of disk ; marked with two rounded dark brown spots on the disk and a smaller one on each
side. (Descr. after Gahan.} Length, 11 mm. to 17 mm. ; breadth, 3 mm. to 5 mm.

The species varies in colour and to x e extent in the markings. In some cases tin-
derm is of a yellowish-testaceous colour in parts, in others almost cntin 1\ d.nk brown. The
pubescence in life is almost invariably ashy grey in my experience. The post-median band of
the elytra is often interrupted or broken up into spots and occasionally almost disappears.

348 FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

Owing to an unfortunate mistake made in the identification of speci-
mens of this insect some twelve years ago, it became
Life History. confused with the Xylotrechus of the Himalayan oak,

QuerC'US dilatata, leading to the supposition that

there were two species of Xylotrechus infesting this oak. So far as
my present observations and information go only one, A'. Stebbingi, is
known.

X. sniei, quoted variously as Clytus vicinus and Xylotrechus vicinus,
pseudonyms which gave rise to the mistake, infests the sal-tree in the
Siwaliks. Notes on the life history of this insect were made by me
some years ago, the insect being identified as Clytus vicinus. The
beetles appear on the wing in June, and not improbably again at
the end of September or in October, there thus being two genera-
tions of the insect in the year. The eggs are laid in sickly trees or
newly felled ones, but always in the upper part in the crown or larger
branches, or in the main stem of younger trees. The larvae live in the
bast and sapwood, eating deeply into this latter when infesting the
smaller branches. When full-fed they go further into the wood and
eat out a small elongate pupal chamber (cf. fig. 237 (3)) which is
more or less parallel to the longitudinal axis of the branch or stem. Here
they pupate. The beetle, on maturing, crawls up the tunnel, eats a hole
in the bark, and escapes.

Larvae of varying size but mostly quite small, taken numerously in
tops and large branches in January, pupated in May and issued in June of
the same year. I am of opinion that these June beetles lay eggs which
hatch, and the resultant larvae become full-fed in September, a fresh
generation of beetles issuing in October. I also took this insect in all its
stages of larva, pupa, and beetle from a recently felled large teak-tree at
\Yutgyi on the Salween River in Tenasserim on 7 March 1905. The tree,
according to the villagers, had been felled from a month to six weeks before.
As some of the larvae had not only reached full size, but pupated, and the
beetles were nearly ready to issue (one actually was mature), the period must
have been longer, provided that the eggs had not been laid in the tree before
it had been felled. It is perhaps most probable that the eggs were laid on
the tree in November or December, which would indicate that there are
two life-cycles in the year, since one generation of the beetles issues some
time in March.

In Tenasserim the grubs were found feeding in the bast and sapwood,
eating out irregular shallow tunnels which are always tightly packed with
excreta ; when full-fed the grub bores down half an inch or so into the
sapwood, and then carries the tunnel parallel to the long axis of the tree,
slightly enlarging it to form the pupal chamber. In its method of
pupating it greatly resembles the Xylotrechus found infesting the Terminalia
tomentosa in the same locality (p. 353J.

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

349

These small longicorns have the power, like the small buprestids, of at

times increasing in very large numbers, and vounsi
Damage Committed , , ^

in the Forest. growth thus suffers very severely by their attacks,

whilst the older trees have their crowns seriously
diminished owing to the number of branches killed off.

When the beetle seriously infests young growth the trees should be cut
out and burnt.

Xylotrechus Stebbingi, Gahan.

REFERENCES. — Gahan, F.B.I. Coleopt. vol. i, Ceramb. no. 274, p. 244 (1906); Steb. Ind . For. Rec. ii. 9 (1909).

Habitat.— North-West Himalaya;' Kilba, Bashahr State; Jaunsar;
Naini Tal, Almora. Gahan gives North-West Himalaya, Bashahr State
(E. P. Stebbing), Tibet.

Tree Attacked. — Quercus dilatata (morn oak). Kilba, Bashahr; Naini Tal,
Almora.

Beetle. — Brown ; head and prothorax clothed with a greyish

pubescence ; the prothorax with four small brown spots in a

transverse row across the middle, two
Description. dorsal and two lateral. Elytra sub-

glabrous, testaceous brown, narrowly

covered with grey pubescence at the base, marked with some

small spots of ashy-grey pubescence which form three interrupted

bands — one near the base, another just before the middle, the

third midway between it and the apex; the apex also narrowly

bordered with ashy-grey. Body beneath covered with grey

pubescence, a rather large posterior spot on each of the meta-

thoracic episterna ashy-white. Head with the lateral carinae

oblique, slightly curved, extending below almost to a level with

the lower margin of the eyes ; front narrowed between the eyes,

furnished with two prominent convergent carinae which are united

below. Antennae less than half the length of body ; third joint

slightly longer than the first. Prothorax widest behind the

middle, very slightly narrowed in front, strongly narrowed Gahan. N.W. Himalaya,

towards the base ; disk with a median asperate carina, which is

broader and more strongly raised behind than in front. Femora rather strongly thickened ;

the hind pair extending a little past the apex of the elytra. First joint of hind tarsi twice as

long as the second and third united. Length, 12 mm. to 18 mm. ; breadth, 3] mm. to 5 mm
I >t-scr. after Gahan.}

Larva.— Whitish yellow, elongate, the segments of tin- body more or lr-^ of tin- same

size, decreasing gradually posteriorly. Head black. Length about 25 mm. when hill-:. Town.

i Sec fig. 237 (i, 1,1 .)

The larva of this insect feeds entirely in the bast and outer s.ipwood of

the moru oak. I have not as yet t:ikm it in n. nutiiiii.

Life History. The grub grooves both bast ami saj. wood, eating out

large irregular galleries in the long axis of the tree

(fig. 237 (2)). Occasionally the gallery is quite straight, but it is m»re
often irregular and serpentine; the larva, however, appears to confine
itself to the layer of wood between the long straight medullary rays.

FIG. 236.
Xylotrech us Stebbing i .

350

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

and more especially so in its young state. The larval gallery is always tightly

packed with the wood refuse and excreta ejected by the larva, and is

about 5 in. to 8 in. in length, with an average breadth of j in. On

becoming full - grown, the

grub bores down into the

sapwood at an angle for

about half an inch to one

inch, and then eats out a

pupal chamber parallel to

the long axis of the tree (fig.

237 (3)). Both chamber and

entrance-gallery in the wood

are kept quite free of wood-

dust and excreta. When

mature, the beetle crawls up

the entrance-tunnel in the

wood, bores through the

bark which overlies it, and

leaves the tree.

Larvae in various stages
up to nearly full-grown and
full-grown were taken from
trees in Naini Tal towards
the end of May. Several
of these grubs had already
bored down into sapwood
and constructed the pupal
chambers and commenced

to pupate.
"'

237. — Section of stem (with bark removed) of

. .

"', ,1 QuercHs dilatata showing the galleries of the larvae of

Xylotrechus Stebbingi, Gahan, in the bast and sap-

the wing towards the end of wood (2) ; I, la, larvae; 3, pupal chamber in sapwood
July and in August, the (all reduced ^).

pupal stage lasting from six weeks to two months. As the beetle issues
so late in the season, I think it is improbable that there is more than
one generation of the insect in the year. It is possible that the beetles
issue at intervals (as the larvae mature) — through a part of July, August, and
into September. The larval stage is thus about nine months.

I first obtained larvae of this insect from oak-trees near Kilba in the
Bashahr State in 1901. I had asked the Range Officer to watch some trees for
me, and he forwarded me some beetles from the trees the following August.
This little beetle does not commit the serious damage to the timber
occasioned by Lophosternus hiigelii, since the pupal
chamber is onlY constructed in the inner layers of the
sapwood. When in numbers, however, it is capable
of entirely destroying the bast layer of young trees, and in this way, when

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

351

accompanied by the bark-borer Dryocoetes hewetti (p. 545), it must be
looked upon as a serious pest.

Remedial measures in the forest for these longicorn beetle pests are
somewhat difficult to prescribe, as the insects are

Protection and Remedies normally distributed throughout the area occupied
against the Oak Longi- ,

corn Borers. by the tree. A point, however, which should always

be borne in mind is that the egg is deposited by the

beetles on the bark of green standing sickly trees or newly felled ones, and
that the young grub requires at first the soft bast layer to feed upon.
Consequently barking the trees soon after felling will ensure the destruc-
tion of the Xylotrechus beetles, since their grubs spend the whole of the
period of their existence in this stage in the bast layer and outer sap-
wood. The barking of the trees leads to the drying up of the bark and
the death of the grubs. Trees infested by the parasitic Loranthus vestitus are
most liable to be attacked by this beetle.

Xylotrechus quadripes, Chevr.

(The White-Borer or Coffee-Borer.}

REFERENCES. — Chevr. Mem. Soc. R. Sci. de Liege, xviii, p. 315 (1863) ; Dunning, Trans. Ent. Soc. 1868,
p. 126 and fig.; Ind. Mus. Notes, i, 61 ; Gahan, F.B.I. Ceramb. i, no. 276, p. 245 (1906).

Habitat.— Mysore, Coorg, South Kanara.
Assam, Sylhet, Burma, Siam, Tonkin.

Tree Attacked. — The Coffee (Coffea
arabica).

Gahan gives Madras, Coorg,

i

Beetle. — Black with a greyish or yellowish
pubescence covering the greater part of the head

and prothorax and form-
Description, ing bands on the elytra ;
disk of prothorax with a

rounded subasperate black spot in the middle,
and a smaller black spot at each side. The elytra!
bands consist of the following : (i) a basal band ;
(2) a short oblique band that points towards the
shoulder in one direction, and towards the angle
of the next band in the other ; (3) a band which
begins a little behind the scutcllum, runs close by
the suture for a short distance, then diverges from
it posteriorly and turns outwards to the side ; (4) a

transverse or slightly oblique band behind the middle which gradually widens towards the
suture; (5) an apical band with oblique front margin. Mod) Ix-neath with a dense white-
pubescence formed into spots in parts.

$ Face witli a more or less distinct median carina. between ulndi and cadi of the
lateral carinae there is an elongated, very finely nigulosc, opaque black area, witli slightly
raised edges. Head femora extending beyond the apex of elytra. $ Face, with a single
raised line orcarina on each side midway between the median and lateral carinae. Mind femora
not reaching past the apex of elytra. Length, 10 mm. to 17 mm. ; breadth, 3 mm. to 5 mm.

Larva. — Yellowish white, stout and thick, tapering but slightly. Has the ordinary longicorn
appearance, and is about one inch in length. Is a fairly active grub.

Fio. 238. — XylotrecliHs t/nii<tri /
Chevr. J. Madras. (F.H.I.)

352

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

This Xylotrechus is the well-known coffee-borer of Southern India, and
white-borer of Ceylon. The insect practically exter-
minated the coffee industry in the sixties. The grubs
tunnel up the stem of the plant and are often in such
numbers that the weight of the crown causes the stem to break off short owing
to its inability to support it. An inspection will show that the stem is a mass
of tunnels entirely riddling it, most of the wood having been removed by
the grubs. The tunnels are not clearly visible on the surface of a newly
cut stem at first owing to the fact that they are entirely packed with the
wood-dust and excreta of the grubs.

In a coffee plantation not far from the Nilgiris in South Kanara, which
I inspected with the owner in August 1902, we found some of the bushes
full of larvae, the grubs being in the main stems and thicker branches.
The presence of the grubs is easily discovered. My companion took hold
of a bush and swayed the whole thing backwards and forwards. If it was
badly infested by the borer it broke off short, the fracture occurring in the
main stem below the head. Bushes infested in this manner invariably died,
he informed me. Here in the middle of August the stems were full of
larvae, each tunnel having a squarish section. The eggs are apparently
laid on the bark by the beetle in autumn, and there may be two genera-
tions in the year. (See Dr. Bidie's report to the Madras Government, 1869.)

Good cultivation and not too dense a shade are considered the best
preventives. The planters on the West Coast of Madras prune infected
bushes or clear out and burn acres of infested trees in a severe attack.
This is done in June and July. Some also scrape the trees with the back
of a knife in winter or early in the year, and those who do this appear to
suffer less from the borer. It is probable that in this process the eggs laid
on the bark are scraped off and thus killed.

Xylotrechus gahani, Stebbing, sp. nov.

Habitat. — Charduar Rubber Plantation, Darrang,
Assam.

Tree Attacked. — Ficits elastica. Charduar.

Beetle. — Elongate, narrow, with a yellowish pubescence covering
most of head and thorax and arranged in bands on the elytra. Head

and antennae black ; disk of prothorax
Description. reddish purple, sides black ; elytra black,

with the following yellowish bands : (i)

a basal X-snaPed hand consisting of a semi-lunar band on each
elytron meeting on suture ; (2) a transverse band behind the middle,
gradually broadening towards the suture and not meeting lateral
margin ; (3) a narrow apical band. Pygidium black. Head finely
rugose on vertex, slightly channelled between the eyes ; front with
a sparse yellow pubescence, the median carinae on front converging
and meeting just above the clypeus. Prothorax very convex, narrow

FIG. 239.

in front, widest just above posterior angles, sides rounded, rather Xylotrechus gah

f**"\'l»-C1^lir i-tr*r~m*-n+-A T7* l-.i. * J . 1 • 1 1-1.1 -11 .

mm.

coarsely asperate. Elytra widest at base, sides slightly rounded to sp. nov. Assam.

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE 353

posterior coxae and then gradually constricted to apex, latter broadly truncate ; surface dull,
rugose. Under-surface rather densely pubescent, the pubescence greyish, densely clothing the
thoracic parts and forming bands on the posterior halves of the abdominal segments. Legs
black, pubescent ; hind femora extend by about one-fifth their length beyond apex of elytra.
Length, 15.2111111. : breadth, 3.7mm.

Little appears to be known on the subject of the life history of this

insect. I took a specimen ovipositing on a branch of
Life History. a rubber plant some ten feet in height in the nursery at

the Charduar Rubber Plantation on 10 April 1906.
The beetle was clinging to a branch, and I watched two eggs laid. The
eggs are small, semi-elliptical, semi-globular, translucent bodies.

Xylotrechus sp.

Habitat.— Sal ween River, Tenasserim.

Tree Attacked. — Terminalia tomentosa. Wutgyi, Sahveen River, Tenas-
serim.

Beetle. — Elongate ; lightish brown with pale white markings ; prothorax with sides angled
medianly ; elytra not wider than prothorax at base. Pygidium exposed, pointed ; legs very long.
Owing to immersion in bad spirit the beetles were in too poor a state of preservation to enable
them to be identified.

Larva. — Yellowish white in col6ur, fairly stout and .thick, short, with a rather well-
developed head and thoracic segments. Blunt posteriorly.

Pupa.— Whitish yellow in colour. Has the ordinary appearance of a longicorn pupa.
The beetle first appears on the wing in the early part of March, and
continues issuing throughout the month in Tenasserim.
Life History. All stages of the insect — larva, pupa, and beetle — were
taken in a felled green tree, the tree having been cut
early in the past cold weather, probably in November or early in December.
Others were subsequently taken from a standing, nearly dead tree.
The egg is laid in an interstice of the bark of the tree. The young larva
on hatching feeds at first in the cambium layer, and then in this and the
sapwood, hollowing out a widening tunnel which grooves both. This
tunnel is packed with the excreta of larva and wood-dust. When full-fed
the grub bores vertically down into the sapwood (or at a slight angle) for
about half an inch to an inch, and then eats out a small narrow chamber
of about its own length in the sapwood parallel to the long axis of the
tree. This tunnel is about three-quarters of an inch in length, and the
larva pupates in this. In some of these chambers mature beetles were
found on 7 March 1905. Others had already left and were probably ovi-
positing in fresh trees in the forest. This generation would appear
to take about five months to pass from egg to beetle. There are con-
sequently probably at least two life-cycles in the year.

The beetle was in large numbers in the felled tree examined, and a
large portion of the cambium had been removed from

iL When the inSGCt infeStS treCS in numbers» il: is
quite capable of ringing the stem by removing the

bast and consequently killing the tree.

9003 Z

354 FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

CALOCLYTUS.
A member of this genus is one of the common dry-bamboo beetle-borers.

Caloclytus annularis, Fabr.

REFERENCES. — Fabr. (Calliciium), Mant. Ins. i, p. 156 (1787) ; id. (Clytus), Syst. Eleuth. ii, p. 352 (1801) ;
Lap. et Gory (Clytus), Hist. Nat. et Iconogr. des Ins. Coleopt. (Mon. du genre Clytus), p. 102, pi. 19,
fig. 121 (1841) ; Chevr. (Chlorophorus), Mem. Soc. R. Sci. de Liege, xviii, p. 290 (1863) ; Gahan,,
F.B.I. Ceramb. i, no. 299, p. 261 (1906) ; Lefroy, Ind. Ins. Pests, p. 375 (1909).

Habitat. — Backerganj ; Calcutta; Pusa ; Dehra Dun. Gahan gives
Northern India, from the North-West to Assam ; Burma ; Siam ; thence
extending northwards to China and Japan, and southwards through the
Malay Peninsula and Archipelago to New Guinea.

Trees Attacked. — Dry bamboos (Bambusa spp.). Backerganj (Sen
Gupta), Calcutta; Pusa (H. M. Lefroy) ; Dehra Dun.

Beetle. — Rather densely covered above with yellow pubescence,,
varied with dark brown or almost black markings (usually brown

when alive) arranged as follows : three
Description. spots on the prothorax, one median bifur-

cated posteriorly, and one obliquely oval on

each side before the middle ; two bands and a rounded spot on
each elytron, the first band somewhat elliptical in form, with its
longer axis extending from near the shoulder to the middle third ;
the second band transverse, sub-median, curved forwards along the
suture about half-way to base, expanded at its outer end into an
oblique spot which reaches to the elliptical band in front and is.
rj. ^ united to it by a narrow point ; the rounded spot lies about midway

/~///' ' / • between the sub-median band and the apex, and approaches more
Fabr Bengal United closely to the outer margin than to the suture. Body beneath with
Provinces. a dense whitish pubescence that covers almost the whole surface

in the $, and forms more or less extensive spots at the sides in

the $. Prothorax marked with a fuscous spot on each side near the base, in addition to the
black spots on the disk. Elytra truncate and quadridentate at apex. Length, 10 mm. to
5 mm. ; breadth, 2! mm. to 4 mm. (Dcscr. after Gahan.}

The life history of this common longicorn is very simple. The

beetles appear on the wing in May or June, and on

Life History. into the commencement of July in the more northern

limits of its habitat. The eggs are laid in cut bamboos

which have already lost a portion of their sap, i.e. bamboos which were felled

in the forest in the preceding cold-weather months, the beetles ovipositing in

them in the following May or June. The larvae, on hatching out, bore

into the tissues of the walls of the bamboo, and eat out tunnels which

have little definite direction, and often appear more or less to intersect or

cross the one with the other. These tunnels are packed with wood excreta

and dust. When full-fed the larva eats out a slightly wider chamber in

the wood, and changes into a pupa in it. The grub feeds in the bamboo

from June till March, resting for a month or two during the winter

months. The pupa and resting stage of the beetle lasts about two months.

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

355

This beetle, as Lefroy notes correctly in Indian Insect Pests, where the
brief note on the life history corroborates my in-
Damage Committed, vestigations and those of others, is to be found com-
monly issuing from bamboos used in the thatching

of roofs. The bostrychid borers (Dinoderus), Stromatium barbatum, and this
Caloclytus are probably responsible for the chief boring work done in the
bamboo structure of thatched roofs in India.

The method of preserving the bamboos from these attacks has been
already alluded to under Dinoderus minutus (p. 135).

Ranger Sen Gupta whilst a student at the Imperial Forest School at
Dehra Dun obtained this beetle from bamboos in Backerganj in June 1902.

I have noted it since the year 1898 as common in Calcutta and
Dehra Dun.

Caloclytus sp. prox. signaticollis.

REFERENCE. — Determined as close to signaticollis.

Habitat. — Goalpara, Assam.

Tree Attacked. — Sal (Shorea robusta). Goalpara,
Assam.

Beetle.— Elongate, slender, with short antennae. Canary-yellow,
with a circular black spot on the dorsal surface of the thorax, and

wavy transverse bands of the same colour

Description. on the elytra. Head black behind, with a

yellow pubescence covering the front. The

canary-yellow colour is caused by a thick, short pubescence. The
black lines on the elytra consist of an ellipse in the shoulder and two
transverse lines, one placed medianly and the other near the apex-
Under-surface canary-yellow. Length, 13.2 mm.

I cut a dead specimen of this beetle from the

sapwood of a large branch of a

Life History. newly-felled sal tree in Goalpara,

Assam, in May 1906. Old larval

galleries showed that the grubs feed in the cambium
and sapwood until full-fed, when they bore down at

an angle for an inch or so into the sapwood, and hollow out a pupal
chamber in this and pupate in it.

Fir.. 241.

( ',//(>, AV//V s|>. prox.
Assam.

HYAGNIS.

Hyagnis fistularius, 1'asc.
REFERENCE. — Pasc. Jour, of Knt. ii,

Habitat.— Satara, Bombay. Also reported from Fort Natal.
Tree Attacked.— .1 no^cissiis latifolia. Satara (Young).

/ 2

356

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

Beetle. — Small, yellowish brown, mottled with black specks ; the elytra with a trans-
verse dull white patch inclined inwards towards apex in apical half. Head deeply cleft

on front; antennae with ist joint swollen,

Description. 2nd very short, 3rd longer than any of

rest, the joints decreasing in length from

4th. Prothorax with a slight longitudinal median carina ; irregularly
punctate. Elytra wider than thorax at base, slightly constricted
from base, wider medianly, thence constricted and rounded apically ;
striate and finely and irregularly punctate, the striae most prominent
in lateral portions ; the whole of upper surface clothed with a
short stiff yellow or grey pubescence. Under-surface of abdomen
clothed with a long, dense, yellowish pubescence. Length, 8 mm.
to 12 mm.

This insect was taken from the bark of Anoseissus

FIG. 242.

Hyagnis fistitlariits,

Pasc. Satara.

latifolia, and is thought to be one
Life History. of the longicorns whose grubs attack the bast and
sapwood of this tree in Satara. The insect was taken
by Mr. Young, the Range Officer, in June 1909.

( 357 )

CHAPTER XVI.

PHYTOPHAGA (continued)— Family CERAMBYCIDAE (continued).

LAMIINAE.

HEAD in front vertical, or bent inwards well below the thorax ; last joint
of the palpi pointed at the end ; fore tibiae generally with a groove beneath.

The number of the Lamiinae known as pests in the forests is not so
numerous as the preceding group. One or two of the genera, however, have
earned a considerable notoriety owing to the damage done by certain species.

As a rule the larvae feed in the interior of the stems or roots of sappy
trees, or infest seedlings and young trees only, burrowing up the centre of
the stem or branch, and eating out a tunnel which may entirely hollow out
the stem, or branch, or root. This method of attack is easily distinguish-
able from that of the Cerambycinae, where the grubs feed in the bast and
outer sapwood, and only penetrate deeper into the wood to pupate.

MONOHAMMUS.
The following species is excessively common throughout the country.

Monohammus nivosus, YVh.
REFERENCES. — Wh. Proc. Zool. Soc. p. 409 (1858) ; Lefroy, Ind. Ins. Pests, p. 376 (1509).

Habitat. — Sub-Himalayan tract from Ganges to Nepal; Central and
Southern India ; Burma ; Ceylon.

Tree Attacked. — -Ak (Calotropis giganteo).

Beetle. — Short, stout. Rich brown in colour, the head
and greater part of elytra silvery-white owing to the presence

of a dense short pubescence of this

Description. colour; antennae yellowish; legs

brown or covered with a yellowish

grey pubescence ; under-surface clothed with a very short
dense white or yellow pubescence. Head rather deeply cleft
on front between insertion of antennae. I'rothornx \\itli sides
produced medianly into a sharp point ; the disk raised in
irregular tubercles with a transverse "collar" basally. Elytra
considerably wider than prothonix at base, constricted to
apex, apices separately rounded : the brown spares, imt
clothed with the white pubescence, with rough iinbrir.iiions.
Length 20 mm. to 26111111.

This beetle appears on the wing from Maivh to May.

on the stem of the tree, and the grub on hatching out

Life History. bores into the stem and tunnels upwards in the centre.

The grubs when about one-third grown will always be

found to have reached this position. Several grubs are at times to be found

\\\\.

FIG. ^4

Monohammus ///T
India.

Ilie CLr<: is laid

358 FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

tunnelling at different levels up one stem, and they undoubtedly have the
power of killing the tree. It is only on account of the fibre-producing
capabilities of the tree that the insect is likely to be of any importance so
far as the Calotropis is concerned. Lefroy mentions (in Indian Insect Pests,
p. 376) that " the beetle is to be found practically wherever this plant
grows."

COELOSTERNA.

Coelosterna scabrata, Fabr.
(The Babul-Root Boring Longicorn.}

REFERENCES. — Fabr. Spec. Ins. i, p. 224 ; Ind. Mus. Notes, vol. i, p. 88 (1889) ; Coelosterna spinator, Ind.
Mus. Notes, vol. iii, p. 144 (1894) ; Steb. Ind. For. Bull, (new ser.), no. 12, 2 (1912).

Habitat. — Oudh; Berar.

Trees Attacked. — Babul (Acacia arabica): Berar, Bundelkhand; Sal
(Shorea robitsta) : Oudh ; Casuarina (Casuarina cqnisetifolia) : Kandikuppa,
Madras.

This insect has been confused with S. spinator in its attacks on babul
(Acacia arabica). In Indian Museum Notes the specimen identified as
C. spinator was said to be remarkably like C. scabrata, and should only be
placed as a variety of that insect. This specimen was sent from Berar
as infesting babul there. The insect which has been committing the most
serious depredations to the babul plantations in Berar during the past
three to four years has been unquestionably identified as C. scabrata. More
recently the insect appeared in the same connexion in the Kalpi experi-
mental plantation in the Bundelkhand Division in the United Provinces.
This is also one of the pests which destroy casuarina in Madras.

Beetle. — A dull, yellowish brown in colour, the sides of the body and legs being bluish ;
the nodes of the antennae joints black, the rest of the joints reddish brown or bluish ; the

elytra are yellowish grey set with a large number of black spots

Description. varying in size from a pin's head to minute specks. The beetle is a

bulky insect from an inch and a quarter to an inch and a half in

length. The head is channelled on the vertex ; the prothorax has a prominent lateral median
spine on each side. The scutellum is large and bluish in colour. The elytra are smooth,
broader than prothorax at base, and have a blunt median spine at apex. PI. xxv, fig. <:, shows the
beetle.

Larva. — An elongate, thickish grub with a brown head and black mandibles ; the pro-
thorax is enlarged, with a hard yellow plate dorsally ; the abdominal segments are distinct,
the middle ones largest ; the fourth to the tenth have each a prominent black spiracle on the
lateral edges. Length, 2 in. to 2.k in. Fig. a show-s the larva side view, and a1 the front of its head.
Pupa. — The pupa is pale reddish-yellow colour, its prothorax showing the lateral
prominent spine ; the upper abdominal segments show three black spiracles placed laterally on
their dorsal surfaces. Figs. 6, bl show a dorsal and ventral view.

(a) In the Sal. — From reports received on the subject the life history of

this insect has appeared so contradictory as to have led

Lite History. \_o considerable confusion. As long ago as November

1888, Captain E. Wood, Conservator of Forests, Oudh,

reported that a beetle was doing some damage to sal coppice saplings
in the rains by ringing them. He wrote a paper on the subject which

I

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE 359

appeared in the Indian Forester,* and in which this beetle was identified
as Coelosterna scabrata at the Indian Museum. Indian Museum Notes t con-
tains a reference to Captain Wood's report of the insect. " The habits,"
the note says, "of this species are, no doubt, very similar to those of the
allied American Hickory Twig Borer (Oncideres cingulatus, Say.)," and the
life history of the latter is then detailed.

The life histories of Indian insects cannot, however, in the majority of
instances examined, be based upon those of American species. Consequently,
at present we have no further data on the life history of this insect in
connexion with the sal-tree than those ascertained by Captain E. Wood,
and described in the Indian Forester. Although I have taken specimens of
the insect on the wing in the sal forests of the United Provinces, I have
never had the good fortune to find the insects at work.

Captain Wood's note is as follows :—

I have noted, as stated in some of my reports to Government, that the succulent shoots
of coppice sal saplings were ringed by some insects in the rains, because the marks left in
October-November showed that they were comparatively recent, and the dead upper portions
showed that the leaves had reached maturity ; it was probable also that the ringing was done by
flying insects, as the tops of the shoots (within a foot or two of the top) were the parts usually
affected. As the ringing of the bark, and the consequent destruction of the portions of the
stem above it, render the coppice shoots liable to be crooked or to bifurcate, I desired, if
possible, that the insect might be discovered. . . . The insect was found at work in the evening
(so reports the Forester), and a specimen of the ringing was also sent. It is probable that the
insects use the soft bark for their own food . . . and nearly every coppiced stem i= thus ringed.

It is possible that the grubs live in the portion of the shoot above the
girdle, but the point was not ascertained.

(b) In the Babul.— We now turn to the question of the life history of
the insect in the babul (Acacia arabica), where it is proving itself a pest
of the first importance. Observations made on their life histories appear
to show that the majority of longicorn beetles which have proved to be forest
pests do not feed in the mature or beetle stage of their existence.

The babul-root boring longicorn would appear to be an exception to this
rule, since it has been reported so often as feeding on the bark and stripping
it off the young plants, or of ringing the young plants. We have seen that
the buprestid beetle Psiloptera fastuosa actually does commit this damage,
feeding on the bark of leading shoots and young twi^s (p. 199 ; pi. xi). I do
not think, however, that it had been definitely ascertained that the longi-
corn actually feeds here in the case of the Berar infrstntion of the pest.
Latterly, however, the beetle has been reported from the Kalpi Plantation
in Bundelkhand, the Psiloptera not apparently being present. The Coelo-
sterna appears in that locality as early as September (third week), and strips
the bark from the young trees, often apparently ringing them (pi. xi).

The beetles are found on the wing in Berar early in October, and it is
during this month that the bark is eaten or peeled down the stems of the
young plants by this insect and its buprestid companion.

* Indian Forester, vol. xiv, p. 503 (1888). f Indian MH+CIOH Xntes, i, p. 88 (1889).

36o FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

The eggs are evidently laid on the stems towards the end of the month
in Berar, perhaps earlier in Bundelkhand, and always low down towards the
bottom of the stems on the sapwood from which the bark has previously
been removed. The larva on hatching out at once tunnels down to the
centre of the stem and then feeds there, gradually, as it grows older, working
down to the root, the base of the stem and the thicker portions of the main
roots being entirely hollowed out by the grub, as shown in pi. xxv, figs, e, f.
The larval tunnel is kept almost free of wood-dust and excreta to enable
the grub to move up and do\vn in it, and to get rid of this mass of refuse it
eats out a hole through the bark just above ground level and ejects the mass
through this. It is this hole and the mass of tell-tale wood-refuse in heaps on
the ground beneath it which serves to indicate with certainty the presence of
the grub in the trees. The hole, of course, also serves the purpose of aerating
the larval tunnel down in the roots beneath the surface of the soil. The
work of the grub first begins to make itself obvious in December, its attacks
during November, owing to its small size, not being so evident. The grub,
according to Mr. Scrinivasalem, remains active and at work until the middle
of July, when, the monsoon having well set in, it pupates. Before pupating
the grub blocks the now entirely hollowed-out thicker part of the root with
a mass of ligneous root-fibres (figs, e, g\ these being torn off from the inner
sides of the walls of the cavity and wedged into a mass both at the bottom
and top of the space it intends to pupate in, which is about twice its own
length. It then changes to a pupa and remains in this stage till about the
end of August. If the roots are examined in September, the immature
beetles will be found in the cavity, as shown in figs, d, e, their coloration
being very vivid, but the outer parts still soft. Towards the end of the first
week in October the insect is mature, and bites its way through the mass of
fibrous material blocking the tunnel above it, crawls up the hollowed-out
root till it reaches the refuse-hole made by the larva above ground, and
crawls out of this ; or it may bite a way out of the stem for itself.

The first report of this Coelosterna proving a pest to babul was made by

the Conservator of Forests, Berar, in July 1892, when
Damage Committed , r , , - r ,, , ,, ' , , ,,

in the Forest forwarded specimens or the beetle through the

Director of the Imperial Forest School at Dehra to the

Indian Museum, Calcutta, with the information that "the insect committed
considerable damage to the plants, the larva being said to enter the stem
some three or four inches above the ground, and to tunnel through the
roots to such an extent as eventually to cause death." As there were no
specimens of the insect in the Indian Museum, the beetle was forwarded to
the British Museum, where Mr. Gahan identified it as C. spinator, which he
considered to be a variety only of C. scabrata. In Injurious Insects,
p. 68, I drew attention to this point, and suggested that should the habits
of the two beetles prove the same, the beetle would be best alluded to under
the name of C. scabrata. In June 1903, whilst in charge of the Indian
Museum at Calcutta, I received specimens of this beetle from Kandikuppa,

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE 361

Madras, where they were reported as eating the leaves and young stems of
casuarina. It would appear that the beetle was engaged in stripping off
the bark of the young trees when taken.

Nothing further appears to have been reported on the insect until, in
November 1907, Mr. S. Scrinivasalem Maidu, Divisional Officer of the
Buldana Division in Berar, forwarded me specimens of beetles, reporting
that they were devouring the bark of leading shoots and young twigs of
babul in the Bhongarn Reserve of his division. At my request the Divisional
Officer kindly kept a careful watch on the plantation to observe whether
the grubs which he mentioned in the same communication as being con-
stantly seen tunnelling in young babul-trees had any connexion with the
beetles. In August 1908 Mr. Scrinivasalem was able to forward to Dehra
specimens of babul stems and roots containing grubs and pupae, and
beetles were obtained in numbers from them, the insects proving to be
C. sea brat a.

Meanwhile from the Amraoti Division, Berar, specimens of a longicorn
grub, reported as tunnelling into the roots and lower portion of the stems of
babul, were received from Mr. Pandurang Narayan, Extra Assistant Con-
servator of Forests, in April 1908. He said that the grub was generally
noticed from February to May. Some beetles subsequently obtained proved
to be C. scabrata.

In November 1908 an insect committing depredations to babul was
reported from a new locality. Mr. T. Carr, I.F.S., forwarded me two
beetles received by him from the Ranger in charge of the Kalpi Plantation
in Bundelkhand in the Eastern Circle of the United Provinces, with the
report that they had commenced to strip the bark from young babul in the
plantation. The beetles proved to be C. scabrata.

From the above remarks and the notes given on the life history of the
insect, it will be sufficiently obvious that C. scabrata is a pest of the first
importance, since it is capable, in the absence of a knowledge of its life
history and a capacity for being able to distinguish its attacks, of obtaining
a complete mastery over a young plantation, and this means the partial or
total loss of that plantation. The damage committed by the beetle is to
both stem and root, and plants seriously attacked are certain to die. The
insect only infests growing trees. Immature larvae in cut stems die off.

Now that the life history of this pest is well known, met ho, Is <>f com-
bating it are fairly simple. Whether the resultant loss
Protection and frQm . attacks "jn a plantation is heavy OF small will
Remedial Measures. . .

depend entirely on the amount 01 supervision the

plantation receives and the capacity of those in charge of it for immediately
marking down an attack in a tree as soon as it has started. Attacks both
to stem and root are easily seen — to the stems as the bark is peele.l off
when egg-laying; to the root by the wood-dust and excreta ejected from
holes near its base by the boring grubs.

362 FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

Infested trees should be dug out and either burnt in toto, root, stem, and
branch, or the parts slit up, and the grubs, pupae, or beetles they are found
to contain killed on the spot.

In small plantations the stems of the saplings should be painted for
six inches below and one foot above ground with a mixture of cow-dung
and clay to which paraffin has been added. This will prevent the beetles
ovipositing on the stems.

Out in the forest badly infested trees are easily marked down, and they
should be felled and cut up and burnt, for if left standing they serve as
centres from which the infection would spread to unaffected trees.*

BATOCERA.

The genus includes one of the commonest of the large longicorns to be
found throughout the plains of India, and a pest of considerable importance.

Batocera rubra, Linn.

REFERENCES. — Linn. Syst. Nat. ed. x, p. 390; Stebbing, Note on the Duki Fig-tree Borer, For. Bull.

no. 10 (1907).

Habitat.— Baluchistan : Duki, Loralai (Col. C. A. Kemball), Fort
Sandeman (Major Roome et mihi) ; Dehra Dun ; Pusa (Lefroy).

Trees Attacked. — Fig-tree (Ficus carica) : Baluchistan ; Mango (Mangi-
fera indica).

Beetle. — A large stout insect with long antennae and legs. Black or ferruginous yellow,
dull, with a series of dirty yellowish spots on the elytra. Head vertical, mandibles long and

powerful. Antennae black ; a row of sharp small teeth on inner

Description. edge of the third joint. Prothorax transversely ridged on the anterior

and posterior edges with irregular ridges and wavy lines on the

intermediate portion. At ths sides the thorax is produced medianly into a sharp pointed
tooth. Four orange spots are placed circularly on the dorsal median area. Elytra
truncate at the base with well-marked shoulders which end in small sharp teeth ; they
are constricted and rounded at the apical end. The basal quarter is studded with small,
shining, rather scattered projecting elevations which are largest at the base and decrease in
size anteriorly. Rest of surface smooth. Two irregular longitudinal lines of yellow spots,
seventeen or less in number, on each elytra. In some specimens these spots form a well-
defined line near the apex of the elytra. The last segment of the body is left exposed by the
elytra. Under-surface black, shining, with a broad lateral white strip running down each side.
Legs ferruginous black.

The male is distinguished from the female by having the antennae longer than the total
length of the insect. In the female the antennae do not reach to the apex of the elytra;
length, 49 mm. to 56 mm. In pi. \xvi, figs, c, ^depict a side and dorsal view of the female beetle,
fig. e the head of the male beetle, and figs, f to /'variations in the number of spots on the elytra.

'f Since this was written Mr. V. Subramarian Iyer, Acting Forest Zoologist, published the
following note on this insect (in For. Bull. no. 11, 2nd sen 1912) : "The thick white grubs
bore into the wood of the roots of the tree in Nellore and Cuddalore. I found another specimen
of Coelosterna spinator in North Arcot, the damage done by which is probably similar to
C. scabrata. The existence of this latter in the grub stage was easily detected by the amount
of sawdust found near the base of the saplings attacked, which ultimately die. In May and
June 1910 I saw traces of this borer in the casuarina plantations of Cuddalore, and I received
beetles of C. scabrata from Nellore." Mr. Iyer is, however, incorrect in his inference that
C. scabrata is identical with the unidentified longicorn described under Lamia sp. on p. 379

PLATE XXVI.

BatiH'cru rithra. Linn. The I >uki lig-tree borer). — a, />, immature and mature larvae ;
c, t/, female beetle ; e, head of male beetle ; /"to /, elytra of beetle, showing variation in yellow
markings. Duki, Loralai, Baluchistan.

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE 363

Larva. — The full-grown larva is a long, thick, tuberculate, yellowish grub, three and three-
quarter inches in length and three-quarters of an inch broad at the anterior end, which ii
thickest. The head is black, broadest behind, and bluntly pointed in front, the two biting
jaws (mandibles) being black. The segment following the head is broad and swollen, dark
orange-yellow, the upper surface being hard and horny and shining ; the two following seg-
ments are narrow ; the remainder are slightly narrower than the first, thick, with swollen
tubercles on each ; the last two taper bluntly. There are a pair of minute feet on each of the
first three segments and a pair of swollen tuberculate ones on the fourth to the ninth seg-
ments. A transversely elongate brown spot (the breathing opening or spiracle) is situated on
each side of the second and the fourth to the eleventh segments. Figs. «, b, show a larva two-
thirds grown and a full-grown grub.

The life history of this insect was first completely worked out in the
years 1905-7 by Colonel C. A. Kemball, Political Agent in Loralai, Balu-
chistan. The beetle was found to be committing serious damage to the fig-
trees in the Duki Garden in his Agency. It was subsequently found in
other parts of the province.

The beetle commences to issue from the trees about the middle of June,

and is found throughout the remainder of the month
Life History in the Fig- , . . .

tree in Baluchistan. and on through July. It is apparently most plentiful

in July. This period of six to seven weeks, then, is the

egg-laying period. The eggs have not yet been discovered, but they are
probably laid either singly or in little clusters on the outside of the bark
of the tree or in incisions made by the beetle in the outer bark so as
to reach the softer parts beneath. The number of eggs laid is at present
unknown.

The grubs on hatching from the eggs in July or August feed at first in
the green sappy portion of the inner bark, and then, as they become larger
and stronger, tunnel down into the wood and bore down the centre of the
stem or branch in a direction parallel to the longitudinal axis, mining
out a gallery which increases in breadth with the growth of the larva. If
the grub commences in a branch, it tunnels down the branch until it
reaches the main stem, and then tunnels down that. The tunnel is blocked
behind by the excreta of the larva, the portion occupied by the latter being
full of sap. As it progresses down the stem or branch it eats out at
intervals longitudinal offshoots to the outer bark, these longitudinal
tunnels serving to admit air into the stem. The sap oozing from
these is an indication that a grub is at work inside the stem. The
larger branches and the main stem of the fig-tree, including the bottom
portion of the stem and the upper thick portion (the cr<>\vn) of the roots,
are the parts of the tree infested by the grub, the galleries eaten out by the
mature larva being as much as one and a quarter inches in width and
a foot or more in length.

When full-fed the grub pupates in the heart of the stem or upper part
of the root, eating out a wide elliptic il pup.il chamber which it blocks at
the open end with a mass of compressed wood til>re>, some loose wood fibres
occupying the lower end.

364 FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

The pupa spends three to three and a half months in this stage.
The beetle, when mature, bores a circular tunnel straight to the outside of
the tree, the large exit-hole being very visible on the outside (see pi. xxvii).

Up to the present it has not been definitely proved that this pest kills
the fig-trees. Major Roome, Commandant of the Zhob

Levy CorPs> informed me that some of his trees m the
Levy Corps garden at Fort Sandeman were so badly

riddled that one or two were blown down and several others had to be cut
out. I myself saw two or three trees in this garden in 1905 which were so
full of larvae that it appeared to be only a question of time when they would
succumb to the attacks of the insect. Colonel Kemball informed me in 1906
that no trees had so far actually died under the attacks at Duki. It would
seem, however, that in this garden the attack had only recently culminated
at the time of his report. The insect, occurring but sparingly at first,
committed but small depredations, and these remained unnoticed.

We have seen that the grub tunnels chiefly inside the stem and
branches of the trees ; it is owing to this method of attack, whereby the
bast layer remains for the most part untouched, that the trees are not
at once killed by the insect. At the same time the strength of a tree
containing many boring larvae is naturally sapped and undermined
owing to the numerous hollow galleries and tunnels it contains. It
therefore becomes but a question of time for the tree to succumb to
these attacks ; either being blown down by the wind, or falling owing
to the stem being no longer capable of bearing the excessive weight of
the crown.

It should also be remembered that these trees are in themselves a
danger, since by rearing up larvae, which become beetles and lay eggs, they
help to spread the infection to as yet unattacked or but slightly attacked
trees. The beetles also, owing to their power of strong flight, are able to
carry the infection to unaffected gardens and trees.

H. M. Lefroy alludes to this insect (in Indian Insect Pests, p. 375) as
follows :—

Batocera rubra, Linn., is the large beetle found throughout the
plains whose larva is common under the bark of trees ; it appears to
occur chiefly in decaying bark, and the trees felled in Pusa contained
abundance of the large larvae and pupae.

From what has been written above, the question of the protection of the
fig and mango trees, and the clearing of infested gardens, becomes a matter
of considerable importance.

It has been said that this insect has a very wide distribution through-
out the country. There is little chance, therefore, of
Protection and . . , ,_, r ' , •

Remedies stamping it out, and the question of preventing its

spreading in the gardens is the one for consideration.
It has been shown that from the nature of the attack on the tree the latter

PLATK XX VI I.

tion ol the base of <1 tur-tree infested In I!,itii, •/•;•// ;•////;// I inn Thf tr:illpn'p<; in \\-\p \vnnH :ind llu- Inrtrp

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE 365

will not necessarily die owing to the presence in it of the boring grubs.
Only in the event of their being very numerous in it will a tree be likely to
succumb to the attack. At the same time we must remember that every
infested tree is a source of danger to others as well as to itself, since the
presence of only a few larvae in a garden or in a single tree means the
future appearance of beetles who will give rise to a progeny greater in
numbers .than themselves, and will result, in the course of time, in a serious
infestation.

My recommendations are, therefore, as follows :—

1. Where a tree is seen to be very seriously infested by the pest and to
contain, from the evidence of numerous external holes, a large number of
larvae, that tree should be cut out, cut up into sections, and burnt. Parti-
cular attention should be taken to ascertain that every portion of the wood
is well charred. The period of cutting and burning should be between the
end of October and the end of March.

2. Where a tree is not seriously infested, attacked branches, or portions
of the main stem, if high up, should be pruned off and burnt, as detailed
above. In both cases they should be pruned off below where the insect is
seen to be at work, and the pruned spot should be thickly coated with tar.
In cutting off heavy branches, the branch should be first sawn off about
a foot from its junction with the main stem, the remaining portion being
subsequently taken off flush with the stem. This is to avoid the weight of
the branch tearing the bark of the trunk (thus causing a wound at which
the beetles would oviposit), which usually happens if the branch is taken
off flush in the first instance.

3. From the beginning of June to the end of August the parts of trees
infested with grubs should be enveloped in muslin (mosquito-netting) bags,
tied above and below the area containing the grub. These bags should be
inspected daily, and all beetles issuing from the areas so enveloped, who
will be unable to escape owing to the netting, should be killed. Crushing
them against the stem of the tree without de. aching the netting will be
sufficient. The daily inspection is necessary, otherwise male and female
beetles may issue in the same bag, pair, and the female may lay eggs on the
confined area before she is killed. Should this take place the work and
supervision entailed will be of no avail, since the eggs will hatch into gnihs
and these latter will carry on the attack in the tree. It was by means of
such bags that Colonel Kemball had the beetles caught which set at rest the
question of the identity of this pest.

4. Between the dates specified in the preceding paragraph a careful
watch should be kept in the garden for beetles issuing from parts of
trees unprotected by the bags, and all such found should be caught and
killed. This inspection should be made in the d.iytime, and at night
with a lantern. The beetles will usually be found clinging to the bark
of the trees.

366

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

FIG. 244.

Batoccra albofasciata,
De Geer. \. Assam.

Batocera albofasciata, De Geer.

REFERENCE. — De Geer. Mem. v, p. 106, t. 13, f. 16 (1775).

Habitat. — Darrang, Assam.

Tree Attacked. — India Rubber (Ficus elastica). Charduar Rubber Planta-
tion, Darrang, Assam.

Beetle. — Dull brownish purple or black. The scutellum,
and a variable number of spots on elytra, white or yellow •

a broad white lateral stripe on
Description. unrer-surface, its inner margin

with an irregular scalloped edge ;

rest of under-surface clothed with a fine, short, dense
yellowish pubescence. Sides of thorax produced medianly
into a long sharp spine ; the disk covered with irregular
imbrications ; two crescent-shaped orange depressions placed
on either side of the median line ; transverse elevate lines
bounding the anterior and basal margins. Scutellum large,
heart-shaped. Elytra broadest at base, the shoulders pro-
duced into a spine, the sides constricted to apex, latter
truncate with a spine at either corner, t-he sutural one the
longest ; basal third set with a number of raised, smooth,
shining black points ; the white spots placed longitudinally
and irregularly, varying in number and size from three or four to seven, the median one
being the largest. Length, 29 mm. to 36 mm.

Larva.— Elongate, rather flat, yellow with a black head, and orange prothorax.
Pupa — Pale yellow, rather narrow body, rather acute apically.

A beetle of this insect was found mature in the pupal chamber in Fiats
elastica on 9 April, the insect having just commenced to cut its way out
of the tree. The beetles probably fly from about the middle to the third
week of April in Assam. The eggs are laid on the bark of the rubber-tree or
at wounds. The larva on hatching out tunnels through the bark till it
reaches the bast, and feeds here at first, and then goes deeper and eats
out a winding gallery, which eventually reaches into the heart-wood, and
is carried more or less parallel to the long axis of the tree. These galleries
are of some length, and go right into the interior of large trees. When
full-fed the grub enlarges the end of its tunnel in the heart-wood and
pupates here. The larval tunnel is packed with wood refuse and excreta.
Before pupating the grub packs the top and bottom of the pupating
chamber, which is parallel to the long axis of the tree, with masses of long
fibres pressed rather closely together. The beetle, when mature, bores
straight out of the tree, the exit-tunnel being at right angles to the long axis.
These exit-orifices are clearly seen on the bark, and serve to denote that
the tree is infested with this beetle.

On 9 April I took a few full-grown larvae, a number of pupae, and
some mature and immature beetles in a tree. This would seem to show
that there is only one generation of the insect in the year, that the eggs are

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

307

laid some time about the end of April and during May, that the larvae spend
some nine months in this stage, and that the pupal stage is from six weeks to
two months, the grubs pupating in January or February.

A number of dying rubber-trees had been felled at Charduar shortly

before my arrival, and an examination showed that thev
Damage Committed , , , , ,, , , , ,, . . ^,

in the Forest. nac* been badly attacked by this insect. The beetle

apparently seeks out diseased or dying trees in which

to oviposit. The danger of the insect in a rubber plantation is that
when numerous its attacks in the wood would gradually undermine the
vitality of the tree, and also lead to its being liable to be blown down by
wind.

Trees badly infested by this pest should be cut out, cut up, and burnt.
If left standing they only serve as infected centres which \vill breed out
numbers of beetles who will subsequently attack other trees.

Batocera titana, Thorns.
(The Mango-tree Longicorn Borer.)

REFERENCE. — Thorns. Mon. Arcan. Nat. p. 82 (1851 ).

Habitat. — Chicacole, Ganjam, Madras ; Taunggyi, Southern Shan States.

Trees Attacked. - Mango

(Mangifera indica] ; Chicacole,
Ganjam, Madras (S.Cox); ? Oak
(Quercus griffithii) : Taunggyi
(H. W. Watson).

Beetle. — A large heavy beetle of a
yellow or greenish-yellow colour, mottled

with blackish
Description. markings and

orange spots;

under-surface clothed with a short sil-
very-grey or yellowish pubescence, as
also the legs ; antennae brown, 1st joint
black ; the vertex of head black, covered
with a yellow pubescence. Antennae
inserted on anterior edge of head, 1st
joint very stout and long, 2nd very short,
3rd longest of all and serrate on inside,
4th shorter than 3rd but longer than rest,
serrate on inside, but less so than 3rd, rest
more or less equal. 1'rothorax broader
than long ; sides produced medianly into
a sharp black spine bent downwards, a
broad collar on anterior edge, the disk
irregularly elevate with a short orange

mark on either side of a median elongate KI(;. 245.— 7A/A;tvn/ titana, Thorns. $.

black line. Scutellum large, heart- Madras and Southern Shan Slates.

68

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

shaped, orange. Elytra broadest basally, constricting apically, the suture being produced into
a short spine ; the shoulders produced, the basal fourth studded with a number of raised black
prominences; six or more irregular-sized orange spots, three in basal fourth, four largest

placed medianly on disk, five and six smaller
placed the one below the other in apical third.
Length, 57mm. to 75 mm.

The beetle makes its appearance
on the wing in Madras
Life History. about the middle of
July and probably

throughout August. In the Southern
Shan States a specimen was taken by
Mr. Watson in September. The eggs
are laid at wounds on the trees or de-
posited so that the young grubs hatching
out can rapidly and easily reach the
cambium layer. The grubs do not, how-
ever, remain here, but soon tunnel down
into the wood of the tree and eat out a
long gallery parallel to the long axis of
the branch or stem attacked in a manner
similar to that already described for
Batocera rubra in the fig-tree. In order to
aerate the tunnels thus made in the wood,
branch tunnels of considerable size are
carried at right angles to the main one
until they pierce the bark. These bores,

from which wood-dust and excreta are ejected by the larva and from which
tell-tale streams of sap ooze down the bark, make the attack readily
recognizable. The grub remains feeding in the wood throughout the re-
mainder of the year and up to March in the year following, the damage in
the last two or three months of the larval stage of existence being particu-
larly noticeable in the trees. In the main trunk of the tree the grub feeds
in the bast, grooving deeply into the sapwood, the whole of the cambium
layer. of the tree being removed when the larvae are numerous. When full-
fed it tunnels into the heart of the tree and eats out there a large pupating-
chamber which is plugged up at either end with wood fibres and dust.
Mr. S. Cox, I.F.S., found the insect in all its stages, except the fully mature
beetle in the first week of March, the full-grown larvae being the most
numerous. The grubs, then, pupate at about this date. The pupal stage and
resting stage of the beetle must take from three to three and a half months,
as a beetle was taken crawling up the exit-tunnel from the pupating-chamber
by Mr. T. Reilly, I.C.S., on 19 July. It may be considered as definitely
ascertained, therefore, that the life-cycle of the insect takes a year to pass
through, that the eggs are laid on the trees in July and August, and that the

FlG. 246. — Batocera tit ana. Thorns.
Madras ; Southern Shan Slates.

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

36:)

period during
which the dam-
age is being done
to the trees is
from August to
March.

Damage done
to the Tree.

During the
first week in
March 1907 Mr.
H. T. Reilly, the
Head Assistant
Collector, drew
the attention of
Mr. S. Co x,
District Forest
Officer, to the
damage being
done to mango-
trees at Chica-
cole in Ganjam.
The trees in
question were
graft mangoes,
and particularly
valuable ones,
and well known
in the district.
Chic a cole is
famous for its
mango topes, the
number of trees
in the Taluq be-
i n g roughly
11,100, the area
of the topes be-
ing estimated at
about 3, 780 acres.
The value of the
fruit of these
trees, which is
exported to Cal-
cutta, is consider-
able.

9003

FIG. 247. — Portion ot the sum of a mango-tree showing larval
galleries in sap wood and entrance-holes to pupal chambers of Hat <><<•>•«
titana, Thorns, (ianjam, Madras.

A A

370 FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

As a result of subsequent observations carried on by Messrs. Reilly and
Cox at Chicacole, and of my staff and myself at Dehra Dun up to November
1909, the serious infestation of these trees by longicorn beetles and their
grubs has now been sifted out.

The matter has been highly complicated owing to the fact, as pointed
out by Messrs. Reilly and Cox, that the mangoes appeared to be infested by
more than one species of longicorn and some other insects. It was
definitely ascertained from the first specimens procured in March 1907
that there was at least a longicorn and buprestid at work, larvae of both
of them having been taken from the wood. Subsequent investigations
and specimens sent to Dehra definitely proved that there were at least
two distinct longicorns present, the Batocera titana and Ploccsderus obesus.
From the mango logs kept under supervision in the breeding cage at Dehra
Dun the following beetles were bred out : The buprestid Belionota prasina
described on p. 217 ; Ploccederus obesus, p. 295 ; and A^olesthes holosericea,
p. 301 ; so that there are no less than one buprestid and three longicorn
beetles infesting the mango-trees at Chicacole. The importance of being
fully acquainted with the life histories of all these insects becomes evident
when it is remembered that any one of the species by itself is probably
capable of killing the tree.

A specimen of this Batocera was sent to me in September 1909 by
Mr. H. W. Watson, who stated that he found it on a Qiicrcits griffithii at
Taunggyi in the Southern Shan States.

Since, as Mr. S. Cox pointed out, the chief object in the case of a fruit-
tree is to preserve it, and not to cut it out unless
Protection and u i i •<. • u

Remedial Measures. absolutely necessary, it is by no means easy to pre-
scribe measures of protection. Of course the most

imperative one is that those in charge of the gardens should be acquainted
with the life histories of the aggressors — when the beetles appear and the
eggs are laid, and the months during which the larvae feed. A great deal
could be done in the matter by a systematic collection of the beetles with
lanterns at night. In the case of infested trees, attacked branches should be
cut off, split up, and the grubs in them killed. It is not sufficient to
merely cut off the branch, as that will not result in the death of the
grubs inside. Nor is it sufficient to fell a diseased tree. We have seen
that from logs sent to Dehra the beetles were bred out. Seriously infested
trees should be cut down during the cold weather, cut up, and burnt
When any holes are seen on the stem of a young tree dilute
kerosene should be injected through them, and the holes should then be
plugged and coated with tar.

In the case of valuable topes the remedies prescribed on p. 365 for
Htitoccra r ubra will apply in a general manner, the cold-weather months
being the period during which they should be carried out.

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

MEGES.

Meges marmoratus, Westw.
REFERENCED— Westw. Cab. Or. Ent. p. n, t. 5, f. i, $ (1848).

Habitat. --Taunggyi,
Southern Shan States.

Tree Attacked. — Oak

(Quercus gnffithii) (H. Wat-
son).

Beetle. — An easily recognized
beetle owing to its large size and

the curious white
Description, or greyish-white

and b r o w n

markings of the elytra. The head
has a sharp longitudinal median
line on vertex ; the antennae are
very long and stout, ist joint very
much swollen, 2nd short, 3rd longer
than any of the others ; the sides
of thorax are produced into a large
thick and sharp-pointed spine ; the
disk with a black triangular or
diamond-shaped mark in centre.
Elytra broad, rather flat on disk,
smooth, moderately shining, with
several broad longitudinal striae.
Under-surface clothed with a short
dense yellow or yellowish - green
pubescence. Length, 70 mm. ;
breadth, 24mm.

A specimen of this fine
large longicorn beetle was
sent to me by Mr. Watson

from the Southern Shan FIG. 248.

States in September IQIO. Mt-gcs marmoratux, Westw. Southern Shan States.

He had taken it from the oak Qiterciis griffithii, the insect being found
on the outer bark of the tree.

APRIONA.
Apriona germari, Hope.

REFERENCES. — Hope, Gray's Zoo/. ,1/fsc. i, 28 (1831) ; Slabbing, Depart. .Vc/Vs vol. i, p. 25 (1902).

Habitat. Shahdera Plantation, near Lahore, Punjab.
Tree Attacked.— Mulberry (Moms indica). Shahdera Plantation.
Beetle. Mature beetle clothed with a golden-brown pubescence. Elytra are rough and
scarped at their anterior surfaces, where they are dotted with small black raised points.

Colour is more golden on the under-surface. Legs same colour

Description. as clyt'-a, tarsus sli^htlv darker. Specimens \\ith this colouring

were found in 1897. In 1X98 one beetle taken resembled in form

the above, but di tiered in coloration. The colour is a dirty yellow, but the elytra have several

A A 2

37-2

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

white blotches on them, and there are two bright orange spots on the thorax. It differs also
on the under-side in having a broad white marginal band round the abdomen extending to the

head, thus being unlike the
uniform colouring of the
other specimens. Length,
46 mm. ; breadth, 13 mm.
The first described speci-
mens were identified for
me by Mr. C. O. Water-
house, of the British Mu-
seum, as A. germari. I
have not seen the 1898
beetle. The difference in
markings may be due to a
difference in sex only.
Fig. 249 shows : a, the
larva ; b, the pupa ; and
c, the imago.

Larva. — The larva is a
long, white, thick grub,
with a well-developed head,
powerful mandibles, and
large thoracic segments.
It is legless, and when
fully developed is about
3 in. in length and 5 in.
across the thoracic seg-
ments.

FlG. 249. — Apriona Germari, Hope. a, larva ; b, pupa ;
c, beetle. \. Changa Manga.

The notes on the life history of A. germari are drawn up from careful

observations made by Mr. B. O. Coventry, I.F.S.,

Life History. when in charge of the Shahdera Plantation, from

investigations made by myself during a visit paid to the

area, and from the correspondence on the subject by Messrs. C. G. Rogers,

I.F.S., and Coventry, published in the Indian Forester.*

The larva of this beetle infests stems of the mulberry (Mortis indica).
Its presence in the trees had been known for some years (Mr. Rogers
mentions finding it in 1892), but neither the pupae nor beetles were dis-
covered at the Shahdera Plantation till specimens of both were taken by
Mr. B. O. Coventry in 1897.

Larvae of all sizes are present in the stems at all times of the year,
this clearly denoting that they take a year or more to mature. Both pupae
and beetles were found in the middle of July, but none of the latter are said
to be discoverable in the stems in August. It is thus probable that the
beetle's Right-time is at the commencement of the rainy season. As the
perfect insect is not to be found later on in the year, it probably at once
pairs and lays eggs on the bark of the stems. The young grubs eat their

Ind. Forester, vol. xxiv, pp. 203, 204, and 341-345 ; xxv, pp. 68, 69.

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE 373

way in and remain for a time boring in the sapwood, and then as they get
stronger go into the heart-wood and tunnel up and down this. Some
tunnels I inspected were 7 ft. to 8 ft. and more in length. As soon as the
tunnel enters the sapwood, branch tunnels to the outer surface of the bark
are gnawed out at intervals for aeration purposes, and the course and direc-
tion of the tunnel within the stem can be traced by these holes on the out-
side, the holes and the offsets to the outside increasing in circumference
with the growth of the grub. Careful search has failed to show that
more than one larva is ever present in any one stem, and therefore it
must be considered probable that the beetle lays but one egg on any one
tree. The position on the stem where it is laid would appear to vary, as
Mr. Coventry considers it to be always high up, whereas my own observa-
tions on some cut stems showed that in these cases the larva had commenced
its tunnel in the sapwood at the foot of the tree. Mr. Coventry wrote :—

' The larvae, commencing high up, burrow down the entire
length of the stem, and often a considerable way down one of the
main roots. . . . After reaching its lowest limit the larva appears
to hollow out a chamber of sufficient size to enable it to turn round,
and then burrows straight up the stem again, sometimes following
the old gallery, and sometimes striking a new one."

It is not improbable that the chamber here referred to is made to enable
the grub to rest for a period during the coldest part of the winter, but this
opinion requires corroboration. By far the longest part of the tunnel,
including all the portion with a large diameter, is to be found in the heart-
wood, the larva seeking this and leaving the sapwood as soon as its mandibles
are strong enough to enable it to bore into the former.

Although the larva and its work had been known for some years at the

Shahdera Reserve, a sailaba plantation on the banks of

^nthe Forest tne ^av^ about five miles from Lahore, Punjab, it was

not until 1897 that beetles were obtained by Mr. B. O.

Coventry, from which the insect was identified as Aprioiia ^cniutri.

Mulberry stems are very badly infested by this beetle, which confines
itself to this tree, and does not attack its companion the sissu. The eggs
are most usually laid on the main stems of young living coppice shoots, about
three to four years old, and 2^ in. to 3 in. in diameter, and the insert grows
in size with the development of the tree. Attacked trees can be recogm
owing to a rusty red stain running below each air-hole made bv the larva,
the stain being caused by the trickling down of sap from these holes ; also
very often by the presence of sawdust at the foot and on the bark of the trees.
The attacks of the larva do not kill the tree, but the galleries bored up and
down the stem ruin the wood for timber purposes, and at Shahdera the
mulberry can only be sold as firewood. A l;irg<; proportion of the young trees
were infested in 1901, and the old ones mostly bore the marks of previous
attacks in the unsightly wounds, often of large size, which were to be seen on

374 FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

their stems. These wounds have originated from the air-holes of the larva
and the large exit-hole made by the beetle. Decay sets in at these points,
and is probably accelerated by rainwater. These large wounds are not to
be found on trees containing living larvae.

Mr. Coventry has suggested that the only practical remedy is to cut out
all attacked stems and collect and destroy the larvae.
The damage chiefly originates in the young compart-
ments, and the removal of attacked stems would be in
the nature of a light thinning, which would be beneficial rather than detri-
mental to the growing stock. This opinion entirely agrees with my own,
and, being that of an officer who has held charge of the plantation, is, I
conclude, a feasible one. We have already seen that the stems containing
larvae are easily recognized; each stem cut down should be carefully cut up,
including the roots if necessary, until the larva is found and destroyed before
a fresh one is felled. This work requires the most careful supervision, as
upon its being done thoroughly will depend the stamping out of an attack
completely. The larvae found should be made to tally with the infected
stems cut. A curious feature of the Shahdera attack was the fact that the
beetle was not present in the Changa Manga Plantation, only forty miles
away. Careful search during several years failed to bring to light a single
case of attack on the mulberry at the latter place, and the wood of the tree
can thus to a certain extent be sold as timber. The danger of the beetle
spreading to Changa Manga was very great, and it was probably only
the fact that its life history was worked out and understood, and that
measures \vere taken in time to stamp it out at Shahdera, that prevented
the beetle from making its appearance in and getting a hold over the trees
at Changa Manga.

Apriona cinerea, Chev.

REFERENCE. — Chev. Rev. Zool. p. 416 1852).

Habitat.— Dehra Dun, N. India.
Tree Attacked. — Mulberry (Morus indica).

Beetle. — Elongate, rather narrow. Uniform greyish to greyish yellow, due to a dense
pubescence ; the surface beneath black. Head with a median longitudinal impressed line on

vertex, the front cleft between the eyes ; ist joint of antenna

Description. swollen and rather long, 2nd very short, 3rd longer than ist and

2nd, 4th about equal to ist and 2nd together, rest sub-equal.

Prothorax wider than long, the sides produced medianly into a long spine pointing downwards,
the surface raised in more or less parallel transverse irregular wavy ridges. Elytra with
shoulders produced into a spine ; basal fifth of surface studded with a number of small raised
shining black points ; the sides constricted apically, the apex terminated in three small spines
placed somewhat close together. LJnder-surface clothed with a short yellowish pubescence.
Length, 28 mm. to 49 mm.

I have taken this beetle on several occasions in Dehra Dun and neigh-
bourhood, stripping the bark off the leading shoots and twigs of young
mulberry plants in a manner very similar to that in which Psiloptcra
fastuosa and Coelostcrna scabrata treat the babul (Acacia arabica) (cf. pi. xi).

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

375

OLENECAMPTUS.
Olenecamptus bilobus, Fabr.

REFERENCES. — Fabr. Syst. Ent. ii, 234 ; Lefroy, Ind. Ins. Pests, p. 373 (1909).

Habitat.— Dehra Dun ; Gangetic Plains.

Trees Attacked. — Pakar (Ficus runiphii), Gular (Ficus glomerata), and
Timla (Ficus roxburghii).

Beetle. — Elongate, slender, with very long antennae,
more than twice length of insect. Head and greater part

of prothorax clothed with an orange
Description. pubescence ; base of prothorax and

elytra red - brown, becoming yel-
lowish brown in apical part of elytra, moderately shining,
the elytra with three white spots ; under-surface densely
clothed with a white pubescence, as also the slender legs.
Front of head covered with a white pubescence ; basal
joint of antennae swollen and coarsely tuberculate, 2nd
very short, 3rd equal to 4th and 5th together, rest sub-equal,
last longer than those immediately below it. Prothorax set
with a number of parallel transverse ridges. Elytra coarsely
punctate, the punctures much finer apically ; the basal
white spot is the largest, the one just above it the smallest.
Length, 15 mm. to 24 mm.

FIG. 250.

Olenecamptus bilobiis, Fabr.
United Provinces.

The grubs of this beetle are to be found plentifully in Dehra Dun and
southwards throughout the plains of the United Pro-
Life History, vinces and Bengal in the three fig - trees mentioned.
They appear to affect old decaying trees, and I have

not found them myself in young, green, healthy trees. The beetle appears
on the wing in the hot weather and at the commencement of the rains.
Lefroy (Indian Insect Pests, p. 376) mentions the beetle as common on
pakar, gular, and other rigs in the plains.

Olenecamptus sp. nov.?

KKFEKENCE. — Specimen in too imperfect a state for detailed description.

Habitat.— Satara, Bombay.

Tree Attacked. — Anogeissus latijolia. Satara (Young).

Beetle. Elongate, slender. Dark red-brown, elytra lighter-coloured : an elongate white
irregular stripe placed laterally on thorax ; a series of while spots and bands on elytra, as

follows: (l) a large spot basally with a small one sh-htly behind;
Description. laterally (2) an oblique invgular-rdged band medianly \\ itli an elliptical

spot a little behind it ; (3) a narrow oblique spot just below apex with

a small one above and nearer suture. Vertex of head \\iili a line median line, finely pinut.iti-.
Prothorax much longer than wide, transversely channelled and striate. basal margin black.
Elytra wider than thorax at base, sides parallel in basal half, thence cousin* i. d io apex, apices
separately rounded ; regularly and somewhat c.oarseK punctate, punctures denser laterally ;
the apical fourth with several rather prominent striae which are less prominent basally.

376

I . \.MILY CERAMBYCIDAE

Under-surface dark brown to black, punctate ; abdominal segments reddish brown, with a close
fine white pubescence. Legs brown, lower two-thirds of thickened femora black. Antennae
damaged. Length, 15 mm. ; breadth, 3.5 mm.

This beetle was taken from beneath the bark of an Anogeissus latifolia
tree in Satara by Mr. Young, the Forest Ranger, at the beginning of March,
the beetle appearing on the wing some time during that month.

THYSIA.
Thysia wallichii, Hope.

REFERENCE. — Hope, Royle, Himal. p. 55, t. 9, f. 5, 6 (1839).

Habitat. — Assam ; Goalpara.

Tree Attacked. — ? Sal (Slwrea robusta). Kachugaon, Goalpara, Assam.

Beetle. — Stout, thickset, and robust, with long powerful legs. A brilliant green with
reddish markings. The antennae have a few whorls of hair (circular brushes) on them. Under-
surface brilliant red. Thorax ridged, produced into a blunt point
Description. medianly at the sides, smooth. Elytra with well-marked shoulders,

thickly punctate ; a circular brush of black hair arises from middle on

the basal third and a small transverse one at same level near lateral margin ; a transverse
black band of hair on the middle and apical thirds ; legs shining indigo-green. Length,
1 1 in. The beetle is figured in fig. 17.

This extremely handsome cerambycid was taken plentifully on the wing
in the Kachugaon sal forests in Goalpara during May.

Life History. it flies by day, settling in the sunlight upon the bark
of green standing or felled trees. The beetle was

pairing between 13 and 23 May. I was unable to ascertain definitely
where this insect came from. It may, as Mr. Perree suggests, lay its eggs
on the sal, and the grubs may feed in the tree. I myself, however, think it
possible that it may prove to be a sal girdler, girdling the branches or
leaders of young saplings and laying its eggs in the part girdled. Its life
history requires working out.

XYLORRHIZA.
Xylorrhiza adusta, Wiedm.

REFERENCES. — Wiedm. Zoo/. Mag. i, p. 182 (1819); Ind. Mus. Notes, iii, 5, 47.

Habitat. — Madras ; Taunggyi, Southern Shan
States (H. W. Watson). Also from Ceylon.

Tree Attacked. — Wrightia tinctoria. Madras.

Beetle. — Elongate, rather narrow, easily recognized by the
great resemblance of the upper surface to the decaying ligneous

strands of rough bark. General colour
Description. yellow with longitudinal dark brown or

brownish black stripes, the basal portion

of prothorax and elytra a rich velvety dark brown or black ; the
extraordinary coloration of the beetle is due to the thick
pubescence which clothes the whole surface, upper and lower,
with the exception of smooth black finely punctate areas on the
abdominal segments ; the pubescence appears in the form of long

FlG. 251.

Xylorrhiza adusta*
Wiedm. Madras.

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE 377

hair or tufts on the front of the head and basal joint of antenna, joints 2 and 3 and
thighs and tibiae of legs densely pubescent ; apices of elytra fringed with hairs, giving
them a frayed appearance. On vertex of head, on a median longitudinal line on prothorax,
and on elytra, the dense pubescence is placed in the form of elongate yellow or brown
longitudinal lines and stripes, the lines curving inwards from shoulders and outwards again
in apical fourth. Length, 30 mm. to 55 mm.

But little appears to be known on the subject of the life history. Indian

Museum Notes records that specimens of the insect were

Life History. sent by the Conservator of Forests, Southern Circle,

Madras, who reported that the beetles had been found

ringing branches of ]VrigJitia tinctoria. The beetle rings stems and branches
in a manner similar to that of Sthenias grisator, and for the same purpose.
This appears to be all the record we have at present of this insect.

The beetle was forwarded to me from Taunggyi by Mr. H. W. Watson
with the oak borers Massicui and Ncocerainbyx, but the species of tree
infested in that locality by the beetle was unknown.

STHENIAS.
Sthenias grisator, Fabr.

REFERENCES.— Fabr. Mant. i, p. 136; Ind. Mus. Notes, iii, p. no.

Habitat. — Kurnool, Coimbatore, Coorg.
Tree Attacked. — T aberncemontana alba.

Beetle. — Short, thick, squat, with short legs. Greyish brown
with white and brown irregular markings, the insect resembling a

piece of mottled bark ; a large circular
Description. patch or " eye " in the anterior third of

elytra, where they are depressed to apex,

the eye bordered on basal circumference by a velvety black edge, jtr ^ \

the apical margin light grey. The mottled appearance of the j.-I(;_ 2-2_

insect is produced by the different coloration of the dense pubes- .v///,v//Vv vrisator
cence with which it is clothed. Head and prothorax arc striped K;ibr. Madras and
with longitudinal ridges of brown and grey; the antennae shorl. not Coorg.

reaching to end of body. Elytra 'not much broader than prothorax,

depressed behind, the apices truncate ; some irregular small black tubercles covered with
pubescence in the basal area, a prominent elliptical greyish spot medianly and the "eye"
shaped patch in the apical third. Under-surface a uniform dull greyish brown. Length,
20 mm. to 30 mm.

But little is known of the life history of this interesting little longicorn.

The oldest specimen in the British Museum was received

Life History. frOm Coimbatore with the note that the beetle "gnaws

the bark of shrubs and is very destructive." Some

thirty years later (in November 1892) the Collector of Kurnool collected

some specimens of the beetle which he noticed cutting rings of considerable

378 FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

depth and about an inch in diameter, completely encircling branches of a
Tabcrnamontana alba tree in that locality. The specimens were sent to the
Indian Museum and identified subsequently by Mr. Gahan. The following
year the beetle was obtained by the Deputy Conservator of Forests, Coorg,
where he had found the beetle girdling and cutting down rose-trees. The
Deputy Conservator in his letter wrote: "These beetles cut off the stem
clean in one night. . . . Large rose-trees are thus cut down and destroyed.
. . . They attack the main stem and despise smaller branches."

No further reports appear to have been made upon the life history of
this pest. It is one of that interesting class of insects, the girdling longi-
corns, the object of the beetle in girdling the stem or branch being to ensure
the slow death of the portion above the girdle in which she lays her eggs.
It thus affords a supply of fresh sappy bast and sapwood through which the
sap is no longer rising for the young larvae when they hatch out. The
grubs feed on this, and when full-grown, by which time the branch will
have dried considerably, they eat out a pupal chamber and change to
pupae. On maturing the beetle bores its way out of the stem or branch
and escapes.

GLENEA.
Glenea multiguttata, Guer.

REFERENCE. — Guer. Voy. Deless. ii, 60 (1843).

Habitat. — Madura, Madras.
Tree Attacked. — Odina wodier. Madura.

Beetle. — Head and prothorax pale or canary yellow, marked with black spots and lines ;
elytra orange brown, uifous brown, or greyish brown, the apical fourth pale or canary yellow,

spotted with black; antennae shining rufous

Description. brown, legs orange. Front of head with a

black spade-shaped spot placed medianly

and a median longitudinal stripe on vertex. Prothorax with four black
spots placed one above the other on either side of disk and four
others placed on either side laterally ; the yellow colour of head and
thorax is due to a fine dense pubescence. Elytra impressed at
shoulder, dull, striate- punctate, the diskal striae short and only
apparent in basal portion ; laterally, however, they extend to apex ;
punctures become less defined in apical portion; from a fourth to a pu;- 2:

fifth of apical portion covered with a dense yellow pubescence, with Gle)U<a miiltiguttata
three spots of black pubescence, the largest towards base ; the outer Guer. Madras,

edge of apex produced into a prominent spine. Under-surface

clothed with a dense yellow pubescence spotted with black spots, forming a double row on
lateral part of abdomen. Length, lomm. to 21 mm.

A specimen of this beetle was sent from Madura, Madras, with the

information that it was taken from beneath the bark of

Life History. an Odina wodier tree. I have no further information

about its life history. The grubs probably feed in

the bast layer of the tree.

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE 379

Glenea spilota, Thorns.

REFERENCES. — Thorns. Class. Longic. p. 58 ; Lefroy, Ind. Ins. Pests, p. 376 (1909).

Habitat. — -Assam, Jalpaiguri ; Pusa ? (Lefroy).

Tree Attacked. — Semul (Bombax inalabaricuni). Assam and Bengal.

Beetle.— Bright canary-yellow, studded with black spots, the coloration due to a covering
of a fine dense pubescence ; antennae black, legs orange. Head with an elongate median

black stripe on front and a narrow transverse one on posterior

Description. margin of vertex. Prothorax with four black spots on disk and one

on either side. Elytra with seven to nine black spots apiece, the

apex truncate, with the outer edge produced into a spine. Under-surface paler, with a
crescent-shaped mark on the side of meso- and meta-thorax and the anterior margins of
abdominal segments black. Length, 13 mm. to 25 mm.

This beetle, which is very common, appears on the wing in the hot

weather. It lays its eggs on the bark of the semul, and

Life History. the larvae on hatching out bore into the bast and feed

here and in the sapwood, eating out ramifying galleries,

which do not seem to have any definite direction. The grubs appear to
prefer that the wood should be dry, and I have not found them in freshly
felled green trees. Lefroy also mentions this fact (Indian Insect Pests,
p. 376), " the larvae being found abundantly in the decaying trunk after
the plant has died." The insect cannot at present be considered a pest to
the tree, though the grubs may prove of some importance in depots of
semul timber, which, owing to its softness, rapidly dries.

UNDETERMINED CERAMBYCIDAE.
Lamia ? sp.

Habitat. — Cuddalore, Madras.

Tree Attacked. — Casuarina (Casnarimi equisetifolia). Cuddalore, Madras.

Beetle.— $ liluck, moderately shining. Abdomen very dark red beneath. A short thick
beetle with a vertical head. Prothorax sculptured and spined above and at sides, widest in

middle. Elytra wider than hind portion of prothorax, parallel to near

Description. apex, whence constricted to apex, the elytra thus terminating in a

blunt point. Elytra entirely cover the base of body. They air

corrugated and spined at their basal portions, and pitted strongly for the rest of their length.
First joint of antenna is swollen and well marked. Length j jj in.

Larva. -A thick whitish-yellow grub with blackish-brown lu-ad and black mouth -|>ai is
(mandibles:', followed by a largely developed segment which is slightly darker yellow than the
following ones. These latter taper slightly to the tenth, which is half the size of the prothora* n
segment. Last two segments smaller, ending in a blunt point. Lrnglh, i ,',-, in. Breadth
across the prothoracic segment ^ in.

This is the beetle whose thick white grubs have: been reported as boring
into the wood of the roots of casuarina-trccs at Cuddalore.

38o

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

We know little at present about the life history of this insect. The
grubs attack and live in the cambium layer and sap-
Life History. wood of the roots of the tree, and are said never to be
found in the stem. Grubs were found in this position

on the ist June, and one mature beetle was obtained from the Talaukoda
plantations near Cuddalore. There are no records as to the amount of
damage this beetle commits. Since it lives in the cambium layer of the
roots it is likely to prove a very serious pest when present in any numbers
in a plantation.

Coelosterna ? sp.

REFERENCE. — Stebbing (Stromatium ? sp.), Depart. Notes, vol. i, p. 379 (1906).

Habitat. — North Coimbatore and Mysore Sandal-wood Areas.

Tree Attacked. — Sandal-wood (Santalum album). Coimbatore and
Mysore.

During an examination of portions of the sandal-wood areas of North
Coimbatore and Mysore in July-August 1902 I found that a longicorn
grub was a source of considerable injury to sandal- wood, its tunnels causing
a heavy depreciation in the price of the wood, first-class wood being
required to be flawless, without holes of any kind in it.

I describe below the life history of the larva which is responsible for
the damage. I took a good many grubs, but in no instance was I able to
find a beetle. It is, I think, probable that the beetle appears on the wing
about November or December.

Larva. — White with a pinkish tinge, thickish, tapering slightly behind. Elongate,
consisting of a small head and twelve following segments. Mouth parts black. Thoracic
segments yellowish. Length, I in. to ij in.

Grubs differing in size but from two-thirds-
to nearly full-grown we're found

Life History. in galleries in the stems of the
trees in the first week of August.
No small larvae were found. From their total size
and the length of the galleries bored and from the
fact that no young larvae were found in the stems
examined, I should think it improbable that they
spend over a year in this stage, and the period
may be a few months only. Neither the pupal
nor the beetle stage of the pest has been yet
found.

Method of Attack. — The larvae are to be found
either in the main stem or the small branches.
An examination of these latter shows that
the grub has often started in the branch,
bored down it to the main stem, and then down

FIG. 254.

('/rubs of the sandal-wood
longicorn borer. Mysore and
Coimbatore.

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE 381

that. This is not invariably the case, as at times the larval gallery
is entirely confined to the main stem. From this it is evident that the
eggs are laid by the beetle on the bark of either a branch somewhere close
to the main stem or on the main stem itself. These observations are
the result of an examination of a number of trees and saplings, some of
which were entirely cut up for inspection purposes. The tunnel is tightly
packed with the digested wood particles which are passed out by the larva
as it proceeds down the stem. These galleries are chiefly confined to
the heart-wood of the tree, both in the branch and main stem, and the
grub always bores downwards.

Before changing to the pupal state the larva enlarges the gallery
slightly, and fills the extreme end with particles of wood refuse and chips.
It then turns round in the free space and changes into a pupa. The beetle
on maturing bores its way out of the tree by a horizontal hole driven direct
through the heart-wood, sapwood, and bark to the outside. The position
of this exit-gallery with reference to the larval gallery inside makes it
evident that the larva turns round in the pupating chamber before changing
to the pupal stage. Whilst boring its gallery the larva may eat out one or
two offset galleries to the outside. These are always at right angles to the
main gallery and are for aeration purposes only. When the larval gallery
is confined to the main stem there will usually be only one of these. If
the gallery has started in a branch there will often be two. The insect
would appear to confine itself to saplings and young poles.

Between Dhimbun and Kollegal a number of trees and saplings were
found to be attacked. The following is a description of a badly infested
one which, together with others, was entirely cut up. It is quoted as
indicative of what this borer is capable.

The tree had a diameter of 2£ in. at the base and a bole of 15 ft. to the point where
the crown commenced. This bole had been attacked in several places, the last gallery running
down to within three feet of the base of the tree. Both new and old galleries were visible
upon splitting up the stem. These were as follows, beginning at the lowest one :—

\st — New Gallery. — Contained a living grub just about to pupate in the heart of the
stem. Gallery about 18 in. in length bored downwards and confined to the stem
only. Gallery slightly winding.

2nd — Old Gallery. — The eggs were probably laid upon the bark of a side branch. The
gallery commenced in this. The young larva on hatching out had bored straight to
the heart of the- branch and then bored down its centre till it reached the main
stem, down the heart-wood of which it carried its tunnel. Length of gallery in main
stem, 7 in. The larva had pupated at the end of the gallery, the extreme end of it
being packed with wood chips. The rest of the gallery, with the exception of the
pupal chamber, was blocked with a dark red hard mass (the heait-wood is reddish
consisting of chewed wood. A large hole starting at cue side near the upper end ol
the pupal chamber was bored horizontally through the wood to the outside. This
exit-hole was very visible on the outside of the stem.

yd — Old Gallet'v. -This one also commenced in a side branch, the larva working down
the branch into the main stem and then down the centre of this latter, finishing up

382 FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

close to where No. 2 joined the main stem. It did not join this latter. Length about
i ft. An air-hole had been bored to outside. Exit-hole of beetle bored in the same
way as in No. '2.

^th — A New Gallery. — Contained a living larva which was about to pupate. It had
enlarged the end of its gallery for this purpose. About 3 in. of the gallery was
free of the compressed wood excreta. Length of gallery, ii£in. Was confined
to centre of the stem, and contained one air-hole bored to outside about half-way
down. In this case the egg must have been laid by the mother beetle either on the
outside of the bark in a crevice or in the softer layer of tissue below.

^th—Old Gallery. — This gallery started at the point where the main stem branched into
two or three forks, i.e. where the crown commenced. It began about liin. up one
of the forks and then came down the main stem, its total length being from 15 in.
to 1 6 in. One air-hole present. This gallery ended near where No. 4 commenced.

6/// — New Gallery. — A tunnel containing a living larva, which ran down one of the
forks and ended very near where No. 5 joined the main stem. The grub inside was
not more than one-half to two-thirds grown, and the gallery appeared to be still in
course of construction. The larva was apparently on its way to the main stem.

From the above we see that there were no less than five tunnels in the main stem (two of
which contained living grubs) and one unfinished one in a fork of the crown near where it
joined the bole. The tree was alive, but badly stag-headed. It was growing near Osahatti,
in the sandal-wood coupe No. 7.

Results of Attack. — Only living trees are attacked by this pest, and
it would appear to confine itself to saplings and young poles. The sandal
is not necessarily killed by the action of the boring grubs ; in fact, unless
these latter are numerous the tree is probably but little inconvenienced and
the cambium layer soon covers over the old air and exit holes made by the
pest. In such cases there is no evidence externally that the tree has been
attacked. "When it is felled and converted, however, the heart- wood is
found to contain the old galleries made by the boring grubs which infested
the tree when young, and the value of the wood is thereby greatly lessened,
no matter how fine in quality it may be. At other times, however, the tree
shows externally plenty of evidence of old attacks. The air-holes and
exit-holes are plainly visible, and if the sandal is from any cause sickly
and unable to cover these over they begin, under the action of the sun and
rain, to "weather," become greatly enlarged, and even at times coalesce.
When coalescence takes place the tree will be found to have its centre
exposed on one side, perhaps for a distance of several feet, and a con-
siderable amount of " heart ' wood will have rotted away under the
"weathering" action.

The plantation at Bailur was visited and inspected. The poor character
of the growth here was due to other causes, but it was apparent that a
number of the trees had been attacked some years previously by a cerambyx
borer, not improbably this one. About four thousand badly shaped or dying
and dead trees had been cut out the year previous to my visit (1901), or it
is not unlikely that the evidence of the pest's work would have been still
greater.

FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

383

II

if,1

II

••

ll

Kn;. 255. — Sections of sandal-wood slems showing tlie longitudinal galleries of
Coelostenia ? sp. in the centre. North Coimbatoiv, Madias. Anoint 1902.

384 FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE

Summarizing the above we see that this pest may-

(1) Kill saplings (probably not often).

(2) Bore up the heart-wood of young living trees. Subsequently

the vitality of these latter is sufficient to grow over the air and
exit holes, thus hiding all trace of the attacks, which are only
discovered when the wood is converted for sale.

(3) The exit and air holes may "weather" to such an extent that

they coalesce, and thus 50 per cent, or more of the heart-wood
of the tree may be destroyed.

During a visit I paid to the Sandal Koti at Bangalore I was able to
inspect the damage done to the wood by these insects. Unfortunately,
I arrived a week too late to be present at the actual sorting of the year's
outturn, which was stored in the godown. Had I been present at
this it would have enabled me to inspect .many hundreds of logs, and
it would have been possible to form some conclusion as to the insects'
abundance or otherwise in Mysore. I was shown the various classes of
wood, and the system of classification was described. Wood with holes
and galleries in it (as shown in pi. iii), even though its quality may be
otherwise absolutely first class, is relegated to the third or fourth class,
and therefore it is quite possible to calculate the actual monetary loss
occasioned by the work of this longicorn. My inspection showed it to be
sufficiently great to render the full working out of its life history a matter of
the first importance.

The question of methods of protection against these internal boring
pests is a difficult one, and the drastic one of cutting

Protection and out and burni ^ infested trees is often the only one
Remedies. .

that can be recommended. The matter is rendered

more difficult in this case owing to the scattered way in which the
sandal-tree grows.

We require to know a good deal more about the Coelosterna's life
history, and firstly the period at which it lays its eggs and how long
they take to develop and hatch out the grubs. If the beetles all issue at
approximately the same time and lay their eggs on the bark within a period
of a fortnight or so, it would be quite possible to make an attempt to
check the pest in localities where it is seen to be bad by scraping down the
bark of the trees with a blunt instrument. This would get rid of the eggs
and save the tree. I recognize that there would be difficulty in doing this,
owing to the fact that the sandal usually grows in the midst of thorny
scrub bushes. In the case of severe attacks, however, it would be quite
feasible, and the value of the tree would justify the expense. It is there-
fore of great importance that the periods of emergence of the beetle and
of oviposition should be ascertained. Trees infested are recognizable by the
air-holes bored to the outside. Further, we have seen that a tree infested

FAMILY CERAMBYGIDAE

3*5

in previous years is liable to be attacked again in a succeeding year. So
it would be well to remove those in which air-holes and fresh exit-holes
are present.

A study of the predaceous and parasitic insects which prey upon the
larva should also prove most useful.

Cerambyx ? sp.

REFERENCE.— Slabbing, Some Assam Sal Insect Pests, For. Bull. no. u (1908).

Habitat. — Goalpara, Assam.

Tree Attacked.— Sal (Shorea robusta).

Larva. — Elongate, white, smoky-black at joints of segments. Head and mouth-parts
black. Prothorax swollen, prominent, hood-like, pointed anteriorly ; yellowish with two

transverse orange lines dorsally, one anteriorly and the other pos-

Description. teriorly. Segments following prothorax narrow and taper to a little

behind the middle, and then increase in width to tenth, thence

constricting. Three small pairs of feet on thoracic segments. Length (not full-grown),
ii in. (See fig. 256, i).

li!

Fir,. 256. — Cerambyx ? sp. — i, larva ; ia, section of stem of a sal-polo showing the
larva] gallery in sal-wood with two aeration galleries.

The grub bores into the centre of the branch on which the egg is laid,
and tunnels down it till it reaches the main stem ;tnd then proceeds down

that. The method of operation of the grub is very

Life History. similar to that of the sandal-wood longicorn described

above. Immature grubs were taken in sal saplings

and poles in Goalpara in April and May i<io6. The insect is likely to
prove a pest in young sal plantations and coppice areas. The method of
attack is shown in lig. 256, i</.

9003

B i;

CHAPTER XVII.

RHYNCHOPHORA.

TARSUS four-jointed on all legs, and densely pubescent. The head is
prolonged into a beak which may be of considerable length. The group
includes the families Anthribidae, Brenthidae, Curculionidae, Scolytidae,
and Platypodidae. The last three contain a number of most destructive
bark- and wood-boring pests.

Family ANTHRIBIDAE.

The beetles of this family have a strong resemblance to longicorns
on the one hand and weevils on the other. The larger members of the
family will perhaps mostly be found inhabiting the old primeval forests
of the country, a few such having already been discovered in these localities.
The beetles known are of small size when compared with the larger Ceram-
bycidae and Curculionidae, the colour being dull black or brown, with
straight, occasionally long, antennae of eleven joints ending in a club.
The proboscis is short, square, and blunt, and the tarsi four-jointed.

The grubs are white, curved, and corrugated, resembling weevil grubs ;
but some have, it is said, three pairs of legs on the anterior segments, which
are not present in the weevil grub.

Few species have yet been studied in the forests, but those known
have been taken from the bast and wood of trees. Others are reported to
live in seeds, whilst some members of the family frequent and breed in
mushrooms. It is not possible at present to define accurately the import-
ance of the family in the forest.

Kadin Bilin Forest,

Xylinades plagiatus, Jord. (?)
Habitat. — Tharrawaddy, Lower Burma.
Tree Attacked.— Pyinkadu (Xylia dolabrifonnis).
Tharrawadd}-.

Beetle. Minn-ate, black, mottled with yellowish markings, due to
presence of depressions tilled with a dense yellow pubescence. Antennae

heavy, joints broaden apicaily, last one forming
Description. a stout club, black ; legs with patches of yellow

pubescence on them. Head sloped forward at

an angle, tuberculate, with a shining longitudinal keel-shaped ridge
medianly between eyes ; vertex smooth, dull. Prothoiax widest across
.interior half, sides rounded anteriorly, constricted towards base, latter
straight ; disk convex, set with irregular transverse series of prominent
shining black protuberances, becoming obsolete basally. Sides of elytra
constricted behind humeral angle, thence slightly widening to near
apex, thence constricted and conjointly rounded ; the apical fourth
covered more or less densely with yellow pubescence disclosing areas
of dull black ; rest of surface exhibiting longitudinal series of rather
scattered elevate shining black points surrounded by dull areas, covered in places with yellow
pubescence. Under-surface dull pubescent. Length, 14 mm.

Fir,. 257.

Xylinades

flagiatns* Jord. (?)

Tharrawaddy.

FAMILY ANTHRIBIDAE

387

In January 1905 I cut out a specimen of this beetle from a pupal
chamber in the wood at the base of the stem of a large girdled pyinkadu-

tree. The outer sapwood of the bole of the tree was

Life History. covered from base to top with the shallow larval galleries

of a bast-feeding grub. I was unable to say whether

these galleries were made entirely by the grubs of this anthribid, but
one of the galleries led down into the pupal chamber in which the fully
mature beetle was found.

Phloebius apicalis, \Yalker.

REFERENCE. — Walker. Ann. Nat. Hist. ser. 3, iii, p. 262 (1851,).

Habitat. — Tharrawaddv, Lower Burma, Ceylon.

Tree Attacked. — Pyinkadu (Xylia dolabrifonnis).
Kadin Bilin, Tharrawaddy.

Beetle. — Elongate, rather thick, with very elongate thin an-
tennae ; the third tarsal joint large and broadly heart-shaped. Black,

covered with a very short dense canary-
Description, yellow pubescence. Head narrow, cani-

culate medianly ; rugose and clothed with

yellow pubescence. Prothorax much wider than head, widest across
middle, the sides truncate on either side of this point, base straight ;
disk convex, rather finely transversely striate and punctate. Elytra
broadest at base, slightly constricted apically ; apices conjointly
rounded, exposing a small pygidium ; finely, rather irregularly,
and obscurely striate-punctate, and covered with the close yellow
pubescence, densest apically. Under-surface dull, very finely punc-
tate and pubescent. Legs long, black, with very prominent enlarged
third tarsal joints. Length, 13.5 mm. (without antenna.- .

FIG. 258.

r/il(>t'l>ins apicalis,
\YalkiT. Than, i\\ .ul.lv.

I took specimens of this insect from small pupal chambers in the sap-
wood of a large girdled pyinkadu-tree in the Kadin
Life History. Bilin Forest in Tharrawaddy on 5 January 1905.
The larval galleries were found to run in the bast and

sapwood, the grub pupating in the latter. The beetles were mature and
ready to fly.

Anthribid.

K'KKKKENCE. — It li;is not pn.vi-.l possible t<> oht.iiti th.- iilentific.-iti.iii of th

Habitat. Ataran River, Tenasserim.

Tree Attacked. Tyinkadu \\yl\<\ dolabriformis). Natchming, Ataran
River.

i; B 2

FAMILY ANTHRIBIDAE

V

FIG. 259.
A iithr ibid.
Tenasserim.

Beetle.— Elongate, rather narrow. Black, mottled with small patches
and spots of a whitish pubescence placed in tufts on thoiax and elytra.

Head sloping, the rostrum short and square,
Description. densely pubescent above ; the vertex coarsely

rugose. Prothorax widest behind, sides rounded ;

coarsely rugose-punctate and covered with a short close brown pubes-
cence with short tufts here and there of a whitish pubescence. Elytra
slightly wider than thorax at base, constricted apically ; punctate, the
punctures deep, rather far apart in longitudinal rows, the interspaces
moderately shining, covered, especially laterally, with the short rather
dense brown pubescence, interspersed with large patches and tufts of
longish white pubescence. Pygidium dark brown. Legs black, with
patches of white pubescence. Length, 10.5 mm.

I cut out a specimen of this insect from a gallery in the sapwood of a

large felled pyinkadu-tree in the compound of the

Life History. Natchoung bungalow. The tunnel in the wood led from

an elongate broad gallery made by the larva in the

bast and sapwood. The beetle was mature when it was taken from the

tree in the middle of March 1905.

Anthribid.

REFERENCE. — It has not proved possible to obtain the identification of this insect.

Habitat. — South Coimbatore, Madras.

Tree Attacked. — bamboo (Dcndrocalainus strictus). Mount Stewart,
South Coimbatore.

Beetle. — Resembles the last. Head with a stout moderately
long rostrum, widest medianly and densely pubescent, antennae

inserted in front of eyes half-way up ros-
Description. trum ; vertex shining, punctate. Black,

the prothorax with a scattered, the elytra

a dense, yellow pubescence, placed anteriorly on prothorax and in
patches and tufts on elytra. Prothorax slightly widest medianly,
sides curved ; punctate, punctures large, continent or mixed with
transverse striae posteriorly. Elytra with apices separately rounded,
the sides straight to posterior coxae, thence constricted ; punctate-
striate, punctures large, but almost hidden beneath the dense
pubescence ; the pubescence is densest laterally and apically, and
consists of short dark yellow hairs and long whitish yellow ones
which appear in tufts in basal part in a transverse band in apical
three-fourths and in patches in apical fourth. Under-surface with
a short dense pubescence. Antennae long and slender, black. Legs black, pubescent, the
third tarsal joint large. Length, 11.5 mm.

A specimen of this anthribid was taken from a chamber in the wood of

3.Dend)'ociihuniis strictus bamboo. From an examination

Life History. of bamboos in the Mount Stewart forests it appeared

that the eggs are laid at the junction of a branch with

the main stem of the bamboo, and that the grubs feed in the wood at this
spot. Many bamboos were noticed to have been infested in this manner.
Only one mature beetle was, however, taken towards the end of July 1902,
and no larvae were found.

In;. 260.

Smith Coimbatore.

( 389

CHAPTER XVIII.

RHYNCHOPHORA (continued)— Family BRENTHIDAE.

THESE insects resemble weevils, from which they may be distinguished
by the straight antenna of nine to eleven joints instead of the angled one
of the weevil. The proboscis also is straight, never bent downwards. The
few forest forms studied are narrow, elongate beetles, brown, black, or
reddish in colour, usually shining.

But little is known about the family. The larger and more striking
forms would appear to inhabit the dense tropical or semi-tropical evergreen
primeval forests of the country. A study of these forms will prove of interest
scientifically, since it is highly probable that modern conservation and pro-
tection when introduced into such areas will result in the extinction of these
forms of insect life.

The few species known to me have been taken beneath the bark and in
the sapwood of trees, the larvae apparently living and feeding in such
places. It is not impossible that a study of the habits of these larvae may
show that some of them are predaceous on bark- and wood-feeding insects.

CEOCEPHALUS.
Ceocephalus reticulatus, F.

Habitat. — Dehra Dun, Siwaliks, Northern India ; Duars, at the foot of
the Eastern Himalaya.

Trees Attacked. — Semul (Bombax malabaricum) : Dehra Dun, Siwaliks;
Musre Katus (Castanopsis trihuloidc*) : Mai Forest, Duars.

Beetle. — Very elongate, narrow, with a very long rostrum and

prothorax. Dark brown, an elongate median depression on pro-
thorax, and the elytral punctures rilled
Description. \\ith a short dense yellow pubescence.

Ik-ad small, the eyes large, brown, placed

at the sides ; rostrum longer than prothorax, swollen in middle,

where the short antennae are inserted, widened at tip, the lower

half pubescent, the upper smooth, the apex shining. Prothorax

widest just above base, the anterior margin almost smooth ; disk

flat, rather shining, punctate, with a rather wide longitudinal median

depression starting from below the anterior margin. Klytra broadest

basally, strongly and widely striate-punctate, the disk llat to nc.u

apex, thence constricted, the apical edges tlattcned into a broad

edge. Under-surface black, shining, an elongate uide median

depression on anterior abdominal segments strongly reticulate

and punctate. Length (Eastern Duars:, 26111111. to 31; mm :

(Siwaliks'), i«S mm.

3go FAMILY BRENTHIDAE

This insect was taken in February from beneath the bark of a semul-
tree in the Dehra Dun forests by Babu Sen Gupta,
Life History. then a student at the Imperial Forest School.

Specimens of the same brenthid, but of larger size,

were sent from the Mai Forest in the Duars of the Tista Forest Division in
Brumal by the Forest Ranger, with the report that the beetles were cut out
from the bast and sapwood of Castanopsis tribuloides, and other "jungle
trees." I had previously found this insect beneath the bark of trees in this
forest and elsewhere whilst I held charge of the division in 1895-7.

Ceocephalus carus, Walk.

REFERENCE. — Walk. Ann. Mag. .Va/. Hint. (3) iii, p. 262 (1859).

Habitat. — Dehra Dun, Siwaliks, Northern India, Ceylon.

Tree Attacked. — Tcnniniilia tonientosti. Thano, Dehra Dun (B. Sen Gupta).

Beetle. -Smaller and narrower than reticulatus. Dark red, moderately shining. Head
small, tuberculate, finely punctate ; rostrum about as long as prothorax, widened above

middle into a swollen node at which antennae are inserted ; the

Description. apex broad, smooth. Prothorax widest in basal three-fourths ; disk

flat, with a longitudinal median depression running from near top

to base ; surface smooth, shining. Elytra elongate, narrow, constricted at apex, the apical
edges flattened ; disk depressed on each side of suture, with two well-marked punctate costae ;
the lateral portions rounded, smooth, and finely punctate. Legs long, the femora swollen
anteriorly. Length, iSmm. to 19111111. (with rostrum).

A specimen of this beetle was found by Babu Sen Gupta, a student of
the Imperial Forest School, " boring the bark of a dead Tenninalia
tmncntosii tree" at Thano in the Dun. The insect was taken in the
beginning of December.

Eubactrus sp.

Habitat. — Jaunsar, North-West Himalaya.

Tree Attacked. — Finns longifolia. Thadiar, Jaunsar (B. Sen Gupta).

Beetle. — Small, elongate, narrow. Shining red. Head small,
linrly punctate ; rostrum with a longitudinal channel down basal

portion, the antennae inserted on a swell-
Description, ing just below middle, the depression being
continued down the node; anterior portion

smooth, shining, widest at apex ; antennae short. Prothorax widest
meJianly, anterior margin straight and edged with black, sides
rounded ; a broad longitudinal depression runs from anterior margin
to basal one, the disk being flattened on each side ; sides laterally
rounded and smooth. Elytra rather strongly striate-punctate, the
carinae most prominent on diskal area, the sides but slightly con-
stricted to apex ; latter uniformly rounded, with a narrow flattened
edge ; an obscure narrow transverse faint band of black in apical
half. Legs moderately long, the femora thickened anteriorly.
Length, 8 mm.

North- West Himalaya

FAMILY B RE NTH I DAE

Babu B. Sen Gupta, whilst on tour with the Imperial Forest School in

May 1902, found a specimen of this undetermined

Life History. brenthid boring into the dead bark of a Finns longifolia

tree at Thadiar in the Jaunsar Himalaya. Nothing

further appears to be known on the life history of the insect.

PROPHTHALMUS.
Prophthalmus tridentatus, Fabr.

REFERENCE.— F. Syst. El. ii, p. 554; Lund. Ski-ivt. af. natur/iist selskab. v, 2, p. 91 (1802).

-Darrang, Assam.

Habitat.-

Tree Attacked. — -Ptcrospcnnnm acerifoliu.ru. Balipara Reserve, Darrang.

Beetle.— Elongate, moderately thick. Dark red-brown to blackish in parts. Elytra
lighter with several orange spots and patches. Head small, punctate and caniculate medianly

in front ; rostrum moderately
Description, l°ng) curved,the antennae taking

off from near base. Prothorax

widest just above base, narrowed in front ; a transverse
channel above basal margin ; very shining and smooth
on disk. Elytra very strongly striate, the punctures small,
sides straight to near apex, thence constricted ; a short
thickened longitudinal orange-yellow shining carina pro-
jects upwards from base on each side of suture ; two
irregular orange patches, one placed medianly and
laterally, the other in the apical third, and a longitudinal
short one near apex. Legs rather short. Length,
16.5 mm.

Pupa. —Elongate. Orange yellow, with a long dark
brown rostrum pressed down against chest. Length,
17 mm.

KM;. 263.
/ini/s triiicn
Male (left) and female.
Darning, Assam.

F.

From a fallen Pterospcnnuin acerifolium tree, still fresh and s:ippy, I cut
out two pupae from their pupal chambers in the sap-
Life History, wood. The chambers were elongate and parallel to the
long axis of the tree, and about half an inch down in
the sapwood. From one of these pupae I was able to rear a beetle.

The pupae were taken on 14 April i<)o6 in the Balipara Keserxe in the
Evergreen Forests belt of the Darrang Division. The beetle assumed its
full coloration on 2 May following.

Zemioses sp.
K EFERENCE. Sti .//n/\ Ass. S.'il Inseci o. ii, p. 43 (ig

Habitat. — Assam.

Tree Attacked. Sal (Sliordi rolmstii). Kachugaon, Goalpara.

392 FAMILY BREXTHIDAE

Beetle. — Elongate, narrow, crimson-red in colour, with short, stout antennae, and long
legs. Elytra with three or four prominent longitudinal striae, the lateral ones less promi-
nent. Head shining with a transverse median constriction, a small
Description. depression between insertion of antennae. Prothorax convex, very

shining, with a few fine punctures. Elytra strongly striate-punctate,

the sutural carinae prominent and smooth ; constricted and slightly depressed apically ; the
punctures smaller on lateral surfaces. Legs shining, the femora thickened. Length, 5.5 mm.
to 6.5 mm. PI. Ix, fig. 10, shows a dorsal view of this beetle, and fig. 10 a a piece of wood
with a gallery in it made by the beetle.

This beetle was cut out in some numbers from the wood of the main

stem of a stag-headed green sal-tree felled on 14 May in

Life History. the Kachugaon forests. The beetle appears to bore

circular tunnels through the bark, and lays its eggs in

these. I have not yet taken any larvae.

The discover}- of this beetle in this situation is of very considerable
interest, since so little is known about the life histories of the beetles of
this family. Many are thought to be predaceous, and it may be that the
larvae of this insect feed predaceously upon wood-boring larvae. I think,
however, that it is perhaps more probable that they are true bark- and wood-
borers.

( 393 )

CHAPTER XIX.

RHYNCHOPHORA (continued)— Family CURCULIONIDAE.

(Weevils.)

owing

The P.ilni Weevil (Rhynchophorus

ft'i-nigi'in'its, Oliv.). India.

THK weevils for the most part are easily distinguished beetles
to the head being prolonged into a beak or rostrum of varying length,
upon which the elbowed and clubbed antennae are borne. The antennae
often fold back into grooves placed in the sides of the rostrum. Some of
the forest species have also a definite bulk)- shape, the elytra being very
convex, and the insect reaching to over fifty millimetres in size. A large
number are, however, very much smaller, some only five to six millimetres
in length or thereabouts.

The beetles vary in coloration, dull

browns and blacks pre-
Beetle. dominating in the forms

which tunnel into trees.

Grey is common in the family, and red, pink,
yellow, and green forms are also present,
this bright coloration often depending on the
pubescence or scales or a meal}' covering
which clothes the insect. The third tarsal joint is frequently heart-shaped.
The small eyes are situated at the base of the rostrum, the mouth at the tip ;
the rostrum varies greatly in shape and length and in position, in some being
projected outwards more or less in the horizontal plane ; in others, such
as, e.g., the cryptorhynchids, being directed dowmvards in the vertical
plane. The antenna has the elements of the scolytid antenna in it, con-
sisting of a basal segment, the scape, six or seven shorter segments which
represent the funicle, and three or four other broader segments which form
the club. The prothorax is usually well developed, and the elytra cover the
body completely in most cases, and are bent down to a certain extrnt over
the sides. The males are often readily distinguishable from the females by
their smaller size, elongate front legs, and the different shape and length
of the rostrum.

The larva of forest curculionids is usually a soft, white, curved, legless

grub with a yellow or brown head, strong mandibles,

Larva. and corrugated segments to the body. In some forms

the body is thickest posteriorly, in others across the

centre, the grub tapering at both ends ; tubercles are sometimes present on

the bodv.

.-5(J4

FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE

*

The pupa is white, elongate, and narrow or squat and thick, and is
usually recognizable as a curculionid pupa by the
presence of the elongate soft rostrum.

Pupa.

Some of the grubs of this family build a cocoon

before pupating. This cocoon

Cocoon. is usually made of fibres taken

from the plant in which the

grub has been living. The cocoons vary greatly
in shape, and often fit closely into a bore or hole
eaten out specially for their reception at the end of
or to one side of the larval gallery.

A systematic study of the Curculionidae of
the forests by Indian foresters is much needed.
Not only will such a study be fruitful in yielding
a large number of forms at present unknown to
science, but it will enable the exact position and

importance of the family and its economic place in Larva and pupa of the Palm

\\ eevil (Rhynchophorus

the forest to be understood.

ferrugineus] . I ndia.

The weevils are a large family of beetles, containing some insects
known to be pests of the first importance. It has already been definitely
ascertained that one genus at least, Cryptorhynchus, contains Indian forest
pests of the first rank. And the genus does not confine itself to the
conifer or the broad-leaved tree, as is the case with other groups and genera
of forest beetles. Both conifers and broad-leaved trees are infested by
different species of this genus in India.

The habits of the weevils are varied, the insects of the family infesting
and damaging the bark, wood, stems, shoots, leaves, flowers, fruits, and
seeds of forest crops. The damage is done primarily by the grubs tunnelling

in the interior of the plant, but in some groups consider-
able defoliation is accomplished by the insect in the
mature state, either directly for feeding purposes, or
indirectly, as in Apodcnis, for the purpose of egg-laying
and to provide food for the offspring. The weevils of
these defoliating groups cut the leaf across on either
side to the midrib, lay an egg near the apex of the leaf,
and then fold and roll the leaf up into a tight elongate
Ki<;. 266. cylinder, which dries and forms food for the grub which

. /VM/,V-//.V.V/.VAV/, Mshl. hatches inside it (cf. figs. 281, 282). Others, more serious

pests, oviposit in the bark of the main stems, main roots,
and large branches of green trees, their grubs eating out long galleries in the
green bast. This group of the family is of the greatest importance to the
forester, and a knowledge of its habits is essential to the correct preparation
working plans. Some members of the already mentioned genus Crypto-
rhynchus, for instance, pass their lives in this fashion, appear to be immune

FAMILY CURCULIOXIDAE 395

to extremes of heat and cold, have several generations or life-cycles in the
year, and in some instances would appear to continue the succession in
a particular tree until the tree has been killed. If the sustenance afforded
by the tree, i.e. the green-bast layer, has all been removed just before the
winter season, the mature beetles appear to hibernate till the spring before
leaving the tree. If the attack on the, tree is not complete the beetles
apparently couple even in the late autumn and early winter, and eggs are
laid. This habit seems to be common at elevations below about 3,000 ft.
in mountainous regions. These bark-feeding forms pupate either in the
sapwood or thick bark of the trees they infest. Other species confine their
attacks to the soft succulent shoots and twigs of the trees, the grubs eating
out the heart and killing the shoot. Instances of this method of attack are
best seen in the case of bamboos infested by particular species of weevils.
The insect usually lays its eggs near the upper part of the growing shoot of
the bamboo, and not infrequently chooses for her purpose a young bamboo
in its first year of growth. The grub tunnels out the heart of the growing
shoot, eventually pupating near the top. This top dries and falls to the
ground, the pupa remaining in it till the beetle has matured. This is a very
common form of attack by species of the genus Cyrtotrachelus (p. 440).
Another genus — and there may be more than one — girdles young seedlings
and lays its eggs in the part above the girdle, the grubs feeding on the
slowly decaying tissues of this portion.

Other genera, again, appear to confine their attacks to the seeds and
fruits of trees. The eggs are laid either in the flower or more commonly in
the young fruit, the weevil making a small hole in one side of it and inserting
one or more eggs. The young grubs feed inside the growing seed or fruit,
eventually partially or completely hollowing it out. The dead fruit or seed
then falls to the ground, the grub or grubs either pupating inside it or
tunnelling out of it into the ground and pupating there. This is the life
history of probably a considerable number of the seed-eating weevils of
the forests, of which species of A Icicles and Calnndra furnish e.vunples.

The forester will rarely find the weevils which are reared inside the tree
or in the seed on the wing in the forest. They are mostly nocturnal insects,
issuing when mature at night and flying off in search of fresh trees to ovi-
posit in or pair upon. In fact, for the forester, broadly speaking, the weevils
divide themselves into two divisions: (i) The nocturnal group, containing
serious pests infesting the bast of the main stem of the- tree, and often
killing it or infesting and destroying the seed, and thus restricting, or for
one or more seasons entirely preventing, natural regeneration of the species.
(2) The diurnal division, the weevils which are to be found on the wing
in the forest during the daytime, feeding upon the lea\es or llowers or
ringing or feeding on the green shoots. These beetles are usually brighter
in colour than the nocturnal ones. The group includes a large number of
species belonging to such well-known genera as Mylloccnis, Apotici'its, Rliyii-
chitfs, Cyrtepistomus, etc.

396 FAMILY CURCULIOXIDAE

Members of both the groups have in a large number of instances one
habit in common : they sham death when disturbed, and to enable the decep-
tion to be carried out to perfection the insect is able to fold up the antennae
and legs flat against the sides in such a manner that they are scarcely observ-
able. In the diurnal species this habit affords a valuable protection against
enemies, as they drop from the plant in a second and are lost in the jungle-
growth below. The habit is probably equally useful to the bark- and wood-
and seed-feeders during the short period they spend on the wing moving
from the tree in which they were reared to the fresh one they select for
ovipositing.

The weevils are a very large family of beetles whose classification is a
matter of considerable complexity. The Indian forms known are under-
going revision by Mr. Guy A. K. Marshall for the Fauna, of British India
series, volumes whose publication should prove of great aid to the study
of the family.

Mr. Marshall has very kindly identified the Dehra Dun collections
for me. describing some seven new species, dealt with below, in the Annals
and Ma^a~in~: < f X.itural History for February and August 1913.

ASTYCUS:

Astycus lateralis, Fabr.

REFERENCE. — Fabr. Ent. Syst. i. 2, p. -

Habitat. — Tharrawaddy, Lower Burma. Also reported from the Shan
States, Tenasserim, and Assam.

Tree Attacked. - -Teak 'Tcctona grandi^. Kadin
Bilin Forest, Tharrawaddy.

Beetle. — Elongate, rather narrow, variable in size. Green
blue-green, golden yellow on sides, with a golden metallic irides-
cence ; eyes black. Rostrum short, trun-
Description. cate : coarsely rugose, with a longitudinal

narrow median line ; antennae placed near

upper end. Prothorax widest just behind middle, anterior and

'.erior margins straight-, the surface having the appeaiance of

a fine tessellated pavement. Elytra with basal outer angles oblique,

sides straight to posterior coxae, thence rather obliquely constricted, fp,. 267.

depressed behind, convex ; rugose and finely striate. Under-surface Astyius latt-rali *, \

se. Legs finely rugose. Length, 8 mm. to 14 mm. 'Tharrawaddy.

I took two dead specimens of this weevil clinging to the stems of young

teak saplings in a 1002 tounggya plantation in the

Life History. Kvlin Bilin Forest of the Tharrawaddy Division. It is

pos-ible that they had died in this position after laying

- on the bark of the tre

FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE

397

ATMETONYCHUS.
Atmetonychus peregrinus, Oliv.

REFERENCE. — Oliv. Ent. v, 83, p. 324, t. 24, f. 349 ; Stebbing, Hypomeces sp. J;;a. '

.v. vi, i, 6S (1903).

Habitat. — Katha. Burma. Also reported from Bengal.

Trees Attacked. — Mango (Maiigifcra indica';. Peach (Pruniis pcrsica\
Plum (Prnnits coininunis"j. Katha, Upper Burma (J. Messer).

Beetle. — A largish stout black weevil. Proboscis broad, with a longitudinal dorsal
channel and scattered white hairs anteriorly : eyes prominent, black, placed rather far

back on either side : prothorax triangular, truncate, twice as wide
Description. ,

behind as in tront, corrugate, with a longitudinal median dorsal

channel anteriorly. Dorsally the prothorax is flattened, this flattening continuing on to
the elytra basally. Latter with basal margin crescent-shaped, constricted apically, striate-
punctate. Legs black, tarsi yellowish brown. Under-surface black. $ larger than $. Length,
14 mm. to 16 mm.

Specimens of this weevil were first sent to me by the late Mr. J.

Messer, of the Indian Forest Service, in April 1902,
Life History. who reported that the weevils were destructive to

fruit-trees and ornamental trees in Katha in Upper

Burma. Mr. Messer wrote : " The beetle is particularly destructive' in Katha
this year, though I have observed it for years past. It attacks fruit-trees,
especially peach, plum, and mango (most of all . and is not averse to certain
ornamental shrubs in the gardens here. It eats the leaves, leaving only the
midrib, and devours the flowering shoots wholesale, leaving only the bare
stems. The damage seems to be done only by the imagoes, and I have seen
nothing yet of larvae or pupae." In reply to a request for further informa-
tion Mr. Messer wrote in March of the following year that the insect was just
commencing to appear numerously again upon the fruit-trees in his garden.

DEKKOIM s.

Dereodus pollinosus, Ktdt.
REFERENCE.— Kedt. //;,.

Habitat. -Jubal. North - West Himalaya. Also
reported from the Sulieman Range.

Tree Attacked. Ber ;Z/;_v/>/j//s jitjiib.r. Piuntra,
Jubal State.

Beetle.— Elongate. l>»dy i-.ithi.-r thick : £ smaller than 9-
Mottled-greyish or black in colour, the greyish v-olouring on living

beetles due to a puruK- I K-.id trim-

Description, c.itr in front. .mtrnn.K- pl.iml iH-ar up|KT

i-nd. a longitudinal median channel down
Iront bifurcating into several offshoots near upper end :
punctate. I'rothorax. \\uKst In-hind, anterior inaigin straight, de-
pressed on disk, corrugate and finely punctate. Scut< -mall.

Fi

.
Redt.

North-West Himaia\ a.

398 FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE

Elytra wider than thorax, basal outer angles rounded, sides straight to posterior coxae, thence
sharply constricted to apex ; coarsely rugose-punctate, the rugosities appearing as transverse
ridges laterally. Under-surface black, covered with the greyish purulescence ; rugose. Legs
and antennae black. Length, 12111111. to 17111111.

Towards the end of May 1901 I found this large \veevil engaged in
seriously defoliating the her in the Shalu Valley near

Life History. Piuntra in the North-West Himalaya. In many cases
the small thorny trees were loaded with weevils and
were quite leafless under the attack. The weevil was coupling.

EPISOMUS.
Episomus lacerta, Fabr.

REFERENCE. — Fabr. Spec. Ins. i, p. 190.

Habitat. — South Coimbatore, Madras.

Trees Attacked. — Dalbergia paniculata ; Teak (Tectona grandis}. Mount
Stuart, Anamalai Hills, South Coimbatore.

Beetle. — ^ A large, heavily built weevil ; mottled grey-brown all over, including legs and
antennae ; a thick blunt proboscis, the antennae inserted near the top ; eyes small, black.

Prothorax rather small. Elytra large, very convex on top, depressed
Description. behind and constricting sharply to apex. Head and prothorax corru-

gated ; elytra deeply channelled and punctate, the sides bent right

down on to under-surface of body. Legs thick, stout, with broad tarsal pads. Under-surface
greyish-white.

$ Resembles male, but of a unifftrm greyish yellow in colour. Of the same size as the
<5, in some cases a trifle larger.

I took specimens of this weevil defoliating Dalbergia paniculata trees in
the Mount Stuart forests in South Coimbatore towards
Life History. the end of July 1902. I also found the weevils on teak-
trees, but do not know whether they also feed on the
leaves of this tree. The insects were engaged in coupling.

MYLLOCERUS.

An important genus of defoliating weevils.

Myllocerus viridanus, Fabr.

REFERENCE. — Fabr. Syst. Ent. p. 155.

Habitat. — Coimbatore, Madras.

Tree Attacked. — Teak (Tectona grandis). Mount Stuart, Anamalai Hills;
Wai ay an Forest, Coimbatore.

Beetle. — Elongate, small, usually a dead white in colour, both above and below, or a very
pale yellow-green. Antennae long, black. Legs long, black ; tarsal joints with broad pads.

Eyes black, proboscis short, the antennae inserted near the end some

Description. distance in front of the eyes. The coloration is due to a white

purulescence or bloom of a powdery nature, which entirely covers the

insect. The under-surface often shows black in patches where the " bloom " has got rubbed
off. The $ is smaller than the $. Length, $ 5 mm. ; £ 4 mm.

FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE

399

The Walayan Forest is said to
be infested by both these cater-
pillars, often being heavily defo-
liated in the spring, and again
in September. Consequently the

\

This small, white, striking-looking weevil was by far the commonest

insect present in the Mount Stuart forests in the

Life History. Anamalai Hills towards the end of July 1902, and was

also taken in considerable numbers in the Walayan

Forest near Coimbatore at the commencement of August 1902. The mature

insect feeds on the teak leaves, and

when it is. present in the numbers

observable in 1902 the defoliation com-
mitted is heavy. In eating the leaf

the beetle leaves untouched the main

veins, and thus, to some extent, its

attack resembles that of the cater-
pillar of the moth Hyblcea pucra. It is

distinguishable, however, owing to the

fact that the weevil does not eat the

parenchyma of the leaf clean up to

the vein, but leaves small patches of

unconsumed tissue here and there,

as shown in the drawing made in the

forest from a defoliated leaf. Short

pieces of the side veins are also left

unconsumed by the beetle. The

edges of places eaten out of the leaf

are ragged and not clean-cut, as is

usually the case with parts of leaves

eaten by caterpillars. Numbers of

leaves on the trees wrere found in the

condition shown in the drawing.

The defoliation committed by

this little weevil

Relations to the r

„ is or a serious

rorest.

nature, owing to

the fact that the teak-trees are sub-
ject both before and after the time
of appearance of the insect to the
attacks of the two defoliating cater-
pillars, Hyhlica f)itcni and 1'vriinstii
mach&ralis.

Kn;. 269.

I <• ik-lc;if defoliated l.y . J/r //,«•< vv/.v
I'in'tftiiiits, Fabr. Coimbatore,
.Madras. (K. I'. S.

400

FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE

defoliation committed by these three insects in years of bad infestation
keeps the trees leafless for the greater part of the year, retarding the
growth of young plants and poles, and reducing the increment put on
by older trees. The area, I was informed, is managed under a working
plan for the supply of sleepers to the railway running through the forest to
Calicut, and of firewood and small material to Coimbatore. The growth of
the trees is poor for the most part, and the natural regeneration is scant}'.
Efforts should be made to deal with the defoliating pests.

Myllocerus lineatocollis, Boh.
(The Scmul Defoliator.}

Habitat. — Goalpara, Assam. Also reported from the Nilgiris (Hampson).
Tree Attacked. — Semul (Bombax nialabaricmn}. Goalpara.

Beetle. — Very small and slender. Bright green or golden green
with a golden iridescence ; antennae and legs orange or yellowish

brown. Rostrum moderately long, truncate

Description. at top, with antennae inserted at tip, the

black eyes placed behind the middle of

rostrum ; a slight median longitudinal impressed line on upper
half, the rest of surface finely rugose. Prothorax slightly wider
in front than behind, anterior margin curved outwards, sides con-
stricted slightly medianly ; disk finely rugose, with a median longi-
tudinal dark brown stripe starting from anterior margin and not
quite reaching the posterior one. Elytra finely striate-punctate,

base straight, sides straight to posterior coxae, thence constricted to Mvllocerus lineatocollis
apices. Under-surface golden green, finely punctate. Length, Boh. The semul

4.5 mm. to 5.5 mm. defoliator. Assam.

FlG. 270.

During a period of seven years spent in charge of the Goalpara Forest
Division, Mr. W. F. Perree noticed that the semul-trees

Life History. were often heavily defoliated during the hot weather
(May and June). His observations tended to show that
the trees suffered either partial or total defoliation during the year. He
considered that to some extent at least the poor growth of the semul in parts
was attributable to this little beetle defoliator, which in some years appeared
in incredible numbers.

In May 1906 I had an opportunity of studying this attack with
Mr. Perree at Kachugaon on the Sunkos River and elsewhere in Goalpara.
During the second week of May the beetles were found abundantly pairing on
the trees, the female being larger than the male.

The beetle's attack is confined to the foliage. In defoliating the leaf
the Myllocerus either attacks it at the edges or eats out holes from the
centre of the leaflets. The major portion of the leaflet is often consumed,
the remainder withering and dropping to the ground.

FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE

401

It is of importance that the life history of the insect should be carefully
studied and the habits of the larva ascertained, since the semul has a con-
siderable commercial utility in Assam. When the insect oviposits and
where the grubs feed are points requiring elucidation before we can say how
the attack is to be combated.

Myllocerus carinirostris, Marshall, sp. nov.
REFERENCE. — Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. Aug. 1913, p. 184.

Habitat. — Tharrawaddy, Lower Burma.

Tree Attacked. — Teak (Tectona grandis}, Konbilin Forest, Tharra-
waddy.

Beetle. — Colour black or chestnut-brown, with brown and green
scaling ; the sides and underparts pale metallic green ; the prothorax

dark brown above, with two narrow green
Description. stripes ; the elytra indistinctly striped, the

intervals i, 3, and 5 being brown, the suture

and alternate intervals rather paler and more or less irrorated with
green scales, especially at the base of 2. Head not continuous with
the rostrum in a single plane, but with the elevated base of latter
continued on to the forehead, being broadly truncate at its base, and
terminating abruptly so as to form a transverse furrow between the
eyes ; the latter widely separated and almost circular. Rostrum
about as long as bro^d, longer than the head, somewhat dilated at
the apex, the apical margin deeply and acutely incised, the raised

FIG. 271.
Myllocerus carini-

dorsal area depressed in the middle without any central carina, the rostris, Mshl., sp. nov.
lateral carinae elevated far above the upper margin of the eyes and Tharrawaddy.

forming an angular prominence above the insertion of the antennae.

Antennae stout, the scape reaching the middle of the prothorax, with conspicuous curved setae,
and brown and green scaling, the funicle with the basal joints elongate, 2 longer than i,
3 slightly longer than 4, 2 and 6 with whitish scaling. Prothorax sub-cylindrical, the sides
almost straight, the apex scarcely narrower than base, the basal margin deeply bisinuate, the
apical margin roundly prominent ; when the scaling is intact the upper surface is closely
covered with small punctures, each containing a short scale-like seta, and there is a shallow
transverse impression behind the middle. Elytra comparatively broad, \\ith the shoulders
rather prominent, the sides slightly sinuate behind the shoulders and rounded posteriorly, being
broadest behind the middle, the apices broadly truncate, the longitudinal curvature very
convex, the striae deep and distinctly punctate, the intervals convex and closely set \\itli
short, sub-erect, broad, scale-like setae. Legs red-brown, with green and grey scaling, all
the femora with a small tooth, the tibiae simple. Length, 5 A mm. to 6£ mm. Breadth,
j \ mm. to 3 mm.

In specimens which appear to be females of this species, the rostral plate is rather
narrower, and its sides are distinctly sinuate and not strongly carinate. The presence
of this rostral plate will distinguish this Mylloicrns from every other described species.
.Marshall desert)

I took a specimen of this weevil on a leaf of a teak seedling in a 1904
tounggya plantation in the Kadin Bilin forests towards the end of January
1905. I know nothing further about the insect.

9003 C C

402 FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE

Myllocerus n-pustulatus, Faust., var. maculosus, Desbr.

REFERENCE. — Myllocerus sp. Stebbing, Depart. Notes, i, 31 (1902)

Habitat. — Sutlej Valley, Kulu and Bashahr States, 2, 300 ft. to 3, 500 ft.
Tree Attacked. — Sissu (Dalbergia sissoo}. Sutlej Valley.

Beetle. — The beetle is a brightish grey-pink in colour, about half an inch in length.
Dorsal surface grey-pink with black hieroglyphic markings on the elytra, which are slightly
channelled and pitted. Under-surface grey. Antennae and legs grey.

This beetle is found on the wing in the middle of June, when it

defoliates the sissu, feeding on the leaves of the tree.

Life History. It was not noticed pairing, and I was unable to form

an opinion as to whether it had done so or not. The

specimens found seemed to be chiefly intent on feeding.

The insect was taken in company with Apoderus sissu, Mshl., which
was also engaged in defoliating the trees.

This beetle feeds on the leaves of the sissu-tree. It was not very

abundant at the time it was observed, but the damage
Relations to the .11 • i i r

Forest. to tne ^eaves was appreciable. It appears to prefer

the older leaves, as it was on them that it was generally
to be found ; but this may have been attributable to the fact that most of the
new ones had already disappeared under the attacks of the Apoderus leaf-
rolling beetle (p. 418). The beetles eat into the leaf, gnawing out portions, and
beginning from the outside edge. The portions eaten out are either circular
or irregular in shape, and sometimes the midrib is reached, but this was
rarely touched by the insect. The leaf was more often eaten irregularly
away on both sides of the midrib, leaving the latter intact.

As this beetle affects the old leaves as well as probably the new, it is
capable, when swarming in numbers, of doing serious defoliating injury to

the trees.

Myllocerus transmarinus, Hbst. ?
REFERENCE. — Hbst. Kaf. vi, p. 213, t. 75, f. i.

Habitat. — Sutlej Valley, Kulu and Bashahr States, 2,300 ft. to 3,500 ft.

Tree Attacked. — Sissu (Dalbergia sissoo). Sutlej
Valley.

Beetle.-— Small, elongate, with long, slender legs. Grey to
greyish brown. Antennae long. Head and thorax small. Elytra
broader than thorax, constricted apically ; striate-punctate. Length,
7 mm.

This weevil was taken in company with Myllocerus
n-pustulatus var, maculosus and
Life History. Apoderus sissu on sissu-trees in
the Sutlej Valley in June 1901.
"he insect did not appear to be present in any
numbers. Those present were eating out small holes FIG. 272.

; of the tree. I did not observe the J%%^
species to be pairing. Valley.

I. \MILY CURCULIONIDAE

4°3

Myllocerus catechu, Marshall, sp. nov.

REFERENCES. — Marshall, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. Aug. (p. 185) 1913; Stabbing, Depart. Notes,

Habitat. — Poona, Bombay Presidency.

Tree Attacked. — Acacia catechu. Bhamburda Reserve, Poona

Beetle. — Colour black, with uniform pale metallic-green scaling,
the prothorax with a lateral fuscous stripe on each side. Head almost

plane, the eyes lateral and rather prominent,
Description. the forehead much broader than the space

between the scrobes. Rostrum a little longer

than head, shorter than its basal width, the sides narrowed from the
base to beyond the middle and dilated at the apex, the apical emargina-
tion comparatively shallow and forming a right angle, shallowly
impressed above, and with a fine central carina which ascends the
forehead, the lateral carinae obsolete. Antennae ferruginous, the
funicle with joint i evidently longer and thicker than 2, the remaining
joints sub-equal. Prothorax about as long as broad, the sides slightly
rounded, broadest at the middle, very shallowly constricted and trans-
versely impressed near the apex, the basal margin sub-truncate and not
broader than the apex, the sculpturing entirely concealed by the scaling.
Elytra shallowly emarginate at base, about twice as broad as the
prothorax at the shoulders, the sides parallel, distinctly punctate-striate,
the intervals slightly convex, the setae very minute and depressed, only
visible under a high magnification. Legs flavescent, the femora with green
each with a minute tooth. Length, i\ mm. to 2j mm. Breadth, | mm. to I mm
desert]

i, 185 (1903).

Mshl.,sp
(Drawn

;. 273.
-us catechu,
nov. Poona.
from type).

scaling and

, (Marshall

This minute bright metallic-green Myllocenis, which has proved a new

species, was found in company with Platytrachelus

Life History. juvcncus, described on page 404, feeding upon the leaves

of the Acacia catechu, in the Bhamburda Reserve, near

Poona. The insect was somewhat plentiful, but owing to its small size,

less than one-eighth of an inch in length, the damage done by it was

inappreciable. This weevil was pairing at the time of capture.

Myllocerus discolor, Boh., var. variegatus, Boh.
Habitat. — -South Coimbatore, Madras.

Trees Attacked. — Acacia intsia, Dalbergia paniculata, Teak (Tecto)ia
Mount Stuart, South Coimbatore.

Beetle. —A fair-sized weevil, with a very mobile prothorax and convex elytra. < Ireyish
blue, with patches of orange-brown and mottled black down centre of dorsal surface. LTnder-

surface yellowish ; legs french grey, the tarsal pads orange. The

Description. mouth-parts and antennae are blackish grey, the eyes black, promi-

nent, and placed at back of the head, the antennae being well forward

of them. The proboscis short, square, blackish on top. Klytra with well-marked striae.
Legs stout. The $ is smaller than the $.

Towards the end of July 1902 I found this weevil defoliating the
leaves of the thorny climber Acacia iiitsin in the forest round Mount Stuart
in South Coimbatore. The weevil was very numerous, and was pairing.

C C 2

4°4

FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE

FIG. 274.
Myllocerus discolor, Boh., var. i-ariegatus,

Boh. Poona.
Under-surface of

I took it a few days later defoliating Dalbergia panicnlata, and also found
the beetle on teak leaves, though I am unable to say whether it defoliates
this tree to any great extent.

The following notes were recorded on the process of coupling : The
male is smaller than the female. The former gets on to the back of latter
in a quick rush, the insect being an active one. The $ then protrudes
from the extremity of the anal segment a shining brown chitinous
horny sheath, which is bent downwards, scimitar-shaped. The 2 then

tips her body upwards into a hollow
cavity in the convex elytra, a con-
siderable space existing between the
inner surface of the apical portion of
the elytra and the abdomen. The
end of the body is bent up into this,
as if worked on a pivot near the basal
segment, at an angle of 60°. This
movement causes an opening to occur

Abdomen of Q tipped up into "elytra! shell to just below the posterior coxae (as in
allow $ to insert the penis. diagram), exposing a white inner

portion of the abdomen, which is wet

and glistening, as if oiled. When the body is in this position, the $ is
apparently able to insert the penis, and this being accomplished, the body
of the $ gradually resumes its normal position, the £ being then firmly
attached to the 9, about one-eighth of the brown hard shining sheath of the
penis being visible.

PLATYTRACHELUS.
Platytrachelus juvencus, Fst.

REFERENCE. — Myllocerus acaciae, Stebbing, Depart. Xotes, i, 184 1903).

Habitat. — Poona, Bombay Presidency.

Tree Attacked. — Acacia catechu. Bhamburda Reserve, Poona.

Beetle. — A greyish, oblong weevil, clothed
above and below with short, fine, golden yellow

hairs. Rostrum not
Description. quite as long as broad,

thick, and slightly en-
larged at its tip. Scrobes (the grooves on the
proboscis) deep, and easily seen from above and
in front. Antennae placed anteriorly on pro-
boscis near its tip, long, and clothed with short
yellow hairs. Scape of antenna thickens ante-
riorly ; funiculus with first two joints long and
equal, third to seventh joints short ; club oval-
oblong and jointed. Eyes large. Prothorax broader behind than in front ; scutellum small.
Elytra almost flat in front, convex behind, deflexed to a point at their tips ; are set with
parallel longitudinal rows of fine punctures. Femora thickened ; third joint of tarsus bilobed,

X3.

FIG. 275.

Side and dorsal view of Platytrachelus
juvencus, Fst. Poona.

FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE 405

and all joints set with a fine pubescence. Second abdominal ventral segment wider than the
succeeding ones, and separated from the first by a suture, which is arched in the middle.
Length, 6 mm. to 7 mm. Insect winged and flies well.

This weevil was found feeding upon the leaves of and defoliating Acacia

catechu near Poona at the beginning of August 1901.

Life History. The insect apparently only attacks the young green

leaflets, which are half unfolded at this period. The

beetle did not appear to be pairing, and consequently the attack had
possibly only just commenced. At the time of my inspection the damage
done was but small.

In June 1909 specimens of this insect were forwarded to me at Dehra
Dun from the District Forest Officer, Nellore, Madras, with the information
that the weevil had been defoliating Acacia auricula that month in the
district. The beetles were found in one of the casuarina plantations of the
coast range of the division.

As I have described, this Myllocerus in its adult stage does a certain

amount of defoliation. Further than this, nothing
Relations to the , , , . .. ,

Forest. appears to be known about the weevil. When and

where it lays its eggs, where the larva lives, on what
it feeds, and the time spent in the larval stage, have yet to be observed.
Also the number of generations in the year, and how the cold weather is
passed.

CYRTEPISTOMUS, gen. nov.

REFERENCE. — Marshall, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. Aug. (p. 186) 1913.

The following new species is placed by Marshall in this new genus,
which he states to be closely allied to Cyphicerus, Schh. The type of the
genus is Phyllobius jucundus, Redt., and in addition to the type Marshall
refers the following described species to this genus: — Cyphiccnis dcprccahilis,
Fst. ; Corigetus gracilicornis, Fst. ; Cori^ctns necopinus, Fst. ; and Cori^ctits
testatus, Fst. This genus is so far known to occur in India, Burma, and
China.

Cyrtepistomus pannosus, Marshall, sp. nov.

REFERENCES. — Marshall, Ann. Mag. Nat. }Iist. Aug. (p. 187) 1913; Cyphiccnis sp. SteM.in^, Depart.

Notes, i, 186 (1903).

Habitat. — Berar and Central Provinces.

Tree Attacked. -Teak (Tectonagrandis). Melghat Forest, l>n ;ir: 1 >amoh,
Jubbulpore, Central Provinces.

Beetle. — $ (ieneral colour brown, with blackish head and thorax. Insect covered more
or less with short stiff hairs. Head with the eyes lateral and almost Hat, forehead very

broad with a deep short central stri;i. Rostrum about as long as its

Description. basal width, narrowed from base to beyond middle, thence dilated ; the

two carinae flanking the dorsal area slightly diverging behind and

with a longitudinal furrow adjoining each externally, the dorsal area plane and with a central
carina lying in a furrow. Antennae inserted near top ; scrobes short and deep. Tin

4o6 FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE

antennae are not inserted right at top of rostrum in $, but
a little way down it ; are set with hair ; scape thick, thickening
anteriorly, slightly arched ; funiculus with joints I and 2 sub-equal,
third to seventh short, and the club oval-oblong and pointed at its
extremity and jointed. Eyes large, only slightly convex, oval-
oblong, oblique. Prothorax rather narrow, straight in front, trans-
verse, the sides gently rounded, base truncate ; coarsely punctate,
with a rounded fovea on each side behind the middle. Elytra
oblong-oval, wider than prothorax, widening posteriorly, and deflexed
at their apices, which meet in a point ; brown in colour, with a dull
white transverse band in their posterior third ; the striae strongly
punctate. Legs moderately long, thighs thickened and ending in a
little spine beneath ; tarsus very hairy beneath, third joint much
broader than first and second. Body oblong. $ more yellow in
colour, without the white transverse patch on elytra, and with
—Crt S>''-t ) j t'ie S°lden snort stiff hairs much thicker on elytra. Antennae
pannosus, Mshl., sp.'nov. inserted at top of rostrum. Length, $4.7 mm. ; $ 5.9111111. The
Berar ; Damoh. figure shows a dorsal and side view of this insect.

This insect appears on the wing in Berar in July, probably generally
about the time the monsoon bursts. It feeds upon the

Life History. leaves of the teak-tree. Either the life of the beetle is a
somewhat lengthy one, or the eggs develop at irregular
periods, since a month later the weevils were found common in the Damoh
forests in the Central Provinces in igoi.

In Berar the beetles were noticed pairing on 26 July, the insects being
very numerous on the teak-trees, both young and old being infested.

In the middle of August the weevils were found in a similar condition
in the Damoh forests. On the 2oth of the month I noted the beetle as
equally numerous in the Jubbulpore Division between Jubbulpore and Luck-
needown. Here, as in the portions of Damoh visited, the beetle was far
more numerous during this month than either of the teak-leaf defoliators
Hybln'ii pncra or Pyrausta machceralis, which were present with it on the trees.

In Berar (in the Melghat Forest) the weevil had an additional companion
in the larva of the hawk moth Pseudosphinx discistriga, and was in parts very
much more abundant than the latter, although it was not noted as ascending
quite so high into the hills as the sphinx. In this locality both the sphinx
and the weevil were more plentiful than the Hyblcea and Pyransta. Its
method of defoliation is as equally distinct from that of the hawk moth
as from that of the Hyblcea and Pyransta. The weevil attacks the leaf in
two ways : either by eating out patches from somewhere within the leaf,
avoiding the edges, so that the leaf becomes full of irregular-shaped holes,
the larger veins being always left untouched, or it eats out irregular portions
from the edges, the latter having thus a ragged and frayed appearance. In
both cases the edge left by this beetle always has this frayed and ragged
appearance, owing presumably to the very small portions of leaf tissue it is
able to take out at a time in the case of so thick a leaf as the teak leaf. The
patches eaten out by this weevil can thus be easily distinguished from those

FAMILY CURCULIOXIDAE 407

of a caterpillar attack, since the latter's bite when it goes through the leaf is
always a clean cut : a frayed edge is never left. So marked is this jagged
appearance of the leaves that it caught my eye and told me of the presence
of the beetle as I was riding along a road in Damoh bordered with teak-trees
before I had been into a forest in that district.

Neither the eggs nor the larvae of this pest have yet been found.

This weevil was plentiful in 1901 at the lower elevations in the Melghat

teak forests lying between Ellichpur and Chikalda ;

Relations to the in the Damoh Division between Damoh and Singram-

pur ; between the latter place and Jubbulpore ; and

between Jubbulpore and Luckneedown on the Jubbulpore-Nagpur road.

While the insect undoubtedly does a certain amount of defoliation on
the teak in years when it is plentiful, attacking the leaves of both young and
old trees, present observation does not show it to be anything like as bad a
pest as its three lepidopterous companions, and it appears doubtful whether
it would ever be capable of entirely denuding a teak forest of its leaves. It
must, however, be considered an enemy of the tree, and it is important
that the rest of its life history should be worked out, especially the point
as to where its larva lives and on what it feeds.

In nurseries, spraying young plants with one of the spraying solutions
would have the effect of killing off the beetle. This
should be done as soon as the pest makes its appear-
ance, and repeated at intervals through July and

August. The earlier the beetles are attacked, the less chance is there of

their reaching the pairing stage and laying eggs.

AMBLYRRHINUS.
Amblyrrhinus subrecticollis, Marshall, sp. nov.

REFERENCE. — Marshall, Ann. Mag. Xat. Hist. Aug. p. 187) 1913.

Habitat. — Dehra Dun, Siwaliks.

Tree Attacked. — Mallotus philippitu'nsis. Karwapani, Dehra Dun (A. M.
Littlewood).

Beetle.— Black, with dense grey scaling ; the prothorax with a
brown stripe on each side and a narrow brown central line ; elytra

variegated with brown dorsally, and with a
Description. more distinct angulated brown marking

behind the middle, followed by a broad,

pale, oblique band. Head small, vertex densely pubescent, rostrum
about as broad as long, almost parallel-sided and directed downwards,
the dorsal area without any distinct anterior impression ; scrobes
short, oblique, black; the antennae inseited near upper end; the
scape slightly longer than rest of antennae, thickest at upper end,
club small. Prothorax about as long as wide, broadest behind, sides ],-I(; 277.

rounded, anterior margin straight; the upper surface with the Inil'lvrrhiimx snbrecti-
sculpturing hidden by the scaling, and set with very short, sub-erect colUs, Mshl., sp. nov.
setae. Scutellum small. Elytra constricted behind humeral angles, Dehra Dun.

4o8 FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE

thence widened to apical fourth, and constricted sharply to apex, which is rounded ; finely
striate and punctate, the punctures hidden by the scaling, the intervals convex and with rows
of erect scale-like setae. Under-surface covered with a dense silvery-grey pubescence. Legs
with long femora thickened anteriorly, pubescent. Length, 5 mm. ; breadth, 2\ mm.

Student A. M. Littlewood, whilst at the Imperial Forest School at

Dehra Dun, took specimens of this weevil and some

Life History. grubs from galleries and tunnels in the rotting bark of

living Mallotits philippinensis trees at Karwapani in the

Dun. The insects were taken towards the end of February 1902.

BRACHYXYSTUS.
Brachyxystus subsignatus, Fst.

Habitat. — North-West Himalaya. Also reported from Darjeeling, East
Himalaya (C. G. Rogers).

Trees Attacked. — Silver Fir (Abies webbiana} ; Spruce (Picea morinda} ;
Deodar (Cedrus deodar a}. Jaunsar, Tehri Garhwal, Simla, Bashahr, Chamba.

Beetle. — Very small. Chestnut-brown, darker on head than thorax, the upper surface
covered with a short rather dense greyish pubescence. Head large, rostrum short, bent

vertically downwards with the antennae near the upper end. Pro-
Description, thorax slightly broader than head, rather flat, sides rounded, disk
finely punctate. Elytra strongly striate-punctate, base straight, sides

constricted behind humeral angles, thence inclining slightly outwards to upper fourth, whence
constricted, the apices conjointly rounded. Under-surface black, punctate. Length, 4.5 mm.
to 5.5 mm. Plate xxviii shows the male and female beetles.

So far as present investigations have been carried, this little weevil
appears to be the commonest defoliating insect of the

Life History. silver fir, the young spring needles and new shoots
suffering severely under its attacks. The insect is

plentiful throughout the silver-fir forests of the North-West Himalaya,
and in my experience appears in numbers yearly. I first took the beetle on
i June IQOI in the forest between Baghi and Kotgarh in the Simla Division.
The beetles were pairing at the time. During that year for the first three
weeks of June the beetles were in millions on the silver fir, both in the
Simla district and the Bashahr State beyond. By the beginning of July
they had disappeared from the forest. The following year I found the
weevil again, as early as 24 May, this time in the silver-fir forests between
Deoban and Bodyar in Jaunsar. The beetles were pairing and were in large
numbers. The weevils were taken plentifully up to the third week of fune,
and more rarely till the end of the month, by which time the last had dis-
appeared from the forest. Throughout Jaunsar and in the parts of Tehri
Garhwal visited that year the attacks of the beetles were very visible on the
trees. In 1906 the beetle was noticed to be abundant on silver-fir trees
round Simla, and again in 1909 in the forests in Chamba State.

The effect of the attack of this weevil on the tree is to cause the new
shoots of the year and their needles to wither up, turn yellow or bright

!

'

.
•

PI.ATI: XXVI 1 1.

' bbins

Rrachyxystns .f/t?'?/^>i,j/!> • . 1 -i. Male and fcm.ilc In-cilc^. mul lirnnrlic^ of iirt><l;ir b . 'inrc, ;nnl sil
r (bottom one), showing the we< > dod of a ick. .\orili-\\ < ^i 1 11 L; .

PLATE XXIX.

Young Silver Fir in situ in the forest, showing the whole of the new shoots
of the year killed by the weevil Brachyxvstus subsignatits* Fst. — The photograph
was taken by Mr. J. H. Lace, C.I.E., in the Baghi ^Forest, Simla Division, at the
end of June.

FAMILY CURCULIOXIDAE 409

orange, die, and drop off. Once the method of operation of the beetle has
been clearly understood it is the easiest thing possible to detect. From an
examination of large numbers of attacked trees in the forest, and by watch-
ing the insect feed upon new silver-fir shoots in captivity, it appears that the
weevils do not actually feed upon the needles to any great extent. Their chief
food consists of the green epidermis of the new shoot of the year. To get at
this they bite off or gnaw down the new spring needles, so as to remove them
and permit their reaching the epidermis of the shoot. This latter they either
gnaw off in elongate strips or eat it away in patches right down to the point
where last year's shoot commences. One or two beetles may usually be
found attacking a green shoot, save when the insect is very abundant, when
three, four, or more will be found on it, and the shoot is then stripped of all
green substance right down to the woody core in the centre. In such cases
the whole of the new shoot and needles of the year are removed in the
operations, leaving the top of the old shoot scarred and bare. Usually,
however, the epidermis is only removed in strips and patches, and a proportion
of the new spring needles remain on the shoot, the latter and the needles
either turning a bright orange (most characteristic of the attack) or a pale
yellow, and finally grey. The coloured plate, pi. xxviii, shows the method
of attack of this weevil. Young silver-fir saplings and poles with the whole of
the branches terminating with dead orange, yellow, or grey new shoots of the
year are a common sight in the Western Himalaya. One such is depicted
in the beautiful photograph shown in pi. xxix, which was taken by Mr. J. H.
Lace, C.I.E., Chief Conservator of Forests. When the beetle is less
abundant in an area it is usually the upper part of the new shoot which is
attacked, the result being that the upper half only of the new shoot withers.
The loss of the whole attacked shoot is, however, the commonest result.

In spite of the abundance of the weevil throughout the greater

part of June, I have not as yet been able to discover

Forest' where the eggs are laid nor where the grubs feed. A

careful examination of the result of the attacks of this

weevil in the silver-fir forests, carried out over a series of years, has led me
to the conclusion that the effect is most serious in the case of young sap-
lings and poles, the foliage being thinned out year after year ;md becoming
very straggly, a result which is considerably helped by the presence of
the Chenncs himalayensis aphid. Numbers of young silver firs will be found,
during a bad infestation of the insect, to have lost their new shoots, including
the leaders, the trees very often presenting the appearance of having been
scorched by a fire passing over them.

Trees of all ages are attacked by the weevil, from the smiling stage to
old trees, and after severe attacks the trees assume their winter aspect
in July.

The species principally attacked is the silver fir, but the beetles also
infest, to a certain and much smaller extent, the deodar and spruce, as
shown in the coloured plate.

4io FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE

LARINUS.

Larinus ? sp.
(The Palds-tree Gall Weevil.}

Habitat. — Central Provinces.

Tree Attacked. — -Palas (Butea frondosa). Damoh Forests, Jubbulpore,
Seoni, Central Provinces.

Beetle. — I have not seen this beetle.

Larva.— White, curved, corrugated, and legless, with a smallish brown head. The grubs
taken were 7mm. in length.

Gall. — Elongate, thick, having the shape of a "Smyrna fig"; brownish or yellowish
green ; i in. in length by | in. or more across greatest width (fig. 278).

In the rains of 1901 (August), during a tour in the Central Provinces, I
noticed a curious gall on the branches of the palas-trees

Life History. which in shape is exactly like a Smyrna fig (cf. fig. 278).
The gall is usually, if not invariably, borne on the leaf-
bearing branches and twigs, and is obviously a stem-gall. Occasionally it
is almost sessile on the branch, with the leaf petioles growing out of the
top ; or it is sessile with the twig growing out of the top and terminated at
varying lengths by the three leaf-bearing petioles ; or, finally, the gall occurs
some way up the twig, and is borne on a stalk, so to speak, the three
petioles bearing the leaves growing out of the top of the gall. The outer
surface of the gall bears longitudinal ridges down it. The gall is so charac-
teristic, and occasionally so common — it was so in 1901 — that it is easily
recognizable.

I observed this curious growth only on small trees, saplings and small
poles. The local people informed me that it was restricted to young growth
and saplings, and did not occur on old trees. I have been unable to verify
this statement, however.

A longitudinal section of the gall shows that it is traversed inside from
a point near the top to the bottom by a longitudinal chamber having a
circular section in which the grub of this weevil lives, the walls of the
gall being of considerable thickness. The grub in its feeding operations
sets up an irritation in the cells of the twig which causes the curious
outgrowth.

The weevil evidently lays the egg on the stem or twig either on the
bark or in an incision. The grub on hatching tunnels into the soft-wood
structure and commences feeding in the centre, the walls of the twig
swelling up.

The grubs feed during the monsoon months, the gall being formed at
this period. I have no data as to when the beetles appear or when the eggs
are laid.

FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE

411

The gall is soft and greenish-brown in appearance whilst growing in

size. After the weevil has left it it turns dark brown,

a Forest' dries, and becomes hard and woody. The portion of

the twig with the leaves above it dies and falls off. The

nature of the damage done is therefore a more or less heavy pruning of the

young branches when the insect is abundant. This is serious enough when

Fi<;. 278. — Leaf-bearing stein of Hit tea fr,>/i<l<><ti slmuini; the galls mutle by the
Palas-tree gall weevil (Larinus ? sp.). Seclions »t tin- galls, \\ith a -rub /// situ in
one of them, are shown. Central Provinces. (E. P. S.)

its effect on young trees is considered. The attack of the insect has, how-
ever, another aspect. The palas-tree is used for the cultivation of the lac
insect throughout the Central Provinces, and the twigs infested and killed by

4i2 FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE

the weevil would be more usefully utilized for rearing the lac scales. For
this reason the life history of this insect requires to be fully understood.

As to treatment, in years of bad infestation, as was the case in 1901, it
should prove practicable in a lac plantation to lop off, collect, and burn the
galls containing the larvae in the monsoon months. This would stamp out
a bad attack.

ALCIDES.
Alcides porrectirostris, Marshall, sp. nov.

REFERENCES. — Marshall, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. Aug. (p. 188) 1913 ; Stebbing, Depart. Notes

(Alcides sp.), i, 38 (1902).

Habitat. — Bashahr State, North-West Himalaya.

Tree Attacked. — Walnut (Juglans regia). Taklesh, Songra, Baghi,
Bashahr.

Beetle. — The beetle is black in colour, without f&ajn^

scaling, with black antennae and legs, the latter

clothed with yellowish-
Description, brown hairs. Head closely
punctate, with a frontal

fovea. The rostrum is straight and porrect (espe-
cially in 2), slightly widened apically, striolate at
base, strongly punctate in <J, more finely in $.
Antennae medium-sized, fairly thick ; the scape is
thickened at the joint, and the funiculus ends in a
thick oval knob. Eyes large and elliptical in
shape. Prothorax sub-conical, about as long as its
basal width, the sides almost straight, upper surface FlG. 279. — Alcides porrectirostris,
with rather distant low granules, the apical area Mshl., sp. nov. Larva and beetle,

rugose. Scutellum oval, shallowly impressed. Elytra Bashahr, North- West Himalaya,

much broader than prothorax, shoulders very pro-
minent and roundly rectangular ; with regular rows of foveae, the intervals rather narrow,
irregular, rugose, and sparsely set with very short curved pale setae. Body pubescent. Front
legs longer than the others, the tibiae with a single internal tooth at the basal third. Legs
coarsely punctate, femora comparatively slender with a fringe of long hairs beneath, and with a
long sharp tooth close to apex. Length, 8mm. to gimrn. ; breadth, 3^ mm. to 4mm.
Fig. 279 shows a dorsal and side view of this beetle.

Larva. — The larva when full-grown is a fat white grub usually more or less curved, with
twelve segments, the middle ones thicker than those at either end. Head small and bright
yellow-brown in colour. Length, | in. See fig. 279.

Pupa.— The pupa is of the ordinary curculionid shape.

The beetle appears on the wing at about the beginning of August, but

at present it is not known when or where it lays its

Life History. eggs. Larvae were found full-fed in walnuts in the first

week in July, and it is therefore probable either (i) that

the weevil is to be found on the wing throughout the autumn, hibernating
under bark or decaying leaves, stones, etc., on the ground, and coming out to
lay its egg on or near the young 2 flowers of the walnut in March or April ;

FAMILY CURCULIOXIDAE 413

or (2) it lays its eggs on the twigs near the young flower-buds in the autumn
of the year in which it issues as a beetle. No external holes are to be found
on the green outer covering of the walnut. I first noticed the attack in the
Baghi Forest, Bashahr Division, my attention being attracted by the
number of fallen walnuts littering the path beneath a large tree. I cut open
some of these nuts and found in them the nearly mature fat curved grubs of
this weevil. A large number of nuts were examined, and four to five grubs
per nut appeared to be the usual number present, but in some cases eight,
eleven, and in one or two as many as thirteen larvae were cut out of a single
walnut.* The attacks of these grubs cause the fruit to wither, and about the
first week in July the nuts drop from the tree and the larvae enter the earth
and pupate there about the middle of the month. Fifteen to twenty days
suffice for this stage, the first beetle obtained issuing on 4 August.

This weevil was discovered in the forests between Taklesh, Bahli,

Songra, and Baghi, Bashahr State, North- West
Relations to the TT- i

Forest. Himalaya, in 1901.

Many of the walnut-trees examined between the

above-mentioned places had their entire crops of seed ruined by the attacks
of the larvae of this curculionid. The effect of these operations within
the nut is to reduce the inside to a black rotten mass of tissue and excre-
ment in which the grubs live. The whole of the kernel and inner hard
shell (endocarp) is reduced to this state, and only the hard outer green
covering (pericarp), with a very thin layer of the inner shell, is left intact.
No holes of any kind are to be seen on the outside of this green outer
covering. By the time the inside of the nut is brought into this condition it
falls to the ground, into which its weight, which is still considerable, causes
it to sink. The period of this dropping of the nuts is also that at which the
monsoon usually bursts over the hills, and the grubs consequently have no
difficulty in entering the softened ground.

Alcides scenicus, Fst.

REFERENCE. — Fst. Ann. Mus. Stor. Nat. Genova, p. 256 (is<>i)-

Habitat. — Darrang, Assam.

Tree Attacked.— India-rubber (Ficus clastic a). Charduar Rubber Planta-
tion, Darrang.

Beetle. — Elongate, with a long curved rostrum. IMceous brown with white markings.
Head small, rostrum with a swelling half-way up, from which the antennae take oft", broadest at

top, black, shining, punctate, about half length of insect ; scape of

Description. antenna black, thickened at top, rest brown. 1'iothm.ix widest

behind, the basal margin V-shaped ; strongly rugose except anteriorly,

where it is smooth and finely punctate ; three white narrow longitudinal stripes, one medianly.

* The nuts I collected were placed in a box containing a layer of moist earth. On leaving
Simla on 17 July, Mr. J. II. Lace, at the time Assistant Inspector-General of Forests, kindly
undertook to look after them for me, anil he obtained the beetles.

4i4 FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE

the others on either side oblique, ending near outer lower angle. Elytra with basal margin
deeply cleft medianly, depressed above base, strongly punctate-striate, the punctures on disk
large and deep ; the surface irregularly raised ; constricted towards apex and depressed ;
a short white longitudinal line in basal fourth near suture ; a diagonal one halfway up, a
transverse irregular one in apical fourth. Under- surface and legs brownish black, punctate.
Length (with rostrum), 1 1 mm.

This insect was observed pairing on 7 April 1906 in the Charduar

Rubber Plantation in Assam. The insect was taken
Life History. upon the rubber-trees. I was unable to discover where

the eggs are laid, but the beetle appeared to be feeding
on the latex of the plant.

PARAMECOPS.

Paramecops farinosus, Wied.
REFERENCE. — Wied. Germ. Mag. iv, 157 (1821).

Habitat. — Changa Manga, Punjab.

Tree Attacked. — Calotropis sp. Changa Manga Plantation, Punjab.

Beetle.— Elongate with a stout thick body. Black, covered with a white or greyish mealy
powder. Head furnished with a long rostrum bent vertically downwards, the antennae placed

about half-way up ; surface coarsely rugose, the vertex furnished with

Description. a fringe of short pubescence. Prothorax broadest behind, the sides

with a sharp indentation just behind anterior margin which forms a

transverse depression across thorax ; coarsely rugose. Elytra wider than prothorax, humeral
angles oblique, sides gradually constricted to apical fifth, whence they are sharply constricted :
convex, sharply depressed behind ; coarsely striate-punctate, the striae most prominent on
lateral edges, finer in apical portion, where the punctures become obsolete. Under-surface
coarsely rugose. Legs rather long, anterior femora thickest. Length, 14 mm.

This insect was reported by Mr. B. O. Coventry in 1900 to feed on

the epidermis of the ak plant (Calotropis sp.) at

Life History. the Changa Manga Plantation. In the following

year and again in 1905 I found the beetle feeding in

this way and also on the leaves.

Lefroy in Indian Insect Life has the following note on this insect :—
; The eggs are laid in the rind of the ak fruit, the little grubs boring into
the soft tissues and feeding on the developing fibre and young seeds. The
full-grown grub reaches a length of half an inch, and pupates in a compact
cocoon formed of the delicate fibre. Ten days afterwards the adult emerges
and feeds on the leaves of the ak plant."

•
APION.

Apion strobilanthi, Desbroch.

REFERENCE. — Desbroch. Ind. Mus. Notes, ii, 32.

Habitat.— Sikkim.

Plant Attacked.— Kibu (Strobilanthus pectinatus). Sikkim.

FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE

Beetle. — Oval oblong. Black with a bronze reflexion. Antennae light yellow, femora
and tarsi brownish, rest of legs yellow ; sides of thorax clothed with a greyish pubescence

which appears on the elytra in three bands. Eyes large. Rostrum
Description. as long as head and prothorax together, moderately curved, slightly

thickened at insertion of antennae, shining at the tip ; antennae thin,

inserted about two-thirds up rostrum, and about same length as latter, scrobes short. Prothorax
lightly punctate, with a deep impressed line at base. Elytra about twice the length of prothorax,
much wider, convex, striate-punctate. In $ the rostrum is more punctate and reddish in upper
half. In J the rostrum is black and smoother. Length, 2.5 mm. (without rostrum). Breadth,
1.5 mm.

This weevil was discovered by Mr. C. Gilbert Rogers, I.F.S., infesting

the common fodder plant termed Kibu (Strobilanthus

Life History. pectinatus), which is to be found in Sikkim at elevations

of 6,000 ft. and thereabouts. The grubs feed on the

seeds, completely destroying them. Mr. Rogers first took the beetle in the
rains of 1889.

EUGNAMPTUS.

(J.

Eugnamptus marginellus, Fst., var. semirufus, Fst.

Habitat. — Chanda, Central Provinces.

Tree Attacked. — Mango (Mangiferaindica). Chanda
Martin, I.C.S.).

FIG. 280.

i ihanda, Central
Provinces.

Beetle. — Elongate, very small, the head and proboscis elongate
and slender. Head brown, the prothorax orange-yellow ; elytra

black, shining. Head widest in front, the
Description. two large black eyes inserted on the outer

anterior edge ; surface smooth and shining

and very slightly and finely punctate ; proboscis elongate, narrow,
basal half orange-yellow and finely punctate ; anterior half black,
broader anteriorly, punctate ; the long black slender antennae in-
serted at the junction of the two colours, where proboscis is slightly marginellus, Fst.) var.
swollen. Prothorax triangular, narrowest in front, joined on to the st'wn ujus, r

head by a "neck:) ; sides rounded ; disk convex, punctate and shin-
ing. Scutellum triangular, punctate. Elytra broader than prothorax
at base, widest in apical fourth, apices separately rounded ; disk rather flat in basal half,
finely striate and strongly punctate, the suture depressed for the greater length, the punctures
large and distinct, swollen laterally, where striae are stronger ; striae and punctures less well
defined apically ; surface covered with a short fine whitish pubescence ; pygiilium yellow.
Under-surface yellow, with a rather dense short white pubescence. Femora thickened, black
above, yellow beneath, rest of legs black. Length, 6mm.

This weevil was reported by Mr. J. Martin, I.C.S., to injure the

mango-trees in gardens in Chamla, in the Central

Life History. Provinces. Mr. Martin observed that the weevil " bites

off the leaves of the mango near their bases, and

thus defoliates the trees."

Nothing further appears to be recorded on the life history of the insect.

416 FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE

Curcuho ? sp.

REFERENCE. — Stebbing, Ind. For. Mem. Ser. For. Zool. ii.

Habitat. — Jaunsar and Tehri Garhwal, North- West Himalaya.
Tree Attacked. — Deodar (Cedrus deodara}. Jaunsar, Tehri Garhwal.

Beetle. — Small, greyish brown, rostrum short, blunt, prothorax rather narrow. Elytra
broader than prothorax, widest behind ; longitudinally ridged and punctate. Length, 8 mm.

I first discovered this weevil in June 1902. On the 24th of the month
I took a few couples in coitu upon deodar branches.

Life History. At this period the beetles feed upon the young new
shoots. A couple were kept under observation in a

breeding-box for nearly a week. In this period they destroyed two new
green deodar shoots. The modus operandi of the beetle is first to bite off
the needles at the top of the shoot, and then eat down the top of the stem
for some distance. When the shoot becomes too thick for this operation,
the insect peels off the epidermis, first biting off the needles to leave the
former free. In this way most of the needles are destroyed and then the
epidermis is removed.

I have not as yet taken this insect numerously in the deodar areas.
Its method of attack, however, would be very serious in the event of its
appearing in numbers in young plantations.

APODERUS.

An important genus of weevils who defoliate trees to provide a store
of food for their larvae.

Apoderus incana, Stebbing.

REFERENCE. — Stebbing, Depart. Xotes, i, 189 (1903).

Habitat.— North-West Himalaya.

Trees Attacked. — Ban Oak (Quercus incana) ; Moru Oak (Quercus dilatata).
F. Gleadow, V. Subramarian, and others, in Jaunsar ; throughout oak areas
in North-West Himalaya.

Beetle. — $ The beetle is small, shining, dark yellow-brown with black markings on the
elytra. Rostrum brown, short, broad, and armed at end with a pair of large mandibles.

Antennae inserted near base, the scape short and inverted-cone

Description. shaped ; funiculus fairly long, first joint small, second and third

longer and of equal length and with the following ones increasing in

breadth upwards to the elongated cone-shaped club, which is dark brown, the rest of antenna
being yellow. Head short, semi-elliptical in shape, narrowing to a point posteriorly, dark

FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE

yellow-brown in colour. Prothorax joined to head by a short neck, widening posteriorly
and having a raised collar where it joins the elytra. Scutellum small, black. Elytra
much broader than thorax, a little longer than broad, widening slightly to their ends and
derlexed here, only lightly covering the body, and leaving portions of two segments of the
abdomen exposed ; yellow in colour, channelled at their bases, with two elongated black
spots in their basal half; the external edge is raised and thickened slightly all round, and
is crimson to dark red in colour, being especially bright at the suture. Abdomen thick,
lighter yellow ventrally. Legs bright
yellow, long, with their femora thick-
ened ; two claws to end of tarsus.
Length, 7111111. Fig. 281, a, shows a
dorsal and side view of this beetle.

Egg. — Yellow, shining, elliptical
in shape, and about 1.6 mm. in length.

wi ng
the

These beetles appear on

the
Life History. about

closeofthe

first week in May. The egg,
larva, and perfect beetle are
known. The insect when found
was egg-laying, and for this
purpose it attacks the leaves of
both the oaks Qnercus incuna
and Q. dilatata.

The female beetle lays its
egg in the left-hand corner of
the apex of the leaf. The
leaf is then, in the case of
the Qncrcny, inauta, either cut
across two-thirds of the way
down, the cut being made on
both sides from the exterior
edge horizontally inwards till
it meets the midrib, or the

leaf is cut right across from

• i KM;. 281. -Afiodents incana, Steb. <i, weevil;

one side to very near the . .

/;, branch of O//t->\ us i/u'iuni slum in- a rolled-up leaf ;

edge of the other, only a small ^ a lc:if cul an(1 rolll.a U|) willl the egg laid inside th,
piece of the leaf-tissue being roll. Noith-West Ilimalay.i. E. P. S.
left. In either case the por-
tion above the cut is folded inwards down the midrib and then rollr 1 up from
the apex downwards, the outer edges being tucked in so as to form a ne.it
little cylinder which remains suspended to the lower part of the leaf by tin;
uncut portion (see fig. b, c}. This latter is, however, whether midrib or leaf-
tissue, nicked across so as to ensure the little roll of leaf-tissue dropping to

9°°3 D D

418 FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE

the ground when it has become dry. In the case of the Quercus dilatata the
procedure is much the same except that the leaf appears to be almost
invariably cut lower down.

The method of egg-laying was studied by Mr. F. Gleadow, Deputy
Director, Indian Forest School, Student V. Subramarian, and myself (for
the first time) in May 1901.

A small grub hatches from the egg and feeds on the decaying tissues,
becoming full-grown within ten days to a fortnight. The grub then leaves
the roll, which will by now have reached the forest floor, and pupates in the
soil.

The insects oviposit during a period of three weeks in May, but the
number of eggs laid by each female has yet to be ascertained.

Throughout Jaunsar-Barwar and the adjacent Native States of Tehri

Garhwal, Jubal, and Balsan, this insect was very plentiful
Relations to the • , T-I ,• ,1 j ri • .,

Forest in 1901 and 1902. The peculiar method of laying its eggs

adopted by the insect results in the trees attacked being
very heavily defoliated when the weevil is numerous. Trees of all ages are
infested, and it is the newly unfolded leaves which are primarily treated
in this manner, the older ones being only resorted to after the newer ones
have been all occupied. Fig. 281, b, shows a portion of a branch with the
upper leaves defoliated by this insect.

Methods of protection will be the same as those given below for the
sissu Apoderns.

Apoderus sissu, Marshall, sp. nov.

HKFKKENCES. — Marshall, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. Feb. 1913; Stebbing, Depart. Notes, i, 33 (1902).

Habitat. — Sutlej Valley, Kulu and Bashahr States, 2,300 ft. to 3, 500 ft. ;
Changa Manga, Punjab ; Kumaun Terai Forests.

Tree Attacked. — Sissu (Dalbergia sissoo). Sutlej Valley; Changa Manga;
Chor Galia, Kumaun Terai.

Beetle. — The female beetle is similar in colouring to the male, but is larger, being about
a quarter of an inch in length, while the male is one-sixth of an inch. The general colour

throughout the insect is a bright golden yellow. Head, thorax, and

Description. elytra are edged with black except at the outer upper edges of the

elytra, where they are golden yellow. Snout and eyes are black.

Antennae yellow at the base and furnished with black knobbed ends. Forehead between the
eyes black. Elytra channelled, and they have three black patches situated triangularly on their
.upper halves, the patch at the apex being at the anterior end ; the elytra are edged with black
on their inner margins, and the anterior outer corner of each bears a light brown spot ; they
do not completely join at their bases, leaving several body segments exposed. Under-surface
of the prothorax between the coxae a darker yellow-brown. Legs bright golden yellow.
Fig. 282, a, shows dorsal and side views of the $ beetle, and b, dorsal and side view of the £ .

Egg. — The eggs are pale yellow in colour, with a glistening surface, and about the size of
a large pin's head. I have not yet seen the larva, It will probably be a small, whitish,
curved, legless grub.

FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE

419

The insect appears on the wing in June. From the iSth to the 2Oth of

the month I found it in abundance actively engaged in

Life History. laying its eggs. In a few cases the beetles were seen to

be pairing, but this stage was evidently nearly over, as

was evidenced by the fact that a large number of eggs had been already
laid. My observations showed me that never more than one egg is laid on
any one leaf. The mother beetle proceeds about her egg-laying in the
following manner : Usually the egg is deposited to the left hand of the

KID. 282. — .-//><'</, IKS A/.f.v//, Mslil.. sp. nov. (?, />, $ and £ beetles : , , branch of sissu showing
rolled-up and basal portions of defoliated leaves : </, rolled-up leaf with C^L; inside. Sutlej

Valley. I-:. I1. S.)

D D 2

420 FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE

midrib near the apex of the leaf. The leaf is then folded along the
midrib, the surfaces on each side being turned inwards. The beetle then
rolls the leaf tightly up from the apex downwards, tucking in the outer
edges, so that the ends on each side are symmetrical and the whole forms
a tight little roll (fig. d). The end of the stalk where it expands into
the blade of the leaf is then partially cut through, so that the little
rolled-up mass hangs downwards. In other cases the beetle cuts the
leaf at a point about one-eighth or at most one-sixth of the length of
the leaf above its juncture with the leaf stalk. This is done in two
ways: either the leaf is cut through right across by a horizontal inci-
sion, only a small portion of the outer edge being left to support the cut
part ; or the beetle cuts through the leaf horizontally on either side of the
midrib, starting on each side from the outer edge of the leaf and cutting
inwards to the midrib, which is only slightly notched. In each case the egg
is laid in the same place and the leaf rolled up as above described. These
little bundles containing each an egg hang down (see fig. c), suspended
by the portion of midrib still uncut, or by the small portion of the outer edge
of the leaf still intact, as the case maybe; this small uncut portion soon
dries up, and the little rolls then fall or get knocked off and drop to the
ground (fig. J). I have not yet been able to ascertain how many eggs are
laid by each beetle, but it is almost certain that more than one is laid, i.e.
that several leaves are so treated by each beetle. From the eggs a small
grub emerges which feeds upon the store of food thus provided by the
mother beetle, subsequently penetrating into the soil and changing into
the pupal state. In its method of procedure this beetle resembles Apodenis
in can a.

Whilst marching up the Sutlej Valley between Nirth and Rampur in
June 1901 I noticed that the sissu-trees on either bank
a°"S ° of the river were being heavily defoliated. The tree=;

were growing either in clumps or scattered here and there
in the river-bed and on the terraces existing on either side of the stream,
An examination showed that the defoliation was not due to any ordinary
leaf-feeding insect. A certain amount attributable to the latter cause was
taking place, due to the Myllocerus weevils already alluded to on pp. 401,
402, but the serious part of the work was due to quite a different form
of attack. The first thing that attracted notice was the fact that the
crowns and ends of all the branches of the trees, consisting of long
yellowish-green shoots just developed or in the course of development,
were either totally leafless or rapidly becoming so. A closer inspection
showed that these shoots were not entirely bare. In many cases small
portions of leaves, looking as if they had been snipped off either just above
the juncture of the stalk with the leaf or at the stalk itself, were visible, and
often, hanging down from these, small bundles of rolled-up leaf. These latter
enabled me to perceive what was taking place. A leaf-rolling insect was at
work, and in each of these bundles, as already described, an egg had been

FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE 421

placed by the mother beetle, and in so laying their eggs the beetles were
stripping the sissu-trees of the entire crop of their new leaves. In some cases
the little bundles had dropped, in others they had turned black and were
ready to do so, whilst others again wrere still green and fresh, and I was able
myself to see others in the course of formation. Every tree on the sixteen
miles of river I inspected both on the Kulu and Bashahr sides of the stream
was either entirely defoliated of its new growth or rapidly becoming so,
and there seems no reason for supposing that the attack did not spread some
distance further, both up and down stream. The fact that the insect either
rolls up the whole of the leaf or cuts it across very close to its base causes
the complete destruction of all leaves attacked.

In addition to attacking the whole of the crop of new leaves. I noted
that the beetle also laid its eggs on and rolled up the older leaves as well,
though in nothing like the same proportion. It was probably the abun-
dance of the beetles and the shortness of the supply of the new leaves that
sent the insects to the old ones, as these must be infinitely more difficult
to bend over and roll up than the soft, tender young ones.

I noticed in the Changa Manga Plantation in the third week of May
1905 some individuals of a weevil, since identified by Mr. G. A. K. Marshall
as this species, on the young leaves of the sissu coppice in the compartment
felled over the previous year. The insects were engaged in ovipositing, rolling
up the young leaves of the plants in a manner similar to that above described.
The young coppice had been defoliated to a certain extent by the insect.

I also observed this insect pairing and ovipositing on sissu-trees in the
first half of May 1905 and again in 1908 at Chor Galia and neighbouring
forests in the Kumaun and Garhwal Terai. The insect here oviposits on the
new spring leaves of the tree in a manner similar to that already described
for the Sutlej Valley. Each year a considerable amount of defoliation appears
to be carried out by the weevil.

In the present state of our knowledge of economic entomology in
India it is not always possible to consider remedies for
application over large areas. The beetle probably has

both fungous and insect enemies, and the larva likewise,
the encouraging or introduction of which would keep it down. In nurseries
and small valuable plantations the question is not so difficult. In such places
I should advise the sweeping up into heaps of the small fallen leaf-rolls (each
of which, it must be remembered, contains an egg or larva, and therefore
a future beetle), and burning them in situ. This work will In- very simple if
carried out when the beetle is just finishing its egg-laying, as the ground
then will be littered with the small rolls, and by jarring the young plants
numbers will at once drop. In the case of small areas the ground could be
gone over two or three times, to make sure of removing and killing off as
many eggs as possible. Over larger ones one round would have to be
sufficient, and it would be important to choose the right time, so that the
maximum number of eggs possible might be destroyed. When the defoliation

422 FAMILY CURCULIOXIDAE

is about three-fourths complete would be the best time to go round large
areas. If the work is delayed longer, the larvae from the first-laid eggs will
have left what remains of the small rolls and have gone into the ground,
and it will then be too late to take steps against them unless ploughing
or hoeing be resorted to, both of which would probably be out of the
question as involving too large an outlay.

Apoderus ? sp.

Habitat. — South Coimbatore, Madras.
Tree Attacked. — Dalbergia latifolia. Mount Stuart, South Coimbatore.

Beetle. — Unknown.

Egg. -Large, egg-shaped, orange-yellow in colour. Length, i.c mm.

Larva. —Canary-yellow, shining, legless, the outer covering consisting of a fairly hard
chitinous layer. Head yellowish brown with brown mouth-parts. Last three segments
whitish to smoky. The thoracic segments are not much larger than the head, the first
abdominal segment being enlarged, the succeeding ones tapering gradually to the anal one.
Length, 4.7 mm.

I have not taken this weevil in the imago stage, I think. It is probably
distinct from the species of Attelabus dealt with below.

Life History. For one thing its life history was in a more advanced
stage, oviposition being over and in many cases the eggs

hatched out towards the end of July, whereas the other weevils studied
at the same time were still feeding and pairing and ovipositing in the forest.

The insect here treated of defoliates the Dalbergia latifolia in a manner
similar to that of the Apoderus of the sissu (D. sissoo} in Northern India,
cutting and rolling up the leaves as already described on page 419.

The D. latifolia trees in the forests round Mount Stuart were being
heavily attacked towards the end of July 1902, enormous numbers of
the leaves of the trees being rolled up in the egg-laying operations of
the beetles.

Apoderus ? sp.

Habitat. — Moulmein, Tenasserim, Burma.

Tree Attacked. — Cassia siautea. Moulmein, Tenasserim.

Beetle. — Elongate, greyish, the female larger than the male insect.

This weevil was found defoliating the leaves of Cassia siainea on
5 March 1905. The beetles eat more or less roundish patches out of the
edges of the leaves. Both sexes were present, and the insects were
coupling.

ATTELABUS.
Attelabus discolor, Fahrs.

K INHERENCE. — Fahrs. Schh. Gen. Cure, viii, 2, p. 232.

Habitat.- -South Coimbatore, Madras. Also reported from Bombay.
Tree Attacked.— Anogcissus latifolia. Mount Stuart, Anamalai Hills,
\Yalayan, South Coimbatore.

FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE

423

Beetle. — Moderately shining. Head and prothorax crimson, as also antennae, legs, and
under-surface ; elytra yellow, with three dorsal longitudinal lines, one-fourth up from base a

transverse red band, and two short ones near apex placed between

Description. outermost longitudinal line and lateral edge of elytra ; the latter edged

all round with a crimson band. Antennae fairly long and clubbed.

Legs long, the front legs greatly developed in length, and adapted for clinging to the edges
of leaves, as the insects do not appear to walk readily on flat surfaces. Femora of front
legs thickened. Length, 7.5 mm.

Egg. — Blunt-elliptical, pale yellow. Length, I mm.

This weevil rolls up the leaves of Anogcissus latifolia after depositing
an egg on the

Life History.

left-hand side of
the midrib at

the apex of the leaf. Usually the
whole of the leaf is made use of, the
cuts being made near the base. In-
fested trees may thus be completely
defoliated. At Mount Stuart I found
the insect in considerable numbers
towards the end of July 1902, and
at the commencement of the follow-
ing month I again observed it in
the Walayan Forest. I only noticed

5

Fu;. 283. — Leaves of AnogeissHs latifolia

sapling growth infested, parts of it attacked by the leaf-rolling weevil Attdabt

seriously, the whole of the leaves

, cr j ,1
having been stripped off under the

ovipositing operations of the beetles, malai Hills, South Coimbatore. (E. P. S.)

discolor, Fahrs. A, leaf cut across and rolled
up and egg deposited in roll: P., leaf with tirst
c^t madein it just above the leaf-stalk. Ana-

Attelabus octomaculata, Tekel.

KKKKKKNCK. — Tekel, Ins. Saiuul. ii, njo, not.

Habitat. — South Coimbatore, Madras.
Tree Attacked. — G radii tiluicfolui. Mount Stuart,
South Coimbatore.

Beetle. Orange <>r red, sinning, with right black spots, two
pi. iced transversely on the prothorax, and three others on each

^•^1^1^ elytra, two placed one above the other in

1 *^4«i^ / Description. the basal two-thirds, and the third Ian-rally

f \ in line with tin- upper one. Antennae

black, short, knobbed, inserted close together in trout of eyes : latter
prominent, black. Legs long, especially the anterior pair, the
femora thickened; latter red, rest below black. I 'nder-surf;i
uniform Indian-red. Length, 6 mm. to 7 mm.

This small weevil cuts and rolls up the lime-tree-like leaves »f
Greu'ia tiliacfolia for egg-laying purposes. Owing to the si/e of the leif,
the beetle only makes use of a portion of it instead of the whole, as is the

Attelabits
Tekel.

i;. 2X4.

0t toHiantlata,
Coimbatore.

424

FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE

case with the sissu Apodcnis. The weevil makes two curved cuts
below the apex of the leaf, until they meet the midrib about a third

down from the apex, as shown in the
sketch, and the portion between the
cuts is then rolled up after an egg has
been deposited near the apex (A). An-
other method of operation is to cut
out a portion from the side of the leaf
and roll this up along one of the side
veins, D E and n F.

In addition to making use of the
leaf in this manner for ovipositing pur-
poses, the weevil also feeds upon it,
eating out small patches of the paren-
chyma, as shown at B in the figure.

FiG.2Ss.—Lea£«!Gr£wiatiliae/olia l found the beetle fairly numerous

used by the weevil Attelabus octoma- in the forest round Mount Stuart, in

*/,/ for egg-laying. A, part of the g fa Coimbatore towards the end of
rolled-up leaf with egg inside. South

Coimbatore, Madras. (E. P. S.) JulyiQO2.

Attelabus sp.

Habitat. — South Coimbatore, Madras.

Trees Attacked. — Teak (Tectona grandis) ; Hclictcrcs sp. Mount Stuart,
South Coimbatore.

Beetle. — This beetle may be A. discolor described above, or a closely allied species.
Egg.— Pale yellow, shining, elliptical. Length, 1.17 mm.

This weevil was found plentifully in the
forests round Mount Stuart, in South Coim-
batore, towards the end of

Life History. July IQO2. The beetle was
feeding on the leaves of

teak, and feeding and ovipositing on those of //
Hclictcrcs. The teak-leaves had their edges
cut and slit up under the attacks. The soft
pubescent leaves of the Hclictcrcs were skele-
tonized, the parenchyma of the leaf being eaten
out, leaving a rough lace-work. Other leaves
had portions eaten out of the edges, or patches
eaten out of the interior, the veins being eaten
as well as the parenchvma, as shown in the
figure. This latter was the common method of
attack in the case of the teak-leaves.

Leaf of//,//v/vv.f
by Attelabus sp.

sp. gnawed
(E. P. S.)

PLATE XXX.

lerncarpiis dalbergioides. — Leading shoot of a padouk sapling, two years old, which
has escaped the attacks of the weevil Trigonocolns stibfasciatits, Fst. B. B. Osmaston,
Deputy Conservator of Forests, 21 July 1907.

FAMILY CUKCT'LIONIDAE

425

The egg is deposited on the upper surface to the left of the midrib at
the apex of the leaf in the case of the PIclictercs, the left-hand side of the
leaf being then folded inwards down the main vein and rolled up, the edges

I did not observe the beetle ovipositing on the teak.

being tucked in.

TRIGONOCOLUS.

The genus contains an important pest of the padauk in the Andaman
Islands.

Trigonocolus subfasciatus, Fst.

(Andamans Padank Weevil.)
Habitat. — Andaman Islands.

Tree Attacked. — Padauk (Ptcrocarpus d.ilbcr^ioides). Andamans (B. B.
Osmaston).

Beetle. — Broadly elliptical, small, the rostrum thick and slightly
more than half length of body. Black, moderately shining ; under-

surface greyish, due to the presence of a
Description. tine dense pubescence. Head small, eyes

large, inserted on lower edges ; vertex

punc'ate ; rostrum long, thick, widest at upper end, curved down-
wards, punctate : antennae inserted two-thirds up, the scrobes
placed laterally, the antennal club large, elongate elliptical, pubes-
cent. Prothorax narrow in front, anterior margin straight, more
than twice as wide behind, sides rounded, disk finely and trans-
versely striate, anterior margin finely punctate. Scutellum large,
transverse, punctate. Hlytra wider than prothorax behind humeral
angles, latter obliquely truncate, sides constricted sharply towards Trigonocolus subfascia-
apex, apices separately rounded, exposing a small pygidium : fits, Fst. 1 he Andamans
striate and punctate, the punctures small, the interspaces broad
and smooth. Length, 4.3mm. to 4.7mm.

Kic. 287.

I'adauk Weevil.
Andaman Islands.

The attack of this small weevil pest on young padauk plants in the
Andaman Islands was first discovered and reported by

Life History. ]\jr. B. B. Osmaston, now Conservator of Forests, then
in charge of the forests of the islands. The insect made

its appearance in the tounggya padauk plantations, which were started near
Port Blair about 1903. PI. xx.x shows the leading shoot of an unattacked
two-year-old padauk sapling. The damage done is caused by the mature
beetle, young shoots and leaders of seedlings and saplings bring ringed by
the weevil, presumably to afford sustenance for its offspring in the dying
portion of the shoot. Plates xxxi to xxxv show the nature of the damagi
done by the insect.

In spite of careful search, however, Mr. Osmaston was unable to tind
either the egg, larva, or pupa of the weevil. The beetles appear on the
wing chiefly in the wet months, Mr. Osmaston recording: "The damage is
chiefly done in wet months. April to October, during which period the

426 FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE

attacks of the weevil are so systematical!}' carried out that little or no
height-growth can be put on. In the dry weather, i.e. November to March,
the insect is scarce, and the majority of seedlings or saplings manage to put
on a good shoot."

Mr. Osmaston wrote in 1905 : " Nothing is known of the life history of
this beetle or why it rings the small twigs, though it appears to suck the sap
from the points where the injury is inflicted. I have not observed any
indication of egg-laying in the shoots which are ringed."

No further observations on the life history have yet been recorded.

The weevil, so far as is known at present, infests young padauk plants

only. The following notes upon its modus operandi are

F r from Mr. Osmaston's reports. In October 1905 he

wrote: "The nature of the damage consists in the

ringing of all the young shoots, including the leader, at a stage when they
are only an inch or two long, and about one-twelfth to one-sixteenth of an
inch in diameter, but this ringing is so systematically carried out that the
whole growth of the young tree is checked thereby. The young shoots fall
off shortly after being ringed, and the sapling gradually assumes an
unhealthy, bushy appearance with no definite leader (cf. pi. xxxiii and
pi. xxxv). The seedlings are not much attacked until they reach a height
of about 18 in., and from this point until they attain a height of about
6 ft. they suffer very seriously.

' It remains to be seen whether the plants will ultimately outgrow this
insect pest, which at present appears to threaten the very existence of the
plantations.

"The damage has been noticed for the last three years while tounggya
plantations have been going on, but it is only lately that I succeeded in
securing the insect which is responsible for it."

In August 1907 a further communication on the subject was received,
together with an excellent series of dried parts of attacked plants showing
the method of attack by the beetle. The photographs shown here were
taken from the valuable series of specimens prepared by Mr. B. B. Osmaston.
The following additional observations were recorded : " The tender shoot is
punctured within an inch or two of its apex, and the juice is sucked out as
it exudes."

Marks of "unsuccessful ringing" are nearly always to be found
lower down on the shoot attacked (cf. pi. xxxi, xxxii, and xxxiv). The object
of this is not clear, unless it is done with a view to diminishing the flow of
sap at the apex. Nothing whatever is known of the life history of this
insect ; neither the larva nor the pupa has been discovered as yet.

we have seen, Mr. Osmaston sa\ s that in the dry months from
November to March the greater number of the seedlings and saplings are
able to put on a good shoot. In some cases, however, he states, the

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FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE

427

saplings after repeated insect attacks reach a stage when they appear
unable to send up new shoots, as in the examples D and F shown in
pi. xxxiii and pi. xxxv.

The fine series of plates exhibiting the attack of the weevil show
(A) leading shoot of an unattacked sapling; (B) (E) a one-year-old seedling
showing unsuccessful and successful girdling ; (c) a two-year-old sapling
showing the same ; (D) (F) leading shoots of a two-year-old sapling showing
malformation resulting from attacks.

MECISTOCERUS.
Mecistocerus raucus, Faust.
Habitat. — Sal ween River, Tenasserim.

Tree Attacked. — Dalbergia sp. (cultrata ?). Kowloon Island, Sal ween River.
Beetle. — Elongate, torpedo-shaped. Black, mottled with areas
of silvery grey, largest and most prominent on the elytra ; the legs

coloured similarly. Head small, finely
Description. punctate ; rostrum rather thin, curved and

depressed, brown, punctate, not quite one-
third length of insect. Prothorax widest behind, sides rounded ;
coarsely rugose-punctate, the punctures large and confluent on disk.
Elytra slightly wider than prothorax, constricted in apical third,
apex narrow, rounded ; basal portion coarsely rugose, punctate and
striate, the remainder more finely so ; punctures and striae inter-
rupted, save basally, by irregular areas of a very fine silky grey
and yellowish pubescence, increasing in extent in apical part.

Under-surface black, punctate, with a short greyish pubescence.

Mecistocerus ram us,

Legs long, the femora thickened, with a prominent tooth three- ,> . ,- i veen Kjver
fourths up on inner edge. Length, 6.3111111.

I cut out a living specimen of this beetle from its pupal chamber in the
sapwood of a large standing dead Dalbergia tree on

Life History. Kowloon Island on 9 March 1905. The beetle was quite
mature and ready to leave the tree. The gallery made by
its grub was an irregular winding one, eaten out in the bast and sapwood.

Mecistocerus ? fluctiger, Faust.

REFERENCE.— Stebbing, Cryptoi-liynchits sp. Injw. Ins. Ind. For. p. 61 (1899).

Habitat. — Eastern Himalaya.

Tree Attacked.— White Siris (Al/n-.in prnccni). Tista Valley, Sikkini ;
elevation about 1,000 ft.

Beetle. -Yellowish brown to dark brown, of typical cryptorhynchid shape. About one-
third inch in length. Three parts mature only.

From a white siris-tree blown down in the Tista Valley forests

during the previous monsoon I obtained a number of

specimens of this beetle in April iM(j(). The eggs had

been evidently laid in the tree some time in the previous autumn, and the

FHI. 288.

428 FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE

grubs on hatching had eaten out long irregular longitudinal galleries in
the bast and sapwood, the tunnels grooving the latter somewhat deeply.
On becoming full-fed the larvae penetrated into the wood to pupate. The
stem of the tree contained numbers of the pupal chambers at distances
varying from a half to one and a half inches down in the sapwood. The
beetles would probably issue some time early in May, and there are
perhaps two generations in the year, or one and a half generations, resulting
in the over-lapping of the life-cycles.

Mecistocerus ? sp.

REFERENCE. — Stebbing, Injur. Ins. Ind. For. p. 61 (1899).

Habitat. — -Eastern Himalaya.

Tree Attacked. — Kadam (Anthocephalus cadamba, Miq.). Tista Valley
Sikkim ; elevation about 1,000 ft.

Beetle. — Unknown. May be identical with above.

Cocoon. — The gtub pupates in a loose semi-elliptical cocoon made of chips of wood and
bark. (See fig. 49 in pi. ix in Injurious Insects of Indian Forests.}

Pupa. — The pupa is elongate, narrow, yellowish white, and has the shape of a
Mecistocerns beetle.

I took numerous specimens of the pupa and cocoons of this weevil in

the Tista Valley in April 1896. The pupal cases were

Life History. situated between the bark and wood, the larva having

eaten out an elliptical-shaped depression, of which half

was in the sapwood, whilst the other half was situated in the inner bark.
The grub itself eats out irregularly winding longitudinal galleries in the
bast and sapwood. The tree in which the pupae were found was still
alive, but was dying, the greater portion of the cambium layer in the lower
part of the trunk having been removed. I have not been able to procure
mature specimens of the insect for identification.

CRYPTORHYNCHUS.

A very important forest genus of weevils whose grubs eat out galleries in
the bast and sapwood, often causing the death of trees.

Cryptorhynchus brandisi, Stebbing.
(The Chir Pine Weevil.}

REFERENCES. — Stebbing, Ind. For. Mem. For. Zool. Ser. vol. ii, pt. ii, p. 73 ; id. Depart. Notes

(Cryptorhynchus sp.), i, 41 (1902).

Habitat. — North-West Himalaya; Shillong, Assam; Maymyo, Upper
Burma.

Trees Attacked.— Chir Pine (Finns longifolia) : Kumaun (K. C. Milward
et inihi), Jaunsar, Tehri Garhwal, Chamba (juilii} ; Finns khasya :
Maymyo (G. R. Long, D. A. Allan, ct inihi}, Shillong (mihi).

PLATE XXXVI.

X2

X2

1 a

i

1

1 6

X2

1 c

X2

X4

brandisi, Steb. — i. Larva ; irt, cocoon ; il>, pupa ; ir, weevil ; id, pupating-chambers,
with a mature weevil in one of them, in the bark and sapwood of a portion of a Finns longifolia stem. 2. Cuckoo
wasp parasitic on the weevil. 3. Elaunon bipartite, Kirby, predaceous upon the weevil. Kumaun, North-
\Vest Himalaya.

FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE 429

Beetle.— Elongate-ovate. Head and rostrum black ; elytra reddish brown, with a sparse
greyish pubescence, most prominent laterally. Head finely punctate, the rostrum a little

more than a quarter the length of the insect, not very thick, and

Description. tapering slightly to apex, curved, punctate, and medianly carinate ;

the scrobes commence a little above middle of rostrum, slightly

oblique, directed upwards to where the bases of antennae take off; antennae fairly stout,
inserted slightly above middle, scape swollen into a knob at point of junction with funiculus,
latter ends in an oblique oval knob : eyes strongly facetted. Prothorax triangular, tapering
anteriorly, sides rounded, transversely channelled just below anterior edge ; a narrow, median,
longitudinal, keel-shaped carina starting from anterior third and not reaching base ; rest
of surface very coarsely rugose-punctate and reticulate. Scutellum round. Elytra widest
basally, humeral angles truncate, sides rounded and constricted, apices separately rounded ;
a small white blotch about their centre and a larger one towards the posterior extremity ;
broadly striate and finely punctate, the striae interrupted by some large deep punctures placed
at intervals. Under-surface dark red-brown, punctate, with a short, sparse, yellow pubescence.
Legs pubescent and punctate ; femora thickened anteriorly, the posterior ones not reaching
to end of the abdomen. Length, 6.6 mm. to 8.5 mm. PL xxxvi, fig. ir, shows a dorsal and
side view of the beetle.

I have here revised and added to the description of this insect given in Indian Forest
Memoirs, ii, 73 (191 1).

Larva. — A fat yellowish-white rather curved grub. Head well marked, dark yellow.
Prothoracic segments swollen and corrugated with a horny plate dorsally. Body corrugated,
the segments constricted posteriorly to a blunt point. Length, \ in. Fig. i.

Pupa. — Yellowish white, thick and blunt-ended. Somewhat ovate. Wings and legs are
pressed against the cheek. Also antennae. Fig. \b.

Cocoon.— Blunt-elliptical with rounded curved sides. It is made of shredded bark and wood
strips loosely bound together so as to fit fairly tightly into the elliptical-shaped hole gnawed
out of the sapwood and bark for its reception. Fig. la.

This weevil pest has a somewhat wide distribution in the forests of

India, stretching from the western portion of the
Life History. Himalaya to Maymyo in Upper Burma so far as is at

present known. The fact that the weevil known to

infest the Pinns khcisya in Assam and Upper Burma is identical with the
pest of the Finns longifolia of the Western Himalaya, a point definitively set
at rest by Mr. Marshall, is a fact of considerable importance and significance
to the well-being of the forests in these regions.

The female beetle crawls into the deep crevices in the bark of the tree,

and lays her eggs, probably singly, in the smaller crevices

Life History in the °f the tm'n lower layers of bark, or pierces down to the

North West Himalaya, cambium layer and places them there. The young larv.tr

on hatching out remain in the thinnest portion of the

cambium layer, at first eating out a small gallery in an invgular fashion.
As it increases in size the grub eats out a deeper gallery in the thick
cambium and bark, the gallery also grooving the sapwood. This gallery
has always a very irregular shape, and gradually increases in diameter as the
grub grows larger. The gallery may be very irregular and winding, pro-
ceeding round the circumference of the tree, or it may proceed up or down
the tree in a more or less winding vertical manner, the gallery having small
horizontal bends in it at intervals, due to the fact that the larva has for a

43o FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE

time taken to boring horizontally instead of vertically. It may be possible
that these horizontal portions in the gallery are made just before one of the
moultings of its skin which take place periodically during the growth in size
of the grub. When the grub has reached full growth, and just before
pupating, the gallery is often curved at right angles to its previous direction,
and the larva then eats out the pupating-chamber in the sapwood and bark.
In fig. 23 a grub is shown in this position at the top of the stem.

As has been said, the gallery increases in size with the development in
bulk of the insect, so that by the time the grub approaches full growth the
gallery is from three to four times the breadth of its occupant. The larval
gallery is always filled with loosely packed ejected wood-dust and wrood
excreta containing short strands of ligneous wood fibres. Owing to its
irregular method of feeding the length and breadth of the larval galleries
vary very greatly, but galleries have been measured as long as 9 in. in
length, whilst others have wound about in an area of bark 6 in. to 8 in.
square. Fig. 23 and pi. xxxvii show the larval galleries in the cambium
. and sapwood.

The position of pupation appears to vary according to the size of
the tree attacked and consequent thickness of the bark present. In the case
of old trees where the bark is very thick the insect eats out an elliptical
pupating-chamber which is made entirely in the inner bark of the trees
and does not groove the sapwood. This chamber or cradle is lined with
particles of bark fibres forming a rough loose cocoon in which the larva
pupates. In the case of young trees, on the other hand, the larva eats out an
elliptical depression in the sapwood about half to three-quarters of an inch
in length and having the appearance of a small kind of cradle. The other
half of this ellipse is eaten out in the cambium layer (see fig. id, in which a
newly matured beetle is shown in situ in the cradle) and bark, and the two
halves are then lined with a thick interwoven mass of stringy wood-fibres
which fits rather tightly into the cradle (pi. xxxvii). In this cocoon the larva
changes into the pupal stage.

When the beetle is fully mature, and consequently ready to leave the
tree, it bites out a circular hole at one end of the cocoon (fig. xxxvii, the
lower of the two cocoons shown), and, crawling out of this, bores a large
circular hole through the thick bark of the tree, and thus escapes from it.
These holes have a considerable diameter, and are easily visible even in
the thick bark which this tree puts on (vide pi. xxxvii). Observations of
attacked trees have shown that the newly mature weevils do not always
get out of the tree in safety, owing to the outflow of resin which at times
catches the beetles whilst engaged in boring their way through the bark and
drowns them. Instances of this have been observed in situ in the trees.

It is difficult at present to state with any certainty the number of
generations which this weevil passes through in the year, since the insect is
so often found in the tree in all three of its stages of larva, pupa, and beetle.
I am inclined to consider, however, that the insect has normally three genera-

I'l ATE XXXVII.

Portion of the stem of a voim- /'inns longifolia showing the attacks of the larvae ot
Cryptorhvncliits hrainihi, Steb.. in the bast and sapwood. Two cocoons are shown in situ
and exit-holes of the matured weevils in the bark, [aunsar. .\ortli-\Vcst llim.ilava.

FAMILY CURCULIOXIDAE 431

tions in the year, but that these generations overlap very greatly, thus giving
rise to the appearance of there being an almost continuous succession of
larvae and pupae in the trees throughout the year. An examination of
infested trees at the commencement of the winter (about the middle of
November) will show that almost mature and immature beetles are present
in the pupal cradles, and that these pass through the winter in this position.
The larvae in the trees which have not as yet pupated will probably all
pupate before the severe cold commences, so that the winter is probably
chiefly passed in the pupal or mature-beetle condition. We have no data
at present as to when this insect commences work at the beginning of the
season, but it would probably be some time in April at the latest, the pupae
maturing and the mature beetles egg-laying some time during this month.
Observations carried out by myself in 1908 in Kumaun have shown that a
generation of beetles matures and issues about the first week in June, and
probably lays eggs about the middle of that month. The larvae from
these eggs have been found to give rise to the full-grown larvae, pupae,
and immature beetles reported by Mr. Milward as infesting trees in the
Almora plantations at the beginning of September, the generation of beetles
maturing about the middle of September and laying eggs towards the latter
part of that month. The larvae arising from these eggs were found half-
grown in the middle of October in the trees examined by myself in Jaunsar
in 1906, and this forms the over-wintering generation of the insect. We thus
have three generations, in which the mature-beetle (i.e. egg) and pupal stages
are from a week to a fortnight in duration, whilst the larval stage (that is, the
period during which the chief damage is done to the tree) lasts roughly from
six to eight weeks. The hibernation probably lasts for some four months,
from December to the end of March. Of course elevation and severe
or mild winters will greatly modify the duration of this period, and conse-
quently the date of appearance of the various generations, which, du reste,
necessarily overlap owing to the insect commencing the year in both the
pupal and perfect-insect stages : the eggs laid by the latter as soon as the
weather is favourable thus having the start over the ones laid by the beetles
which have first to mature from the pupal stage through which the winter
has been passed.

In December 1901 Mr. G. R. Long, I.F.S., forwarded me a consignment
of larvae, pupae, and imagoes of this weevil, with the

Life History information that thev were infesting an experimental

in Upper Burma , c . • . f

and Assam. plantation of rum* khasya at Maymyo, I pper Burma.

Mr. D. A. Allan, Forest Ranger, had drawn his atten-
tion to the attacks. In February 1905 I had an opportunity of visiting
the plantation in question and of inspecting other planted trees in the
station. At this period I also found the insect in all stages in the trees. The
following year I found the beetle in large numbers in 1'inus k/ni\\'tt trees in
Shillong in Assam towards the end of April, but discovered no larvae or
pupae.

432 FAMILY CURCULIOXIDAE

From these observations it would seem that the insect appears on the
wing earlier in the year at Maymyo (3,500 ft.) than in Assam ; it is quite
possible that in Burma the generations overlap and that the insect never
ceases work in a climate where but little cold is experienced throughout the
year. At Shillong (5,500 ft.) the beetles taken so numerously were probably
the first beetles of the year engaged in laying the eggs of the first brood.

The mode of attack of the insect in Finns kliasya is very similar to that
in Finns longifolia. The larvae live in the bast and sapwood, grooving out
elongate irregular broad galleries. When full-fed they gnaw out a cavity
in the bast and sapwood, line it with bark- and wood-fibres, and pupate in
this. These bark- and wood-fibres are fresh and moist when the cavity
contains newly pupated larvae, whereas by the time the beetle has reached
the resting stage the fibre lining of the cavity has become dry and yellow.
When mature the weevil eats a hole straight through the thick bark and
crawls through it to the outside of the tree.

The damage arising from the presence of this insect in a forest is

two-fold — (<?) It attacks young green standing growth

Relations to the f n kindg frQm thg moment that th seedlings have

Forest.

developed a bark thick enough for the larvae to feed

in. This bark in the case of the Finns longifolia is developed at a very early
age, often in trees as young as three to four years old. (6) The beetle attacks
with equal facility green trees of all ages up to old standing trees of large
size, laying its eggs either deep down in crevices in the thick bark at the
base of the tree or anywhere in the bole higher up and in the crown. A
standing green apparently healthy tree of 14 ft. girth was found attacked in
this manner in Jaunsar in November 1906.

The beetle must be looked upon, as is the case with many of the weevil
family, as particularly hardy and resistant to outside influences; and this is
so both in the larval and mature-beetle stages. The larvae once hatched
would seem to have more than the usual chances of reaching maturity,
since they are to be found wallowing in the outflow of resin poured out by
the tree in answer to their operations in the bast layer ; the resin appears
to be particularly palatable to them. The powers of multiplication of the
beetle also seem to be considerable.

The danger of an insect of this nature gradually increasing in numbers
and acquiring a hold over a forest is of course much greater in the case of
pure forests than in that of mixed ones, and this danger is existent in this
instance, since the Finns longifolia is to be found pure over considerable areas
in the North-West Himalaya.

In Burma Mr. Long's investigation of the attacks of the beetle in
J'inus khasya was limited to five-year-old trees in a plantation situated
at 3,200 ft. elevation, and only trees on a southern aspect were noted as
infested, those on a northern aspect but 200 yards away being unattacked.
Mr. Long noted that the woody tissues, often to the centre of the tree, were

FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE 433

stained blue as though by fungoid mycelia, and was inclined to think that the
chief damage was due to the fungus. Subsequent investigation has not,
however, upheld this surmise.

In February 1905 I visited this plantation at Maymyo, which now forms
part of the grounds of The Lodge, the summer residence of the Lieutenant-
Governor of Burma. As a result of the investigations made the following
points were established :—

(1) That the insect is to be found in the trees in all stages of grub,

pupa, and beetle in the middle of February.

(2) That it will apparently attack poles as well as saplings, since

recently killed poles were ten years old, their outer bark quite
thick and rough ; and that trees seriously infested will be killed.

(3) That it will attack trees on any aspect — not only on a southern

one. The attack investigated in 1905 was situated at some
distance from the infested trees discovered by Mr. Long.

(4) That the insect was a difficult one to deal with in this locality, since

in spite of the efforts made to stamp it out in 1902 it was
abundant in 1905, and appeared to be spreading throughout the
station owing to the large amount of planting which was accom-
panying the increased building operations.

In Shillong in April 1906 I found the weevil abundant. Numbers of
beetles were cut out from the bark and sapwood of recently felled unbarked
logs in the forest. Others were found on the under-surface of the log,
sheltered from the sun in interstices of the bark.

Other evidence of the abundance of this insect in the forest round the
station was to be found in the dead poles used to fence in the jumping
schools near the polo ground, and in fact for fences of all kinds throughout
the place. Large round holes were visible in the bark, and if the latter was
removed the elliptical chambers filled with masses of wood- and bark-fibre
were to be seen; or, if the bark had fallen off, the semi-elliptical depressions in
the sapwood formed sufficient evidence of the former presence of the beetle.
And such were very numerous.

Protection and remedial measures against this weevil, although a some-
what difficult matter, are quite feasible when the
Protection and Remedial , , ,, . , . , ,r.

Measures P s e dealt Wltn in plantations. 1 he first

step to be taken is to determine accurately the dates

during the year at which the trees in any particular locality contain larvae,
pupae, and immature beetles. Having decided upon these periods, the whole
of the infested trees should be cut out and burnt. Badly infested trees can
easily be recognized owing to the fact that tlicir needles commence to turn
yellow and the tree begins to fade. In the case of young plantations a little
careful observation on the part of Forest Guards should make it possible lor
them to be able to mark down attacked trees upon which the needles have not
yet turned yellow, since the bark of the trees is invariably coated with a mass.
9003 E E

434 FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE

of resin exuding from the holes of mature beetles which have found their way
out of the trees. It is by means of these resin masses (which in badly infested
older poles and large trees thickly coat the bark, more especially in the
regions where the side branches take off from the main stem) that an attack
can be marked down.

As in the case of young trees in plantations, so in that of older trees
in the forest, the only plan to prevent the attack spreading to uninfested
trees is to cut out the infested ones, strip off the bark, and burn it. To
be satisfactory this must be done at the periods when the insect is in
the larval and immature-beetle stage. This, in the Western Himalaya,
would be towards the end of May, middle of August, or during the long
winter period of hibernation. In fact, where possible, I should always advise
remedial measures against this pest being undertaken during the period of
hibernation. At this season there are no beetles on the wing in the forest,
so that it is possible to ensure killing off the whole of the insects which are
responsible for the dying condition of the trees, thus clearing effectually a
plantation or an area of forest from the pest.

In the case of severe infestations of the weevil the provision of trap trees
is recommended, the trees to be felled and barked as soon as they are full
of larvae. This operation will require careful watching and inspection in
localities where the generations of the insect overlap, and it may be found
necessary to burn or completely char the stems of the trees after felling,
instead of barking them. Barking will not be sufficient to kill semi-mature
or " resting " beetles. These would simply fall into the undergrowth, mature
there, and in time carry on the infestation.

It must be borne in mind, however, that it will be of little use clearing
one set of infested areas of the beetles if other affected areas in the neighbour-
hood are left untended. And this applies more particularly to the Kumaun
P. longifolia forests. In this region there are a number of district forests
which are not under the management of the Forest Department,* and through
which annual fires are allowed to run unchecked, and mutilation of the
forest growth on the area takes place. It is in such areas that the weevil
has the greatest scope for increasing rapidly, for it finds here large numbers
of trees weakened by fire and mutilation which serve it as exceptionally
tine breeding-places. I personally examined several areas of this kind in
1909, in all of which I found the weevil in abundance. It is probable that the
greatest difficulty to be faced in endeavouring to prevent the spread of this
pest on a large scale throughout the P. lon^i folia forests confronts one in the
presence of these areas of fire-swept and mutilated forests of Naini Tal and
the Kumaun districts. Not only do these areas serve as breeding-grounds of
the weevil, but they are equally favourable to the multiplication of the
Imprestids Capnodis and Anthaxia, the Nothorrhina longicorn beetle (pp. 202,
212, 281), and the dangerous Noctua moth bast-eating caterpillar.

* I understand that these areas have now been placed in charge of the Department.

FAMILY CURCULIOXIDAE 435

The condition of the Baldhoti and Kalimath plantations in 1909,
especially the latter, clearly shows the danger arising from and the
difficulties to be faced in connection with the state of the district P. longifolia
forests. I was given to understand by the Commissioner of the Kumaun
Division that District Officers were engaged in forming plantations of
P. longifolia. There can be little hope of their proving successful unless
the destruction going on in the Civil forests is put an end to and an effective
check on the increase of the beetles thus established.

In Shillong careful attention will have to be paid to this insect if it is to
be prevented from acquiring a strong hold over the beautiful Finns khasya
woods surrounding the station. My inspection in 1906 showed that the
heavy and unregulated fellings being made in these woods would inevitably
lead to a large increase in the numbers of this pest.

Ichneumon sp. — -The grub of this fly is parasitic upon the weevil larva,
feeding upon the fatty tissues of the latter and causing

Parasitic and jts death from exhaustion after it has reached full
Predaceous Foes in

North-West development.

Himalaya. Fly.— Small, yellowish in colour, with four iridescent

wings. Body curved and armed with three long fine
hairs or styles at posterior end.

Larva. — A minute white grub almost translucent in colour, with head
pale canary-yellow.

Life History. — I have found this insect but sparingly in Piniis longifolia.
The only stage taken is that of the mature Ichneumon fly, which was found
in the characteristic pupal chamber made by the weevil larva. It is probable
that the fly deposits its eggs close to those laid by the weevil in crevices of the
bark of the tree or in the neighbourhood of or on the newly hatched weevil
grub. I have not yet discovered whether the Ichneumon grub feeds on th^
weevil larva as an external or internal parasite. The weevil grub is evidently not
killed until it has finished the construction of the pupal chamber. It then
dies, and the hymenopterous parasite pupates. The mature fly evidently
issues from the tree at the same time as the weevil beetles, since both were
found maturing or mature and leaving the tree at the Baldhoti Plantation
near Almora in the first week of June.

There is a good deal still to be learnt about this most useful parasite.
Exactly where the eggs are laid and whether more than one Ichneumon larva
parasitizes each weevil grub are important points to ascertain. Also whether the
insect, as is probable, passes through the same number of life-cycles as its host.

Cuckoo-wasp. — The small Cuckoo-wasp figured in pi. \.\xvi, fig. 2, was
taken by myself from one of the pupating-chambers of the weevil in a young
tree. The fly wras just mature. It would appear probable that the insect
lays its eggs in the weevil grubs, and that the young Cuckoo-wasp larvae
feed upon and eventually kill the weevil grub-. The point is of great
interest, for it is the first record I have of the Cuckoo-wasps being of use in
the Indian forests as parasites of noxious tree-pests.

E E 2

FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE

Elaunon bipartitus, Kirby. — Predaceous upon C. brandisi.

Mature Insect. — Elongate narrow. Brown; the forewings bright canary-
yellow. Antennae and legs slender, yellow. Length, i in. PI. xxxvi, fig. 3,
shows a dorsal and side view of the insect.

Life History. — The grub of this earwig is, I think, predaceous upon the
grubs of the cryptorhynchid weevil.

I took a number of fully mature insects from the dying tree felled in the
Baldhoti Plantation on 8 June, and others subsequently in the young dying
trees in the Kalimath Plantation. The earwigs were found between the bast
and sapwood.

I know nothing further about this insect.

Cryptorhynchus gravis, Fabr.

Habitat. — United Provinces, Bengal, Assam.
Tree Attacked. — Mango (Mangifera indica).

Beetle. — Rusty brown to blackish brown in colour, mottled with greyish patches.
Proboscis long, bent vertically downwards, apical portion black, antennae inserted half-way

up. Prothorax triangular, of less width
Description. than elytra, finely rugose. Elytra covered * ft f

with longitudinal rows of yellowish scales,

strongly striate-punctate, widest at base, thence gradually constrict-
ing to apex, which is depressed and slightly constricted. Length,
9 mm. ; breadth, 3 mm.

Larva. — White, fleshy, legless, and corrugated.

This weevil is the common pest of mangoes in

Northern India. Many must be
Life History. acquainted with both grub and

weevil, since they are often found

within the fruit. The eggs are laid in March or
April on the young newly formed mango fruit, the

larvae feeding in the stone. When full-fed, by which time the infested
mango will have fallen to the ground, the grub eats its way through the
fruit and pupates in the soil, emerging in late June and July and on into
August as a perfect beetle. These beetles pass through the monsoon and
following winter in this stage, and lay their eggs in March or April of the
following year.

Cryptorhynchus mangiferae, Fabr.
REFERENCE. — Fabr. Syst. Ent. p. 139.

The life history of this insect in its main details is similar to that of
C. gravis. It is not impossible, however, that it may pass through two
generations in the year.

According to Lefroy (Indian Insect Life) it is confined to South India and
Ceylon.

FIG. 289.

Bengal, Assam.

FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE

437

Cryptorhynchus raja, Stebbing, sp. nov.
Habitat. — Chamba State, Tehri Garhwal, North-West Himalaya.

Trees Attacked. — Blue Pine (Pinus excelsa}: Bre Forest, Chamba;
Spruce: Deota, Tehri Garhwal.

Beetle. — Elongate, rather narrow. Black, dull, with very small
patches and tufts of a greenish-orange pubescence. Head finely

rugose, small, with a slight coppery re-
Description, flexion which extends down on to the

basal half of rostrum ; latter not quite a

third length of insect, the basal half broad, flat, punctate, with an
elevate median longitudinal ridge ; the rostrum tapers to middle,
thence widens gradually, shining brown, and very slightly and finely
punctate ; antennae inserted above middle, the long scrobes placed
at sides, the scape swollen to a knob at upper end and shorter than
rest of antenna, the club large, conical. Prothorax widest medianly,
tapers in front, sides rounded, a fine elevate longitudinal smooth
black median line runs from the anterior to posterior margin ; rest of surface rather coarsely
rugose-punctate, the punctures large medianly. Elytra widest at base, constricted apically ;
striate punctate, the punctures large and shallow, and often confluent ; with here and there
small patches and spots of a fine yellowish-green pubescence. Legs punctate and pubescent.
Length, 6 mm. to 7 mm.

I know little

FIG. 290.
Cryptorhynchus raja,

Steb., sp. nov.
N.W. Himalaya.

Life History.

on the subject of the life history of this crypto-
rhynchid. I first obtained a specimen of it from a
pupal chamber between the bark and sapwood of a
large girdled spruce-tree in June in Tehri Garhwal. Subsequently I found it

in blue pine in the Bre forests in Chamba
in June 1909. From a pupal chamber hol-
lowed out in the bark and sapwood I took a
dead weevil. The gallery in the bast ami
sapwood made by its larva is shown here.
I had felled and examined a number of dead
deodar and blue-pine saplings and small and
large poles, which had died from some un-
known cause, on either side of the upper part
of the Catchment Area of the small mountain
torrent which flows from here into the Ravi
River. These trees had been killed by bark
beetles, chiefly Scolvtits major ;md Polygraphs
major . In some cases, however, 1 found larval
galleries of this cryptorhynchid \uwil present
in some abundance in the bast and sapwood
of the blue pine. The round exit-holes in
FIG. 291. -Larval galleries of the thick bark showed that the beetles had
Crvptorhynchus raja in blue pine, already matured and left the trees.
«, position of pupation. The smaller Observations seemed to indicate that

gallery is incomplete. Chamba, ..... . ... ,, r

North-West Himalaya. (E. P. S.) the life history is very similar to that of

438 FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE

C. brandisi in the Finns longifolia. In view of the fact that this latter
weevil is a pest of the first magnitude, the life history of this blue-pine and
spruce insect, as also its abundance, requires to be carefully ascertained.

Cryptorhynchus sp.*

Habitat. — Tharrawaddy, Lower Burma ; Katha, Upper Burma.
Tree Attacked. — Teak (Tectona grandis). Kadin Bilin Forest, Tharra-
waddy ; Katha.

Beetle. — Black, of usual cryptorhynchid shape, the elytra with prominent longitudinal
striae down them, and punctate. Length, 13 mm.

Larva.— Whitish yellow, curved, corrugated, with a yellow-brown head. Specimen taken
was half-grown.

Towards the end of January 1905 whilst in Tharrawaddy I cut out a
specimen of this weevil from its pupal chamber in the

Life History. sapwood and bark of a teak-tree which had been felled
in the thinnings made the previous year in the 1888

plantation. The beetle lays the eggs in the bark. The grub on
hatching feeds at first in the bark and bast, and then in the sapwood,
eating out the usual irregular winding gallery. When full-grown it gnaws a
hole through the bark to the outside, plugs it up with a fibrous mass of bark
and wood shavings, and then pupates beneath this. The specimen of the
beetle found was taken in this position. It was fully mature, and hiber-
nating until the approach of the hot season. I also found one half-grown
grub in a gallery in the tree.

I obtained mature living beetles from pupal chambers in the wood of
the roots of a large girdled teak-tree on 20 February 1905 in the Mohnyin
Forest in Katha. This tree had been girdled about a year before. The
beetles appeared to be ready to fly. It is practically certain that the insect
passes through several life-cycles in the year, but the number has yet to be
ascertained.

In view of the importance of this genus to the forester it is interesting
to know that there are species which infest the teak.

Cryptorhynchus ? sp.
Habitat. — Changa Manga, Punjab.

Tree Attacked. — Sissu (Dalbergia sissoo). Changa Manga Plantation,
Punjab.

Beetle. — Small. Head and prothorax dark velvety brown or black, covered with a short
golden pubescence ; elytra chestnut-brown, darker towards apices, with a golden pubescence.
Legs brown. Length, 6 mm. to 8 mm.

Specimens of this weevil were taken from beneath the rotten bark of
the main roots of a large standing green sissu-tree in the Changa Manga

: I have since determined this insect to be identical with Cryptorhyncits brandisi;
vide p. 428.

FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE 439

Plantation. The beetles were in the tree from nine inches to a foot beneath
the soil. The galleries of the grubs were in the bast and sapwood of the
roots, the weevils taken being in the pupal chambers made between the
bark and wood. The beetles appeared to be fully mature and ready to
leave the tree when found in the third week in May.

Cryptorhynchus sp.
Habitat. — Darrang, Assam.

Tree Attacked. — India-rubber (Ficus elastic^. Charduar Rubber Plan-
tation, Darrang.

Beetle.— Elongate, blackish, shining. Prothorax fairly smooth, shining. Elytra coarsely
punctured and occasionally slightly reddish apically. The male is either equal in size or
larger than the female. Length, 7 mm. to 9 mm.

During the first fortnight of April 1906 some investigations were made
of pests infesting the Charduar Rubber plantations in
Life History. the Darrang Division of Assam. The blocks where
the tapping of the trees for rubber was in progress
were visited. The trees are tapped by making horizontal incisions round
the stem every eighteen inches to two feet up the trunk and on all branches
over two feet girth. The cuts go from half to two-thirds round the trunk
or branch. The milky-white fluid rubber flows out immediately the incision
is made, and is caught on mats placed on the ground or against the tree-
trunk beneath the cuts. This is called "mat" rubber. It only flows for
about three to five minutes. The cuts are left for three days and then
each is visited and the strip of rubber which has slowly oozed from the
tree and congealed in the incision is pulled out. The red portion of the
strip is A-class and the white B-class rubber. I inspected numerous
trees during my visit, and found this cryptorhynchid weevil very plen-
tiful, feeding at the rubber congealing in the cut. Even at cuts made
but twenty-four hours previously the insect was in numbers. Many of the
beetles were coupled, the curious fact being seen that the male was often
larger in size than the female he paired with, which is unusual so far as
my experience goes. The weevil possesses a certain power of boring, as
species kept in cork-topped glass tubes gnawed a very considerable portion
of the corks. The weevils paired together several times during the thirty-
six to forty-eight hours they were kept in the tubes.

BARIS.

Baris sp.

KKKKKKXCK. — Ind. .I/us. Notes, v, ',. p. no.

Habitat. — Dehra Dun, North Imli;i.

Tree Attacked, -'icnninalia bclcrica. Dehra Dun (F. Gleadow .

Beetle. — 1 have n<>i seen tins beetle.

44o FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE

In fune 1900 Mr. F. Gleadow, Deputy Director, Imperial Forest School,

Dehra Dun, sent to the Indian Museum, Calcutta, some

Life History. specimens of this insect, which he reported as infesting

the fruits of Terminalia belerica. The small black

weevils were found inside the ripe fruits. The insects were sent to
M. Desbrochers des Loges, who stated that they were probably a new
species of Bar is (Indian Museum Notes').

CYRTOTRACHELUS.

An important genus of weevils, some species of which hollow out
the growing shoots of young bamboos.

Cyrtotrachelus longipes, Fabr.

REFERENCES. — Curculio longipes, Fabr. Ent. Syst. torn, i, 395 ; Stebbing, Depart. Notes, i, 193 (1903).

Habitat. — Chittagong Hill Tracts. Also reported from the Cape of Good
Hope.

Tree Attacked. — Muli Bamboo (Melocannabambiisioides). Bamboo jungles
in neighbourhood of the Karnafuli River, Chittagong Hill Tracts
(J. P. Gregson et mi hi').

Beetle.--The beetle is a large, shining, rufous-ferruginous coloured insect with a black
patch on the thorax, and black longitudinal patches on the sides of the elytra, and another

black longitudinal one running down the median suture of the elytra.
Description. The insect has a longish thick rostrum and long legs.

<J Rostrum long, thick, straight, quadrangular, deeper than wide

at its base, and dilated and truncate at its tip, furnished on its upper surface with two
lateral rows of tubercles ; scrobes short, placed laterally. Mandibles thick. Antennae fairly
long and stout ; scape arched backwards slightly ; second joint of funiculus slightly longer
than others ; club fairly large, triangular, with apex at outer end ; pubescent on outer sur-
face. Prothorax slightly longer than broad, convex, smooth and shining, rounded at sides,
narrowing ventrally, and having a circular raised collar at its dorsal anterior edge which is
produced laterally on either side. Elytra longer than thorax, narrowing behind, and finely
but distinctly striated, the intervals between the striae being fairly broad. Looked at
superficially the upper integument appears to be without punctures. Legs long, thick, and
flattened ; the front ones longer than the hind, but only slightly so than the middle pair ;
femora thickened ; tibiae, more especially the anterior ones, ciliated on their inner edge, and
arched at their extremities and prolonged into a curved stout spine ; tarsus long, the first
joint longer than the second, the third heart-shaped ; the segment of the body exposed by
the elytra (pygidium) triangular, convex, and ending in a point posteriorly. Body oblong-
•elliptical, glabrous.

$ much larger than £ , with a longer rostrum. Front legs much longer than either
of the hinder pairs, their tibiae being very thickly ciliated on their inner edges. Pygidium
blunter at posterior extremity than in <J. Length, g ig in., £ ij in. (to end of rostrum
in each case). Length of rostrum in <J, T7ff in. ; in $, i in. See pi. xxxviii, c, d.

Egg. — The eggs are elliptical in shape, whitish in colour, and about 33j in. in length. See
fig. a.

Larva. — The larva is a large, whitish, legless, curved grub, with slight fleshy tubercles
on the under-side of the body. It is shown in fig. b.

Pupa. -The pupa is white in colour, and has the ordinary weevil shape.

PLATE XXXVIII.

'yrtotrachelus t<»iifi/>t'x, Fabr. — <i, l-'.^s : /', larva side view : < , beetle, <5 : it, beetle, $ t dorsal and side
: ?. voim" b:miboo shoot in which etr?s are hud bv the female beetle : /. tou of bamboo shoot cut oft bv

FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE 441

The insect was found attacking the muli bamboo in the Chittagong
Division by the late Mr. }. P. Gregson, Extra-Assistant
Life History. Conservator of Forests, Bengal, and its life history was
worked out by him in 1899. During 1900, whilst hold-
ing charge of the division, I made frequent observations on the attack, going
carefully through the stages of the life history with Mr. Gregson. I was
thus able to corroborate his careful and excellent observations.

The beetles appear on the wing during the latter part of May or begin-
ning of June, at about the time the monsoon rains burst over the Chittagong
Hill Tracts. They pair soon after emergence, and the female then seeks out
young sprouting bamboos in which to lay her eggs, such as that figured in
pi. xxxviii, e. Shoots attacked are always under three feet in height. The
insect grasps the fleshy shoot, generally about three inches below the top,
with her long front legs, and cutting an oval incision in it through the outer
spathe just above an internode with her lengthy probocis, deposits two eggs
at its base, covering them over with bamboo chips, which are of the same
colour. These eggs, which can be seen in situ, from the outside, have been
observed to be laid towards the end of June, though as the beetles are to be
found through July, and on to about the middle of August, it is notjmprob-
able that the female lays other eggs on adjacent shoots. As far as present
observations show, it is, however, apparent that only one of the eggs comes
to anything, as only one larva is to be found in any one attacked shoot.
Dying shoots are common at the beginning of July, and numbers were
examined by Mr. Gregson in 1899, and again by him and by myself in 1900.
The larva, on hatching out, probably bores through the tissue hori-
zontally until it reaches the centre of the shoot, and then invariably bores
downwards, eating away the soft central portion and increasing in size at a
rapid rate. It continues feeding downwards until it reaches the base of the
shoot, by which time it is full-fed. The grub then retreats back up its
gallery, probably enlarging the upper portions, which will be now too small
for it until it reaches about the place it started from. It then cuts
this portion off, gnawing it through all round below it (see pi. xxxviii,/).
The top drops to the ground, and the now fully mature larva burrows
into the soft rain-loosened earth, carrying the top or a portion of it with
it, thus completely sheltering itself from atmospheric influences. Larvae
in various stages of growth are to be found in the shoots in the middle
of July, and they mostly become full-grown by the end of the month. About
the middle of August young shoots are to be seen on all sides with their tops
fallen, and in a dying or dead condition. The larva changes to the pupal
state within the fallen buried end of the shoot at a depth of three to four
inches, or even more, below the surface of the -munil, the depth depending
upon the consistency of the soil. The top of the shoot soon rots, only the
harder fibres persisting (see figs. g, //). Inside this fibrous covering, which
is generally caked with earth, the pupa remains during the following cold
and hot seasons, emerging as a beetle at the commencement of the

44-; FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE

ensuing rains. The warm rain moistens the ground, and thus softens
the pupal " case," the fibres of which will only require wetting to crumble
to dust after the heating up they have undergone during the hot months of
the year, even in the shadier portions of the forest. The beetle then doubt-
less pushes its way out and works up through the subsoil and humus.
In the case of a specimen kept I noted that the beetle, when ready to emerge,
gnawed its way out of its fibrous covering, cutting a hole at one side (see
fig. o-). It will be seen that the pupa is thus safeguarded against enemies,
since its covering resembles nothing so much as a decaying lump of vegeta-
tion mixed with earth mould. From the above account it becomes apparent
that some ten months of the insect's life history are passed in the pupal
stage, about five weeks in the imago and egg-laying stage (excluding the
period during which the insect remains alive after egg-laying, which period
requires further observation to ascertain definitely the number of eggs laid
by the beetle), and three to four weeks in the larval or destructive stage.

This weevil is plentiful in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, in the

bamboo jungles adjacent to the Karnafuli River.

Relations to the £_ ion^pcs has proved a most serious pest to the

Melocanna bainbnsioides bamboo, killing off young shoots
over a fairly wide area both in 1899 and 1900. In these years large
numbers of young bamboo shoots were observed springing up in the
forests at the commencement of the rains. By August some 30 to 40 per
cent, on areas inspected round Kaptai and elsewhere had been killed off, in
the damper localities the attack being even more severe. The infestation
appeared to diminish as the moister localities near the river were left behind,
and almost disappeared as one went up the slopes of the hills. I am of
opinion that the severity of the attack was probably due to the great clear-
ance made in the portions of the forest which lay in the path of the great
cyclone of October 1897, which swept up into the Hill Tracts from the Bay of
Bengal, destroying some valuable teak plantations near Kaptai, and laying
low most of the trees it met with far up into the hills. As a result of this
clearance of large tree-growth in the forest, the muli bamboo commenced to
shoot up in dense masses during the rains of 1898, and this was followed by
the heavy and localized attacks of the beetles in 1899 and 1900. I have no
information as to whether they were continued the following year, as I was
unable to visit the area in question.

Mr. Gregson stated in his note that shady places under thick growth are
preferred to others. By this I understood him to mean thick undergrowth
in moist places, not high forest. In such places the shoots undoubtedly
come up thickly, and are most succulent, and as such are doubtless preferred
by the beetles for egg-laying.

In the case of plantations the most obvious remedy is to collect the
female beetles when egg-laying; a surer method is to dig up the pupal
cases and burn them. A better remedy, however, and one which would be
practicable over larger areas, would be to collect all the fallen and

FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE 443

obviously attacked tops, each of which contains, as we have seen, a larva,
and burn them. This done carefully would do a great deal towards
stamping out the attack.

Cyrtotrachelus dux, Boh.

REFERENCES. — Boh. in Schonh. Gen. Cure, viii, 2, p. 221 ; Ind. Mus. Notes, ii, p. 39.

Habitat. — Darjeeling, Eastern Himalaya.

Tree Attacked. — Hill Bamboo (Dendrocalamus hamiltonii). Darjeeling
Forests (C. G. Rogers).

Beetle. — A large brown weevil, the male with very long anterior legs.

This beetle was reported by Mr. C. G. Rogers as infesting the

hill bamboo in the Darjeeling forests. Mr. Rogers

Life History. noted that the insect attacked the asparagus-like

tops of the bamboo, and that the beetle is often seen

clinging to the shoots, which are found to be perforated by a hole from which
it has emerged.

The egg is apparently laid on or in the shoot, and the grub feeds inside
in a manner similar to that of C. longibcs in the muli bamboo in the Chitta-
gong Hill Tracts already described.

Q i

Cyrtotrachelus ? sp.

Habitat. — Tharrawaddy, Lower Burma.

Tree Attacked. — bamboo (Ccphalostachyiun pergracile), Tharrawaddy.

Beetle.— Unknown.

During a tour in the Tharrawaddy Division of Lower Burma, in January
1905, I noticed that the young shoots of the Ccphalo-

Life History. stachyuin pergracile bamboo, which were plentiful in the
forest, had in many cases been tunnelled into by an

insect whose operations closely resembled those of Cyrtotrachelus lon^ifics in
the Melocanna bamboo in the Chittagong Hill Tracts described above.

Shoots of 3 ft. to 4 ft. in height are attacked and killed by the insect, and
may be found standing upright and dead in the forest, a large round hole at
one side showing where the imago had left the bamboo when mature. In-
side the upper portion of the bamboo is entirely hollow, the interior hiving
been eaten away.

The local native forest officials and villagers appeared to be well
acquainted with the insect infesting this bamboo, the tunnelling work inside
being done by a large yellowish-vvhite grub. In the rains the people are said
to search in the shoots for this grub and to eat it with relish, a habit common,
I believe, to the inhabitants of the Chittagong Hill Tracts in the case of the
C. longipes grubs.

I think there is every probability that this larva, which unfortunately I
have not yet been able to procure, will prove to be a weevil one, and it is

444

FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE

FIG. 292.
The Palm Weevil
(Rhynchophorus ferrn-
•eits, Oliv.). India.

possible that the insect is a species of Cyrtotrachelus. The local forest
officials should be able to settle this point without much difficulty by col-
lecting some infested bamboo shoots towards the latter part of the rains and
keeping them until the beetles emerge.

RHYNCHOPHORUS.
The genus contains a well-known weevil pest in India.

Rhynchophorus ferrugineus, Oliv.
(The Palm Weevil.)

REFERENCES. — Oliv. Encycl. Meth. v, 473 ; Ent. v, 83, p. 79, t. 2,
fig. :6rf; Ind. Mus. Notes, ii, S.

Habitat. — India and Ceylon.

Trees Attacked. — Coco-nut (Cocos nucifera) ; Toddy
Palm (Phoenix sylvestris) ; Date Palm (Phoenix dacty-
lifera).

Beetle. — A large, stout, elongate, red - brown, shining weevil,
furnished with an elongate proboscis, longer in female than in male,

on which the elbowed antennae are set

Description. on the basal half; the thorax is convex,

smooth, with five black spots, narrowed in

front, with curved sides and truncate base ; the scutellum is large
triangular ; the elytra small, truncate at base, leaving exposed a large broad pygidium longi-
tudinally striate-punctate. Length, 33 mm. to 34 mm. (See figs. 264, 292).

Larva.— White, fleshy, legless, the body thickest across the middle, corrugated, bluntly
tapering posteriorly. The thoracic segments scarcely wider than
the head, which is brown. Length, 36 mm. (fig. 265).

Cocoon. — The cocoon is blunt -elliptical, strongly made of
twisted-up palm fibres. It varies in size, but is roughly about
50 mm. long by 22 mm. broad (fig. 293).

Pupa. — Elongate, whitish yellow, of the characteristic curcu-
lionid type (fig. 265).

The life history of this weevil is well known
throughout the area of its distri-
Life History. bution and depredations in the
East. In India it is a serious pest

wherever the coco-nut and toddy palms are grown,
whether in Bombay, Bengal and Assam, Madras or
Burma. The beetle lays its eggs on the tree near
the base of the sheaths of the leaves, searching for
abrasions and wounds made on the tree during storms
or by other insects such as the rhinoceros beetle
(Oryctes, p. 87), or, perhaps the most fruitful source
of injury, because the commonest, at the cuts and
wounds made on the tree when collecting the nuts or, in the case of

FIG. 293.

Cocoon of the Palm
Weevil.

FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE 445

the toddy palm, when extracting the toddy liquor from the tree. The
grubs on hatching out tunnel through into the stem and gradually eat
out an ever widening and lengthening gallery which penetrates into the
heart of the stem. When the insect is infesting the trees in numbers
these tunnels intersect and remove the bulk of the growing parts of the
tree, which is thus killed.

The generations of the insect would appear to overlap even in the
North of India, for throughout the country the insect is to be found in
most months of the year (save the winter) in all the stages of larva,
pupa, and beetle. For instance, in Indian Museum Notes it is reported
that Mr. Ridley found the insect in all stages in date-palms in
the Lucknow Horticultural Gardens in April 1890, whilst it was
reported the same year by Mr. Gollan as infesting date-palms in the
Saharampur Botanical Gardens. In each case the insect had killed
several trees.

The methods of combating attacks of this pest are similar to those
already detailed on p. 89 for the rhinoceros beetle, whose attacks are often
accompanied by this weevil.

CERCIDOCERUS.
Cercidocerus lateralis, Fahrs.

REFERENCE. — Fahrs. Schh. Gen. Cure, viii, 2, p. 232.

Habitat. — South Coimbatore, Madras. Also reported from Java.

Tree Attacked. — Dalbergia paniculata. Mount Stuart, Anamalai Hills,
South Coimbatore.

Beetle. — £ An elongate brown weevil, easily recognizable by the peculiar antennal club ;
the funiculus terminates in an appendage which has the appearance of, and is inserted in the

manner of the anther of, the stamen of a liliaceous plant, i.e. it has
Description. the appearance of a square-headed polo stick. The proboscis is

elongate, and capable of a considerable amount of boring work.
The elytra leave two segments of the body exposed to view. Length, 10 mm. to 12 mm.

$ Differs from male in the antenna terminating in a mere knob instead of the '' anther "
shaped structure. Only one segment of the abdomen is left exposed by the elytra.

I took specimens of this curious weevil on I iiiihfr^ui fmniculatj saplings,

on the leaves of which it was feeding. The insects were

Life History. taken at the end of July 1902, in the Mount Stuart

forests in South Coimbatore. The weevil was not

abundant, and I am unable to say whether the defoliation committed is
serious. The beetles were pairing at the time of capture. I kept a male
and female for over a week alive in a tube without food. During this period
they bored half an inch through the cork, and paired several times. I do not
know where the grubs live.

446 FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE

ODOIPORUS.
Odoiporus longicollis, Oliv.

REFERENCES. — Sphenophorus planipennis, Gyll. in Schonh. Gen. Cure, iv, p. 911 ; Ind. Mus. Notes, ii, p. 151.

Habitat. — Ceylon. I took the beetle in Sikkim.
Tree Attacked. — Coco-nut (Cocos nucifera).

Beetle.— Elongate, rather narrow. Light brown, darker beneath ; head and anterior
margin of prothorax black. Head small, rostrum long, antennae inserted near base. Pro-
thorax longer than wide ; disk flat, smooth, with a few scattered
Description. punctures, denser laterally. Elytra strongly striate-punctate ; disk

flat, apex truncate, the apices separately rounded and leaving

exposed a large punctate pygidium, constricted posteriorly. Under-surface smooth, shining,
punctures scattered. Length, 13 mm. to 22 mm.

This beetle was reported by Nietner to injure the coconut-tree in
Ceylon. I do not know upon what it feeds in Sikkim.

Odoiporus sp.

REFERENCE. — Stebbing, Injur. Ins. Ind. For. p. 59 (1899).

Habitat. — Sikkim, Eastern Himalaya.

Tree Attacked. — -Preng Bamboo (Arundinaria aristata). Sikkim, 5, 500 ft.

Beetle. — A pretty elongate rosy-pink coloured weevil, the elytra leaving exposed the
pygidium.

I first took specimens of this weevil towards the end of April 1896, at
an elevation of about 5,500 ft., in Sikkim. The beetles

Life History. were found clinging to the stems of the preng bamboo,
which is found in the forests of this locality. The
shoots of stems subsequently examined were found to be eaten out by weevil
grubs, the beetle when mature boring through the stem to escape.

The hillmen informed me that considerable damage was done to bam-
boos in this way by an insect which had all the appearance of being this
particular weevil.

The insect proved new to the Indian Museum collections.

CALANDRA.

Calandra sculpturata, Gyll.
(The Acorn Weevil.}

REFERENCES. — Gyll. Schonh. Gen. Cure. iv. p. 94(1838) ; B. O. Coventry, Ind. Forester, xxviii

p. 388 (1902).

Habitat. — North West Himalaya.

Tree Attacked. — Ban Oak (Quercusincana). Mussoorie(B. O. Coventry).

FAMILY CURCULIOXIDAE

447

Beetle. — Has the regular weevil shape. On first emerging from the pupal state it is red in
colour, but soon changes to a dark red-brown. The whole surface is covered with small

punctures. The proboscis is curved and about one-sixteenth of an inch
Description. long- The antennae are elbowed, and spring from near the base of

proboscis. Thorax covered with punctures, irregularly scattered.

The tibiae of the legs are ribbed and bear a hooped spine, and the punctures are in longitudinal
rows. The elytra do not quite cover the abdomen, and have broadly rounded ends. They are
ribbed, and the punctures are arranged in longitudinal rows, about fourteen rows on each
elytron. The elytra are about half the length of the body. Length, ^s in. exclusive of
proboscis ; proboscis slightly over T^ in. In fig. 294, a, a', &, c, show the larva, pupa, and imago
of this weevil, and also an attacked acorn.

Larva. — A small, white, short, stunted, legless grub, almost as broad in the centre as
long, with a small pale-brown head. Length, ^ in.

Pupa. — White, of usual weevil type, and about same length as larva.

This weevil first begins to emerge from the acorns about the middle of

June, and continues to do so until the end of the month.

Life History. Mr. B. O. Coventry, I.F.S., who first studied its

life history, is of opinion that it probably immediately

lays eggs in the young new acorns from the preceding year's flowers, which

are present on the trees

at the time of emer-
gence of the insect,

and that a second

generation of the

weevil appears in the

autumn. This may

prove to be the case,

since the acorns ripen

between August and

October, but

in the tree

the ensuing winter.

The pupal stage in the

spring only lasts a few

days.

The eggs are evi-
dently l;iid on the
acorns, the weevil in it
improbably drilling a
hole into the fruit
with its proboscis and
placing them in it. As
many ;is six or seven

beetles have been ob- ,.

rlG. _i«)4. — Calanara sculpturata, Gy\\, a, larva; a , pupa :
tamed from one nut. //, beetle ; c, attacked acorn. Mussoorie, North- West Himalaya.

' ~.

a

X 6

remain
through

,'

•-•- -

-4

448 FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE

The larvae feed inside, reducing the kernel to a powdery mass, no external
opening being visible in the outer skin of the fruit. Mr. Coventry thus
describes the pupation : " On removing this shell or skin the pupae are seen
lying each in a separate compartment of its own. The kernel of the acorn,
though reduced to a fine powdery condition, is still firm and fills the shell,
so that when this latter is removed the inside appears solid, with the pupae
lying in little compartments on its surface (see fig. c). With slight pressure,
however, it falls to pieces, and it is seen that each compartment is really a
small cradle-like cocoon covered above by the shell of the acorn." When
ready to emerge a hole is bored through the shell to the outside — presum-
ably by the first beetle to mature, since all the others issue by the same
orifice. The acorns fall to the ground during the attack about the time
the larvae become full-fed. The beetle is said to be very lively, but feigns
death when disturbed.

Mr. Coventry took this weevil in ban-oak acorns at Mussoorie, in the
North-West Himalaya, in June 1902.

RelatForest° **" This beetle is a most serious Pest to the acorns of

the ban oak (Quercus incana), in which it lays its eggs,

the larvae burrowing and feeding in and destroying the fruits. Mr. Coventry
states that the insect is largely responsible for the absence of natural
regeneration of this tree in the Mussoorie Hills. He wrote as follows
on this subject: " On n June 1902 I collected a large number of
acorns of Q. incana at Mussoorie with the object of ascertaining what
proportion of them was sound, as I could not account for the general
absence of natural regeneration from seed of this species. The result of
the investigation showed that about 80 per cent, were unsound. Some of
the acorns were collected from trees, and others from the ground where
they had quite recently fallen. The unsoundness of the acorns was found
to be due to the attack of a weevil beetle."

The best protective measure to take for pests of this nature is to collect

and burn, when at all feasible, the whole seed crop

Protection and , , , . Tr ... , . . fr

Remedies. during a bad attack. If this were done in patches of

forest only it would have the effect of greatly diminish-
ing the numbers of the weevils on those areas, and the next crop of
acorns would thus be attacked by a very much smaller number of beetles.
Children could be put on at small cost to do the collection work over
certain areas, and this work should be begun as soon as the acorns com-
mence to drop.

It is a point of considerable importance to ascertain whether the weevil
also infests the acorns of the moru and kharshu oaks growing in this region
of the Himalaya. Also what predacecus and parasitic foes attack it.

FA M I L Y C U RC U L I O X I D A E

449

SlPALUS.

Sipalus hypocrita, Boh.

REFERENCE. — Boh. Schonh. Gen. Cure, viii, 209.

Habitat. — Salween River, Tenasserim.

Tree Attacked. — Dalbergiasp.(cultyata?^.Ko\v\oon Island, Salween River.

Beetle. — A large weevil with a thick heavy body. Brown or
greyish brown, mottled, with three longitudinal rows of black spots

on elvtra alternating with vellowish ones.

Description.

Head small, with a very long rostrum,

curved downwards and inwards ; the an-
tennae inserted on the basal half, the scape fitting into a deep
scrobe on under-surface of rostrum. Prothorax widest medianly, of
considerable size, disk flat and very roughly corrugated, as also
sides, which are rounded. Elytra wider than prothorax, disk rather
flat, apical portion depressed, sides straight to apical third, thence
constricted to apices ; striate-punctate, the punctures very large
and shallow. Under-surface punctate and imbricate, the abdomen
black, smooth, with a short whitish or yellowish pubescence.
Length, 19 mm. to 25 mm.

Fie. 295.

From a pupal chamber in the sapwood of a large

standing Dalbervia tree, possibly

Life History. " Si/ia/ns /IV/HH rita, Boh.

cultrata, I took a living specimen Tenasserim.

of this weevil. The beetle was fully mature and ready to

issue. Traces of a large larval gallery were visible on the outer sapwood of the
tree. The insect was taken on 9 March 1905. Other insects which had infested
this tree were the elater beetle (Alans, p. 226), and a wood-boring Xylocopa.

Undetermined Weevil.

REFERENCES. — Ind. Mus. Notes, ii, 151 ; Indian Forester, vol. xxxi, 76 (1905).

Habitat. — -Western Duars ; Nilumbur, South Malabar, Madras.
Tree Attacked. — Mahogany (Swietenia niuhogtini ' . Western Duars;
Nilumbur.

Beetle. — Unknown.

Larva. — A fat, white, curved, legless grub, thickest in middle ; head horny dorsally, orange-
brown, with scattered yellow hairs on it ; mouth-parts black. Body tubercujate, the tubercles

bearing a few white hairs on them.

The grub lives in the juicy bark and sapwood of the mahogany. The

eggs are laid on the bark or in small incisions made in

Life History. it with the proboscis. The grub on hatching at first

feeds in the bast layer only, subsequently going further

in, and grooving out an irregular-shaped gallery in the bast and sapwood.
The irritation set up by the boring action of the grub causes the tree to

9003

F F

45o FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE

answer with an outflow of resinous matter, which, together with the excreted
woody particles, fills the gallery, and also exudes from the aeration holes,
which the grub apparently eats to the outside of the tree to admit air to its
gallery. This resin drips down the outer bark in narrow runnels, congealing
into a sticky mass of considerable size round the orifice, and the presence of
these blobs makes an attacked tree easily recognizable. The weevil oviposits
either on the main stem or the larger branches of living trees, the one thing
needful being the presence of old bark on the tree. In badly infested trees
the runlets of resin can be seen in vertical rows and lines on the bark from
near the top to the base of the tree. Evidence is also apparent of old
attacks, as the borings of the grubs appear to result in swellings and knotty
outgrowths on the stem and branches.

I found larvae at work in green mahogany-trees in the Aravallikavu
Plantation at Nilumbur, in South Malabar, towards the end of August 1902,
but failed to breed out beetles from them.

Larvae which may be identical with the Madras ones were sent to the
Indian Museum some years ago, with the report that they attacked
mahogany-trees in the Western Duars.

UNDETERMINED SEED-EATING WEEVILS.

/// Sd/ Seed. — A minute undetermined weevil was said by Mr. Thompson to have been
very destructive to sal seed in the United Provinces in the year 1863. Entire seed crops
arc said to have been destroyed in that year. The weevil grubs- were probably assisted by
the caterpillars of the moths mentioned on p. i 7.

/;/ Oaks — Q,!tercns pac/iypkylla and O. lamcllosa. — A small undetermined weevil was
reported by Mr. C. G. Rogers to have destroyed go per cent, of the seed of the valuable oak
Q. pachyphylla in the Darjeeling forests. Only grubs were obtained.

In January 1896 I found that about 85 per cent, of the seed of the oak Q. lamella sa
trees in the forests of British Sikkim was attacked and ruined by weevil grubs. Unfortu-
nately I failed to obtain mature beetles.

COSSONINAE.

I follow Lacordaire, Ganglbauer, Sharp, and Marshall in placing the
Cossoninae as a division of the Curculionidae. At the same time the group,
from the forest point of view, appears to have characteristics which require
some description.

The Cossoninae are small wood-boring beetles, usually black in colour.
They approximate in characters to the Curculionidae and the Scolytidae,
resembling to some extent the genus Hylastes, but differing in having a more
elongate appearance and a longer proboscis.

So far as present knowledge of the Indian forest species extends they
appear to confine themselves entirely to tunnelling into wood for ovipositing
purposes, and frequent both broad-leaved trees in the plains and conifers in

FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE 451

the Himalaya. The beetles seem to prefer wood which has partially dried
and lost a considerable portion of its sap. To mention a few of the trees in
which I have taken species of this family, members are known to infest the
deodar, blue pine, spruce, and Pinna longifolia in the Himalaya ; the sal,
pyinkadu, Fiats clastic a. Morns lacvigata, and Dendrocalamus strictus in the
plains.

The beetle looks, as I have said, like a cross between a weevil and a

scolytid, having a generally narrow elongate shape with

Beetle. a pronounced straight beak, the colour black and usually

shining, with elytra narrowing apically, the apices often

being elevated, forming a channel ; the elytra may be striate, and set with
prominent rounded raised rows of shining points.

Larva. The grub is white, rather curved, and somewhat corrugated.

To a certain extent the Cossoninae must be considered as of some import-
ance as wood-borers. Further study is, however, required before it is
possible to assign to them their real position in the economy of the forest.

RHYNCHOLUS.
Rhyncholus himalayensis, Stebbing, sp. nov.

REFERENCE. — Stebbing, Depart. Xotes (Rhyncholus sp.), i, 198 (i<j.

Habitat. — North-West Himalaya.

Trees Attacked. — Blue Pine (Pinns exceisa), Spruce (Picca inorinclu),
Deodar (Cednis dcodara}. Jaunsar, Simla, Naini Tal, Chamba.

Beetle. —Long, narrow, black, shining, with elbowed antennae, the club of antenna
pale yellow, and tibiae and tarsus rufous brown with reddish-yellow hairs. Head large, very

shining, punctate ; rostrum not longer than
Description. head, stout, cylindrical, slightly depressed

downwards ; scrobes narrow, starting near

centre of rostrum, and oblique. Antennae start from lower half of
rostrum, short, fairly stout ; scape club-shaped at upper end ;
funiculus seven-jointed, first joint long, second to seventh very short,
increasing in size upwards ; club smallish, oblong-oval, first joint
long and re versed-cone-shaped ; others short, spongy, pale yellow in
colour. Eyes medium-sized, oval. Prothorax long, slightly conic .il
and rounded on sides, rounded at upper and truncate at basal eiuN.
with a transverse depression just below the upper edge; coaisdy
rugose-punctate. Scutellum very small. Klytra long, cylindrical,
rather flattened, slightly wider than prothorax behind, depressed
behind, and projecting down laterally below the abdomen towards '•• -''''•

their extremities on each side, the apex constricted, apices with a

, . , layensis. steb., sp. nov.

crescent-shaped interval between them, the points of the elytra ^'orth-West Himalaya
forming the outer horns of the crescent. The elytra bulge laterally

on either side into a small projecting point just before the depression commences. Legs short,
femora thickened in middle and flat, arched beneath ; tibiae straight, flattened, and toothed

1- !•' 2

FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE

at their base ; tarsus short, filiform ; third joint not longer than the others and not bilobed ;
fourth long, with small claws. Intercoxal joint large and rounded anteriorly. Body long
parallel, and more or less cylindrical, thickening to a certain extent posteriorly. Rostrum,
head, prothorax, and body above and below densely punctured, the punctures being lighter
on dorsil surface of head. Elytra channelled by longitudinal deep striae, and punctured.
Length, 3.9111111. to 4.8 mm.

This beetle is a wood-borer, and appears on the wing in the spring

about the second week in May, from which date it may

Life History. be found till the end of June in considerable quantities

boring into the wood of blue pine and spruce to lay its

eggs. The resulting beetles form the first generation of the year. The beetles

attack the trees in swarms, and may be found during these months either in

or beneath the bark, or on or in the sapwood. They bore either horizontally

or at an angle into the dead bark of the standing tree, and on reaching the

sapwood either continue their burrow into it or more usually move about

for a time between the sapwood and bark, cutting a long groove in the

latter before going into the wood. Having selected a suitable spot, they

then bore into the sapwood, usually at an angle. This tunnel is carried for

about an inch or less into the wood, and the insect then turns and burrows

up the long axis of the tree for as much as a couple of inches. The

eggs appear to be laid at the end of this long gallery.
The latter is not always straight, but may bend yet
again and go farther into the solid wood. The figure
shows a curved boring of this beetle.

There is at least one other generation in the
year, as I have taken the beetles tunnelling into trees
at the end of September and in the first weeks in
October.

I first discovered this insect at Kathian in Jaunsar

in IQOI in dead blue-pine. The
Relations to the r .. T , ., , ,.r ,,

Forest following year I took it plentifully

in blue-pine and spruce at eleva-
tions between 5,500 ft. and 7,500 ft. in the same locality.
In later years I took the insect in the Simla and Naini
Tal divisions, and also in Chamba.

The information on the life history of this beetle
is at present too meagre to enable its relation to the
trees it attacks to be definitely stated. That it is
capable of swarming in large numbers has been ascer-
tained, and the value of the wood attacked is con-
siderably diminished, so far at least as its external
appearance goes, by the tunnelling work of the insect.
It is often to be found in company with Hylastes
himalayensis (p. 473).

i'n;. 297.

Piece of blue-pine wood

showing a gallery of

RJiyncliolns hiina-

layoisis, Steb.

FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE

45.;

Platysoma rimae, Lewis (p. 105). — This insect is predaceous upon
the Rhyncholus. It is described on p. 576.

Paromalus sp. nov. (p. 107). — Predaceous upon the
Rhyncholus.

Predaceous Insects.

Beetle. — A small, compact, elliptical, shining black beetle, chiefly remarkable for having
a number of spiny hairs projecting from the extremity of the ventral surface of the abdomen.
Head not as wide as thorax, with a prominent depression on either side commencing in outer
upper angle and sloping backwards and inwards to lower third, but not meeting the hind margin.
Thorax with front margin deeply concave. A longitudinal depression on each side of the median
line, the surface with prominent and fairly numerous punctures. Elytra nearly cover the
whole body, only two narrow segments of the abdomen being visible behind dorsally : the
surfaces densely punctured, the punctures, however, less numerous on
either side of the median line. Under-surface black, abdominal seg-
ments reddish, with numerous reddish projecting spiny hairs. Legs
reddish, with four teeth on outer edge of the front tibia. Length,
3.2 mm.

Life History, etc. — -This beetle is to be found in the
mature state in the middle of June at about 7,000 ft.
in the North-West Himalaya. It was discovered
beneath spruce bark in company with this wood-
borer and the scolytid Hylastes hijnalayensis, and it is
probable that it preys upon them or their larvae. It
was also found some days later beneath blue-pine bark
amongst a large number of different bark- and wood-
boring larvae. It is an active little histerid with a
quick walk.

Fie. 298.
rai'dinaliis sp. nov.

x 8.
North-West Himalava.

Rhyncholus sp.

Habitat. -North-West Himalaya.

Tree Attacked. —Pinns Imigifolia. Chaubattia, Naini Tal, Chamba.

Beetle. Resembles the last. Elongate, narrow, parallel. Shining black. Head with a
well-marked rostrum. Prothorax long, shining, and smooth. Elytra elongate, narrow, \\nlci
than prothorax behind, depressed at apex ; strongly punctate and striate longitudinally, tin-
stiiae deep. Length, 4.7 mm.

This beetle first makes its appearance in the year early in April. A

second generation appeal's ;it the beginning of June,

Life History. and probably other generations later on in the year.

A tunnel is bored by one of the beetles, probably the

male, down into the b.irk and outer sapwood of the Pnui^ longifolia. A
female joins the male here, is fertilized, and then e.its out a curving tunnel
which penetrates down into the wood at an angle.

Niponius canalicollis (p. 10 ;j is predaceous upon this Rhyncholus.
is described on p. 507.

It

454

FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE

CONARTHRUS.

Conarthrus affinis, Woll.

Habitat. — South Coimbatore, Madras.

Tree Attacked. — Dendrocalamus strictus. Mount
Stuart, South Coimbatore.

Beetle. — Elongate, narrow ; shining black, punctate, legs rufous
brown. Head prominent, about same length as rostrum, very

shining punctate ; rostrum stout, flattened,
Description. broadest anteriorly, wheie it swells into a

blunt knob ; finely punctate ; the scrobes

commence slightly above centre and run backwards obliquely to
near the eye ; antennae inserted near base of anterior swelling.
I'rothorax shorter than head and rostrum together, truncate at upper
and basal ends, widest just above base, sides rounded, rather coarsely
punctate. Elytra elongate, parallel, but slightly wider than pro-
thorax at base, constricted and depressed apically, the sides bent
downwards, covering a portion of the lower surface of abdomen ;
strongly striate-punctate. Length, 5,3 mm.

This insect tunnels into the nodes of the Dendrocalamus bamboo

for ovipositing purposes. A generation was discovered

Life History. thus occupied in the South Coimbatore forests at the

end of July 1902. The beetle tunnels into the node,

and then carries the tunnel either up or down in the wall of the bamboo.
In some instances the tunnels are carried horizontally round the circum-
ference of the wall. The tunnels are long, the eggs being deposited
amidst some wood-powder near the bottom of the tunnel. The beetle
attacks half-dead and dead bamboos, riddling the wood to powder when the
insect is in numbers.

Conarthrus jansoni, Woll.

FIG. 299.
Cojiarthrns affinis,

Woll.
South Coimbatore.

Habitat. — Goalpara, Assam.

Tree Attacked.— Sal (Shore a robusta}.
Goalpara.

Anguri Block, and Kachugaon,

Beetle. — Elongate, narrow, parallel. Shining black, punctate.
I lit: rostrum is long, swollen anteriorly ; scrobes commence well

forward, are short and deep, and do not
Description. extend backwards to the eye. Prothorax

elongate, convex, broadest at middle, the

sides curved ; uniformly and finely punctate. Elytra as wide as
broadest part of prothorax, constricted and depressed apically,
leaving a small portion of the pygidium disclosed. Strongly striate-
punctate. Under-surface black, shining, punctate. Legs ferruginous
brown. Length, 6 mm. to 6.3 mm.

Vic,. 300.

A number of specimens of this beetle were found
'hrnsjansoni, tunnelling into felled and partially dry sal-tre^s at
Woll. Coalpara, Assam, the end of April 1906. The insects were tunnelling

FAMILY CURCULIOXIDAE

455

down into the sapwood to oviposit. The egg galleries were in no case
complete, but after entering the sapwood the female curved her tunnel to
one side or the other. I do not know whether the tunnels reach the
heart-wood. I took the beetle subsequently plentifully at Kachugaon in
Goalpara in the middle of May of the same year in the timbers of a

It had evidently issued to oviposit in fresh

bungalow built of sal-wood,
wood.

Hl.MATIUM.

Himatium asperum, Marshall, sp. nov.

REFERENCE. — Marshall, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. Aug. (p. 189) 1913.

Habitat. — Goalpara, Assam.

Tree Attacked. — Sal (Shorea robnsta). Kachugaon, Goalpara.

Beetle. — Small ; highly punctate, uniform red-brown, with stout
pale setae. Elytra with the pubescence arranged in longitudinal

rows on the striae. Under-surface mode-
Description. rately shining brown to brownish black,

covered with a sparse golden stiff pubes-

cence. Head very convex, strongly punctate, the rostrum short and
thick ; about twice as long as broad, straight, almost cylindrical,
mostly covered with coarse and longitudinally confluent punctures.
Antennae brown, the club pubescent. Prothorax nearly half as long
again as broad, widest near base, gradually narrowed anteriorly, with
a deep constriction near apex ; coarsely reticulate-punctate. Elytra
very strongly striate-punctate, the punctures large ; the intervals
not broader than the striae, and each bearing a row of stout recum-
bent overlapping setae, the alternate intervals also with a row of
erect scale-like setae. Under-surface punctate. Length, 2.5 mm. to
3111111.

Some specimens of this small beetle were taken in the middle of May

from beneath the bark of a large green sal-tree felled in

Life History. the Kachugaon forests three days before. The insects

were taken from the upper part of the stem, which had

commenced to die, apparently from strangulation by creepers, the upward
flow of sap being much reduced. The beetles were ovipositing in the
sapwood and inner bark.

[•'ic.. 301.

Himatium <i.-;f>i

Mshl., sp. nov.
( ioalpara, Assam.

r\;>K n.KMiNKi) COSSONINAI .

I have not been able to identify the following three species of this
group:

Rhyncholus ? sp.

Habitat. — Tharrawaddy, Lower Burma.

Tree Attacked, l-'yinkadu (Aj/M ddabriformis). Kadin Bilin Forest,
Tharrawaddy.

Beetle.— Narrow, elongate ; dull black.

456 FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE

Specimens of this beetle were taken in the dry sapwood of a dead

pyinkadu-tree at the end of January 1905. The insect

Life History. tunnels through the bark until it reaches the sapwood,

which it penetrates from an eighth to a quarter of an

inch, and then carries its tunnel at right angles to the former direction.
This latter tunnel is sometimes broad and somewhat elliptical in shape,
of greater diameter than the beetle, the bottom being filled with powdered
wood-dust, in which it is possible that the eggs are laid, or pairing may take
place here. In other cases examined the tunnel parallel to the long axis of
the wood was of the same diameter as the beetle. The beetle was fairly
plentiful in trees examined, but appeared to infest only the sapwood.

Rhyncholus ? sp.
Habitat. — Katha, Upper Burma.
Tree Attacked.— Morns laerigata. Mohnyin Forest, Katha.

I cut a specimen of a Rhyncholus beetle from a tunnel in the sapwood
of a felled Morns lacrigata tree in the third week in February. The beetle
was mature, and evidently ready to issue from the tree as soon as the
weather got warmer.

Rhyncholus ? sp.
Habitat. — Darrang, Assam.

Tree Attacked. — India-rubber (Fie us clastica}. Charduar Rubber Plan-
tation, Darrang.

I took some specimens of a Rhyncholus beetle from the wood of drying

felled rubber-trees in the Charduar Rubber Plantation

Life History. early in April 1906. The beetles were ovipositing.

The females eat out long curving tunnels down into the

wood of the tree, the eggs being laid at the bottom of the tunnel. In some
cases larvae had already hatched from the eggs.

( 457 )

CHAPTER XX.

RHYNCHOPHORA (continued}— Family SCOLYTIDAE (IPIDAE).

(Bark-borers.)

THE Scolytidae, or bark-borers (so called because a number of the members
of the family bore through the bark to oviposit inside the tree) prob-
ably include some of the worst pests the forester has to cope with. And
the insects are all the more difficult to deal with owing to their small
size, an eighth of an inch or less being the length of many of these minute
beetles. The forester has therefore no chance of making an acquaintance
with this form of insect life in the easy manner in which he may learn to
distinguish the longicorn beetles. Occasional specimens do, it is true,
enter the bungalow at night, but it requires a certain knowledge of insects to
be able to pick out a bark-beetle on the wall or cloth from the variety of
minute forms which will be crawling about round him. And in India the
commoner forms of Scolytidae which are pests in the forests are mostly of
small size. Some years ago I submitted a small collection of Indian speci-
mens to Mr. Walter J. Blandford, known to many an Indian forester as
Lecturer in Entomology at Coopers Hill, and himself a great authority
on this family. Mr. Blandford's remark on the collection was that " it is
the most uninteresting, and contains a majority of the most obscure minute
forms, of any collection I have had sent to me." Our national collections in
the British Museum contained but few of the Indian forms now known to
be of considerable, sometimes of first-class, importance economically. In fart
many of these forms proved to be undescribed species, the presence of which
in India (or closely allied species) was foreshadowed by the collections made
by Mr. George Lewis in Japan and described by Mr. Blandford in the
Transactions of the Entomological Socictv.'

The position of affairs in India having been recognized, a close study
of the family became an imperative necessity, if progress \vas to be made ID
the protection of the forests from a grave source of danger, and this study
has been carried on unremittingly during the past twenty years.

As we shall see, although these insects are not commonly met \\ith on
the wing, they are easily found when the forester has learnt where to look
for them, and when this knowledge has been assimilated together with
the life history of the local individual bark-borer pe^t or pests, it should,
under ordinary circumstances, be quite feasible for the forester to keep
these insects within bounds.

* Blandford, The Rhynchophorous Coleoptcra of Japan. I'art iii, Scolytidae. Trans.
I-'.nt. Soc. Lo>!(f. pt. i, 53 ('1894).

458

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

In spite of its minute size, the bark beetle, in the more ordinary
forms, is easily recognizable once the characteristics of
Beetle. the build of the insect

have been grasped.

The beetle is usually cylindrical in shape,
though some specimens are spherical, as
e.g. Sphaerotrypes (cf. fig. 20), and brown or
black in colour, at times yellow or grey,
owing to being clothed with a dense pubes-
cence of this colour. The most charac-
teristic portion of the insect, and the one
which easily distinguishes it from all other
insects, is the antenna. The head is small,
prolonged either into a very short rostrum
or not prolonged at all, and is often en-
tirely concealed beneath the projecting
.prothorax, which forms a hood over it, as
in the case of many Bostrychidae. The
mandibles are curved, or slightly toothed,
and stout. The antenna is short, el-
bowed, and inserted between the eyes, these
latter being often hollowed out to allow
of the insertion of the antenna ; or the
eye may be in two pieces with the antenna
inserted between them. The antenna
does not fold back into a groove as

in the case of Curculionidae, but when the insect is at rest is held
back against the side of the head. The antenna consists of three chief
parts: (i) The portion joining the head, which forms the lower part

of the elbow, consists of one long joint, termed
the "scape," and is held more or less horizontally
when the antenna is in motion ; (2) a portion con-
sisting of a number of joints which may be as many
as seven or may be fewer, termed the "funiculus";
(3) a knob-shaped portion which varies in shape,
is either solid or may have transverse divisions in it,
and is termed the " club." The club is inserted on to
the top joint of the funiculus, and with it forms the
upper part of the elbow, which is usually more or less
vertical, and at right angles to the scape. Fig. 303
shows this antenna with a five-jointed funiculus and
a club of four partitions. The antenna is of con-
siderable importance in the family, since the classifi-
cation of the various divisions is based on differences in its structure.
The prothorax is generally very long, often forming half the total length

FIG. 302.

A Scolytid Beetle (Polygraphitx}.
North-West Himalaya.

FIG. 303.

Scolytid Antenna.

ipe ; i . funiculus of
live joints , C, club.

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

459

of the insect. It varies in shape, having a triangular appearance in the
spherical forms. It may be smooth and shining, or densely pitted or rugose.
The elytra cover the whole of the abdomen, in some instances are very
convex, and are often sharply declivous towards their apices, the declivous
portions having at times a scalloped appearance owing to the presence of
marginal teeth varying in size. The elytral surface may be smooth and
shining, or striate and punctate or rugose. The upper surface is often set
more or less densely with coarse spiny hairs, which appear in tufts on the
front of head (Polygraphns trenchi, pi. xlviii, tig. i), or densely on sides of
elytra and in the apical declivity. The under-surface is also often densely
hairy, the pubescence being usually less coarse in structure.

The legs are short, many of the species walking in a feeble manner
on smooth surfaces, although they are able to move rapidly in their tunnels
in the bark and bast. The femora are toothed, the tibiae are flattened
laterally, and in the majority the front tibia is spined or toothed on its

FIG. 304. — Legs of Scolytid Beetles.

outer edge, a point used in the classification ; these tibiae are used by the
beetle to shovel wood-dust out of the tunnel. The tarsi are four-jointed
(really five-jointed, one joint being very short), and the third tarsal joint
may or may not be bilobed. The tarsus ends in a double claw.

The antenna and four-jointed tarsi easily distinguish the- Scolytidae
from the Bostrychidae.

The larvae are small, soft, white or yellowish-white grubs, which are
almost always curved in tin- cast' of bark- and bast-
Larva, feeding forms, or very
convex above and flat

beneath (Sphaerotrypes, tig. .515), whereas
in the case of the beetles which tunnel
into the solid wood to oviposit the larvae
are usually almost straight. They are in-
variably legless, are crinkled and corru-
gated, tapering in the posterior segments,
broadest across the thoracic segments, Fi<;. 305. -Scolytus I.arv.i.

460 FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

with a small, usually yellow head, and black or brown strong mandibles.
The larva is easily distinguished from the bostrychid larva owing to its
being legless.

The pupa is white or yellowish-white in colour, soft, blunt elliptical,

circular, or elongate in the wood-boring forms. The head

Pupa. is hidden beneath the projecting prothorax, and the legs

and wing-cases pressed close to the chest. When the

pupa has gradually assumed the form of the future beetle, the latter re-
mains for a varying period in the pupal chamber in a resting stage. At this
period the insect will be usually light yellow or brown in colour, and is still
immature for identification purposes. On various occasions Scolytidae sent
from different parts of the world have been taken from the pupal chamber in
this resting stage, with the result that their determination has been im-
possible. The colour gradually changes from the light tints to darker browns
or blacks, whilst at the same time the outer parts solidify, and the insect is
then read)' to leave the pupal chamber. In many cases it quits the tree
by tunnelling straight through the layers of wood and bark between the
pupal chamber and the outer air.

This family is peculiarly a forest-living one, the greater bulk of the
species probably ovipositing in forest trees or woody
plants, either in the bark or bast, or in the sapwood or
heart-wood. The mature beetles appear on the wing

for short periods only, the greater bulk of a generation issuing from the
trees at the same time, and very often at night. This is one reason why
these insects are so rarely met with in the forest in the daytime, and
consequently why they have been so sparingly caught by collectors, and have
not found their way into collections. And yet, as will be shown, if a forest
officer or collector knows where to look for the insects, he will find them in
numbers should the search be instituted at one of the periods during the
year at which the insects appear on the wing. It is a common rule for
these insects to pass through more than one generation or life cycle in the
year, even in temperate climates. In India most of the species known pass
through at least two generations in the year, and the number may be four,
or even five in favourable seasons. Now, although the bulk of the individuals
o( any one generation issue at the same time, there are always some back-
ward members of any one brood. These may have been kept back by a cold
snap in a depression in which a few trees may be situated, or something may
have caused an interruption during the egg-laying by the parent beetle.
Oviposition in most cases would seem to be finished in a period of a week,
and consequently, under ordinary circumstances, the last-laid eggs appear to
mature into beetles almost as soon as those first laid, the difference being
probably not more than forty-eight hours. Should, however, anything
have occurred to interrupt the beetles whilst ovipositing, such as an outflow
of resin by the tree, the last-laid eggs will mature at a considerablv later

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 461

period than those laid at first. This results in a certain overlapping of the
generations, and this overlapping always occurs in practice. In damp, cold
seasons the overlapping is apparently greater than in dry ones, which are
much more favourable to the insects.

In the majority of instances the beetles do not appear to feed to any
appreciable extent after issuing from the tree. They possess to a re-
markable degree that instinct which has already been described in the
case of the Cerambycidae, which enables them unerringly to detect newly
felled or standing sickly trees, and as soon as they issue from the tree in
which they have developed they fly direct to a tree in the condition
suitable for egg-laying. In some instances pairing takes place in crevices
on the outer bark, at others in a pairing-chamber prepared by the male
beetle inside the tree. The eggs, however, are rarely (in no instance in
the case of the Indian species known) laid on the outer bark of the
tree, or even in crevices in the bark, as is the case in the Buprestidae and
Cerambycidae. The beetles always tunnel down into the tree to oviposit.
The depth to which the beetle goes varies with different genera and
species. Pairing may take place outside the tree, the female subsequently
boring in to oviposit, or in other cases the male may eat out a pairing-
chamber in the outer thick bark, or down in the inner bast, or in the
outer sapwood. The female then either enters the tree by enlarging
the male entrance-hole, or tunnels a fresh one of her own which hits
off the pairing-chamber of the male. After fertilization here she carries
a tunnel down to the bast, and then bores away from the pairing-
chamber, grooving the bast or the bast and sapwood. Some bark beetles
are polygamous, and two, three, or more females may enter the pairing-
chamber of the male in this way, and, after fertilization, each carries
her own egg-gallery separately away from the pairing-chamber. In the
case of the wood-boring Scolytidae, i.e. those which oviposit in the sap- or
heart-wood, the tunnel into the sapwood is often eaten out by both male
and female, or commenced by the male and the female then enters it, is
fertilized, and continues the tunnel down farther into the wood. In this
latter work she may be aided by the male.

It has been said that the beetles usually issue at night from the trees in
which they have been reared. Although this is often the rule, in the case of
several of the Indian species, Spliacrotrypes of the sal and 1'oly^i-iiplnis and
Tomicus of the blue pine and spruce, for instance, I have found tin- beetles
crawling about the bark of newly felled trees and tunnelling into them in
the daytime. This has generally been thecase, however, in areas where tin-
beetles have been unusually numerous. It is at such times that the latter
are preyed upon and consumed in large numbers by the pivdaceous clerid
beetle Thanasimus (p. 508). Some species, Poly\i;i\iplin* and Toinicus, espe-
cially the former, crawl with ease over the bark, whilst others walk but
feebly, and only appear really at home when in their tunnels.

462

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

Many species of hark beetles, or in some cases genera only, can be
readily recognized by the plans of the galleries made by the mother
beetle and her offspring, the larvae, in the bast and sapwood of the
tree, or down in the interior of the wood. The female beetle, for
instance, after pairing with the male in the pairing-chamber in the bast,
grooves out a gallery, called the mother- or egg-gallery, which may be
straight or may be serpentine, in the bast and sapwood in a direction
parallel to the long axis of the tree. On each side of this gallery the beetle
eats out little notches, depositing an egg in each as she goes along. When
she has laid all her eggs the gallery ceases, or at most may be continued
for a short distance, in which portion she herself dies. On hatching
the larvae eat out each a gallery called the larval gallery, which is either
more or less at right angles to the mother-gallery, or inclines downwards
in the case of the first-laid eggs and upwards in the case of the last-laid,

I. II.

FIG. 306. — Plans of galleries of Scolytid beetles in bast. I, Monogamous;
II, Polygamous, a, egg-gallery ; b, larval gallery ; c, pupating-chamber ;
if, aeration hole ; e, pairing-chamber.

being more or less at right angles from those eggs laid about the centre of the
mother gallery. The larvae continue eating out their galleries, which usually
serpentine to some extent, till they have reached full development in size.
They then enlarge the end of the gallery either in the bast and sapwood
or entirely in one or the other, and pupate in this chamber. On maturing,
the^beetle bores straight out through the layer of bark over it, taking the

•

\v

I

.

Pl.ATK XXX IX.

• •

1

m

1

'

1

;

\

Pairing-chambers, egg-galleries, and larval galleries ot 'I'mnicits ribbentropi^ Stub., on
ner surface of living spruce bark. This shmxs the manner in which the female Ijeetles tunnel
it their egg-galleries, and the method of feeding of the grubs which hatch from the eggs laid
the sides of the egg-gallery. North-West Himalaya.

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 46;

most direct route to the outside. There is thus left indelibly imprinted in the
bast and sapwood, or in the sapwood, or partly in one and partly in the other
(the female gallery often grooving both bast and sapwood, whilst the larval
galleries are entirely in the bast, as in the case of the Tomicus of spruce and blue
pine), a " plan " consisting of the mother and larval galleries of the species.
For any one species this plan is always the same, and an examination of
these old plans thus left imprinted in the trees will always enable the former
presence in the forest of this particular beetle to be definitely ascertained
long after the insects themselves have left the trees. This is a point of the
very greatest importance to the forester. The shot-holes on the outer bark
of the tree, made by the beetles entering the tree and by their offspring
tunnelling out of the tree on maturing, will tell the forester that bark beetles
are present in the forest, but they will not enable him to decide the species
present. By stripping off the bark he will be able to determine by the
"plans" left in the bast and sapwood the actual species which performed
the damage, should it be a bast beetle.

These plans made by Scolytidae in their operations in the tree group
themselves into four distinct series of figures, according to the method
of oviposition by the parent beetle and the mode of feeding of the grubs.
The bark forms — i.e. those members of the family which lay their eggs in
the bast layer of the tree as distinguished from the true wood-borers — will be
first considered.

The true bark-borers include both monogamous and polygamous forms,
and the plans of the galleries made by each are very different in appearance
and easily recognizable.

The Indian monogamous forms are typically represented by the deodar
Scolytus (p. 568), and the sal Sphaerotrypes (p. 476). The female beetle
pairs with the male either outside or in the bark of the tree. In the first
case the tunnel down through the bark may be commenced by the female,
who then attracts the male near the entrance-hole, is fertilized by him, and
then continues her tunnel down to the bast. This is the usual habit of the
deodar Scolytus. In the second case the male bores a short way down
through the thick bark of the tree and eats out here to one side a small
pairing-chamber. The female crawls down this short entrance-tunnel or
makes a short tunnel of her own which exactly hits off the pairing-chamber
(cf. fig. 318, c, e,fon p. 482), pairs with the male in the pairing-chamber, and
then continues the tunnel straight clown to the b:ist layer. In each case, on
reaching the bast the female proceeds to eat out a g.illrry in the bast which
may be straight or may incline first to one side and then to the other
(cf. Scolytus major, fig. 307). The gallery is usually carried up the tree
parallel to its long axis, and may groove both bast and sapwood. As this
gallery is eaten out the female gnaws little notches in it on each side
at close and more or less regular distances apart, depositing in each an egg,
surrounded by a little mass of fresh, soft wood-dust, which is placed in
position with the hind feet. The beetle takes several days, up to a week

464

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

on occasions, to prepare the whole of the egg-gallery and lay all her eggs.
The eggs hatch out within twenty-four to forty-eight hours, and the larvae
of the first-laid eggs have already commenced to eat out the larval galleries
before the mother has finished laying the eggs at the top of the galleries.
In the case of most of the Indian monogamous bark beetles known, the
mother beetle remains alive during most of the period the grubs are reaching
full growth, moving up and down her egg-gallery, which is kept quite free
of wood-dust, or remaining in the entrance-tunnel in the bark, which she
thus effectually blocks up as with a plug, preventing predaceous insect foes
from entering it to get at and devour the larvae, or to deposit their eggs in
the egg-gallery from which hatch out predaceous grubs. The whole of the

Fir,. 307. — Egg and larval galleries of Scolytits major, Steb., in deodar.

bark and wood-dust eaten out in making the entrance-tunnel and egg-
Cillery are ejected through the orifice in the bark, and may often be found
in small patches on the outer bark beneath the entrance-hole.

Coming now to the larvae. As soon as they hatch out from the eggs
they devour the small mass of soft wood-powder with which the mother
surrounded the egg, and then commence tunnelling more or less directly
away from the egg-gallery. These galleries eaten out by the larvae groove
the bast or both bast and sapwood, and increase in size with the growth of
the grubs. They keep their main direction, but serpentine about to some
extent. Those taking off from the centre of the egg-gallery are more or less

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 465

at right angles to it ; those in the lower part of the gallery — i.e. that portion
first made by the mother beetle — have a downward direction, whilst
those in the upper part trend in an upward direction. The larval galleries
are approximately equal in length to one another, and when completed the
plan made by the mother and larval galleries has the shape of an elongate or
blunt ellipse, the long diameter being formed by the egg-gallery. When
full-fed the grubs either pupate in the enlarged end of their gallery or may
hollow out a shallow chamber in the sapwood or bark and pupate in this.
In both cases the beetles on maturing bore straight through the bark above
them and leave the tree. In any event, the " plan " left by the operations of
the mother beetle and larvae is always constant for that species, and enables
its former presence to be easily recognized. A comparison of the plans
of the galleries of Scolytus major (frontispiece) and Sphaerotrypes siwalikensis
(fig. 19 on p. 33) will render this evident.

In the polygamous forms (which are typically represented by the Indian
Polygraphus, Tomicus, and Pityogenes) the male beetle tunnels through the bark
till it reaches the bast or outer sapwood, and eats out in either or both a
small irregular-shaped depression, which forms the pairing-chamber, and
remains in this. A female enters the pairing-chamber either by enlarging
the entrance-tunnel of the male if she is of larger size than the male
(which is often the case), or by boring an entrance-tunnel of her own which
accurately hits off the pairing-chamber. On joining the male she is
fertilized, and then at once commences eating out an egg-gallery which
takes off from the pairing-chamber in an upward direction, but runs more or
less parallel to the long axis of the tree. A second female now enters the tree
bv the entrance-tunnel of the male or that of the first female, and on
reaching the pairing-chamber pairs in her turn with the male and then eats
out her egg-gallery, which she carries in a direction opposite to that of the
first female. If a third female enters, her gallery is taken up the tree, whilst
that of a fourth will proceed downwards. In either event the galleries of
the second and fourth females will diverge outwards from those of tlu-
first and second females, and will never cut into the latter. Kadi It-male as
she eats out her gallery bites small notches in the sides and lays an egg in
each. These notches are not, however, eaten out in the same regular
manner as is the case with the monogamous bark-borers, nor in some cases
are the eggs placed so close to one another. Also the major portion of the
eggs are laid on that side of the gallery which is farthest from that ot tin-
neighbouring female egg-gallery (cf. fig. 328). In some cases, as e.g. Tinmen*
rilibcntrnpi, the egg-galleries, with the notches in which the eggs are
deposited, groove the sapwood deeply, whilst the larval galleries are eaten
out in the bast only, and so are not visible on the sapwood (cf. pi. xh.

The larval galleries, which are eaten out by the grubs on hatching in a
manner similar to that above described, are not so uniformly regular, and
may wind about more. They an-, however, always taken in a direction
away from the egg-gallery, instinct appearing to teach the grub that no

9CO3 (i G

466

! AMILY SCOLYTIDAE

sustenance will be obtained if it attempts to tunnel in the direction of
the mother gallery.

The larval galleries are always — and this is also the case with the
monogamous larvae — blocked with excreta and triturated wood particles
which have passed through the larval body. When full-fed the grubs pupate
cither in the enlarged end of the larval gallery or very often in a chamber
eaten out in the sapwood or in one eaten out in the bast or bark.

In the case of one Indian polygamous bark-borer (Pityogcnes, p. 562)
five or more females are fertilized by the one male beetle, and the five
egg-galleries radiate in a stellate manner from the pairing-chamber, each
gallery curving inwards, the eggs being laid on the outer side of the curve
(cf. fig. 358).

In all these cases the plans of the egg and larval galleries are constant
for the species, and are easily distinguished from each other, as will be seen
by comparing the plans made by Polygraphus (fig. 333), Touiicus (pi. liii),
and Pityogcnes (fig. 358). In the polygamous forms the egg gallery may or
.may not be blocked with wood-dust and excreta by the female beetle. If it is,

as in the case of Tomicus,
where the gallery is also very
long, the beetle eats out one
or more aeration holes by
boring a horizontal tunnel
to the outer bark, leaving a
thin lamella of bark on the
outside intact. This tunnel
serves to let air into the egg-
gallery, whilst at the same
time the thin lamella of bark
covering it prevents preda-
ceous foes from getting into
the egg-gallery to devour the
grubs. When the whole of
the eggs are laid the female
either dies in the tunnel just
above the last-laid eggs, or
continues the tunnel for a
length of an eighth to a
quarter of an inch and dies
in this portion.

The wood-boring forms
of the Scolytidae oviposit in

the wood of the tree, and
H IG. 305.— Piece of runts Gerardiana bark showing , , . .

egg-galleries with egg-recesses made by Polygraphus b°re OUt tunnels Nvhich may
ic/ii, Steb. a, pairing-chamber; 6, egg-galleries; g° straight down into the

wood or may enter the tree

egg-recesses ; d, air-holes ; t, larval galleries.

'

'

.
]

-

•

•

-

.

]

I
-

I 'I ATE XL.

"• — 3T

I\^--galleries of 7'o»u\nx >-i/>l'cntr«f>i. Stcl)., in s:ip\vo<><l of s|)rucc. Tlic larval galleries are
not present, as they groove the bast layer only. Noitli \\C-t Himalaya.

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

467

at an angle, subsequently turning and going straight down towards the
heart of the tree. These forms differ in the way in which the tunnels
are eaten out.

In the first case the female beetle bores down some distance into the
sapwood, or the entrance-tunnel may be made by both male and female
beetles. The female is then fertilized, and she continues her tunnel, eating
out small offset tunnels in which one or more eggs are laid. The larvae on
hatching out usually feed on fungus matter lining the walls of the tunnel
and have therefore been called "ambrosia" feeders. The larvae when full-
fed pupate in the offset tunnels, and the beetles when mature crawl into the
main tunnel and up it to the outside of the tree. Both male and female
beetles as soon as pairing and egg-laying are completed leave the tunnel.
This latter, as is also the case with the offshoot tunnels, is completely free
of all wood-dust and excreta (cf. fig. 385, Scolytoplatypns, p. 606).

In the second case the male and female carry the tunnel deep down into
the wood, the tunnel going perhaps straight through the bark, taking a sharp

Kn;. 309. — Plans of Egg Tunnels of the Scolytid Wood-borers. J\ tunnel do\\n
into the sap- and heart-wood ; </, place where the I-L;L;S are laid.

bend in the outer sapwood, and then going down straight or on a curve or
serpentine into the sapwood or into the heart-wood. The tunnel is uniform
in width throughout, circular in shape, and has no offset tunnels to it.
When deep enough in the wood the female lays her eggs at the bottom.
The larvae on hatching out also feed on sap or fungus materials on the
walls of the tunnel, and as they increase in size they lir naked in the
tunnel one above the other and pupate in this position. When mature
the beetles simply crawl up the tunnel and escape from the tree. This
type of wood-borer is exemplified by the teak Xylchorns (fig. 381). Most of
the known Platypodidae (figs. ;S<), _;<jo) oviposit in this manner.

In the case of the main tunnel with the offsets it is possible to distin-
guish the beetle from the plan of the tunnels, but this is not the case with
the simple tunnel without offshoots.

(, <; 2

468 FAMILY SCOLYTIDAK

These wood- boring Scolytidae ma}' be monogamous or polygamous,
though in the majority of instances known the Indian species appear to be

monogamous.

In manv cases the winter is passed by Scolytidae either in the larval,
pupal, or resting beetle stage, in the gallery or pupal chamber. If the grub
has pupated and a severe cold winter is experienced, most of the pupae will
probably be killed in the case of the bark-boring insects. If the beetle has
matured and left the tree and a cold snap supervenes it bores a short
way into the thick bark of old trees and hibernates here (cf. Sphaerotrypes in
the sal, p. 477).

The family contains numerous species in India which are very destruc-
tive to trees, and research into the habits of the family
Family *s showing that the beetles, especially the bark-boring

forms, play a very important part, and will play a still
more important part in the future, in the economic life of the Indian forest.

The real danger to the tree occurs in the case of the groups which
oviposit in the bast layer. Damage is done here by both beetle and larva,
the former grooving out the egg-gallery whilst the latter eats out an offset
gallery. A certain amount of the bast is thus removed by each. Con-
sequently when a tree is attacked by a large number of beetles, thousands of
egg-galleries may be eaten out in the bast. From each egg-gallery twenty to
seventy or more larval galleries may take off, and may cover the whole of the
main stem of the tree from base to the crown. In such cases the galleries
when complete form an interlacing mass, practically the whole of the bast
disappears, and the tree dies. This is a common feature of the attacks of the
Scolytus in deodar, Toniicus and Polygraphus in blue pine, spruce, and long-
leaved pine, and Sphaerotrypes in the sal. Under Scolytus major figures are
given (p. 572) to show the large number of beetles which are reared in one
tree under these conditions.

Bark beetles do not usual!}' attack green trees unless driven to do so.
For ovipositing purposes they seek out newly felled trees, windfalls, snow-
broken tree?, or standing sickly trees whose vitality has been reduced from
one cause or another. In all cases the trees must possess absolutely fresh
sappy bast, or the beetles will not oviposit in them. Felled trees or wind-
falls which have lain for a couple of months exposed to the rays of the hot
Indian sun will not be attacked, and it would appear that the beetles will not
oviposit in trees which have been felled or have fallen in thick shade. Should
a supply of trees in the condition required by the beetles not be forthcoming
on an area, the insects will attack green standing trees. The first series of
beetles to infest the trees will in all probability be drowned in their partially
constructed burrows by an outflow of sap or resin put forth by the tree.
The tree responds with this outflow to each succeeding attack as long as its
vitality enables it to do so. Should the number of beetles in the forest be
excessive, succeeding attacks are successful and the tree is killed. Thus the

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

469

danger of green trees being attacked in the forest is entirely dependent on
two factors :

1 i ) The presence in the forest of a sufficiency of felled trees, windfalls,

and standing sickly trees.

(2) The abundance of the insects in the locality.

In the first case the presence of such trees leads to the increase of the
beetles, since the
conditions favour
them. In the second
case it should be pos-
sible to reduce to a
minimum the dan-
ger of serious infes-
tations of the insects
by removing or bark-
ing at once all felled
trees and windfalls,
and removing al 1
standing sickly trees,
which, if left, serve
as centres in which
the insects raise a
numerous progeny.

Coniferous trees
infested by bark-
boring Scoly tidae are
easily distinguish-
able when standing
in the forest :

( i ) The foliage
turns yellow and the
needles commence
to drop off.

u) The b;i rk
shows on the out-
side numerous pin
or shot holes, made

by the beetles en- | . M; 3,0.— Kxit-holc-s, or "shot-holes," of mature .Vy

tering the tree or \/uvr//7Y«A7.v hectics on outer surface of the lurk of a s.il tre .

issuing from it.

(3) The bark shows on tin- outside under the entrance- holes made by
the beetles elongate pear-shaped drops or 'tears" <>l resin. Trees so
affected are said to "weep," and in tin- case of seriously infested trees the
tears, often forming a drip down the kirk for some distance, are very easily
seen and are characteristic of the attack. I'l. \li shows the bark of

mam

47o FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

the Finns gcnirdiiina, infested by Polygraphus trenchi, covered with nume-
rous tears of resin. In the case of the smaller branches the entrance-hole is
usually marked with an elevated circular rim of white resin as shown in
fig. 329. This is also the case with the thin-barked Finns gerardiana.

Another evidence of the attack which is common to both bark- and
wood-boring Scolytidae is that masses of wood-dust may be found on the
bark beneath the hole, ejected by the beetle from its gallery. This, with the
entrance-hole in the bark, is very often the only evidence that trees have
lost their vitality, and are therefore no longer capable of answering the attack
by an outflow of resin until the later stage at which the needles begin to
turn yellow.

Broad-leaved trees attacked by these bark-boring pests show no easily
visible outward signs until the insects have obtained the upper hand and
removed most of the bast layer. The}' then begin to flag, and the leaves
turn yellow and drop off. Long before this, however, an inspection of the
outer bark will show the numerous tell-tale pin-holes (fig. 310) and the
ejected wood-dust particles, either protruding in little conical masses from
the holes, or in dust beneath the latter.

The wood-boring forms of the family very rarely kill the tree, only
perhaps when they are so numerous that the holes cover the bark from top to
base. Their attacks are, however, serious when the insect is in large
numbers, as the holes drilled into the timber entirely ruin its outward
appearance for sale purposes, even if, as in many instances, the tunnels
only penetrate for a few inches into the sapwood. These beetles attack the
wood in various stages of dryness. Some will only infest newly felled,
wind-thrown, or snow-broken trees, whilst others only tunnel into trees
which have lost a certain amount of sap ; finally, others will only oviposit
in absolutely dry timber.

In 1899 the Government of India published a small work entitled
Injurious Insects of Indian Forests, in which I had collected such informa-
tion as was then procurable on the injurious insects of the Indian
forests. The work was mainly compiled from Indian Museum Notes,
with some few additions from observations made by myself. In this work
the only Scolytidae included were a Polygraphus sp., since described as
Polygraph™ major, Steb. ; Pityogencs scitns, Blandford ; Xylebonis perforans,
Wollaston; and undetermined species said to attack Qucrcus incana, sal,
I'inns longifolia, and Finns gernrdiuiui.

Since that date a considerable amount of investigation work has
been carried out regarding the relation of this family to the forests of
the country by officers of the Department and others and by myself;
many new species have been discovered, and valuable records on their
economic importance have been compiled. This information is detailed
in the following pages. Whilst some of it has been already published
in my monographs and bulletins, much of it appears here for the first
time.

'41 '51 '61 "71 '81 '91 'HO'lll'Fli'll 'MJ3I '4

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FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 471

I would wish to record my deep obligation to my former instructor in
Entomology at the R.I.E. College, Coopers Hill, Mr. F. W. Blandford,
himself a well-known authority on the family ; to Lieut. -Colonel F. Winn-
Sampson, now engaged on work in this family and on the Platypodidae ;
and to that eminent authority, Dr. Max Hagedorn, for the great assistance
so generously accorded me in this branch of my work.

The Scolytidae have been recently subject to a complete revision* by that accomplished
scientist Dr. Hagedorn, and unfortunately this revision has led to the disappearance of several

well-established generic names, whilst the name of the family known
Classification. to generations of foresters disappears. Dr. Hagedorn has but followed

the commonly accepted dictum in scientific nomenclature that priority

should be recognized in every case, but it is peculiarly unfortunate that the necessity should
have arisen in such an important family economically to the forester as the Scolytidae, which
he now calls Ipidae. The well-known genus Tomicits becomes Ips, whilst Scolytus is known
as Eccoptogaster. It is inevitable that great confusion will arise owing to this revised nomen-
clature. I have deemed it therefore advisable to draw attention to the matter, in order that
future students may make a first acquaintance with this revised synonomy as well as with
the old one. In every case I have placed the revised generic name in brackets, but in order
to avoid confusion in a work designed essentially for the use of the forester I have kept to
the old and well-established nomenclature.

Dr. Hagedorn adopts the now generally accepted view, which I have held for some years,
that the Platypodidae are a distinct family. He divides his family Ipidae (Scolytidae) into
four sub-families, according to the presence of pubescence, spines, bristles, or pubescence and
bristles on the edges of the middle jaw, to which he gives the names Pilidentatae, Spinidcntatae.
Saetidentatae, and Mixtodentatae. In the first sub-family he includes one tribe, in the second
seven, in the third two, and in the fourth one. In all save the first sub-family Indian genera
and species are well represented in the forests.

The following are the characters of the sub-families :—

i. Pilidentatae. — Edges of maxilla furnished with hairs,
ii. Spinidentatae.— „ „ „ „ spines,

iii. Saetidentatae— „ „ „ „ bristles,

iv. Mixtodentatae. — ,, „ ,, „ hairs and bristles.

Sub-Family I.— Pi I, II UN i \i \i .

This sub-family contains the tribe Phloeotrupinae, including the three genera Diictyli-
palpits, PhloeoborttS) and l^liloeotrnpcs. No Indian species of this sub-family are yet known
to be injurious in the forests.

Sub-Family 2. — SIMNIDKNTATAK.

Edges of the middle jaw fringed with spines. This sub-family contains the largest
number of the at present known Indian genera, the whole of the injurious bark-boring and
bast-feeding pests coining here. The sub-family is divided into seven tribes, the Diainerinae,
Hylesininae, Crypturginae, Cryphalinae, Ipinae, 1 1 ylocurinae (no Indian species), an,!
Eccoptogastrinae. These tribrs include the important Indian genera niitincrus, 1 1 via */<-.>,
Hylesinus,Sphaerot/-ypest Phloeosinus^ Chra»il-.\u*, Crvptitrgits. /\>l\'^ra/>hits. Cryphalus,
Coccotrypes, llryocoetes, /'ify<>f>/itli<>rits, TotnicHs '//>.vi, /Y/iv;y ;/,•*, and Sci>lytns
(Eccoptogaster}.

*Wytsman. Genera Insectoritm : Colcoptera, fain. Ifiidac. von Max Hagedorn 1910).

472

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

Tribe DIAMERINAE.

Tibiae with outer edge smooth ; front tibiae lengthened out into a
one- or two-toothed hook. Abdomen horizontal.

DIAMERUS.
Only one species of the genus of forest importance is known.

Diamerus fici, Blandford.

REFERENCE.— Blandford, Trans. Ent. Soc. Loud. 426 (1898).

Habitat. — Tista Valley, Eastern Himalaya.

Tree Attacked. — India-rubber (Ficus elastica), Tista Valley.

Beetle. — Oblong, black, sub-opaque, the antennae and tarsi piceous brown. Head slightly
shining, closely but not very strongly punctate, and furnished with very short, accumbent

grey pubescence ; front impressed between the antennal foveae,
Description. convex above, and with a slight median nodular elevation, some-

what more shining ; eyes oblong-oval ; antennal club flattened,

obovate, somewhat blunt at apex, very closely pubescent, with a strongly angulate suture
towards the base. Prothorax constricted anteriorly, the sides rounded, lateral margins
distinct, dorsum convex, with very close but not coarse punctation, and a sub-carinate median
line from the base to the middle. Elytra twice as long as the prothorax, separately and strongly
rounded at the base with narrow, raised, crenate margins, carried back obliquely and sinuate at
the sides ; surface with moderately deep incised shining crenate striae, the interstices sub-
convex, with close and rather line punctures bearing very short and inconspicuous setae.
I'luler-side strongly punctured and pubescent with short grey hairs. Legs robust, the anterior
tibiae widened apically, the upper apical angle with a backwardly directed tooth ; middle and
posterior tibiae with the upper border rounded and crenate. Length, 5.5 mm.

To my knowledge only one individual of this species has been as yet
taken. It was from this insect that Mr. Blandford
Life History. described the species.

The beetle appears on the wing apparently in the

latter part of July. On the thirtieth of that month (in 1897) I found a
beetle tunnelling into or ringing (I was not sure which) a young india-rubber
cutting in a nursery situated in the Tista Valley (Tista Division). The
cuttings had been in about a year, and had already thrown out several leaves,
and the one being attacked was quite healthy.

Tribe HYLESININAE.

Tibiae never prolonged into a hook or process at outer angle. Head
provided with a rostrum. Hind joint of tarsus broadest.

The tribe contains a peculiarly Indian genus, Sphacrotiypes, which
includes species of great economic importance in the plains forests. The
genera Hylastcs, Phlocosinus, and Chramesus also contain Indian forest
species.

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

473

HYLASTES.

Two species, whose life histories are partly known, infest Coniferae in
the Himalaya.

Hylastes himalayensis, Stt-l>l»in<;.

REFERENCES. — Stebbing, Ind. F>>r. .Man., Zool. Ser. vol. i, pt. ii, p. 14 (1909) ; ibid. Depart.

Notes (Hylastes sp.), i, 201.

Habitat. — North-West Himalaya.

Trees Attacked. — Spruce (Picca inorinda) ; Blue Pine (Finns exceha).
Jaunsar, Kumaun, Chamba, Simla, 3,500 ft. to 8,000 ft.

Beetle,^ Elongate, shining, dark red-brown to black, punctate. The third tarsal joint
wider than the preceding joints. Head smooth, shining, with scattered rather large punctures

on vertex ; a transverse median depression below vertex not reaching
Description. the sides ; rostrum somewhat constricted, widest at base, not carinate ;

front roughly rugose-punctate, the punctures finer medianly and the
rugosities more prominent on the rostrum. Prothorax constricted at apex,
the sides angulate and sinuate ; punctate, the punctures of two kinds ;
larg • squamulose and confluent on sides, finer and not confluent on disk
and anterior median portion. Elytra wider than thorax and twice as
long, widest at apex, sides very slightly rounded to basal fourth, and
thence slightly sinuate to base ; striate-punctate, the striae prominent and
punctured, the interstices rugose with short fine hairs. Uuder-surface
black, covered with scattered fine white hairs ;
middle coxae fairly wide apart. Legs dark reddish-
black. Antennae yellow, tibiae red-brown. Length,
3 mm. to 3.5 mm.

The male beetle is of smaller size than the
female.

1

The beetle

wing

Life History.

FlG. 3 i i. — Hylustt"*

Steb.

„, |H.etie: fi, e-gallerics in a piece of bin,-

appears on the

about the second

week in May at the

higher altitudes at

which it lives, and is to be found in the
t rees at various elevations up to the mid-
dle of June. Another generation makesits
appearance in September-October. The
beetle, after tunnelling through the bark
of the tree, eats its way down into the pine wood.
heart-wood. The entrance-tunnel may

go horizontally through the bark into the sapwood (in a standing tree), or
may be at an angle. In any event, on reaching the sapwood the an^le is
altered, and the long e^g-gallc-ry taken at an an-le to the entrance one.
Short offset galleries are eaten off on either side near the extremity, and

. f

e.ugs laid in them. I have not yet taken the ^rubs of the insect, although
I have taken the beetle in considerable numbers during several years.

The male and female pair in the tunnel inside the tree, and the male
appears to help the female in boring a portion at lea^t of the long gallery

474

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

into the wood. It is not improbable that the first portion of the tunnel as
far as the pairing spot inside the tree is the work of the male beetle, the
female continuing the tunnel into the heart- wood after fertilization. In
pairing the male mounts on to the back of the female.

An autumn generation appears in September-October.

The beetle is apparently a \vood-borer only, and enters the tree when it
is dying or nearly dead. So far as present observations
go, it does not infest dead or dry trees, as it requires
that there shall be a certain amount of sap in the wood
for its grubs to feed on. I have taken the insect in considerable numbers in
girdled and nearly dead blue-pine trees in Jaunsar. The beetle is very often
found associated with Rhyncholus himalayensis of the blue pine and spruce.
It tunnels deeper down into the tree than the latter insect.

Relations to the
Forest.

Ichneumon sp. — This Ichneumon is
perhaps also on Rhyncholus himalayensis.

parasitic on the Hylastcs, and

Fly. — A black, shining, delicate fly, with a very long
ovipositor, longer than the insect itself. Antennae of medium

length ; wings longer than the body,
with a stigma on outer edge of upper
wing. Legs reddish. Length, 6mm.;
ovipositor, 9 mm. ; expanse of wings, 12.3 mm.

Parasitic and
Predaceous Insects.

I cut out a specimen of the Ichneumon from
the bottom of a. long egg-tunnel of this Hylastes
in a dead blue-pine in Jaunsar. The fly was
mature, and was taken on 5 May 1902. The
wood of the tree was riddled with the tunnels
of this insect and with those of Rhyncholus Jiiina-
layensis. The Ichneumon grub had evidently fed
parasitically on one or more of the hylastid ones.

This is the only occasion on which I have taken
Fir,. 312- Ichneumon sp. ., • nqra-:tp

. . Llllb Udld,c>lLC.

( x 3), parasitic upon Hylastes

ti>Ha/avt'nsis,Steb., and Rhyn- Platysoma rimae, Lewis (p. 105).— This histerid

Stelx is predaceous upon the hylastid. The insect is
North-YSest Himalaya. ., J

described on p. 570.

Paromalus sp. nov. — This insect, already described as predaceous upon
Rhyncholus hiiualayensis (p. 453), also attacks and is found commonly with
this hylastid.

Hylastes longifolia, Stebbing.

REFERENCE.— Stebbing, Ind. For. Mem. Zool. Ser. i, pt. ii, 3.

Habitat.— N.W. Himalaya.

Tree Attacked.— Chir Pine (Finns longifolia}. Tons Valley, Jaunsar ;
Kumaun; Ravi Valley, Chamba.

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 475

Beetle.— Elongate cylindrical ; black, shining, uniformly punctate. Smaller than hima-
layensls. Head with vertex smooth, with a few scattered fine punctures ; the transverse

depression below vertex more prominent
Description than in hhnalavcnsis ; rostrum wide,

scarcely constricted, and not carinate ; front

uniformly pitted \\ith small punctures more prominent than on
vertex. Prothorax shaped as in himalayensis ; the punctation is,
however, quite different, the punctures being uniform in size and
arranged in symmetrical, longitudinal, parallel, equidistant rows
save near apex, where they are closer together ; on anterior margin
a. smooth area finely punctate, broadest medianly, thinning out
laterally on either side. Elytra with a slightly reddish tinge, a
little wider than thorax and nearly three-fourths as long again, FlG. 313.

as wide at apex as at base, somewhat constricted in basal third, Hylastes lonqifolia,
apex bluntly rounded. Striate-punctate, striae deep, punctures small Steb. N.W. Himalaya,
and very uniform, interstices prominent, smooth, shining. Both

upper and under surfaces are distinguished by an absence of hairs. Lender-surface black,
uniformly punctate ; punctures large save on abdominal segments, which are finely pitted.
Middle coxae closer together than in himalayensis. Length, 2.6 mm. to 3.05 mm.

This beetle comes into the tree as the Tomicus and Polygraphus bark

beetles of this pine, described later on, are leaving it,

Life History. i.e. it does not require the bark and wood to be as fresh

as is the case with the others. This I have noticed

to be the rule with the Hylastes of the blue pine and spruce. The insect

will not, however, attack dry wood.

The beetle bores through the bark down to the inner bark layer,
and makes a central pairing-chamber from which radiate several (two or
more) galleries (filled with white wood-powder) in a fan-shaped manner.
These galleries, after zigzagging in the bark for some distance, are then
carried down into the wood at an angle which may be very acute or
otherwise. The zigzag gallery in the bark varies greatly in length ; it may
be very long or very short. This gallery grooves both bark and wood
and is rilled with white wood-dust, and so is easily seen in the dark-
red inner bark. After entering the sapwood the beetle may turn and bore
in it in a direction parallel to the circumference of the tree for a time,
and then again turn and bore right down into the heart-wood of the tree.
This procedure agrees with that of the Hylastes of the blue pine and spruce.
The deep tunnel in the wood is to lay her eggs in. The probable procedure
is that the male bores down to the inner bark, the females pair with him
there and then eat out their zigzag galleries in the bark, subsequently going
down into the wood.

A generation of this beetle was found tunnelling into trees to ovi-
posit in late May and early June in Kumaun and in the middle of
June in Charnba, whilst another generation was taken, occupied in a
similar manner, towards the end of October in the Tons Valley, in Tehri
Garhwal.

476 FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

This beetle is a wood-borer, though by no means so dangerous a pest

in this way as the Platypus biformis described on p. 619.

Damage Committed Qn the Qther hand when thg insect jg numerous it is
in the Forest.

capable ol destroying a certain amount ol the cambium

Inyer of the tree, owing to the habit of the females of carrying their galleries
at first in the cambium layer and sapwood.

As regards protection, the method of treatment would be similar to that
for the Platypus (p. 620).

This may be one of the insects alluded to by Mr. Norman Troup as
infesting the wood of the Pi mis longifolia in Kumaun.*

SPHAEROTRYPES.

A very important genus of globular bark beetles, which chiefly infest
broad-leaved trees in the plains forest. It is interesting to note that the
genus is widely spread, extending throughout India (including Baluchistan)
and into Lower Burma.

Sphaerotrypes siwalikensis, Stebbing.

REFERENCES. — Stebbing, Depart. Notes, i, 389 (1906) ; id. Ind. For. Mem. Zoo}. Ser. i, pt. i, p. 3 (1908).

Habitat, — United Provinces.

Trees Attacked. — Sal (Shorea robustii) ; Anogeissus latifolia ; Tcnninalia
toinentosa. Siwaliks, United Provinces Terai, Oudh.

Beetle. — Elongate, globular, very convex above. Black, with
often a reddish tinge on the thorax and basal portion of elytra-
Head black, punctate ; antennae yellow ;
Description. prothorax with anterior margin half the

width of the posterior, the margin produced

forward into a lobe in the middle, with a transverse depression
below it ; sides rounded, posterior margin produced backward
medianly into a sharp point, a fine raised longitudinal black line
down centre, the rest of surface being covered with slightly raised
irregular elevations. Elytra longitudinally striate with the intervals
consisting of rows of prominent rounded serrate elevations, like
Y\c,. -MI. blunt teeth ; the elytra taper slightly towards apex, the basal margin

Sfiharr<>l> T/VV being angularly convex and serrate; the basal fifth is often red in

ti^'tilikfitsis Steb. * 6. c°l°ur and much less deeply striate, and the elevations are less
Siwaliks, Northern India, prominent than on the rest of surface. Under-surface black, the

abdominal segments thickly clothed with longish yellow hair. Legs

brown, tibiae serrate on edge, tarsi lighter-coloured, Length, |in. to ^in. The black
elevate line down prothorax, and the remarkably deeply striate and corrugate elytra, serve to

distinguish this insect.

Larva. — White, curved, legless, thick, robust, and much corru-
gated, with a small brownish-yellow head ; very convex dorsally, flat
ventrally, and elliptical in section.

Pupa.— Almost spherical in shape, white, has the appearance of

Larva of Sphaerotrypes beetle, but is soft, and legs and antennae and wings are compressed
v\, Steb. x 6. against the sides and breast.

* Jonrn. Bom. Nat. Hist. SOL. vi 1. xviii, p. 19 (1907).

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 477

This Sphaerotrypes is the bark-beetle pest par excellence of the sal forests
of the United Provinces, and probably extends into the

Life History. sal are^s in Nepal to the east. The beetle primarily

infests the sal-tree, but is also to be found attacking

Anogeissus lutifolia and Terminalia toinentosa. The insect is often found

infesting the sal in company with the longicorn sEolesthes holosericea

(p. 301).

The beetle hibernates in the outer layers of the thick dead bark of the
larger sal-trees in the forest, tunnelling into the bark about half an inch.
The bark of large trees may often be found to be pitted with small holes in
the winter months, and if these are cut into, either this beetle will be found
Dr the predaceous histerid Niponins, which feeds upon it. The bark-borer
makes its first appearance in the year about the middle of March in dry
warm years, the beginning of April in cold wet ones. The insect is
gregarious, issuing from the trees in swarms and flying together to attack
fresh ones. The female usually pairs with the male in the outer bark of the
tree, the beetles boring in at separate points, the tunnels meeting in the
outer bark. After fertilization the female beetle continues her tunnel down
to the bast, and then eats out a gallery in this latter parallel to the long
axis of the tree, and grooving both bast and sapwood. In this gallery she
lays her eggs, thirty-five to forty in number, in little indentations made on
each side all the way up. It is possible that she pairs with the male more
than once, crawling back to the pairing-chamber at intervals during the con-
struction of the egg-gallery. The length of the egg-gallery is £ in. to i^ in.
The larvae on hatching out bore galleries away from the egg-gallery at
angles which deviate more and more from the right angle the nearer they
approach to the extremities of the female gallery (fig. 19, p. 33). The length
of the larval gallery is if in. or a little more.

On becoming full-fed the larva, whose gallery grooves both bast and
sapwood, enlarges the end of its tunnel into a small chamber, and chango
into a pupa in this. The beetles on maturing leave the pupal chamber
by boring out horizontal tunnels straight through the bark to the outsit If
(fig. 310).

Fig. 19 shows the plan of the galleries made in the bast and sapwood
by the female beetle and the larvae. This plan is always constant
for this beetle and never varies. As each larva bores out the pupating-
chamber of the future beetle at the end of its larval tunnel, and as
the tunnels are all more or less of the same length, if the outer bark
of the tree is examined after the new brood of beetles has left it a
roughly-shaped ellipse of exit holes will be seen upon it, as shown in
fig. 310.

Owing to the pattern thus left in the outer bark by the exit-holes of
the new generation of the beetles, an examination of the bark of infest •• 1
trees will show whether the beetles being raised in the tree have left
or not.

478 FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

The mother beetle, as is the case with the Scolytus of the deodar, remains
alive for a considerable time after finishing ovipositing, the entrance-tunnel
in the bark and the egg-gallery being kept free of all wood particles and
dust : the larval galleries are, however, closely packed with these materials
and larval excreta. The female finally dies in the entrance-tunnel, and
thus blocks it. The predaceous histerid beetle Niponitis andrewesi appears
to be aware of this habit of the Sphaerotrypes, and usually crawls down the
entrance-tunnel, thus reaching the lower part of the egg-gallery, where she
oviposits whilst the bark beetle is still engaged in eating out the upper
portion of her gallery and completing her egg-laying operations.

The eggs laid by the March beetles are those of the first generation of
the year. The larvae hatch out within three to four days of the eggs being
laid, perhaps in even a shorter period, and become full-fed at about the end
of April. The pupal stage lasts from ten days to a fortnight, and the first
generation of beetles issues some time in May. The May beetles lay eggs
which give rise to the second generation of beetles about the end of June to
the middle of July ; these lay eggs which produce a third generation of beetles
at the beginning of September; a fourth generation of beetles, from eggs
laid about the first week in September, emerges in the first week in October ;
the eggs from these give rise to the beetles which are found in the bark
of standing trees in the winter season ; they issue about the middle of
November. It is probable that the whole of this, the last generation of the
year, rarely matures before the first cold of the winter sets in. The immature
pupae and full-grown larvae have then to hibernate in this condition in the
larval galleries. To do this the larva spins around itself a fine silken cocoon,
and thus usually manages to pass safely through the winter. Most of the
pupae are probably killed off by the cold.

In May 1902 I discovered the beetle tunnelling into a small green shoot
of a living sal-sapling in the Dehra Dun forests. The beetle was alive
and only the extremity was visible, the rest of the insect being buried in
the green shoot. In subsequent years I was able to corroborate this
observation and to ascertain definitely that the beetle tunnels into and
feeds in young green sal-twigs.

During the cold season of 1908, Mr. Reich, a third-year student at
the Imperial Forest College, Dehra Dun, discovered a dying Anogeissus
latifolia tree in the Garhwal Division showing the characteristic galleries
of this insect. Unfortunately no beetles were procurable. The writer
had previously taken the insects tunnelling into newly felled Anogeissus
latifolia posts in April 1905, at Horai, in the Kumaun Division, United
Provinces.

In September of 1908 and of 1909 I had some green sal and Tenni-
nalia tomentosa trees felled at Lachiwala, in the Dun, and investigation
showed that the Sphaerotrypes also infests the Tenninalia in a manner
similar to that of S. globulus (cf. pi. xlii), although not apparently so readily
as the sal when the two trees are present together in the locality.

^r^v

PLATE XLII.

*,• • 4»> '• V

-•H

\

and larval -alleik-s nt" Sphaerotrypes globulus, lilandford, on the outer sapwood of

ll')' )1) J II tl 1 1 4l f <) 111 ,* Jl f ll \" ,1 \\' \\-\f\\** ( , .1 , t i . 1 I ),-/-,,

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 479

This beetle is essentially a bast tunneller, i.e. the female requires the
fresh cambium layer of the tree to oviposit in, and the

Damage Committed b require the same to feed in. Thus the insect will
in the Forest. .

only attack either standing sickly trees in the forest

or newly felled ones. If, however, there are none of these in the forest
and the insect is in great abundance, it will attack healthy green trees.
It infests trees from the young pole stage onwards. Serious attacks of
the insect will be found to commence at a centre and spread con-
centrically outwards. This and the fact that the pest is capable of in-
creasing very rapidly in numbers when conditions are favourable to it
constitute the danger of this beetle in the forest. It must be remembered
also that its habit, as a mature beetle, of tunnelling into young green twigs
and leading shoots of saplings to feed may prove very harmful to young
growth in plantations and coppice areas.

The fact that the beetle also infests the Anogeissus and Terminalia is
of considerable importance. These trees are often felled and used for
building houses and bridges in the forests, and for sale, or felled and left
in situ in cleaning operations. It must be remembered, therefore, that all
green parts of these trees left in the forest are liable to be infested by this
beetle, and consequently aid in its increase in the locality.

All trees felled should be at once barked, or if they are left as trap
trees with the bark on they should be barked as soon

as they are full of larvae, and before these have
Kerneuies.

pupated and begun to issue as beetles. In leases given

for the felling of sal-trees in coupes, a clause should be inserted enforcing
the barking of the trees as soon as felled.

In the Siwalik sal areas there is a considerable s ile of sal-posts
(termed locally "tors"). These are cut during the cold-weather months,
and should be all removed from the forest by the end of March. Pro-
vided this is strictly adhered to, there will be little chance of these
posts assisting in the multiplication of the beetle. The tors will not be
attacked if stacked in the sun two or three miles, or even less, from
the forest, as the beetle will not lay in rapidly drying bark, which would
not provide sustenance for the larvae when they had hatched out from
the eggs.

There can be little doubt that this beetle may pnne ;i source of
serious danger to coppice coupes, if it once becomes IUIIIKTOUS in adjacent
areas of high forest undergoing improvement by the removal of all stag-
headed, deformed, and sickly trees. As the older areas became cleaner the
issuing swarms of bark-borers would be forced to attack the green trees. It is
more than probable- that coppice areas would be chosen. The attack would
be certain to begin in patches, tin- insect working outwards from a centre.
If patches of trees in coppice or pole forest appear to be dying, the bark
should be carefully examined. If covered with small shot-holes on the

4>So

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

outside, especially beneath the projecting edges of flakes and in crevices,
portions should be stripped off and examined on the inside. If, as will
be the case when the beetle is numerous, the inner bark and sapwood
are found to be riddled with galleries containing larvae, pupae, or beetles,
the whole patch affected should be cut out, and the trees either barked at
once and the bark burnt, or if the barking is not possible the whole of
the cut-out material should be stacked and burnt. Trap trees should be
left and watched.

After the great frosts of February 1905, careful examinations of areas
affected, both in the Siwaliks and adjacent sal areas in the Terai and in the
Pilibhit forests, showed that the Sphacrotrypes beetle was steadily increasing
in numbers in the partially killed and moribund trees. The numbers of
these trees were so great that it i-s likely that it will be some years before
the beetles begin to find a scarcity of trees to oviposit in. When that
date arrives, however, there will be a danger of a severe attack of this pest
in the forests unless its predaceous and parasitic foes are able to keep
it in check.

Two insects are known to prey upon this Sphacrotrypes, a histerid
beetle and an ichneumon. I think there is a third,

Parasitic and a clerid beetle allied to Tillictra assamensis (p. 486), but
Predaceous Insects. . ...

1 have never taken it feeding on the bark- borer. The

histerid beetle Niponius has a wide range in India.

Bracon sp. — This is a small fly, blackish
in colour, with two pairs of membranous
wings ; antennae and legs are long and
slender. The fly probably lays its eggs
in the entrance - tunnels of the bark
beetles ; on hatching out, the young
grubs crawl down the tunnel to the newly
hatched bark-borer grubs and parasitize
these, either living inside them or on
the outside. The bark-borer finally dies
of exhaustion, and the braconid grub then
pupates, the fly on maturing crawling out
of the tree through one of the exit-holes
of the beetle.

Niponius andrewesi, Lewis (p. 102).

xg

FIG. 316.

Bracon sp., parasitic upon
trypes siwalikensts, Steb. Siwaliks.

-Pink in colour, with a yellow head. Elongate and narrow, with twelve body-
Length, i in. to iin. It is to be commonly found in the larval galleries of the
bark-borer ; it feeds upon the grubs of the bark-borer.

—Elongate, narrow, shining black in colour ; the wing-cases are short, leaving
sed the last two segments of the body, which are orange-red in colour. Head deeply
Elytra striate-punctate : pygidium punctate.

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

481

Life History. — The grubs of this beetle feed upon
those of the sal bark-borer. The clerid has the same
diameter as that of the bark-borer beetle, and can
thus enter after the latter into its tunnels and oviposit
there.

It is obvious that since this beetle is an enemy
of the bark-borer it should never be killed. The beetles
or their grubs are always to be found in company
with the sal bark-borers, and probably pass through
the same number of generations in the year as their
hosts. The Xipoiiins hibernates in the beetle stage in
thick sal-bark in a manner similar to that of the bark-
borer. (Vide additional note on p. 490).

FIG. 317.

Niponius andreiuesi,
Lewis. Upper and
Lower India, Assam.

Sphaerotrypes assamensis, Stebbing.

REFERENCES. — Stebbing, Some Undescr. Scolyt. from Ind. Regions, Ind. For. Mem. Zool. Ser. vol. i, pt. i,
p. 4(1908) ; id. Some Assam Sal Insect Pests, Ind. For. Bull. no. n, p. 23 (1907).

Habitat. — Assam and Bengal Duars Sal Forests.

Tree Attacked. — Sal (Shorea robusta). Goalpara, Bengal Duars.

Beetle. — Small, globular, very convex above. Black, slightly shining. Prothorax uni-
formly punctate, with a slight longitudinal median line. Elytra with deep longitudinal striae,

the interstices being filled with rows of elevated prominent black
Description. scales. There is a row of stiff short hairs on the anterior margin

of prothorax. Easily distinguished from .sv'uvj/Y/vv/.f/V by the

deeper striae on the elytra, which become more pronounced as they approach the apex,
instead of becoming obsolete ; by the black colour of the elytra and by the more open
and definite punctation of the elytra ; also by the more strongly raised line on the pn>tlx>r.i\.
Distinguishable from coimbatorensis (as is siivalikensis] by the much more obtuse angle
formed by the junction of the bases of the elytra, the angle being sharply V-snaPetl in
coimbatorensis ; the larger size also distinguishes it from this latter. Under-surface black.
finely punctate ; antennae yellow ; tarsi piceous brown ; tibiae set with a fringe of white
hairs. Length, 2.8 mm. to 3.6 mm. Fig. 318, a, b.

Larva. — White, short, squarish in outline, dorsal surface slightly convex. Head small,
yellow. Resembles a large white tick in appearance.

The beetle makes its first appearance some time earlv in March ;md
lays its eggs in the bast and sapwood of newly felled trees

Life History. or in standing sickly ones. The upper part of the trunk
and the crown of a large green tree felled in February

were found to have been badly attacked soon after felling; the genera-
tion of beetles raised in them issued at the end of April, ;uid in the
middle of May had already oviposited in neighbouring trees. None of
these beetles or others of the same generation had oviposited in the bark
of this tree since it had become too dry. They require absolutely green cam-
bium. The male beetle bores down about a quarter of an inch into the bark of

9003 H H

482

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

the main stem or thicker branches at an angle, and hollows out to one side
of the tunnel a small chamber, large enough to afford space for two beetles
i tig. c). This is the pairing-chamber. The female usually enters the
pairing-chamber by boring a separate tunnel through the bark, which
hits off the chamber. She is fertilized by the male, and then continues the
entrance-tunnel down to the bast. On reaching this she eats out a
gallery in the longitudinal axis of the tree approximately at right angles to
the entrance-tunnel. This is the egg-gallery, and is about an inch in length.
The eggs are laid in this, and the larvae hatch out and mature in a manner
similar to that already described for S. siwalikensis (p. 477). The larval
tunnels are winding; they increase in size with the growth of the grub, and

FlG. 318, -Sphaerotrypes dssaniensis, Steb., in the sal-tree in Assam, a, male ;
b, female beetle ; c, entrance-galleries of male and female beetles and pairing-chamber
in the bark ; d, egg and larval galleries; e,f, uncompleted egg and larval galleries
in green trees full of sap. Assam and Bengal Duars.

are tightly packed with the wood excreta. The plan of egg and larval

very constant and uniform, forming a bluntly rounded ellipse

Vhen numerous the beetle will lay its eggs in small branches. On

the bark is necessarily too thin for the beetle to hollow out its pairing-

iber in it, and instead this latter is made in the sapwood and bast.

Cillery is commenced to one side of the pairing-chamber, the latter

situated about an eighth of an inch up the former and to one

^he egg-gallery is not invariably straight. It may be curved or

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 483

even bent sharply to one side, but this latter is not usual. It was especially
visible in the case where the insects were egg-laying in very green trees (fig. e).
The number of eggs laid is thirty-five to forty on each side of the gallery, or
seventy to eighty in all per beetle, and the larval galleries are two inches in
length. The male beetle remains alive whilst the female is eating out the
egg-gallery and ovipositing, and is usually to be found blocking the entrance-
tunnel .near the pupating-chamber. Since the beetle is preyed upon by
\iponius andrewesi (p. 480), which enters the tunnels of the bark-borer, the
continued presence of the male would seem to be for the purpose of
protecting the female ; or it may be, as already mentioned under siwalikensis,
that the female pairs with the male several times during the process of
constructing her gallery.

At the end of April the insect is to be found in the full-grown larval,
pupal, and immature and mature beetle stages in the trees, this being
evidently the first generation of the year. A proportion of the beetles will
have already issued and will be found egg-laying in other trees. A com-
parison will thus show that this insect in Assam is nearly a generation ahead
of its confrere 5. siwalikensis of the Northern India sal areas. The fact
that a generation of beetles has left the tree can easily be ascertained,
as, owing to the ends of the larval galleries, i.e. the pupal chambers,
being all situated on the circumference of a rough ellipse, and to the
fact that the mature beetles bore straight out of the bark from the pupal
chamber in the bast layer and sapwood, a regular series of exit-holes form-
ing an ellipse is to be seen on the outer bark. When they have matured
the beetles leave the trees in swarms together at night, and search for
suitable trees in which to oviposit. By the middle of May the beetles of the
first generation of the year were busily egg-laying in the Kachugaon forests,
and some larvae had already hatched out and commenced to eat out their
galleries. At the end of the month some of these latter were already
two-thirds grown both in the Kachugaon forests and in the Rajabhatkhowa
sal areas. This is as far as the life history has been carried. I am of
opinion that it will be found that the insect has at least five generations in
the year, the beetles of the second appearing the first or second week of
June; those of a third at the end of July; a fourth in the middle
of September ; and a fifth towards the end of October. It is the grubs
and the beetles of this last generation wrhich hibernate and egg-lay in the
following March. As soon as the first snap of cold makes itself felt, the
grubs will leave off feeding and remain in a comatose condition in their
galleries. The beetles which have already issued probably do as their
Northern India ally does, bore into the thick bark of sal-trees and hiber-
nate in this. It is not impossible that in the hot damp climate of Assam,
in favourable seasons, the October beetles may pair and oviposit at once,
and that a sixth generation may be passed through before the advent of a
cooler temperature puts a stop to their work. The beetle tunnels into and
feeds in green shoots of the sal in its mature state.

H H 2

484 FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

This bark-borer must be ranked as second only to the Hoplocerambyx
(p. 320) in its power of committing damage in the sal

Damage Committed j hag t the latter>s capacitv for destroying the

in the Forest. . r .

timber, since it never goes into it, merely grooving the

outer sapwood. When numerous, however, it is equally as dangerous as a
bast consumer, and probably more so, since it will attack young saplings.
During its flighting periods it makes its appearance on newly felled trees as
soon as the Hoplocerambyx beetle, and will enter the tree to oviposit in any
part of it save the smallest twigs. In addition to attacking sickly standing
trees in the forest it also makes attempts on healthy green standing trees.
Several instances of this nature, in which trees had been attacked by the
March generation of beetles or those of a generation of the past year, were
noted ; from the appearance of the galleries it is simple to fix approximately
the period at which they were made. The trees in question responded with
a copious outflow of sap which either drowned the beetles in their partially
completed egg-galleries and killed the eggs and the young grubs, or drove
the beetles from the tree to seek more favourable situations. Instances
were seen where the beetle had maintained the struggle and laid its eggs,
but it was noticeable that in these cases the egg-galleries were either longer,
a small number of eggs only being laid which hatched into larvae which
bored long galleries, the number being reduced to a dozen ; or the egg-
galleries were very short and narrow, the eggs being mostly laid on one side
only, the larval galleries being small and short. The egg-galleries bored
in such trees often curve (ride figs, e, /). Trees which had successfully
resisted a bad attack by the February generation were, however, succumbing
to that of the May one. A large tree, 5 ft. in girth and 100 ft. in height,
the leaves of the upper part of the crown of which had but recently turned
brown and withered, was felled in May and examined. It was found to
have been unsuccessfully attacked in the manner above described by the
March generation. The May one had better success, and the crown and
upper one-third of the stem were full of beetles and grubs. Xo other cause
for the dying condition of this tree could be found, although the upper
portions of the roots were laid bare in search of a possible root fungus.
The Hoplocerambyx had not yet appeared in the tree.

I have already alluded to the damage creepers do in these forests.
They were cut over in the sal areas near Kachugaon (Polo and Hel Blocks)
three years before my visit in 1906. It is possible that many of the trees
attacked in these localities by these beetle pests may have formerly been
partially strangled by the creepers, and thus had their vitality greatly
Before they have been able to recover strength they have been
attacked by the insects, with the deplorable results seen.

Dn two occasions in May I took in the Kachugaon Forest this beetle
in a living shoot of a sal-pole, only the extremity of the body of

beetle being visible from outside. In each case the tree had been

1 to examine it for other boring insects, and the Sphaerotrypes beetles

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 485

were in the upper branches in the crown of the tree. There can be little
doubt that the beetle, as is the case with Sphaerotrypes siwalikensis, tunnels
into green shoots for feeding purposes only, and in areas of coppice and
young plantations would prove a serious pest in this connection.

Methods for the protection of forests from the attacks of bark-boring
pests of this nature have already been discussed when

of Protection considering the life history of Sphaerotrypes siwalikensis,

and it will be unnecessary to detail them again here.

The method of ascertaining the numbers of the insects in the forest and
of trapping them by using felled trees as described under Hoplocerambyx can
also be resorted to in the case of this insect. In May the same trees will do
for both, since at least one generation of the Sphaerotrypes, and probably the
March one also, will coincide with the appearance of the Hoplocerambyx
beetles in the forest. For the other periods only the trap trees should be
destroyed, i.e. barked and the bark burnt (the timber is not affected by this
insect), when the beetle is not on the wing in the forest, i.e. when the insect
is in the bark and sapwood either as larvae, pupae, or immature beetles.

Niponius andrewesi, Lewis, (p. 102). — This insect was first taken in
Assam in May 1906, when it was found preying upon the sal Sphaerotrypes

described above. It has alreadv been shown that it has
Predaceous Insects.

a wide distribution throughout the country.

Life History, — The following are supplementary notes on the life history
of the Xiponius as observed in Assam in April and May :—

Larvae were taken in the galleries of the mature grubs of Sphaerotrypes
in the Hultugaon forests at the end of April. On 14 May I took a
specimen of the beetle in a partially complete egg-gallery of a Sphaerotrypes.
The bark-boring beetles had apparently been eaten by it. On the 2ist of the
month I took a number of beetles engaged in devouring the bark-borers which
were attacking the large green sal -tree mentioned on p. 484. In addition to
searching out the bark-boring beetles I think the histerid also enters the
egg-galleries for the purpose of laying its eggs close to those of the Sphaero-
trypes. The pink grub is, however, very active, and does not appear to
confine itself to any one set of larval galleries, since it is often found between
the bast and sapwood worming its way on to neighbouring galleries remote
from the one where it hatched out. The eggs of the Xiponins do not hatch
as soon as, or at the same time as, those of the bark-borer, since no young
larvae were present in any of the egg-galleries and short larval galleries found
so numerously in the latter half of May. The abundance of this insect is by
no means yet satisfactorily settled. In the three localities I have found it
in it has only been sparingly taken. This may. however, be easily accounted
for by the fact that it is only to be found in the larval galleries of its
host, from which it has to be laboriously cut out. I have rarely taken

486

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

it on the bark of the tree. It apparently hides until it can safely enter a
tunnel already extending down to the bast layer.

This insect is of such importance that the remainder of its life history
urgently requires working out. We require to know whether the number of
generations it passes through coincide with those of the Sphaerotrypes, and
the exact number of them. The larval and pupal stages and beetle stages
of the first generation of the year, March to May, would appear to coincide
with those of the insect it preys upon, and it is not unlikely that the
remaining life cycles of the year will be found to do so.

Tillioera assamensis, Stebbing, sp. nov. (p. 187). The beetle feeds on the
mature forms of the Sphaerotrypes and also of Platypus
cnrtus (p. 624), and on species of Diapus (p. 630).

Beetle. — Squarish, with an ant-like vertical head and " shoul-
ders " to the elytra, which give it some superficial resemblance to a
longicorn beetle. Black, with transverse white bands on the elytra.
Antennae knobbed. Head black, shining, a few scattered black
bristles on vertex, the front being set with close long white hairs.
Eyes black, prominent. Thorax red, shining, with a deep trans-
verse depression across the middle, and a marked channel just
above the basal margin. Clothed with scattered stiff long black
bristles, a bunch of white ones projecting from the lateral margins
just above the base. Elytra black, set with rough scales. A band
of white pubescence, under which the elytra are yellowish red, starts
from the base on either side of the median suture and is produced
upwards for about a third, when it expands laterally to the outer
edges in the form of a broad transverse white band whose apical
margin is produced medianly into a sharp point reaching to the
upper third of the elytra. A second narrower white transverse band

traverses the elytra just above the apices, which are black, clothed with more sparsely set
white hairs. Under-surface black, the thoracic segments clothed with long thick spiny white
hairs, most numerous laterally. Upper portions of femora yellow, rest of leg black, clothed
with long yellow and white hairs Antennae yellow. Length, 6.5 mm.

The smaller size and position of the white bands on elytra easily distinguish this insect
from Tluinasiinus lii»ialaycn*is.

Life History. — This insect was first taken on the wing whilst I was pro-
ceeding through the Hultugaon forests on an elephant. It was subsequently
caught flying round and running about on the bark of newly felled sal-trees in
the Kachugaon (Polo and Hel blocks) forests. It is an extremely active insect,
resembling a Cicindela in its movements, as it flies an d runs with great rapidity.
Beetles were kept for some days and fed with living Sphaerotrypes, Platypus,
and Diapus beetles. They were found to consume a considerable number of
the bark and wood beetles per day, taking about fifteen minutes to eat one
Sphaerotrype beetle. Their habits, method of feeding, etc., are similar to those
described for T. himalayensis (p. 509). There is still a considerable amount
of information required about this very useful insect. We need to find its
grubs, which almost certainly feed upon the bark- and wood- boring scolytid

FIG. 319.

Tillitvra assamensis,

Steb., predaceous upon

Sphaerotrypes asta-

mensis. Goalpara,

Assam.

PLATE XLIII.

sal (Shorea robust a} tree, showing entrance and exit holes of Sphaerc
ford, on the outer bark. Mandla, Central Provinces, April 1909.

PL

.

A

Hf
Trees At

j

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

grubs ; also to discover where the eggs are laid, and whether the genera-
tions of the beetle coincide with those of its hosts.

Platysoma sp. (p. 106). — Thishisteridis predaceous upon the Sphaerotrypes.

Beetle. — A compact, shining, black beetle, squarish in build, with a hard integument :
elongate, pointed mandibles. Head and thorax very smooth and shining. Elytra smooth.

shining, with a few longitudinal striae placed wide apart. They
leave the last two segments of the abdomen exposed, the last
^> being constricted behind. These segments are thickly and deeply
punctate. Length, 6.5 mm.

Life History. — Only a few specimens were taken.
They were found beneath the bark of the sal-tree
felled on 13 May in the Kachugaon forests which
was subsequently infested by the bark-borer. The
histerid attacks the Sphaerotrypes beetles, and their
grubs probably feed upon the larvae also.

Use in the Forest. — These two insects are of
considerable use, provided they exist in sufficient

abundance to exercise a salutary check on the bark-
Platysoma sp., predaceous , . _,. T , , .

upon Sphaerotrypes bormg Pest' ThlS T have not >'et ascertained. Any
assamensis, Steb. Goalpara. insect predaceous upon a pest is, however, of great

value, and the life history of the Platysoma requires

working out. The number of generations in the year, period passed in larval
stage, and food eaten by larvae, etc., all require to be studied.

FIG. 320.

Habitat.

Sphaerotrypes globulus, Blandford.

REFERENCE. — Blandf. Trans. Ent. Soc. Loud. 63 (1894).

-Central Provinces Sal Forests.

Trees Attacked. — Sal (Shorea robusta) ; Terminals tomcntosa. Mandla,
Central Provinces.

Beetle. — Squat, ovate, black, elytra black with a suggestion of a
dark reddish tinge, under-surface with a silvery pubescence ; antennae

orange, legs dark red. Vertex of head reticu-
Description. late and punctate, more punctate laterallv,

front reticulate-punctate, with a short median

longitudinal raised line reaching from level of base of eyes to near lower
margin of front, in other cases stretching to about level of middle of eyes;
a semicircular fringe of whitish hairs stretches along anterior edge of
vertex between eyes. Prothorax constricted in anterior portion and
much depressed, the median line terminating anteriorly at the depressed
part ; surface finely reticulate and punctate, slightly shining, with
fine short white setae, densest laterally. Klytra striate punctate,
the scales black, large, and prominent, intervals smooth and tineK
punctate. I 'nder-surface \\ith lateral portions of thorax and anterior abdominal segments
reticulate and clothed with a rather dense short silvery pubescence; the legs clothed with
same silvery pubescence. Length, 2.6 mm. to 3.2 mm.

FIG. 321.

Sphaerotrypes

, lll.indford.
Central Provinces.

488 FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

This Sphaerotrypes infests the sal and Terminalia toinentosa of the Central
Provinces and Chota Nagpur sal areas, and takes the

Life History. place of the 5. siwalikensis in the United Provinces
and the ussiiincnsis in Assam. Its method of attack in the tree, plan of
galleries, and life history are very similar to those of these two latter insects,
with some points of difference due to climatic peculiarities of its en vironment.

The first beetles of the year make their appearance in February, and
oviposit in felled trees, wind-blows, or in standing green sickly or dying
trees in the forest. The male beetle fertilizes the female inside the tree.
The male bores through the bark down to the sapwood, and eats out there
a short gallery from a third to a half of an inch in length, and parallel to the
longitudinal axis of the tree. A female enters by the entrance-hole of the
male in the bark (enlarging it, as the female is larger than the male), is
fertilized in the small tunnel in the sapwood, and then proceeds to eat out
a prolongation of this pairing-chamber, the direction remaining the same. On
either side she eats out small indentations, in each of which an egg is placed.
The development of larvae is similar to that of the other Sphaerotrypes beetles
known, save that the larval galleries appear to be of shorter length. The
larvae, when full-fed, appear invariably to pupate in the bark, eating out a
cup-shaped depression in the thick bark at the end of their galleries.

The number of eggs laid is from twenty-five to thirty on each side, fifty
to sixty in all per female. The length of the egg-gallery is from just under
i in. to ij in. It is shorter when made low down in the main stem than
when made in the smaller branches. The larval gallery is from 2 in. to
2.\ in. in length. The pattern left by the egg and larval galleries in the
bark is similar to that left by siwalikensis, and is shown in pi. xliv.

We have seen that a generation of beetles appears in February and
oviposits. The beetles maturing from these eggs appear in April, giving
seven to eight weeks for the generation, and may be found laying the eggs
of the second generation of the year in the latter half of April. The
number of generations in the year has not yet been definitely ascertained,
but it will not be less than four.

The life history, as detailed above, shows that the insect is a generation
ahead of siwalikensis in April, since the first beetles of the year of the
latter only appear in this month, the long cold winter in the north
accounting for the difference.

The life history of the insect in the Terminalia toinentosa is similar to
that in the sal. Owing to the bark of this tree being somewhat thinner,
to its drying quicker, and to its being whiter inside, the galleries of the
insect are more clearly defined than in the sal. (Cf. plates xlii and xliv.)

I first noticed the attacks of this insect in the Chota Nagpur sal forests

between the years 1894 and 1897. In 1909 I had an
Damage Committed .^ Jr . . ,.,.;.

in the Forest. opportunity of studying its life history in the Mandla

division of the Central Provinces. My visit was at an
opportune time, since, in addition to the cold-weather fellings, a new road

PLATE XI. IV

Section of stem of a sal (S/iorca robust a) tree showing the egg and larval galler.es of
Sphaerotrypes ^li>lntlits, IHandford, on the outer sapwood. Mandla, Central Provinces,
April 1909.

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 489

was being driven through a portion of the fine sal forests, and a consider-
able number of sal-trees had been felled on the line, of which some still
remained lying unbarked in the forest. Scarcely one of these trees (sal and
Terminalia} had escaped the attacks of this insect, and nearly the whole of
the logs and brushwood left from the cold-weather fellings had bred out a
generation of the beetle. Trees felled in January were at once tunnelled
into by the beetles which appeared on the wing in the forest in February ;
and those which were not too dry or had been felled at a later date were
infested by the generation of beetles issuing in April In this latter month
the beetles were swarming in large numbers in the forest wherever newly
felled trees were situated or where standing dying trees were to be found.
I collected with ease over a hundred beetles in under half an hour.

I had felled several large trees which had a sickly appearance or had
newly dead leaves hanging on them. In one of the former I found the
upper part of the main stem, the upper fourth, and all the branches pitted
with the entrance-holes of this beetle. A careful investigation, however,
showed that although in some instances the beetles had got down to the
sapwood and even commenced the egg-gallery they had almost invariably
given up the attempt and left the tree. I explained this action as due :
(i) to the vitality of the tree still being considerable, and to its being able
therefore to respond to the attack with a strong flow of sap ; (2) to the
extra heavy fellings in the neighbourhood offering abundance of trees in
the condition preferred by the beetles for ovipositing purposes. Many of
these trees had only been felled a couple of weeks before my arrival.

Another tree felled, on which the dead yellow leaves were still hanging,
had been heavily infested by the beetle in its upper third. The bark of this
portion on both main stem and branches was pin-holed with thousands of
the entrance and exit holes of this insect, the matured beetles having left
the tree to oviposit elsewhere. The lower portion of the stem of the tree
was still full of sap and quite green, and the generation of beetles now on
the wing in the forest were tunnelling into it to oviposit. This tree had
undoubtedly been killed by the beetle, and was a proof that the insect will
attack standing trees in the forest should they become sickly. The lower
portion of the bole was infested by the Hoploccniuibvx spinicomis beetle, the
cerambyx and scolytid working together in this area.

Methods for dealing with insects of this nature have been alrea<l\
described under siu\ilikcusis. I noticed here the power-
ful effect of thc hot-weather sun. In one of the l.adlv
infested Tcnninalia toincntosn felled trees the stem had

been logged and one of the logs rolled on to the edge of the road,
where it lay exposed to the full sun's rays, the side attacked by the beetle,
which had previously been in the shade, being now exposed. On stripping
off the bark the insect was seen in various stages of partly grown larvae,
fully grown ones, pupae, and immature beetles. In every case, however, the
insects were dead, having been literally roasted to death under the powerful

49o 1 AMILY SCOLYTIDAE

rays of the sun, and this in spite of the fact that the bark still remained
on the tree. This is sufficient proof that in the plains of India the mere
barking of infested trees will be sufficient to kill off the insect provided it
has not reached the mature-beetle stage.

Ichneumon ? sp. — I took three cocoons of an Ichneu-

Parasitic and mQn Qr Bracon fl in the j chambers of the

Predaceous Insects. r

Sphaerotrypes, but was unable to breed out flies from them.

Niponius andrewesi. — I took specimens of the larvae, pupae, and
mature beetles of this insect infesting the Sphaerotrypes. The insect has
already been fully dealt with under S. siwalikensis. A point of interest about
the larva is that it will devour its own kind in the absence of other food, and
that it also devours the Sphaerotrypes pupae. This I was able to prove by
keeping specimens together in a glass tube. The beetle is to be found on
the wing at the same time as the bark-borer.

Sphaerotrypes coimbatorensis, Stebbing.

REFERENCES. — Stebbing, Ind. For. Mem. Zoo]. Ser. vol. i, pt. i, 4 ; id. Depart. Notes, i, 395.

0

Habitat. — Coimbatore District, Madras Presidency.

Tree Attacked. — Anogeissus latifolia. Anamalai Forests, Coimbatore.

Beetle. — Small, globular, constricted behind. Black. Head black, depressed below fore-

head, rugose. Two elongate golden yellow brushes of hair project from the gula to the mouth.

Prothorax constricted in front, the greatest width two-thirds down, anterior

Description. margin elevate, with a transverse prominent depression behind it ; pos-
terior margin produced backwards medianly into an elongate point ;
surface coarsely reticulate in basal portion, finely so anteriorly ;
a longitudinal median elevate line, often not very prominent, a few
short yellow bristles in transverse anterior depression, and on
posterior part of elevate median line. Elytra with basal margins
convexly rounded and minutely serrate, constricted behind with apex
angled ; the last segment of the body exposed ; broadly striate, the
interstrial portions set with small sharp elevations, much smaller
than in siwaliketisis ; the striae do not reach the basal margin,
\\hich is coarsely rugose, and curve backwards to meet in apical
margin. Elytra set with a short, stiff, sparse pubescence, more
abundant apically. Under-surface slightly convex, black ; abdominal
segments set with short, sparse, whitish bristles ; legs black, tarsi
yellowish. Length, 2.5 mm. to 3 mm.

The golden yellow brushes of hair on under-side of head are
sufficient to distinguish the species from other known Indian ones.

Larva. -When first hatched the larvae are tiny white legless
grubs, very convex dorsally, and slightly so beneath.

To oviposit the beetle tunnels through the bark of x ,*

the tree down to the cambium. This Fir,. 322.

entrance -tunnel is made by one Beetle and young larva of
beetle only, whether by the female Sphaerotrypes coimba-

or male has yet to be observed. On reaching the bast a torens^ St.eb;> '" A""-

eissits latifolia.

eissits aioia.
)out a quarter of an inch long, with parallel Coimbatore, Madras.

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

sides, is grooved out, and in this two beetles,
a male and female, are always to be found ;
and this is probably the pairing-chamber.
After pairing the male leaves the chamber
by the hole of entrance, and the female
commences boring her egg-gallery. This
is merely a straight continuation of the
pairing-chamber, and is always parallel
to the longitudinal axis of the tree. Small
recesses are eaten out on either side close
together all up this gallery, and an egg laid
in each. The first eggs hatch out before the
female has completed her gallery and egg-
laying, so the egg-stage is evidently a short
one— lasting but a few days at most. The
female blocks up each recess with wood-dust
after laying an egg in it, probably to provide
a first meal for the newly hatched larva.
The egg-gallery is kept quite free of wood-
dust. An examination of old galleries will
show that the larvae bore away from the egg-
gallery in a radiating manner, the pattern
formed by their collective galleries approach-
ing an ellipse. When full-fed the larvae
enlarge the end of their galleries and pupate
in these chambers. When mature the beetle
bores its way straight out of the tree by a
hole through the bark. The length of the
egg-gallery is five-eighths of an inch to two
inches, with a breadth of a quarter of an inch
or less. Length of larval galleries one-third
to one and a quarter inch. Breadth one-
eighth inch at top and one-sixteenth inch
at base, where they take off from egg-gallery.
The number of eggs laid by the beetle averages
t\venty-four. The plan of the gallery is very
like that of S. siwalikensis, shown in fig. KJ.

I consider it probable that there are at
least three generations of this beetle in the
year — and perhaps four. Some green .l>t<>-
geissus poles felled in April and left lying in
the forest were examined on 6 August. They
were found to have been attacked from top
to bottom by this beetle since they had been
felled. The insects had laid their eggs in

Ki<;. 323.—, lji<>£,-i.iMt v /tit if <> lia pole
infested by Sphaerotrypes ciumha-
A vv;/ .*•/.»-, Steb., showing the exit-holes
"I ,i matured generation of beetles.
Coimbatore, Madras. August 1902.

492 FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

the felled poles, the larvae had hatched out, become full-fed, pupated, and
emerged as beetles. All this was plainly decipherable ; but the examination
showed that, whilst the work was evidently so recent as to have been done
during the year, it was not fresh enough to have been that of the beetles then
swarming in the forest. The exit-holes made by the beetles had had time to
dry and shrivel round their edges, and the boring was no longer fresh and
clean. It is probable that the poles were attacked in April, soon after being
felled, and eggs laid in them. The beetles maturing from these eggs issued
some time in June, and at once laid eggs in other trees, the poles in which
they themselves had matured having become too dry to afford food of the
nature required by the larvae. These would be the eggs of the second
generation, and beetles from them would appear in August. This theory
was entirely supported by finding beetles and larvae in some newly felled
poles on the 6th of that month. The insects had settled upon these
poles, which were unbarked, in a swarm, and the bark was pitted with their
entrance-holes. Beneath they were to be found in various stages of egg-
laying. In some cases but one beetle was present, having just bored down
to the cambium layer. In others two were to be found in the chamber,
whilst in others again the egg-gallery had been commenced, or was
partially complete, the eggs first laid (at the bottom end) having already
hatched out. These beetles were evidently not those of the genera-
tion which had attacked the April poles, since they had obviously but just
left the tree in which they had matured, and we have seen that the exit-
holes in the April poles had dried-up edges. I therefore conclude that they
belonged to an intermediate generation, probably the second of the year, and
were laying the eggs of a third.

The beetles evidently leave the trees together when mature, and fly off
in a swarm in search of trees in a condition suitable for egg-laying.

As far as observations have been carried, it would appear that this

beetle is capable of making itself felt as a serious pest in

Relations to the the forest. It has evidently the power of swarming

in considerable numbers, and requires fresh bark in

which to lay its eggs. At present it has only been found

in newly felled poles, but it is more than probable that it would attack

young growing saplings, especially sickly ones, were the former not available.

inspected, which had been attacked by the insect, and which the

ties on maturing had left, were found to have their bast layer completely

iled by the pest, whilst the bark externally showed, in addition to the

entrance-holes, numerous elliptical rings of exit-holes placed close to one

mother, as shown in fig. 323. An examination showed me that this insect

to be fairly free from parasites, as a close inspection failed to disclose

larval remains in the larval galleries and pupating-chambers. In the

larvae have been attacked it is generally possible to find at

>kin of the head and perhaps a portion of the thorax and abdomen

present in the pupal chamber or larval gallery. Further, the holes in the

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 493

elliptical ring on the bark usually corresponded in number with the larval
galleries on the inner side of the bark and in the sapwood. Further obser-
vations are required on this point.

Previous to rinding this insect I saw in the Coimbatore Forest Museum
a portion of an Anogeissus post marked "attacked by insects." The post
showed a series of plans of the old egg and larval galleries evidently caused
by a scolytid insect. They resembled closely the ones described here, and
the post had probably been attacked in the forest by this beetle.

Newly cut poles should be at once removed from the forest or barked.

If neither is possible, and a stream is close by, they

Protection and should be put into this for a couple of weeks. This will

Remedies. probably be sufficient to render the bark distasteful to

the insects. In the case above described the trees had

been cut for road-making purposes. Care should be taken to see that poles
cut in excess of the requirements are not left unbarked in the forest, as was
the case in this instance. The last part of April and first half of May, the
last half of July and the first half of August, are probably the flight times of
the beetle, i.e. the egg-laying periods, with perhaps the middle portion of
September if there is a third, or portion of a third, generation, which is
probable. It is quite possible that the eggs of the first generation of the
year may be laid in February. The April generation would then be the
second one of the year.

In plantations, coppice areas, etc., all infested trees should be at once
cut out and either barked, if this is possible, or burnt. The periods for
treating the plantations would be the three weeks succeeding the completion
of egg-laying in the different generations.

Niponius andrewesi. — This Niponius, already described under the
sal-tree Sphaerotrypes, is also predaceous upon this species. I took mature

specimens of the beetle in the tunnels made by the
Predaceous Insect, bark-borer in Anogeissus in August. The beetles

were probably engaged in laying their eggs in the
egg-galleries of the Sphaerotrypes.

Sphaerotrypes. querci, Stcbbing.

REFERENCES— Stebbing, Ind. For. Mem. Zool. Ser. vol. i, pt. i, 5 (1908); id. Ins. Pes. Him .Ind.

For. Records, vol. ii, pt. i, 19 (1909).

Habitat. — Kumaun, North-West Himalax.i.
Tree Attacked. — Moru Oak (Qiicrciis <///<;/<//</>. X;iini Tal.
Beetle. — Short, oval, very convex. Black, with antennae slightly lighter and tarsi ferrugi-
nous. Head punctate, more strongly so at sides, hairy at vertex. Prothorax one and a half times

as broad as long, base bordered and produced backward to form an

Description. obtuse angle, the angle truncate, concave on either side, cmarginate

anteriorly, and sides rounded and narrowed anteriorly, a narrow

elevated line down centre more prominent and shining at base and not reaching to anterior
margin; coarsely and somewhat closely rugose; a few stout bristles, yellow in colour, on
anterior outer margin. Scutellum squarish, oblong, punctate. Klytra slightly wider than

4<,4 FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

thorax, not quite twice as long as latter, conjointly emarginate at base, basal borders crenate,
basal angles strongly rounded and sides rounded from base to apex. Almost black, with a dull
reddish tinge on them ; striate, the striae deep and prominent, but not reaching to base of
elytra, shining, flat with scattered punctures, the interstices slightly elevate and convex, coarsely
rugose-punctate. U nder-surface black, with a scattered yellow pubescence; abdominal segments
i and 5 large and equal to one another, 2, 3, and 4 much narrower, punctate with sparse yellow
hairs on them. Length, 3 mm. (Figs. 2, 2a, pi. xlv, show a dorsal and side view of this beetle.)

Larva. — Small, white, oval. Very convex above, and much corrugated and channelled.

Length. 4 mm. (fig. i).

Very little is known upon the subject of the life history of this bark-
borer. I took nearly full-grown larvae in their galleries
Life History. jn the tree towards the end of May 1908, these being
the larvae of the first generation of the year. The

beetles mature about the first or second week in June. The number of genera-
tions of the insect in the year has yet to be ascertained. It is possible
that it has at least three life-cycles in a season. It is important that this
fact should be definitely and accurately determined. Fig. 3 in pi. xlv shows
' a diagrammatic view of the egg and larval tunnels made in the sapwood
and bast by this insect. The damage it is capable of doing to the tree
and the methods of combating its attacks are similar to those detailed
for the Dryocoetes bark-borer (p. 548) of this oak.

Sphaerotrypes macmahoni, Stebbing.

REFERENCE — Stebbing, Ind. For. Mem. Zool. Ser. vol. i, pt. ii, 16 (1909).

Habitat. — Suliman Mountains, Baluchistan, and Dehra Ismail Khan.
Tree Attacked. — Olive (Olea cuspidata) . Sangar Scallon, Suliman
Mountains (Elev. approx. 7,000 ft.).

Beetle. — Elongate, globular, very convex above. Dull black or brownish black. Easily
distinguished by the presence of what appears to the naked eye as an X-shaped marking of

whitish-grey pubescence, the upper arms (which coincide with basal
Description. margin of elytra) and lower arms (which are situated a little below

middle of elytra) of the X being short, and the vertical portion of

the letter elongate. The flat front of the head, the under-side of the thorax, and the abdominal
segments densely clothed with a short dense grey pubescence. Prothorax punctate, the longitu-
dinal median line fairly prominent and ending in a raised elevation behind. Rather densely
•covered with longish grey hairs, shorter and less dense on disk ; the posterior margin thickly
set with a short very dense greyish pubescence which forms the upper arms of the letter X-
Elytra slightly wider than thorax, not twice as long. Easily distinguishable from the
other four Indian species 1 have described by the finer striae, the interstrial spaces much more
finely rugose and covered with a fine short stiff grey-brown or black pubescence. The basal
third of the suture is set with a very dense short grey pubescence which curves outwards and
downwards from a point about a third up the suture from the base, forming a grey band which
reaches the outer margins two-thirds up from the base (forming the vertical portion and the
lower arms of the X)- The outer shoulders as also the apical portion of the elytra are also set
with this grey pubescence. Under-surface covered with a dense yellow-grey pubescence.
Antennae and legs reddish brown, moderately clothed with a greyish pubescence. Length,
2.75 mm. to 3.20 mm.

[Elongate, convex, and corrugated above, oval, flat beneath, but slightly curved
and yellowish pink in colour.

PLATK XLV

x 6

6 a

Sphaerotrypes //itt-rci, Steb. — i, larva; 2, 2<r, beetle; 3, egg and larval galleries. 4,40,
hramesus ^/n/n//i/s, Steb. 5, 5^. Diapus impressus, Janson. 6, 6tf, Crossotarsus fainnairei,
hap., var. ii'ilninti, Steb.

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

495

This beetle infests the olive (Olea cuspidata) in North Baluchistan and
possibly neighbouring tracts. I found a living tree badly
Life History. infested by the insects on 9 November 1905, the females
being engaged in eating out elongate vertical egg-
galleries some two inches in length transversely across the tree instead of
parallel to the longitudinal axis as is the general rule of the Indian species
of the genus, and laying the eggs in small indentations on either side all the
way up. The larvae eat out wavy galleries some two and a half inches in
length, making the usual Sphaerotrypes pattern in the wood. I know nothing
further about the life history of this insect.

Sphaerotrypes sp.

Habitat. — Salween River, Tenasserim.

Tree Attacked. - • Terniinalia toincntosn. Kowloon Island, Salween
River.

Beetle. —Smaller than .S'. swaHki'iisis. The beetles taken were in too poor a condition
to render the determination of the species possible.

I took two individuals of this Sphaerotrypes from their egg-galleries in
the bark and sapwood on 9 March 1905. The knife

Life History. unfortunately inadvertently cut through one of them,
and the other was in a poor state of preservation. They
were, however, easily identified as a species of Sphaerotrypes.

The beetles taken
were dead mother beetles,
the generation arising
from the eggs laid by
them having left the
tree in all probability
during the previous
autumn. A generation of
the Xylotrcchu* of this
tree (see p. 353) was just
maturing and leaving
the tree, a large standing
nearly dead one.

The egg-gallery of
this species of Sphaerotry-
pes is much shorter than
that of the .sr,v<?//Ar;/.sz'.s of
the sal, and fewer eggs
are laid. In the galleries
I examined only four to

six larval galleries took K."'". ^'' , Eggand larval tunnels ^i Sphaerotrypes sp-
-r f ,c in the inner bark of Terminalia iomentosa. I he beetle is

from the egg-gallery, shown above the bark. Salween, Tenasserim. (E. P. S.

496 FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

but the insect had tunnelled into the thick bark of the base of the tree, which
was almost as hard as wood, the gallery being either in the sapwood
and bark or entirely in the bark. The difficulty experienced by the
beetle in making its egg-gallery may have been a reason for the few eggs
laid. I also found evidences of the work of this beetle in this tree at Wutgyi,
the matured beetles having already left a tree in which the Xylotrechus was

just maturing.

I have no further notes on the life history of this insect. It is
interesting to find that the genus extends into Burma.

PHLOEOSINUS.
Phloeosinus zhobi, Stebbing.

REFERENCES.— Stebbing, Ind. For. Mem. Zool. Ser. i, pt. ii, p. 6 ; id. Chilgoza Bark-Bor. Beet. Zhob,

Ind. For. Bull. no. 3, p. 13 (1905).

Habitat. — Zhob, Dera Ismail Khan (Suliman Mountains).
Tree Attacked.— Chilgoza Pine (Finns gerardiana). Shinghar, Zhob;
Takht-i -Suliman.

Beetle. $ Oblong, cylindrical, black, the thorax and elytra with at times a reddish tinge.

Head black, finely and closely pitted, sparsely covered with a few fine short white hairs.

Eyes reniform, with the anterior margins straight. Antennae yellow,
Description. funiculus four-jointed and club with four articulations. Thorax con-

stricted in front at upper third, finely and densely pitted, with a sparse

white pubescence over it. Elytra striate-punctate, with a row of deep punctures down the striae,
the intervals being convex with fine punctures ; in apical fourth the large punctures disappear
and the striae are very faint ; the apex is set with spiky protuberances or teeth which extend
laterally up the sides ; the elytra are covered with a scattered white pubescence denser at sides
and in apical portion. Under-surface black, with long stiff sparse hairs ; finely pitted.
Abdominal segments narrow. Legs reddish brown, covered with sparse yellow hairs ; tarsi
yellow ; tibae armed with four teeth on outer edge and terminating in a longer tooth on inner
upper edge. Length, 1.9 mm. <J smaller than $, elytra reddish, the white pubescence being
absent. Apex of elytra with fewer teeth. Length, 1.5 mm. PL xlviii, figs. 20, and 2d, shows
dorsal and side views of the female and male beetles.

Egg. — Blunt elliptical in shape, white and translucent (see fig. 2,\

This small beetle was found accompanying Polygraphus trcnchi (p. 510)

in its attacks on chilgoza-trees in North Zhob in 1905.

Life History. Although by itself perhaps not so serious a pest as the

latter, it nevertheless occurs in considerable numbers in

the trees. A noticeable fact about this insect, and one perhaps not without
importance, is that it will attack and lay eggs in trees which have become too
dry for the Polygraphus. I do not mean that the trees are dead ones. Neither
beetle will touch a dead tree, but the Phloeosinus will lay eggs in trees in
which a generation of the Polygraphus is just maturing and emerging, although
none of these latter insects will oviposit in the tree, the bark having become
too dry to yield the necessary food for their larvae. As an example of this,
tree No. 3 (see p. 512) may be instanced. Here the Polygraphus was found in
all stages of full-grown larvae, pupae, and immature and mature beetles;

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 497

the mature beetles were issuing from the tree, but there were no fresh egg-
galleries or eggs. On the other hand a large number of mature Phloeosinus
beetles had bored into the tree within the last week (between 14 and 20 June)
and laid their eggs in galleries grooved out in the bast. The insects were
also tunnelling into the green tree No. 4.

This insect probably commences operations in the spring, laying
the first, batch of eggs of the year towards the beginning of May. In the
trees, however, I found only (i) mature beetles boring in in every instance
to lay the eggs of what I think was the second generation of the year,
(2) eggs laid by these latter, and in some cases (3) small larvae hatched
from these eggs which had already begun to bore away from the egg-tunnel.
As in the case of the Polygraphus, the male insect appears to be the first
to bore into the tree and commence hollowing out a chamber which grooves
the sapwood more or less deeply. He is soon followed by a female and
this latter by another till as many as four female beetles may have joined
the male, all five being found together, at this stage, in what is apparently
an enlarged pairing-chamber. From this the females, after pairing with the
male, eat out each a long clean irregularly curving egg-gallery, and lay large
eggs in depressions gnawed out at the sides, one in each. These depressions
are at fairly wide intervals apart, ten to twelve eggs being laid, about
half on each side of the gallery. These galleries are chiefly in the bast,
although they occasionally groove the sapwood. Fig. 22 shows a piece
of bark with the pairing-chamber, egg-galleries, and recess in which
the eggs are laid. From the eggs young larvae hatch out in a few
days, and then bore away from the egg-gallery more or less at right
angles to it. As I have taken only young larvae I do not know how
long these galleries are, nor where the larvae pupate, whether in the
bark or wood. The irregular winding galleries giving off all round form
a figure which is usually more or less circular in general shape, and is
easily distinguishable from the Polygraphus galleries, to which it has no
resemblance whatsoever. The egg-galleries are also much narrower and
smaller. The pairing-chamber averages an eighth of an inch across, whilst
the egg-galleries are from one and a quarter to one and a half inches in length
measured round the curves. The beetles mostly mature together, and issue
from the tree in a swarm. Such a swarm had evidently settled upon tree
No. 3, some from it having overflowed probably to tree No. 4. Although
there is not at present as much corroborative evidence available on the life
history of this insect as was obtained in the case of its more dangerous
confrere the Polygraphus, it is probable that the riilocoxiniis runs through an
identical number of generations; in fact, when a generation of mature beetles
of the former insect is found egg-laying in the trees, search will prob.ibK
show that there is a similar one of the latter at \\ork. The fact that they
prefer, however, drier bast, and the observations made in the forest, indicate
that the Poly^niphits is the first beetle to attack, its companion only coming
in when the vitality of the tree has been lowered. As a general rule, there-

9003 i i

498 FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

fore, it may be said that this insect, whilst preferring the bast layer in a drier
but still living condition, will when pressed bore into and lay in green
healthy trees. In the latter case it is evidently more easily killed by the
resinous exudation than is the Polygraphus.

The damage done to the trees and the methods of preventing it, as
also predaceous foes, are similar to those described under Polygraphus trenchi
on p. 517.

CHRAMESUS.
Chramesus globulus, Stebbing.

REFERENCE. — Chramesus? sp. Stebbing, Depart. Notes, i, 409 (1906); id. Ins. Pests Himal. Oaks, Ind.

For. Rec. ii, pt. 21 (1909).

Habitat. — Jaunsar, North-West Himalaya (5,000 to 5, 500 ft.)
Tree Attacked. — Ban Oak (Quercus incana). Jaunsar.

Beetle. — Small, globular, very convex above, flat beneath, widest across middle. Head
small, black, with a yellowish brush of hair on forehead. Prothorax black, pentangular in

shape, anterior margin straight, slightly ridged with a transverse

Description. depression behind the ridge, posterior margin produced back into a

median point. Elytra very convex, purplish or black in colour,

striate, base rugose, the interstrial spaces with series of fine raised points ; the striae curve
ii wards towards apex; surface set with a short yellowish pubescence. Under-surface flat,
black ; abdominal segments clothed with a short spiny yellow pubescence, denser laterally.
Length, 3 mm. < PL xlv, ngs. 4, 4^, shows a dorsal and side view of this beetle.)

The beetle first appears on the wing in the spring about the first week

in May at elevations of 5,000 to 5,500 ft.

Life History. It tunnels into the wood of newly dead or dying

ban oaks for egg-laying purposes. The insect bores

straight through the bark and into the sapwood, and then turns to one side
or the other and carries its gallery right down into the heart-wood at an
angle. These beetles lay the eggs of the first generation of the year.

This is all that is at present known on the life history of this beetle.
It will not attack dry wood. The holes drilled in the wood are circular
in section.

Tribe CRYPTURGINAE.

Tibiae never prolonged into a hook or process at outer angle. Head
provided with a rostrum. Third tarsal joint simple, round. Pronotum
uniformly sculptured.

he tribe includes the genus Ciypturgus and the far more important
Polygraphus, both containing forest species in the Himalayan region.

CRYPTURGUS.

Colonel F. Winn Sampson considers the following two scolytids to be
species of this genus, the first being C. pusillns of Europe, Japan, and North
Dr. Hagedorn, to whom the insects were submitted, expressed the
opinion that they represent a new genus close to Crypturgus. I have con-
sidered it sufficient for the purpose of this work to follow Colonel Sampson.

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

499

Crypturgus pusillus, Gyll.

REFERENCE.— Stebbing, Depart. Notes (Polygraphus minimus), i, 252.

Habitat.— North-West Himalaya.

Tree Attacked. - The Blue Pine (Finns excelsa) ; Spruce (Picea morinda).

Beetle.— The beetle is very small, black, moderately shining, with elytra covered with

scattered longish white hairs. Head small, vertical in front, with a very short rostrum.

Antennae short ; scape thick, straight ;
Description. funiculus five-jointed ; club compact, flat-

tened, ovate ; eyes oval. Prothorax cylin-
drical, narrower in front than behind, and uniformly pitted. Elytra
fairly long, rounded at the posterior declivity, not wider than pro-
thorax behind, pitted. Thighs of legs long-oval. Tibiae finely
toothed on their external edge ; tarsus filiform, the first three
joints of equal size, the third not bilobed. The three intermediate
segments of the abdomen of same size and short. Antennae and
legs yellowish brown. Length, i.i mm.

\

Larva. — The larva is a minute white curved grub.

FIG. 325.

Crypturgus pusillus,
Gyll. North - West

Himalaya.

This minute scolytid is very plentiful in the

Western Himalaya, where it is

Life History. to be found infesting both the blue pine and spruce.

It only comes into the tree when the bark has

commenced to dry, appearing at the time when a generation of the
Tomiciis ribbentropi is maturing and leaving the tree. The insect may
often be found in company with Polygraphus pini. So far as obser-
vations go it only infests the main stem of the tree, and only appears
in the inner bast. The male beetle tunnels through the bark of poles

which have nearly reached their maximum height
development, or into that of old trees, and eats
out a pairing-chamber which is of considerable
size, though it is mostly hidden by a thin layer of
the inner bark. From this central chamber a number
of tiny curving galleries take off and ramify, each of
which is made by a female beetle. These egg-galleries
are quite short, about half an inch in length ; they
wind and curve about, and have a sharp hook-like
bend at the end in which the eggs are laid (see
fig. 326). Large areas of the inside bark are occupied
by these curious tiny curving and winding galleries,
where several pairing-chambers are situated near one
another. The male appears to fertilize at least six
ji female beetles, and the number may be greater. The

patches have a rough resemblance to the plan of the
egg and larval galleries of a Scolytn-s (Eccopto<fii*tci-\
beetle, but are infinitely smaller.

On hatching out the grubs feed side by side, pro-
West Himalaya. (E. P. s.^ longing the mother egg-gallery for a short distance.

I I 2

FIG. 326.

Egg-galleries of

Crypturgus pusillus,

Gyll., in spruce. North-

500 FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

This combined larval gallery does not usually pierce the innermost layer
of the bark, a thin lamella of bark being left as a covering. If the bark
is taken off the grubs are not seen. Very often a thin lamella of bark
also hides the upper portion of the female egg-gallery.

Thus the plan of this small scolytid, which is by far the smallest of the
known coniferous Scolytidae of the Western Himalaya, is easily distinguish-
able, although it must be borne in mind that the patch of galleries visible in
the bark, which has a darker appearance than the rest of the inner bark,
consists of a number of combined pairing-chambers and egg-galleries. The
insect always selects areas of bark containing moisture in them, and will not
infest absolutely dry bark.

The first beetles of the year appear about the middle of May, and
oviposit at this period. In the third week of June these beetles mature from
the eggs laid in May, and lay the eggs of a second generation of beetles,
which appear some time in August. These lay the eggs which give rise to a
third generation in October, and there may be a fourth, or partial fourth,
•generation.

As far as present observation goes it is difficult to estimate the damage,

if any, done by this tiny scolytid to the tree, the more

Relations to the • 11 -, i i i • ,-

especially as it has not been taken in young saplings

and poles. It comes in after the blue-pine Tomicus,

and probably waits until that insect has undermined the vitality of the
infested tree. It remains in the tree, however, longer, and will undoubtedly
attack bast that is no longer fresh.

The protection and remedies will be the same as described for the
blue-pine Tomiciis and the Polygraphus beetles with which it is associated
in the trees. In getting rid of them this beetle will be likewise killed off.

Crypturgus sp. nov. ?
Habitat.— North-West Himalaya.

Tree Attacked.— Finns longifolia. Jaunsar and Nairn Tal, North-
West Himalaya.

Beetle.— Smaller than the last; brown-black in colour ; other-
wise resembles C. pjisillus. I am uncertain as yet whether this is
a different species or not.

I first took specimens of this insect in the Tons
Valley in Jaunsar in 1902. Subse-
Life History. quently I found the beetle in the
Naini Tal forests. The insect at-
tacks the tree when the sap has dried off to some
sp. nov. ? extent. The pla,n of galleries is similar to that of
North-West Himalaya. C. pmillus in the blue pine and spruce.

PLATE XL VI.

X8

X 8

X 8

X8

major, Steb. 2. Polygraphns pint, Steb. 3. Tomicus ribbentropi,
larva ; b, pupa ; c, male ; d, female beetles. North- West Himalaya.

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 501

POLYGRAPHUS.

An important genus containing several serious coniferous pests in the
North-West Himalaya.

Polygraphus major, Stebbing.
(The Blue Pine Polygraphus.)

REFERENCES. — Stebbing, Depart. Notes, i, p. 234 (1903); id. Ind. For. Mem. Zool. Set. vol. i, pt. i,

p. 6 (1908).

Habitat. — North-West Himalaya.

Trees Attacked. — Blue Pine (Pinus excelsa) ; Spruce (Picea morinda) ;
Deodar (Cedrus deodar a}. Jaunsar, Simla, Kumaun, Tehri Garhwal, Chamba.

Beetle.— Oblong, sub-cylindrical. Head and prothorax black, shining. Elytra chest-
nut brown to black, covered with a short dense greyish or yellowish pubescence very charac-
teristic of the beetle. Antennae yellow, club chestnut brown with a
Description. grey pubescence. Legs chestnut brown to black (more usually the

latter), tarsi yellow. Head with an almost circular brush of longish

yellow hirsute hairs on the front, the hairs pointing inwards ; an irregular brush of similar
hairs beneath the eyes and extending along the base of the mandibles. Prothorax sub-
cylindrical, wider at the base than long, sharply constricted anteriorly ; a fine median shining
longitudinal carina variable in thickness and a narrow transverse channel in the anterior fourth,
separating the anterior fourth, which is constricted, from the wider posterior portion ; rugulose-
punctate on disk and sides with the exception of a circular area on latter, which is smooth and finely
punctate ; the lateral edges and posterior outer angles coarsely rugose, with a short yellow
pubescence which extends along posterior margin. Elytra twice as long as prothorax and
two-thirds as wide as long, scarcely dilated towards apex ; finely striate-punctate, the sutural
stria most prominent, and others more prominent basally, disappearing apically ; basal area
rugose, the margin with a short dense whitish-yellow pubescence ; this pubescence covers the
whole of the elytra in living specimens, often giving them a greyish appearance; the basal
and apical areas are often, however, found to be bare, the villosity having been worn off during
the tunnelling operations of the beetle. Abdomen black, shining, punctate, the punctures
densest on the apical segment ; posterior edges of the segments fringed with yellow hairs,
densest medianly. Length, 3.2 mm. to 3.8 mm. (PI. xlvi, fig. i.)

$ Smaller than $, the prothorax more finely punctate, with a finer median carina, and
the posterior angles more pubescent. Elytra with a finer punctation and finer pubescence.
Length, 2.8 mm. to 3 mm.

Egg. — The egg is small, elliptical, with blunt ends ; it is semi-translucent, the ends being
quite translucent. Length, 0.75 mm.

Larva. — When newly hatched it is semi-translucent with a pale yellow head and yellowish-
brown mandibles. The segments are marked dorsally, the abdomen tapering sharply. The
full-grown larva is white, curved, legless, with a yellow head, followed by enlarged prothoracic
segments. These and the abdominal segments, which taper posteriorly, are corrugated, soft,
and bulky. Length, 3 mm.

Pupa. — Whitish yellow, broadest medianly, the head hidden by the thoracic hood ; wings
and legs pressed against the ventral surface.

The beetle appears on the wing at the beginning of May at elevations
of 8,000 feet, and during late April at lower altitudes,
Life History. and may be found at these periods pairing and oviposi-
ting in the trees. The insect appears to pass through
the winter either as a mature beetle or as an over-wintering larva. If the

502

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

larva has pupated before the first cold of winter sets in it will probably be
killed off during the winter months. The over-wintering beetles leave the
trees about the third week in April, and commence ovipositing in the
branches of old trees or in the main stem and thicker branches of seedlings,
saplings, and small poles. The blue pine and spruce are the trees chiefly
preferred, but the beetle also infests the deodar in areas where the former
species are not in sufficient abundance.

The male beetle bores its way through the outer bark down to the bast,
and in this and the sapwood eats out a chamber of irregular pattern, which is
the pairing-chamber (fig. 328, p). Only parts of the tree covered with thin bark
are selected by the beetle, and consequently this insect is never found in the

FIG. 328. — Plan of galleries of Polygraphiis major, Steb., in the sapwood
of blue pine. A, In the main stem of poles ; B, in the side branches, where
the egg-tunnels are longer. The larval galleries only groove the wood
faintly, p. Pairing-chamber ; e, egg-gallery ; /, larval gallery ; d, pupating-
chambers in wood. North-West Himalaya. (E. P. S.)

main bole of the tree where it is covered by thick bark. This fact is one of

considerable importance in the life history of and the damage done by this

Three female beetles (occasionally the number may be four or even

,' enter the pairing-chamber through the tunnel made by the

male (the first enlarging it slightly), and, after being fertilized by the male,

to excavate their egg-galleries. Each of the females eats out one such

gallery (fig. e) and each takes a different direction to that taken by the

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

5°3

others. In this way the egg-gallery plans
shown in figs. A and B are produced.
These egg-galleries are bored deep in
the bast and sapwood ; they are usually
curved and from i in. to 15- in. in length.
The female, as she bores out her tunnel,
gnaws out little notches at the side and
places an egg in each. These notches
are not made so symmetrically as in the
case of the monogamous bark beetle, there
being usually more on one side than on
the other. From eight to fifteen eggs
appear to be laid in each gallery (see
fig. A). The first eggs hatch out before
the female beetle has finished egg-laying,
which process takes from four to six days.

The larvae, on hatching out, feed
almost entirely in the bast and bark, and
rarely groove the bast wood.

They bore winding galleries in a
direction approximately at right angles to
the egg-gallery, their tunnels averaging
three-quarters to one inch in length.
These tunnels are closely packed with
the wood excreta passed out by the
larvae in feeding. When full-fed, at
the end of about four weeks, they eat out
a small chamber in the sapwood (d) at
the end of the larval gallery and change
to pupae in this. When the pupa has
matured into the beetle, in from eight to
thirteen days, the latter bores its way out
direct to the outside by a horizontal
tunnel. Where the bark is of fair thick-
ness the portion of the pupal chambers
in the wood consists of merely a saucer-
shaped depression. It is more usual,
however, for the pupal chamber to be
entirely hollowed out in the sapwood.
From this method of feeding it will be-
come apparent that, whilst the whole of
the plan of the egg-galleries and larval
galleries will be always visible in the
bark, it is most usual to find in the sap-
wood a central chamber from which three

In.. ^29. — Portion of a voting blue
pine (I'ini/s excelsa sapling showing
entrance- and exit-holes of roly^raplms
»id/<>>-, Stcb., on outer bark. Jaunsar.
North-West Himalaya.

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

or more arms take off, and at some distance from these arms irregular rows
of small holes in the wood — the pupating-chambers of the grubs, whose
tunnels were made entirely in the bast layer and are therefore not visible
in the sapwood. This is the most characteristic appearance of stems
and branches attacked by this pest, and by it the presence in the forest of
the insect is easily recognizable. The egg-gallery is loosely packed with
the wood particles eaten out in excavating it. When she has finished egg-
laving the beetle bores a short offshoot gallery from the egg-gallery, in which
she dies ; or the female may die at the top of a prolongation of the egg-
gallery, no eggs being laid in this portion. In small branches the beetle
grooves the sapwood much more deeply, and the egg-galleries are usually
much longer than in thicker ones.

This Polygraphus also infests the spruce in a manner very similar to that
in which it attacks the blue pine. The number of generations passed through
in the former tree, however, is fewer, owing to the greater elevation at which
the fir lives.

I think also that this is one of the species of Polygraphus which infest
the Pinus gerardiana in the Bashahr forests (Sutlej Valley).

Much more serious, however, than the attacks of the beetle on the
spruce is the fact that in areas where the blue pine is scarce it infests the
deodar and will attack young green trees, as was evidenced in Jaunsar in
1902, in the Simla Catchment Area in 1908, and in the Bre Forest in Chamba
in 1909. The bark and wood of the deodar are very much harder than those
of either the blue pine or spruce, and because of this a considerable differ-
ence is to be seen in the plan of the egg-galleries, for the number of the
latter taking off from the pairing-chamber in the deodar is usually two only,
and never more than three, and both the egg and larval galleries are shorter,
as shown in pi. xlvii. In the deodar the periods occupied in passing
through the several generations of the year appear to coincide more or less
exactly with those of the deodar bark-borer (Scolytus, p. 568).

In favourable years, at the lower elevations at which the blue pine
grows, this Polygraplms passes through four full generations and a partial
fifth generation in the year. Ordinarily, however, the number of life-cycles
during any one year may be taken at three full ones and a partial or wholly
completed fourth generation, the periods occupied from egg to mature beetle
being roughly from seven to eight weeks, as follows :—

GENERATION I.

3rd week in April Eggs

4th week in April to end of May Grubs

End of May to 3rd week in June . . . . Nymphs

2nd week in June to end of June Beetles

GENERATION II.

3rd week in June . Eggs

4th week in June to 4th week in July . Grubs

4th week in July to 2nd week in August . . . Nymphs

ist week in August to 3rd week in August .... Beetles

I 'I \TH? XLV1I.

- and larval galleries of Poly^m/ilins major, Stc-li.. on inner surface of deodar

bark. .\Orth-\\'cst I iinial.iva.

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 505

GENERATION III.

2nd week in August Eggs

3rd week in August to 3rd week in September . . . Grubs

3rd week in September to 2nd week in October . . Nymphs

ist week in October to 3rd week in October . . . Beetles

GENERATION IV (a complete generation).

Beginning of October ....... Eggs

ist week of October to ist week in November . . . Grubs

ist week in November to 3rd week in November . . Nymphs

2nd week in November to 2nd and 3rd week in April . Beetles

The November beetles will hibernate in the trees and lay the eggs of the first generation
of the following year.

The exact time of the appearance of the various stages of the insect in
these generations, and the number of life-cycles passed through, depend, of
course, to a considerable extent on elevation, aspect, and climatic condi-
tions, south and east aspects and a dry warm spring and summer following
an open winter being most favourable. The generations will also be found
to overlap to some extent.

This insect confines its attacks to young growth and poles only, infest-
ing trees which have not as yet acquired an outer layer

m th p"1"1* °^ °^ dead bark. Owing to its polygamous habits it is

capable of an even greater rapidity in increase than

the deodar Scolytus, once conditions are favourable to it. For egg-laying
purposes it undoubtedly has a preference for the blue pine, and next to the
blue pine the spruce. It has been shown, however, that when these trees
are scarce in a forest and the beetle is abundant it will oviposit in deodar,
and this characteristic of the insect renders it a much more dangerous pest
than would otherwise be the case at present.

It is of course possible that both blue pine and spruce may become more
valuable commercially in the future should paper mills be established in the
outer Himalaya. In such an event the capabilities of this insect of attacking
and killing off young trees will have to be borne in mind. For the moment
it is in areas of young deodar in which a few blue pine trees are present th;it
the insect is a pest to be dreaded.

It is a more active beetle than the Scolytus, and flies by day and tunnels
into trees in broad daylight and even in sunlight. It is not so sensitive to
sunlight as its companion, and will tunnel into a tree or branch on almost
any side. Poles, saplings, and quite young growth are alike infested, and it
will tunnel into healthy green standing trees in the forest. The beetle
appears endowed with a strong vitality, for it will almost invariably be
found in some stage of its existence in felled green trees and grcc-n branch-
wood of the trees it affects, and is not so susceptible to their rapid drying
as is the Scolytus. It spreads in a forest in a manner similar to that of the
Scolytus beetles.

5o6 FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

The following are extracts from a note relating to an insect attack
published in the Indian Forester (vol. xiv, April 1888) under the title
" Note on Insect Ravages in Pine Forests," by G. G. M. The insect I
identify as this Polygraphus. G. G. M. wrote:—

The study and prevention of disease in forest trees is of such great importance, and so
intimately connected with the prosperity of the forests, that a few notes on a disease in the
form of a pest of insects which has done extensive injury in many of the pine forests under my
charge in the Sutlej Valley (Bashahr) may be of interest.

The pest to which my notes refer made its appearance during the summer of 1882 and
spread at an alarming rate over large areas. Young vigorous trees invariably shook it off,
but less hardy ones were either rapidly killed or after lingering for some time died out. The
leaves of infested pines turned an unhealthy yellowish colour, and the branches dried and
curled up into claws, giving a most wretched appearance. At the end of the rains the disease
abated, and to all seeming disappeared, and for four years the forests were free from its
ravages. But in June 1887 it returned, and this time attacked both the Finns excelsa and
/'inns gerardiana. In July I noticed that the leaves of the affected trees were beginning to
change colour, and that the insect had prepared for first operations the ends of branches, and
that it had tunnelled out between the bark and sapwood longitudinal galleries which, on close
inspection, I found to contain larvae and weevils. I continued to observe these during the
rains. . . . ; later on, when no more larvae remained, the perfect insect abandoned the
tender shoots for larger branches, through which it worked holes as far as the heart-wood and
in the direction of the axis of the stem. Branches thus attacked were tatooed all over and did
not survive long. This destructive insect .... is one-tenth inch in length, with dull
brown-coloured elytra, and its larva is a small white grub of the same length .... Its
duration of activity is three months, which is as long as the rains last, for at the end of
September its depredations ceased and in October I had difficulty in finding any beetles alive.
But doubtless they leave behind in dead wood ample deposits of eggs, which are hatched on
some favourable atmospheric change occurring.

These careful observations by G. G. M., an officer who held charge of
these forests for a number of years, are of great importance, since they
conclusively prove the serious nature of the damage P. major is capable of
doing to young growth of the species it infests.

The measures to be taken to combat the attack of the blue-pine borer

are similar to those laid down for the deodar bark-
Protection and , • j _,,,.. , ,
Remedies borer (vide p. 572). The blue-pine insect, however, only

attacks poles and saplings, and will not be found to

infest poles whose bark has attained a thickness which results in an outer
layer or covering of old dead bark being present on the tree.

For egg-laying purposes the insect requires soft sappy bark. Conse-
quently small poles may be felled as "trap" trees, but they must be green.
The fact that they dry fairly quickly does not appear to inconvenience the
insect once the larvae have become half to two-thirds grown.

In fact, in areas where this beetle exists (and my observations would
seem to show that it is invariably present wherever the blue pine is present
on a tract, even though the tree may be scarce), an inspection of green felled
blue-pine saplings or poles or green branch-wood will almost invariably
eal the fact that they are full of this insect either egg-laying or (depend-
ing upon the time of inspection) full of larvae and pupae or maturing beetles.

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 507

From a sylvicultiiral point of view the most serious aspect of this beetle's
work is the fact that where the blue pine is scarce on an area, and when a
favourable year or succession of favourable years has led to an increase of
the insect in the forest, the beetle proceeds to attack young deodar owing to
the failure in the supply of the tree it prefers.

It is for this reason that the beetle fills a place of considerable
importance in the deodar forest, it being the only genus of bark-borer out-
side the Scolytiis at present known to infest the deodar in a serious manner.

Chalcid. — The grub is parasitic upon Polygraphus major in blue pine
Parasitic and and perhaps on Pityogenes
Predaceous Insects, conifer ae (p. 562).

Fly. — Highly coloured. Head, thorax, and legs purple, /-"
with a high metallic sheen ; eyes pink ; antennae nine- to
ten-jointed, bent. Wings membranous, colourless, with
a black elongated bar placed at about the middle of the
upper one. Tibiae black, with a yellow pubescence ; tarsi
yellow, last joint black. Body blackish purple, but without
the high iridescence of thorax and head ; apex blunt.
Length, 5.8mm. ; wing expanse, 12 mm.

The fly has been identified as a species of

Chalcid FlG- 33°-~ Chalcid parasitic on

Polygraphns major. North-
Life History. — Towards the end of June West Himalaya.

1902 I took some specimens of this fly from

their pupal chambers at the end of the larval galleries of Polygraphus
major in blue-pine branches. The branches were badly infested with
both the Polygraphus and also Pityogenus coni ferae, and the insect may
also be parasitic on the Pityogenes. I was not able to ascertain definitely
this point. The fly evidently lays its eggs at the mouth of the entrance-
hole made by the bark beetle in the branch, or crawls down it and deposits
them in the egg-gallery. The chalcid grub probably feeds on the scolytul
one as an external parasite The insect is a most useful one.

Niponius canalicollis, Lewis (p. 103). — This predaceous histerid feeds on
the eggs and larvae of the Polygraphus and other coniferous Scolytidae. It is
found throughout the coniferous forests of the Western Himalaya, and
also in the Pinus gerardiana forests of North Zhob in Baluchistan and
in the Suliman Mountain Range.

Beetle. — Elongate, narrow, cylindrical. Shining Mack in colour, tarsi palish : the elytra
are short, and leave exposed two segments of the body. l'r<>tlu>rax uith a conspicuous median
channel, sometimes reaching the base, but always shortened in In MI) ; surface on either
side of channel uneven, the punctures irregular in si/.c and form. Klytra with the sutural and
one humeral striae complete, the others pmntilorm or obsolete. The fovea on the pygidium
large and circular. The tibiae slender. Length, 33 mm. to 4^- mm.

Larva. — Elongate and flat, pink in colour, with a yellow head and twelve pink or red
body-segments. Length, 12.5 mm.

The larva is to be commonly found in the larval galleries of the scolytid beetles.

5oS

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

Life History. — This Niponius is a common scolytid predator in the
mountainous ranges of North-Western India. It enters the tunnels of the

bark-borers through the
orifices in the bark (its
diameter being equal to
or less than that of the
insects it preys upon) and
lays its eggs in the egg-
gallery of the bark beetle.
It is, I think, possible that
it also feeds upon the eggs
of the latter. The Niponius

grubs on hatching attack
FIG. 331.- -Niponins canalicollis Lewis predaceous anddeyour those of the
upon Polygraphus, Scolytus, and other bark-borers.

North- West Himalaya and Suliman Mountains, a b, en- scolytlds. hey are elon-
l.irged ; a i, natural size. gate and flat in shape, and

are thus able to make their

way between the bast and sapwood from one larval gallery to another to
get at the grubs.

The duration of the life-cycle of the insect appears to coincide with
that of its hosts — from six to eight or ten weeks, and the number of
generations passed through during the year varies from three to five,
according to the elevation it occupies, the season, etc. A rather remark-
able fact about the insect is that it is to be found attacking bark beetles
infesting trees living at different altitudes in the mountains, and that it also
has a wide range. It has been found in the deodar, blue pine, spruce,
and Pinus longifolia in the Western Himalaya, and in the Pin us
gerardiana in the Suliman Range in the far west.

The insect was first discovered in 1901 in Jaunsar, and observations
made in India upon it and other bark and wood Histeridae confirm
Mr. G. Lewis's opinion that numbers of the family follow bark- and wood-
boring Scolytidae into their tunnels to prey upon them.

The beetle has some resemblance to the Scolytus beetles of the deodar
(cf. pi. Ivii, fig. i, c i), from which it should be distinguished. It is of great
importance that forest officers should be able to recognize this valuable ally.

Thanasimus himalayensis, Stebbing (p. 186). (The Bark-beetle Predaceous
Clerid.} — This is one of the most important and valuable of the bark-beetle
predators. It is a clerid beetle closely allied to the Clerus formicarius
of European coniferous forests. It feeds with avidity on the Polygraphus
and many other scolytid and platypid bark- and wood-borers. I have found
the insect throughout the coniferous forests of the North-Western Himalaya.

—Head and antennae black ; body short and squarish, with well-marked

shoulders. The prothorax is black and has some hairs on it. The body, which is

by the elytra, is broader than the prothorax and head ; the elytra are rounded

at extremities, the basal third being red, the rest black ; the black area is traversed by

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

509

X2

a

a, I

Fl& 332m_TAa,,asimHS himalayensis, steb.,

two white wavy bands. The abdomen beneath the elytra and on the under-surface is
bright vermilion. Length, about | in. Fig. b, c.

Larva.— An elongate, pink, worm-like, flat grub consisting of a head and twelve
body segments. The head is brown and
the mandibles are black ; there is a brown
patch just behind the head on the upper
surface and a pair of brown spots on
each of the two following segments.
Each of the first three segments has a
pair of legs, and the grub tapers in front.
Length, 5 in. to £ in. See fig. a, a i.

Life History. — The larvae of
this beetle are to be found in the
tunnels of the Polygraphus and
other scolytid grubs, where they
feed upon them, moving from one

gallery to another between the predaceous upon scolytid bark- and wood-borers,
bark and cambium layer. «,<n, young larva; b, beetle seizing a bark-beetle ;

c, beetle devouring a Scolytus bark-beetle. North-

The beetles are to be seen on West Himalaya. (E. P. S.)

the wing in the forest, flying about

over or running along the trunks of infested trees. Owing to their bright
red bodies they are most conspicuous, and so easily visible when on the
wing. They are very active, and seize with their powerful mandibles the
bark-beetles they find on the trunk or just boring into the tree. Having
caught a beetle the clerid holds it between its fore legs, tears off the head,
and then sucks out the contents of the rest of the body. They are voracious
insects, and consume a large number of beetles. The Thanasimus is thus
of great service to the forester, and should be carefully made known to
forest guards and others in order that it may not be ignorantly destroyed
as a pest.

I have taken this beetle on the wing in the forest in spring, early
summer, and in the autumn months (May, June, first half of July, late
September, October, and early November). It is thus probable that it
passes through a number of life-cycles in the year which may be identical
with those of the bark-borers on which it preys. Since, however, it preys
upon a number of different pests it is probable that the generations overlap,
and that beetles are to be found on the wing from spring to late autumn.
In favour of this theory is the fact that larvae of different sizes are usually
found in any one set of bark-beetle galleries. The eggs are laid in crevices
of the bark or just inside the entrance-holes of bark beetles; the grubs on
hatching out crawl down the entrance-tunnel into the egg-gallery of the
bark-borer, and thence reach the larval galleries. \Yhen full-fed the
grubs eat out a pupating-chamber in the outer bark of the tree and pupate
there.

The insect is polygamous, the males pairing with a number of females,
and both continue feeding voraciously for some days.

5IO FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

On one occasion twenty bark- and wood-beetles (Polygraphus, Scolytits,
and Crossotarsus) were placed in a small box with four of these clerids.
On inspection three and a half hours later all the bark-beetles had
been consumed, only the outer hard chitinous shells and the wings

being left.

The habits and life history of this valuable ally of the forester have
been dealt with fully in Departmental Notes (Clems sp., p. 213), to which
reference should be made for further details.

I am of opinion that it may prove possible to extend the range of
usefulness of this insect by introducing it into areas where it does not at
present exist. A few years ago Mr. Ernest Green imported the European
clerid Clerus formicaries into Ceylon to make an attempt to cope with
bark-beetles. It is probable that the Himalayan Thanasimus, which is
larger and appears to be a hardy and aggressive species, and thus suitable
for experiment, would fulfil the desired object better.

Hypophloeus flavipennis, Mots, (see p. 236). — The beetle feeds on the
sap of the tree. Its grubs are predaceous or semi-predaceous on those
of Polygraphus major and Polygraphus pint beetles and other bark-borers—
Tomicns, Pityogenes, and Scolytus.

Life History. — This insect is excessively common in the North-West
Himalaya, being found in abundance in the tunnels of many of the bark-
borers infesting the blue pine, spruce, deodar, and chilgoza pine (Pinus
gerardiana}. I have taken the beetle itself at the beginning of May
ovipositing in the egg-tunnels of Polygraphus major. In June I took it
here and in tunnels of Polygraphus pini in the main stem of the tree and
in spruce. In the third week of September I took a generation of the
beetles on the wing, and on 15 December I again found the insect in abund-
ance in the tunnels of Polygraphus and Tomicns, in company with Niponius
canalicollis. The insect would thus appear to hibernate in the imago state.
The beetles oviposit in the tunnels of the bark-borers, and probably feed
to a certain extent on the sap oozing from the walls of their galleries.
The grubs to a certain extent undoubtedly prey upon those of the bark-
borers. It is not improbable that in the absence of the latter, or when
they are not sufficiently plentiful, they may feed upon decaying cambium
and bark materials.

Polygraphus trenchi, Stebbing.

REFERENCES —Slabbing, Ind. For. Mem. Zool. Ser. i, pt. i, p. 9 ; id. Chilgoza Bark-bor. Beetle

of Zhob, For. Bull. 3, p. 9 (1905).

Habitat.- Zhob, Dehra Ismail Khan (Suliman Mountains).

Tree Attacked. — Chilgoza Pine (Pinus gerardiana). Shinghur, Zhob
(G. Chevenix-Trench), Takht-i-Suliman.

PLATE XLVIII.

X12

»•

Xtt

xia

X12

trenchi, Steb., of the Finns gerardiana in Zhob.— I, larva ; \a, pupa ;

setle ; ic, front of head of <J> ; id, enlarged antenna ; n; male beetle. 2. Phloeosinus

inns gerardiana. — 2, egg ; 2a, female beetle ; 2t>, antenna ; 2c, leg ;

id, mal 3. Pityogenes conifer ae, Steb., of the Finns gerardiana in Zhob and Coniferae

of the North- West Himalaya. — 3, female beetle ; 3<z, antenna ; 3^, leg ; y, male beetle.

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 511

Beetle.— $ Oblong cylindrical, black, moderately shining ; two brilliant, prominent,
reddish-golden brushes of hair on the front of the head ; base of thorax with at times a

reddish tinge ; the elytra black or very dark brown with a
Description. yellowish tinge, their bases often black, the black portion often

triangular in shape ; the upper surface is more or less covered with

small, stiff, white hairs, densest laterally. Head small, black, partially covered in front
by two curved brushes of long, stiff, reddish-golden hairs (pi. xlviii, fig. i <:), which take
off from the anterior edge of head and occupy all the area between the inner upper edges of
the eyes except a narrow channel medianly. These long brushes of hair curve towards one
another medianly (the tufts on the two sides remaining apart) to about halfway down the front
of the head, and then continue down it in two thin strands ; a few separate hairs start from
the inner surface of the eye and converge to meet the strands near their upper ends. The
position and configuration of these brushes of hair serve easily to distinguish the insect.
There is a brush of yellow hairs at the mouth, and the antennae are yellow and terminate in
a solid club. The thorax is one-third as long as broad, and is sharply constricted at about
the basal fourth, the outer angles being constricted and rounded ; a median shining
longitudinal line down central portion ; the surface is finely pitted, but the pits are not placed
closely together ; the lateral margin set with a fringe of rough hairs. The elytra are finely
striate, the intervals between the longitudinal striations filled with fine, close granulations
which become larger and wider apart in apical fourth. Under-surface black, moderately
shining, and set with small rough projections and with sparse, stiff, yellow hairs. Legs
yellow, with scattered yellow hair; tibiae of front legs brownish black. Length, 3. 12 mm.
to 3.4 mm.

$ Differs from female in its smaller size, in the absence of the remarkable reddish-golden
brushes of hair on the front of the head, their place being taken by a few sparse yellow hairs,
and in the presence of two small tubercles on the head, placed transversely. The hairs on the
upper surface are also denser. Length, 2.6 mm. to 2.8mm. Figs. I b and le show dorsal
and side views of the female and male beetles.

Egg. -The egg is small, white, round, and translucent.

Larva.— A small, curved, white maggot with a yellow head and no legs. It is shown in
pi. xlviii, fig. i.

The life history of this insect was studied during two visits paid to the

chilgoza forests of North Zhob and the Takht-i-Suliinan

Life History. Mountains in June and November 1905. The beetle

appears on the wing in the spring, probably at the

beginning of May, and lays the eggs of the first generation of thr ye'ar.
From a large number of infested trees examined in June, the following four
.are taken as showing the position of this and the second genrrat ion in
the trees in the middle of June :—

Tree I. — Mature larvae, pupae, and full}' formed but immature light
yellow beetles, with their outer parts still quite soft. Also one or two
fully mature beetles and a few dead ones at the top of the egg-galleries
in the tree.

Tree 2. — Fully mature males and females boring into a standing green
tree or grooving out pairing-chambers and egg-galleries in the bast and sap-
wood. Eggs laid in the lower part of the egg-gallery, but no grubs \ vt
developed.

5i2 FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

free 3. — Fully grown larvae, pupae, immature and fully mature beetles.
These latter were leaving the tree, and were attacking a perfectly green
tree in the neighbourhood.

Tree 4. — -Fully mature male and female beetles, eggs, and young larvae,
the tunnels of the latter, giving off at the lower portion of the egg-gallery,
being already as much as half an inch long.

The above material furnishes us with the life history of this pest
from the time that it began its operations after the period of hiber-
nation to the middle of June. The insect passes the winter as a
beetle or grub ; in the case of such a thin-barked tree as the chilgoza
it would certainly be killed off in the pupal stage by the frost, and this
probably happens to that portion of the generation which has reached
the pupal stage when the winter sets in. If it hibernates as a beetle
it issues from the tree as soon as the warmth of spring makes itself
felt, and bores into fresh trees to lay the eggs of the first generation
of the year. Should the insect pass the winter in the grub stage, the
larvae will pupate with the first warmth and issue shortly afterwards
as beetles. In the latter event it will be seen that the individuals who
passed the winter in the mature state will have a start over those who
were in the larval one, and this accounts for the apparent overlapping of
generations which may be noticed in the case of this and other bark-boring
beetles such as Scolytus, Tomicus, and other Polygraphi. By overlapping
of generations I mean that in one and the same tree may be found egg-
galleries with the offshoot larval galleries well advanced, and therefore a
week or two old, whilst others are only just commenced by the mother
beetles, they being a week or two behind the first insects to enter
the tree.

In the first tree mentioned above, mature larvae, pupae, and immature
beetles were found. These had all developed from eggs laid some time early
in May of the year 1905. The attack commences by a male beetle
boring into the tree through the bark until it reaches the sapwood. In
this it eats out a depression which is the pairing-chamber. It is joined
here by a female beetle who enters by the same hole. After pairing
with the male the female commences to eat out a longitudinal gallery,
which is always more or less parallel to the long axis of the tree. This
gallery is slightly broader than the width of the beetle. On either side of
it she eats out little recesses and places one egg in each. These recesses
are made on both sides of the gallery, but are usually more numerous on
the one side than on the other, and are closer and more evenly distributed
in the lower portion than towards the apex. See fig. 308 : (a) pairing-
chamber ; (b) egg-gallery; (c) recess in which egg is placed. In fact, as the
egg-gallerv becomes longer, the beetle's egg-laying powers appear to become
eaker and more erratic. In the roof of this gallery, i.e. in the bark,
she bores small circular offshoot galleries, which pierce through the bark

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 513

but do not reach quite to the outside, a plate of cortical epidermis
of paper-like thickness being left to cover the hole (d). Two or more
aeration holes of this nature are made, and they serve to admit air into
the egg- and future larval-galleries. These holes are not carried right
through to the outside, in order to prevent predaceous and parasitic enemies
from gaining access to the inside and destroying the grubs, pupae, or
beetles within. These air-holes appear to be bored in an erratic manner.
At times the egg-gallery will contain three or more right at its commence-
ment, and their number and position doubtless depend to a great extent
on the healthiness of the tree and the amount of resin it is capable of
exuding at the spots attacked. If this is in such quantities that the
entrance-hole of the male and female beetles becomes blocked, the females
doubtless have to add considerably to the number of the air-holes in their
egg-galleries. This may also in part be responsible for the number of
female beetles who enter and pair with a male. The number is evidently
very variable, at any rate in the case of the spring and early summer
generations. There are always two, but there may be as many as four.
The second female beetle entering by the entrance-hole, after pairing
with the male, carries her egg-gallery in the opposite direction to that
of the first. If the latter has gone up the tree she will go down, and vice
versa. These egg-galleries, at any rate in their lower halves, are always
packed with the wood-dust eaten out by the beetle as she carries the tunnel
onward, and this probably prevents a second female from commencing her
gallery in the same spot. If a third beetle pairs with the male she carries
her gallery either up or down the trunk, parallel to, but not in connection
with, that of the female which has previously taken this direction. If there
are four females, two egg-galleries will be found proceeding up the tree
and two down, each taking off from the pairing-chamber. I have never
found more than four females with one male. At times as many as three
beetles will be found in the pairing-chamber, perhaps a short egg-gallery
having been started at one or both ends. In this case it is possible that the
female beetles help the male to enlarge the pairing-chamber. The galleries
vary in length from if in. to 2^ in., the number of eggs laid in each being
from fourteen to eighteen. Probably about a week to ten days is spent
in making the egg-gallery, and the lower eggs hatch out into grubs before
the beetle has finished boring the gallery and ovipositing (fig. 308, c). Only
a day or two is spent in the egg stage. The grubs on hatching tunnel
away from the egg-gallery in a direction which is more or less at right
angles to it in the case of those first hatching, and therefore the lowest eggs,
the direction, however, trending upwards (or downwards when the egg-
gallery is carried downwards) in the case of the eggs laid higher up the
gallery. In this manner a pattern which has a constant definite plan
is made. The larval galleries are short, not being more than i£in. to
i k in. in length, and they groove both bark and sapwood. When full-
grown the larva eats out in the sapwood an oval -shaped depression, and

9003 K K

5M

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

changes into a pupa within this. Fig. 333 and pi. xlix show pieces of bark
completely covered with the pairing-chambers, egg-galleries, larval galleries,
and pupating-chambers. The pupa turns gradually into the immature
beetle, and the latter remains for a time resting in the chamber whilst
its outer parts are slowly hardening and it is becoming darker in colour.

FlG- 333-— Egg and larval galleries of J'olygrap/nts trenchi, Steb., on inner bark of

rinns gcranliana. North Zhob, 1905.

/hen fully mature, the beetle bores straight out of the bark by a

eaten out horizontally from the spot where it is lying. In the

spring generation, when the weather is still comparatively

as much as five weeks are probably spent in the larval stage and a

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 515

fortnight in the pupal and immature beetle stages, the generation taking
about two months to complete from egg to perfect insect. It will be
understood from the above that numbers of the beetles will mature and
leave the tree together, and this is what actually happens, and explains
the state of affairs seen in the second and fourth trees alluded to above.
In the first and third the insects maturing were those from the first
set of eggs laid in the spring of 1905. In the second and fourth we find
beetles all more or less in the same stage, i.e. the egg-laying one (especially
in the case of the second tree), the reason being explained by the fact
that they had left the tree in which they had been bred, and flown in a
swarm to the one in which they were found.

Further investigations were made into the life history in November
of the same year, and reports were submitted to me on the subject in
following years. It has been mentioned that the insect passes through
three, and often four, life-cycles in the year, and it has been shown that eggs,
the eggs of a second generation, were being laid in the trees in the latter
part of June, and that some of these had already developed into grubs.
Beetles from this generation issue from the trees about the end of July,
and lay the eggs of a third generation in fresh trees at the commencement
of August. This generation matures towards the latter part of September,
issues from the trees, and lays the eggs of a fourth generation in other trees.
The progress in the development of this latter generation will depend
entirely on the weather. In the case of the earliest-laid eggs, i.e. those
laid by the descendants of the beetles who got the first start in
the spring, the larvae hatching from them proceed as far as the beetle
stage and pass through the winter as beetles, whilst those of the later
ones may winter as grubs. This I found actually to be the case in
November 1905, as I took both beetles and grubs in the trees. In any
case a certain number may have proceeded as far as the pupal stage when
the first cold snap catches them, and will probably be killed during
the winter.

The relation of this bark-borer and of its companion rhlocosinus zhvbi

(p. 496) to the chilgoza forests of Zhob and the Suli-
Damage Committed TJ n • r -j 1 i •

in the Forest nuui ^anSe generally is of very considerable interest.

The preservation of these forests in this region has
a two-fold importance :

( i) To preserve and increase the water supply. — It is a fact which it would
be difficult to gainsay that the springs which exist on thr Shinghiir Range,
and which give water to the valleys on either side, are practically entirely
dependent upon the hills remaining covered with the chilgoza tree. Poor
as is this covering in parts, it is assisted by an undergrowth of such plants
as ephreda, berberis, ash, cotoneaster, spiraea, wild almonds, dog-rose, etc.
It is improbable that any of these would be found upon the area in the
absence of the chilgoza forest.

r. K 2

516 FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

(b) To maintain the supply of edible seed for the surrounding population.—
On account of the edible qualities of its seed the chilgoza is a most
valuable tree, and this fact would not seem to have been fully realized in
the existing reports on these forests. The question of the timber is
alluded to, and the demand or want of demand for the latter article is
discussed. This demand should not seriously affect the question, for only
dead wood will be removed. The value of the forest is due to the edible
nature of the seed, and is obviously enhanced by the fact that no trees, or
very few, need be inaccessible so far as the collection of their seed is
concerned. Were this collection done in a thorough and systematic
manner, it would be found that the value of the forest in this respect
would be thirty to forty per cent, greater to the village communities than
it is at present, whilst at the same time seed would be available for
regeneration purposes.

From the life history detailed above, it will be obvious that the bark-
borer is able to kill off the trees once it has got a firm hold of them, and
when favoured by a succession of dry, hot seasons. The feature of the
attack of 1900-1905 was the high proportion of trees affected, and the even
higher percentage of infested trees which succumbed to the beetle. The
investigations carried out in November 1905 definitely proved the fact that
the insect passes through at least three generations in the year and a partial
fourth. But for the operations introduced by Colonel G. Chevenix-Trench,
C.I.E., to combat the insect, it is certain that an even higher proportion
of trees would have been lost. These operations, accompanied by a greater
rainfall in the years 1907 and 1909, enabled the attack to be completely
stamped out in the Shinghur Forest. The point to be insisted on in the
case of this insect, therefore, is its power of killing the trees if left
unchecked, and the possibility of stamping out an attack if the beginnings of
it are recognized in time, and methods to combat it are introduced at once.

In his report on the Shinghur Forest, written after a visit in the winter
of 1892, Mr. Elliot wrote : " Many trees are dead, the cause in some cases
being fire, in others probably the severe conditions of life, considerable
heat in summer, great cold in winter, high winds at all times, and scanty
rainfall." Mr. Downe in a note on a visit paid in 1900 quoted this state-
ment. It cannot, however, be borne out by the true facts of the case,
which were indelibly inscribed on the trees themselves in 1905.

The most serious point about this bark-boring-beetle attack is the
fact that the chief pest will infest indiscriminately both healthy and sickly
trees. The Scolytidae usually confine themselves to the latter, only
attacking the former when driven to do so by a shortness in the supply of
trees reduced in vitality. The chilgoza Polygraphus is a marked excep-
tion, and as such must be considered as forming a most serious menace to
the forest, and not only to the forest at Shinghur, but to the neighbouring
ones at Sherghali, the Takht, and Spiraghar.

I think this Polygraphus also infests the P. gcrardiana in Bashahr.

PLAT! XL1X.

KM

Inner surface of pieces of Pinus gerardiana bark showing the egg and larval galleries of
Polygraphus t/',-nchi, Stelj. In the larger piece uncompleted egg-galleries are shown with only
the first beginnings of the hoi l/.ontal larval galleries. North /hob, Haluchistan, June 1905.

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 517

Owing to the more or less isolated nature of the chilgoza forests in
Zhob, it should prove quite possible to stamp out

Protection and incipient attacks of this beetle and its companion the
Remedial Measures. Phloeosinns as soon as they appear, and to prevent their

spreading to adjacent areas. The severe attack experi-
enced in the Shinghur Forest and neighbouring areas took place in what was
a virgin forest untended till then by man. The destructive method of collect-
ing the cones from the tree by breaking off the branches to get at them,
combined with a succession of hot dry years, doubtless led to the great
increase in the number of beetles present in the forest. At Shinghur the
trees do not stand densely on the area, and the open nature of the forest
is probably due to a number of them having been killed out by the beetles.
A possible reason for this state of affairs is to be found in the fact that the
chilgoza seed has been collected with more regularity since the British have
been in the country, and that this more intense collection has resulted in a
greater number of men frequenting the forest, and in a greater amount of
damage being done to the trees in consequence, thus providing the beetles
with a larger supply of easily-got-at food material. Grazing and its con-
comitant damage has also certainly been more intense than was the case
when the forest first began to occupy the area. In considering measures for
endeavouring to stamp out the pests, or for reducing their numbers to a
point at which they will no longer be harmful, it will therefore be needful to
remember that the forest must be treated as a whole, and the entire area
carefully taken in hand and worked over.

We have seen that the signs of attack are easily observable on the
outside of the trees in round shot-holes usually surrounded by a ring of resin
to which wood-dust may be sticking, and in pear-shaped blobs of turpentine
or long trickles of this substance being present beneath the shot-holes
(cf. pi. xli).

The methods of dealing with such attacks are detailed in chap, iv, p. 46.

It should be most carefully borne in mind that the very greatest circum-
spection must be used in—

(a) Selecting the trees for felling.

(b) Felling them at the right time.

The reasons for (a) are obvious, since the tree is valuable on account of
its seed and not for its limber, and therefore produces an annual income
which ceases when the tree is felled. It is essential that the infested
trees should be removed; because, beyond the fact that they themselves
will die under the beetle's attack, other trees will become subsequently
infested from the insects they breed, and will be killed in their turn.
(b) The felling at the right moment is necessary, because otherwise the
benefits to be obtained (i.e. the large number of insects destroyed, and the
consequent diminution in the number available to do further damage in the
forest) will be lost. Whilst, therefore, a careless selection of the trees to be

5i8 FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

felled will result in an unnecessary loss in the annual income from the forest,
the omission to remove trees seriously infested by the beetles will result in
greatly lessening the value of the fellings made, and will necessitate further
removals of trees in the year or years following.

The practical effect of the remedies recommended was illustrated in
the severe attack of these bark beetles which took place in the Shinghur
Forest in Zhob in 1900-1906. Work was begun in the autumn of 1905,
and carried on throughout 1906, the Political Officer, Lieut. -Colonel G.
Chevenix-Trench, being ably assisted by the Forest Officer, Bhai Sadhu
Singh ; and the fellings undertaken, combined with the burning of all
infesrted trees felled, practically stamped out the attack.

My examination of the infested trees in the Takht-i-Suliman area in
November 1905 proved that the beetles passed through four generations in
the year. From rough calculations made from measurements taken on the
ground, it was computed that an average-sized tree in the Shinghur Forest
could produce at a rough estimate a generation of 40,000 beetles. Allowing
for 50 per cent, casualties, this would give rise by the end of the year to a
progeny of 40,000,000 beetles, on the supposition that the insect passed
through four generations only during this period.

From this calculation it follows that the removal of the 92 badly
infested trees, and the burning of the bark containing immature larvae,
pupae, and beetles, may be safely estimated to have reduced the beetles that
would have been present in the forest in the spring of 1907 by some
500,000,000, allowing for very heavy mortality amongst the over-wintering
larvae and pupae.

The Polygraphus and Phloeosinus beetles are subject to the attacks
of predaceous and parasitic insect foes, and it may

Predaceous Insect Foes. ^e ^ue to tn's ^act tnat tne bark-borers have not

been able to increase in such numbers as entirely

to destroy such a local area of trees as the Shinghur Forest represents.
1 rees Nos. 3 and 4 were swarming with these active predaceous foes, the
insects being found within tree No. 3 and on the bark, and entering tree
No. 4. No less than six different kinds were collected, all actively engaged
in feeding upon or ovipositing in the galleries of their hosts. It is probable,
I think, that one or more of these insect enemies are predaceous upon or
parasitic in one or more of the insects predaceous upon the bark-borers.
1 hey include two hymenopterous flies, an undescribed species of Niponius,
two species of Colydiidae, and a species of predaceous bug, the Niponius
being perhaps the least abundant of the six.

The Hymenopterous Flies.— These flies are probably species of the

3halcididae. They lay their eggs either in or amongst the eggs of

-borers, or in or on the grubs. They were to be found nume-

rously in the trees, and their grubs evidently do not kill the grubs of

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

their hosts until they have become full-fed and eaten out the pupal
chamber, since the pupae of the flies were often found in the latter.

They are deep metallic blue in
colour, with green reflexions, the head
and the thorax being dull coppery. The

eyes are brilliant crimson. In the

• K * • ''"'/•'•"?»

larger of the flies the wings have a ; y .

transverse brown band across them
about half-way up. The figures show
these two flies.

Niponius canalicollis, Lewis. — The
grub of this beetle is predaceous upon
the grubs of the Polygraphus and the
Phloeosinus beetles. The insect has been
already described on p. 507.

The Colydiid Beetles.— The larger
of these is predaceous upon the Poly-
graphus beetle. In the galleries of
the Polygraphus I discovered numerous
smallish white eggs laid several to-
gether, and simply deposited on the
floor of the gallery. From their posi-
tion, and the fact that male and female
colydiid beetles were taken together in
the Polygraphus galleries, I consider
that these eggs are those of the larger
of the colydiid beetles, and are laid

in this position to

enable the larvae

on hatching out

to feed upon the

eggs or larvae of the Polygraphus beetles. I took a

male and female of this insect together in one of the

egg-tunnels of the Polygraphus beetle.

The smaller of the colydiid beetles may con-
fine itself to the Phloeosinus bark-borer, or may be
predaceous upon one of the enemies of the bark-
borers.

ttt'ctlt". — Light brown in colour, with a prominent he. id
furnished with large black eyes and short antennae; the thorax
is square and pitted, as also are the elytra, which leave the

FIG, 334-

Flies parasitic on /'.
North /hob.

Fi<;. 335.

Beetle predaceous upon l'P of lhe 1)ll(1.v exposed.
r.trcnchi. North /hob. two rohdiid beetles.

Fig. 335 shows the larger of the

520

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

The Black Bug (Hemiptera). — The last of the
predaceous insects taken is a small, elongate,
narrow, flat, shining, black bug, furnished with
a strong, four-jointed, elongate, black pro-
boscis, the last segment being pointed and
yellowish. This projects from the top of the
head, which is small. The wings are mem-
branous and palish yellow, the upper being folded
across the lower. The thighs of the legs are
thickened and black, the rest of the legs being
yellowish. Length, one-eighth inch, excluding the
beak (vide fig. 336).

This little bug was very plentiful in the
trees, and is most probably, I think, predaceous
upon the Polygraphus grubs, pupae, and perhaps
beetles.

X12.

FIG. 336.

Bug predaceous upon
P. trenchi. North Zhob.

Polygraphus nigra, Stebbing.
(The Black Polygraphus.}

REFERENCE. — Stebbing, Depart. Notes (Hylesimts ? sp.) i, 258.

Habitat. — North-West Himalaya.

Tree Attacked. — Blue Pine (Pin us c.\celsa). Jaunsar.

Polygraphus nigra,
Steb. a, beetle ; l>, egg-
galleries in blue-pine
bark. North-West
Himalaya.

Beetle.— Cylindrical, black, mode-
rately shining, head and thorax punctate,
elytra striate and pitted. Head short,
vertical ; finely rugose behind, with a
few punctures anteriorly, pubescence

yellow, stiff;

Description. antennae brown.

Prothorax slight-
ly convex, half as wide again at base
as anteriorly; punctate, the punctures
large, deep, numerous ; a median longi-
tudinal smooth line not reaching to .in-
terior margin. Elytra rounded at their
posterior declivity ; nearly twice as
long as prothorax, longer than wide,
slightly dilated at apex, moderately dull,
with close scales ; striae faint ; pubes-
cence short, whitish yellow. Legs fairly
stout, with largish tibiae ; dark ferru-
ginous. Tarsus yellowish brown. Length,
3.2 mm. Fig. 337, a, shows a dorsal and a
side view of this insect.

Larva. — Pinkish yellow in colour,
broadest anteriorly, corrugated and curved.
When first hatched, yellow.

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 521

This beetle was first discovered in the blue pine in June 1902.

It bores into the boles of large trees, coming in much

Life History. later than the blue-pine Tomicits. The beetles were

found boring egg-galleries in the bark in the third

week of June, when the adults of the first generation of the blue-pine
Tomicus, which were plentiful in the tree, were nearly mature, some having
already left the bark. It is thus evident that it requires bark less fresh than
does the Tomicus. In thus attacking the tree at this stage, and in its habit of
infesting old trees, it differs from Polygraphus major, which it resembles
in size though not in colour or habits. The insects found in June were
probably those of the first generation of the year engaged in laying the
eggs of the second generation. The difference in the life history between
this and the larger Polygraphus may be summed up as follows :—

P. major was at the time only just maturing as a beetle (first generation)

in the branches of the blue pine. It was numerous in the tree

from which Polygraphus nigra was obtained.
P. major does not attack the main trunk of the tree ; it attacks the

tree in a fresher condition, requiring fresh sappy cambium for

its grubs. The egg-galleries of Polygraphus nigra differ entirely in

character from those of the large Polygraphus.

Towards the beginning of November 1906 I again took this insect, and
made a more detailed study of its method of attack in the blue pine. These
observations modify and supplement some of those given in Departmental Xotcs.
Beetles were taken ovipositing in a section of the butt of a large felled
blue pine. The section girthed about twelve feet. I was able to confirm
my previous observation that the beetle does not enter the tree until it has
lost its first freshness, coming in as the generation of Tomicus ribhcti-
tropi is leaving the tree. In the case observed in November, the beetles
were either just tunnelling into the tree and eating out the egg-galleries in
the bast and sapwood, or their egg-galleries were complete and thelarxae
already about half-grown. The male beetle, which is smaller than the
female, bores in through the bark and eats out a large pairing-chamber <>("
irregular shape about a third by a quarter of an inch. From three to six
females enter the pairing-chamber and are fertilized by the male. The first
female appears usually to eat out her egg-chamber in a direction parallel
to the long axis of the tree; the others may go in tin- sime direction
upwards or downwards or at right angles to the direction of the first.
The eggs, as usual, are placed in small notches at the sides of the egg-
gallery, the larval galleries taking off on both sides of the e.ug-g.dlery,
and at right angles to it, as shown in the figure. Only in exceptional cases
apparently do the larval galleries develop on one side only of the ei:--
gallery. The pairing-chamber and egg-galleries groove both the bast and
sapwood, the latter but slightly. The egg-galleries are almost free of wood-
dust, small masses only occurring here and there in them. The larval
galleries are eaten out in the bast only. They average from five to six

522 FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

inches in length and are tightly packed with wood-dust and excreta,
orange-yellow in colour. The beetles themselves are very sluggish in their
movements, being by no means so active as P. major. The beetle passes
through at least three generations in the year.

Further observations are required to be carried out on this insect.

I have taken it on only a few occasions, and, so far

Relations to the i , • i • , •

Forest as my present observations seem to show, it is not

abundant. This point, however, I put forward with diffi-
dence, as the insect seems to have so strong a vitality, and its attacks
to be of such a serious nature so far as the amount of bast ruined by the
egg and larval galleries resulting from one swarm of beetles is concerned,
that it is important that a further stud}' of its habits should be made.

Polygraphus himalayensis, Stebbing.

REFERENCE. — Stebbing, Ind. For. Mem. Zool. Ser. i, pt. i, 8.

Habitat.— North- West Himalaya.

Tree Attacked. — Chir Pine (Finns longifolia). Jaunsar.
Beetle. -Slightly narrower than P. major ; sides of prothorax less angular, shining black,
with a very scattered sparse pubescence. Head finely punctate, with the frontal brush of hair

short and almost obsolete. Prothorax one and a half times as broad as

Description. long, smooth medianly, with no median longitudinal carina, sides with

a sparse fine punctation ; the transverse channel in the anterior fourth

deeper and closer to anterior margin than in major. Elytra very rugose, striae absent in basal
half ; sutural stria most prominent in apical half where the rugosities are more open than in
basal portion ; pubescence almost absent basally, very sparse in apical half. Length, 3.3 mm.

I know little about this insect. The specimen from which the beetle is
described was taken in a pine tree at Jeromula in Jaunsar. From old
galleries examined, the insect was noted to oviposit in the bast of the
main bole of old trees. The insect was taken in the bast layer in the middle
of October 1906.

Polygraphus pini, Stebbing.

REFERENCES. — Stebbing, Pofyg. minor, Ind. For. Mem. Zoo]. Ser. i, pt. i, 8 (1908); id. Depart. Notes,
i, 239 (1903). [I find that the specific name minor is preoccupied by P. subopacns, Thomson,
var. minor, Lindemann (1875)]

Habitat. — North- West Himalaya.

Trees Attacked. — Blue Pine (Finns cxceha) ; Spruce (Ficca inorinda).
Jaunsar, Simla, Chamba.

Beetle. — Oblong, sub-cylindrical. Black, shining, elytra with a greyish pubescence.
Antennae yellow-brown, club bright yellow. Legs chestnut-brown, tarsi yellow. Smaller than

major. Upper part of front of head furnished with a central thick

Description. close circular brush of reddish-yellow hair pointing inwards. Prothorax

depressed anteriorly, the transverse channel in anterior fourth broader,

deeper, and markedly prominent both medianly and laterally, the disk more strongly convex in

posterior three-fourths than in major ; punctures finer and more regularly distributed on surface.

ytra shining black, twice as long as prothorax, slightly dilated at apex, striate-rugose, the

Mil ie faint in the basal half, which is coarsely rugose. Abdominal segments black, shining,

punctate, with a sparse pubescence scattered uniformly over them and not confined to the

posterior margins as in major. Length, 2.1 mm. to 2.75 mm. PL xlvi, fig. 2, shows this beetle.

Larva.— Resembles that of P. major, but is smaller in size.

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

The beetles of the first generation of the year issue early in May, and

tunnel into trees to oviposit. The beetle is usually or

Life History. often found in company with Tomicus ribbcntropi (p. 552)

in the trees. It appears to come in a little later than the

larger beetle, and it is possible that it seeks out trees already attacked
by it. The insect remains in the trees longer than the Tomicus, and will
attack trees whose bark has lost the freshness the latter requires. It thus
resembles in habits Polygraphus nigra, though it differs in appearance,
size, and abundance from that insect. P. pini infests the bole of the tree
and is only rarely found in the tops and branches in company with
Polygraphus major.

It is probable that this insect has three to four generations in the year
in favourable seasons, the first flight of beetles, from the eggs laid at the
beginning of May or late in April, appearing towards the end of May (I have
found pupae and lightish-brown immature beetles in the galleries on
22 May). These at once lay eggs, and a second generation of beetles
appears about the beginning of July. Immature beetles were found on

22 June at about the same elevation
as those found on 22 May. A third
brood of beetles from eggs laid by
these latter makes its appearance at
the end of September and beginning
of October, and at once lays eggs.
These latter develop into larvae,
some of which may reach the
beetle stage and thus pass through
the winter. It would appear, how-
ever, that a large number pass the
cold weather as larvae enveloped
in a thin, white, papery cocoon at
the end of their larval galleries,
which they slightly enlarge. In
April these probably turn into pupae,
the resulting beetles emerging from
the tree towards the end of the
month or some time early in Ma\ .
The number of generations in

Kn ;. 338. — Fairing-chamber

and egg-

galleries (<.') of Polygraphus pini, Stcb., in a year and the time spent in each

blue pine. North-West Himalaya. K. I'.S.) ,-r , c .1 i j

life-cycle require further study and

corroboration, as there is not improbably a certain amount of overlapping.

The 6 bores into the bast through the bark of the tree and excavates in
it a pairing-chamber, being joined there; by the V. At present my observa-
tions have shown me that there are always two beetles to be found in this
chamber whilst it is under construction. After pairing has taken place
the ? bores an egg-gallery away from the chamber in the bast and lays her

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

eggs in this. The number of egg-galleries bored away from the pairing-
chamber appears to be three or four (fig. 338). It often happens that in
leaving the pairing-chamber the ? bores the egg-gallery for some distance in
the thick bast-layer without breaking through the inner surface. In such
cases the number of egg-galleries bored away from the pairing-chamber appear
to be smaller than they really are. The larval galleries are situated entirely
in the bast, and take off approximately at right angles, but curve away
later on (see pi. li). The sapwood is not touched either by the egg or
larval galleries. The egg and larval galleries are closely packed with wood-
dust and ejected particles.

This Polygraphus confines itself almost entirely to the bast and bark

of the tree, making no, or very little, impression on the
Rela£iornsttothe sapwood. Its galleries run in the bast nearer to the

outside of the tree than those of the Touiicns, which

groove deep into the sapwood. Like the latter, however, it appears to
prefer the thick bark and bast layer of the main trunk of the older
trees. It is always in greater numbers here, though it is to be found more
rarely in the softer portions affected by the larger species of the genus
(P. major). It has also been found in company with Polygraphus nigra. Its
presence can be detected by the small shot-holes appearing on the outside
of the bark, these latter being much smaller than those of the Toinicus.
It also attacks the spruce in a similar manner to the blue pine in company
with the blue-pine Touiiciis. Remedial measures are the same as those
given for this latter insect (p. 555).

Polygraphus longifolia, Stebbing.
(The Long-needled Pine Polygraphus.)

REFERENCES. — Stebbing, Ind. For. Mem. Zool. Ser. i, pt. i, 10 ; id. Depart. Notes, i, 255.

Habitat.— North-West Himalaya.

Tree Attacked. — Chir Pine (Pinus longifolia). Jaunsar, Tehri Garhwal,
Kumaun, Bashahr, and Chamba.

Beetle.— Oblong. Head black, prothorax and elytra dark chestnut-brown. Antennae and
legs yellow, the legs, except tarsi, with a slightly chestnut tinge. Head with the circular brush

of hair on front, sparse, short ; vertex almost smooth, with a very fine
Description. shining short median longitudinal line posteriorly meeting prothorax

(sometimes absent) ; a few fine very scattered punctures. Prothorax

about a fourth as broad as long, with the transverse channel in anterior fourth very much less
prominent than m pint and scarcely reaching down on to sides ; punctate, the punctures not
dense. Elytra not quite twice as long as prothorax, slightly dilated towards apex ; striate-
rugose, the rugosities disappearing in the apical fourth ; most prominent basally, where the
elytra are clothed with a fine whitish-yellow pubescence interspersed with a few long stiff
yellow hairs, the rest with a fine sparse pubescence ; the sutural stria most prominent
med:anly. Length, 2.75 mm. to 3 mm. The male is smaller than the female. PI. li, fig. i/', \c.

Larva.- >Vhite, curved, and corrugated. Head small, yellow, shining. Length,
2.75 mm. Fig. r.

Pupa.— White tinged with yellow, constricted posteriorly with small flaps, the wing out-
growths on the dorsal surface, and short legs and antennae on lower surface. Fig. in.

PLATE L

Egg an:l larval galleries ot Polygraphus-pini, Steb . on the inner
surface of bark of the blue pine (Pintis c.vcclxa}. Jaunsar, Nmth-West
Himalaya.

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

525

A generation of this beetle appears on the wing about the beginning

of June from eggs laid some time during April by the

Life History. generation of the insect which passed through the winter

in the tree.

This beetle is a common pest of the pine in Kumaun and the areas to
the west, Jaunsar and Tehri Garhwal. The male beetle bores through the
thick bark of the tree, making a circular entrance-hole which is usually

very distinctly seen on the outside (cf.
rig. id, which shows several entrance-
holes and one in section). This entrance-
tunnel leads to an enlarged circular
or heart-shaped chamber, the pairing-
chamber, which is eaten out either in
the bark itself or (where the bark is
thinner) in the bast and sapwood. It
will not infrequently be found, however,
that there is no evidence of this chamber
in the sapwood.

From two to three (or at times four)
female beetles enter successively the
pairing-chamber and after fertilization eat
out each a long gallery in the bast layer
of the tree; these are the egg-galleries,
and they are carried in opposite direc-
tions, or two up and one down (if three
females pair with a male), parallel to the
long axis of the tree (g in rig. ic indi-
cates the egg-galleries ; the egg-gallery
is either quite straight or it may have
small zigzag curves in it or even small off-
set prolongations (vide rig. 331)), and may
be as much as three inches in length.
Two or more holes are eaten out bv

Fl<;. 339. — Pairing-chambers and egg-
tunnels (containing living beetles) of
Polygraph us longifolia, Steb., in the
inner surface of Pinus l<»i^i folia bark
just stripped off the trees. />, pairing-
chamber ; e, egg-gallery ; <7, aeration-
hole ; /', a beetle eating out a gallery.
Jaunsar, North-West Himalaya, i K.P.S.

the female beetle through the bark to
the outside to allow of air entering
the gallery, which is otherwise- blocked
up its whole length with the loosely
packed wood-dust and excreta of the
beetle, much in the same way as is the
tunnel of P. ti-cnchi.

The eggs are placed, as is customary

with these beetles, in small notches eaten

out in the walls of the egg-gallery. The larvae on hatching out make very
irregular galleries carried in a direction more or less at right angles to the
egg-gallery. The galleries are made entirely in tin- bast layer, and the

526 FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

larvae pupate here as well, except in the case where small branches are
infested, when the pupating-chamber is eaten out in the sapwood to some
extent. The beetle lays as many as sixty to seventy eggs, half being laid on
each side of the tunnel (fig. le). The larvae from the eggs laid on the outer
side of the tunnel appear to do best.

The insect passes through three to four life-cycles in the year.
The first eggs of the year would appear to be laid in the trees during
April, the first generation of beetles issuing towards the beginning of June.
The eggs laid by these beetles produce a second generation some time in
August, which is followed by a third about the middle of October, which
lays the eggs which hatch out into the larvae to be found in the trees in
November. These larvae either mature into beetles which hibernate in
the trees, or they themselves pass the winter in their tunnels. It is
quite possible that in favourable years there may be a complete fourth and
partial fifth generation of the insect in the year.

The beetle is a common pest of the pine in Kumaun and in areas to the
west — Jaunsar, Tehri Garhwal, Chamba, and Bashahr.

This Polygrapkus must be classed as one of the more formidable of the
scolytid pests of the chir pine, since it will infest trees

of a11 aSes from the sma11 seedlin£ and sapling to the
oldest tree, and it attacks green trees. I have taken
it in small saplings newly killed in the Buldhoti Plantation in Kumaun, and
in a large standing green tree near Kathian in Jaunsar. In freshly blown
down and newly felled trees in Bashahr and Chamba I have taken the
insect in large numbers occasionally, having found it infesting the tree from
crown to base of stem. It often accompanies the large Tomicus pest,
T. longifolia (described later on), in its attacks on the tree.

I felled two newly dead trees in the Buldhoti Plantation on 7 June
1908. The one, a sapling of 8 in. girth, had the yellow needles still on the
branches. An examination showed that the tree had been attacked from
crown to base of trunk by this beetle, the egg and larval galleries covering
nearly all the branches and main stem (fig. is). The attack had probably
commenced in the previous October and been continued by the April (1908)
beetles laying the eggs of the first generation of the year. The second tree,
one of 2ft. 6 in. girth, was a green standing tree showing evidences of
being in a very sickly state, there being considerable masses of resin exuding
in "tears" down the bark. An examination showed it to be severely

j

by the Cryptorhynchus brandisi weevil, the Nothorrhina muricata
longicorn, and this Polygraphus beetle. P. longifolia was not in so advanced
a stage here as it was in the sapling ; larvae, pupae, and immature beetles
being present in this tree. I have already alluded to the fact that I took
the beetle fairly numerously from the base of a large green tree of 14 ft.
girth, standing closely adjacent to the Range Office at Kathian in Jaunsar.
This tree was situated at about the upper limit of this pine in Jaunsar.

I 'I, ATE LI.

\ \a

Ib

Ir

Polygraphus longifolia, Steb., in /'inns livigifolia, — i, i</, larva and pupa ; if>, ir, male
and female beetles ; \d, entrance-holes of beetles in outer bark of the tree ; i/', pairing-
chamber (/> '•, K£g galleries (g\ larval galleries (/ , and aeration holes (a) in the bast layer.
North-West Himalaya.

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 527

Owing to the rough thick bark of the Finns I on gi folia and the deep
crevices in it, it is by no means easy to detect the attacks of this insect
without removing the bark. Often, however, the red and white wood-dust
ejected by the male when tunnelling down into the tree to prepare the
pairing-chamber, which either projects in a tiny cylinder from the surface
of the bark or forms a little powdery mass just below it, attracts the attention
and indicates that beetles are at work in the tree.

These are fully dealt with under the Scolytus bark-borer (p. 572), and

they are very similar to those already advocated for the
Protection and , ,., ., r . i • T i i.- ^.u

Remedial Measures, cryptorhynchid weevil of this pine. In plantations they

can be put into force with considerable advantage. We

know the approximate dates on which we shall find larvae and pupae in the
trees, i.e. middle of May, end of July, third week to end of September, and
middle of November. Badly infested trees should be cut out and burnt
at these periods; the best time would be during winter. If the scolytid is
to be dealt with at that season it would be essential that the badly infested
trees were marked down in the autumn, as during the winter months the
insect is quiescent and there would be little evidence on the external parts
of the tree to show that it was badly infested.

Some of these are dealt with under Tomicus longifolia, e.g. a species of

Predaceous Insects. Chalcid> a carabid Tachyta, the histerids Niponius and

Paromalus, a trogositid Timnochila, and the clerid Thana-

snnus (vide p. 560). They appear to feed upon this bark-borer as well as
upon that pest.

Hypophloeus, sp. nov. — This species of Hypophloem is predaceous on
P. longifolia in the chir-pine trees. The beetle is described and figured
on p. 236.

Life History. — I took this insect very numerously in the galleries of this
Polygraphus in a recently blown down large green chir pine. The beetles
were taken in the middle of October 1906, and were swarming amongst the
scolytid larvae in the tree. I was at first of opinion that the insect was
feeding on the sap of the tree, but subsequent investigations seem to confirm
the statement that the beetle or its grubs are predaceous or semi-predaceous.
I took the insect in other localities in Jaunsar.

Polygraphus aterrimus, Slrohiiiryrr.

REFERENCE. — Strohmeyer, Kntomol. \Voclicnhl. xxv, p. <»> (1908).

Habitat. — Xorth-\\Vst Him:il;iy;i.

Tree Attacked. — Deodar (('dims dcmlara}. Ktilu.

Strohmeyer had four specimens of this insect sent to him by C. Rost, from
Kulu, with the information that they were taken from deodar. I am of
opinion that the insect is identical with Poly^niplius major, but make the
statement with reserve, as I have not seen Strohmeyer's specimens.

528 FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

Tribe CRYPHALINAE.
Differs from the Crypturginae as follows :-
Head round. Elytra not truncate.

This tribe includes the genus Cryphalus, containing a number of very
minute forms feeding in the bast layer of small branches and twigs of trees,
and in the upper portions of saplings.

CRYPHALUS.

Cryphalus (Cosmoderes) deodara, Stebbing.
(The Deodar Branchlet Cryfrhalus.) .

REFERENCE. — Stebbing (Cryphalusl deodara), Depart. Notes, vol. i, 274.

Habitat.— North-West Himalaya.

Tree Attacked. — Deodar (Cedrus deodara). Kotgarh, Bashahr State
(;;zz7z/) ; Konain, Jaunsar (R. Mclntosh).

Beetle. — Oblong, rather shining, dark red-brown to almost black in colour, covered with
sparse stiff whitish-yellow hairs. Head black, concealed by prothorax, which forms a hood

over it. Antennae the same colour and of usual Cryphalus form.

Description. Prothorax not broader than long, the anterior portion rather thickly

studded with raised projections, the posterior half being punctate.

Hlytra about twice the length of prothorax, sides straight, declivous at apex ; a longitudinal
channel on either side of suture, most marked in apical portion ; punctate-striate, the punctures
largest and most numerous on basal three-fourths, becoming obsolete apically ; the basal
portion with irregular transverse striations medianly. Under-surface black. Legs rufous
brown. Length about 1.8 mm. (see fig. 340, a}.

Larva. — A minute, white, curved, fleshy grub of the usual scolytid appearance.

The insect would appear to pass through the winter in the beetle
stage. The beetles issue from the trees and oviposit

Life History. early in the spring some time towards the end of April.
To perform this operation the beetle seeks out a small

green twig and girdles it at or near its base, the girdle being, in every case
examined, complete (see fig. 340, b (i) ).

The insect was discovered in all the stages of larva, pupa, and beetle at
the beginning of June in deodar branchlets. The beetles, just about mature
and apparently ready to leave the tree, were by far the most numerous.
Although the twigs contained these mature beetles, yet externally there were
no entrance-holes visible on the bark, and a close inspection showed that the
branchlet was girdled at or near its base. This girdle was made by the
spring mother-beetle with the object of preventing further sap proceeding up
the branchlet, which accordingly begins to die and thus provides a suitable
supply of food for the young larvae hatching out from the eggs laid by the
beetle in the branch above the girdle. The reason why I think it probable
that the branch is girdled and the eggs laid in the spring is that the
young new needles of the year had developed on the ringed twig to a

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

529

\

certain extent before they began to wither and die. Further, the wood of
the twigs was still comparatively fresh, instead of being dead and rotten, as
would have been the case had the ringing been done the previous year. The
eggs are laid near the girdle, and the larvae mine up the twig (fig. b (2) ).
On becoming mature, the beetle bores its way out of the branchlet by a
•short gallery at right angles to its long axis (see fig. 6 (3) ).

An examination of many of the persistent dead twigs showed the plan
of action of the beetle. Low down near the base was the girdle, above but
near to which the egg or eggs are laid. Inside the twig, galleries will be
found running up and down the wood, made by the feeding larvae, and on
the outside one or more holes of exit show where the beetles have left the
stem. The larva apparently mines all round in the outer wood of the twig,
leaving a central core, and this, in old twigs, remains often as a small hard
splinter, whilst the shell of bark- and wood-powder crumbles to dust under
one's fingers. In small twigs I never found more than one beetle, but
in the larger several were present, and in large dry attacked twigs I noticed
several holes of exit. From this I conclude that in small twigs but one egg
is laid, while in the case of larger ones several eggs are deposited under the

small flakes of rough bark. Whether these
are laid by the same beetle or not has yet to
be determined. In fig. b (4), a small branch
is shown which has been girdled in several
places by this beetle. The needles had turned
yellow ;md were dropping off.

I first took this
beetle in deodar branch-
lets at the beginning of
June in the Nagkela
Forest, Kotgarh, Ba-
shahr Division, at an
elevation of about 6,000
feet in the North-West
Himalaya. Subse-
quently it was noticed
in several othrr parts of
the division.

It was also iixle-
pendently found about
the same time l>y Mr. K.
Mclntosh, Deputy Con-
servator of Forests, at
Konain in the Jaunsar
Division, some hundred-
odd miles to the south-
east.

L L

(3)

* 12

V

340. — Cryphalus

if,'i>i/iir<i. Steb. <t, dorsal and
side view of beetle ; /', deodar
branrhlels slio\\ ing method "I
attack of this insect: (i) the
girdle, (2) section of branch
shouiiij; the larval tunnel, (3)

horizontal gallery and exit-hole made; by beetle on maturin .

4 branchlet girdled in several places at (i) by this beetle.

•(d, from drawings by the Author.

9003

53o FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

As far as present observation goes, this beetle does not bore into the
main stem or main side branches of the deodar, but
confines its operations to the small upright needle-
bearing branchlets borne on the latter, on which a
new flush of needles appears in the spring. Under the attack the needles
on the infested branchlets turn yellow and wither, and the dying twigs thus
become very conspicuous on the trees. Save for this withering, the twigs
show no sign of external damage when first looked at. If taken hold
of, however, they usually come off in the hand, snapping either from half to
one inch or less (or it may be at the juncture itself) from the juncture with
the main branch. A close inspection shows that the twig breaks at the
point at which it has been ringed. Above the ring the newly attacked
branch is seen to be dying, and on cutting it up larvae or beetles will be
found within it. This girdling results in short dead stumps of twigs or the
dead unfallen twigs themselves being present all up the main branches, and
previous attacks can at once be recognized by this characteristic. When the
.twigs are girdled right at the base, these visible signs are not, however, so
apparent. The foliage is seen to be much thinner on the branch, and if such
branches are looked at closely the scars will be seen. When the dry twigs
are in exposed situations, they soon get knocked off by the wind or by blows
from adjacent branches; when, however, they are on portions of the main
branch which are more or less sheltered, they may be found persisting in
numbers.

The result of this attack, more especially when combined with that
of the branch-boring Stephanoderes himalayensis beetle (see p. 540), entails a
loss to the tree of young needle-bearing twigs, w7ith the consequent decrease
in the area of foliage — always a serious matter in the case of a conifer. As
I have already said, the yellow rosettes of needles on the branches attacked
are evidence of this beetle being at work ; but an inspection is always
necessary, as there, are other insects whose attacks appear to produce much
the same result on the tree if only cursorily examined.

In the case of ornamental trees and small valuable plantations it would

be comparatively easy to get rid of this pest. The

Remedies^ attack should be carefully watched, and when the twigs

are full of larvae, i.e. about the middle of May, they

should be broken off and burnt. Any subsequent generations would be
treated in the same manner. At present, however, the beetle has only been
found on the larger branches of old trees, and further observation is required
to ascertain whether it confines its attacks to the branchlets on old trees.

Cryphalus major, Stebbing.
(The Long-needled Pine Larger Cryphalus.)

REFERENCE. — Stebbing, Depart. Notes, vol. i, 270.

Habitat.- North-West Himalaya.

Tree Attacked.— Chir Pine (Pinus longi folia). Tons Valley, etc., Jaunsar.

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

531

Beetle.— General colour black or brown ; surface densely clothed with light yellow hairs.
The club of antenna is oval, narrower above, and with four articulations. Funiculus is

five-jointed. Thorax slightly broader than long. The male and
Description. female are, 1 think, of different colours.

$ Yellowish brown in colour. Thorax with prominent spiky

spines on its upper two-thirds. The lower third and elytra pitted. Insect covered with whitish
hairs.

2 Black, shining, the upper two-thirds of prothorax with a dense pitted mass of yellow
hairs and with a few spiky spines. Lower third of prothorax and the elytra pitted and clothed
with dense short yellow hairs and a few lighter-coloured longer ones. Length, T*5 in. In
the specimens obtained the 5 appears to be somewhat larger than the $. Fig. 341, rt, t>,
shows the $ and 5 of this insect.

This beetle is the larger of the two species of Cryphalus which have

been found attacking the Pinus longifolia. It is often

Life History. to be found in the smaller twigs of the tree in company

with its more minute companion Cryphalus longifolia,

Stebbing, but it occupies a lower part of these branches and also attacks

yv \r v*

FIG. 341. — Cryphalus major, Steb.
a, dorsal and side view of male beetle :
/', dorsal and side view of female beetle :
c, attacked I' in us lou^ifoHa branchlets
showing (p] the pairing chamber, (/) the
horizontal tunnel down to the pith, and
(e) the egg-gallery ; d, larger branch let
showing the same as c ; g, piece of a
larger /'. longifolia branch severely at-
tacked by this beetle, showing hmv the galleries run into one another
and become indecipherable on such occasions. N.\V. Himalaya. ;Fi-.
( . i/, ,;'", from drawings by Author.)

the main stem ;is well as the side branches of saplings.

It apparently prefers dying but still green trees.

The insect is to be found at the- end of the first week

in June burrowing into branches of old trees to oviposit.
A shallow irregular-shaped chamber is first bored in the sapwood beneath
the bark, both 6 and 9 beetles taking their share in this work, both having

L L 2

532 FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

entered the tree by the same hole (see fig. 341, c, d (p) ). After the preparation
of this chamber, it is probable that fertilization takes place and the 6 beetle
then leaves the tree to die. When attacking small branches the 2 now bores
a tunnel vertically down into the sapwood, either at the centre or in a corner
of the pairing-chamber (fig. c, d (/)), until it reaches the pith of the branch;
she then mines out a gallery (fig. c, d (e) ) running in the longitudinal axis of
the branch, and at right angles to her former direction, about half an
inch in length on either side of the vertical bore. The eggs, I think, are
probably laid in this tunnel, and the larvae perhaps mine up and down
both ways, but this latter has to be corroborated by further observations.
In one or two instances it was noticed that the ends of the gallery in the
pith were blocked up with plugs of what appeared to be chewed-up pith,
in which the eggs may have been laid. When the female is disturbed in the
pairing-chamber, in which she apparently lives for some time after egg-laying,
she at once retires down into the gallery in the pith by the vertical boring (/).
In the case of larger branches only the hole at one side of the pairing-
chamber and the egg-galleries, which are usually curved and branching,
deeply groove the sapwood (see fig. #). Indentations at irregular intervals
are cut in the sides of the egg-gallery, in which the eggs are laid. The
larvae feed almost entirely in the bast in which the larval galleries are bored.
Fig. g shows a portion of a branch badly attacked by this pest in which the
galleries are so interlaced as to render it difficult to decipher them. This is
the usual appearance of old attacks in the forest.

As this Cryphalus lives at a somewhat low elevation in hot valleys (the
altitudes at which it was found were between 2,500 and 3,000 ft.), it is
probable that the June beetles observed egg-laying were laying the eggs of
the second generation of the year. Just a month later, however, in the first
week in July, the beetles were observed again egg-laying, this time all the
pairing-galleries and many of the mother egg-galleries having been already
prepared. No 6 beetles were found at this period. This means that either
the June-July generation is run through in all its stages in a month, or (what
is perhaps more probable) that there are several generations of these insects
in the year and that the different life-cycles overlap.

From some branches taken down to Dehra (elevation 2,000 ft.) I bred
out beetles in the middle and third week of September, and others about the
end of the first week of October.

. his is a more dangerous pest than its smaller companion Cryphalus,

since its galleries and boring operations are on a more
Damage Committed . , 0 i • j i u r i j

in the Forest. extensive scale. Saplings and branches of older trees

heavily attacked by the beetle lose their needles, which

first turn yellow and then drop off. An examination will show circular
entrance-holes large in comparison with the minute ones of the smaller
Cryphalus, and these will be seen to be equally as numerous on the outer
surfaces of the thicker bark as in the interstices between the flakes. The

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 533

beetle would seem to prefer dying or sickly trees for its operations, and it
was noticed in some abundance in portions of a forest which had been
overrun by fire the previous season. The tops of many young saplings were
infested with the small Cryphalus and less numerously with this one.
Lower down, however, the larger one was much more numerous, many of
the stems being entirely riddled by the beetles.

The beetle, since it is, as far as present observations go, invariably
accompanied by Cryphalus longifolia, and often by Polygraphus longifolia as
well, must be considered a serious pest in young plantations, and its life
history requires fully working out.

Cut out and burn all young infested saplings. They may be easily
recognized, as the somewhat heavy foliage of the long-
needled pine turns a bright yellow under heavy attacks,
and the trees thus become very conspicuous.
Areas which have been overrun by fire or on which sickly trees are
noted to exist should be carefully watched, the trees being inspected as often
as possible for external shot-holes. Trees with these appearing on them
should be allowed to remain for a week or two until the beetles about have
all oviposited in them, when they should be cut out and burnt.

During severe attacks trap trees (see p. 573) should be prepared.

Cryphalus longifolia, Stebbing.
'•(The Long-needled Pine Smaller Cryphalus.)

REFERENCE. — Stebbing, Depart. Notes, vol. i, 267.

Habitat. — -North-West Himalaya.

Tree Attacked. — Chir Pine (Finns longifolia), Jaunsar and Bashahr
State (2,000 to 3,000 ft.).

Beetle. — A minute insect, yellow to dark brown in colour, and clothed with a fairly dense
mass of long whitish or whitish-yellow hairs. Head with vertex smooth, shining, and very

finely punctate ; front clothed with longish yellow hairs. Antennae

Description. and legs bright yellow. Head hidden by the thorax. Mandibles

short. Scape of antennae thickened anteriorly, funiculus of font

joints, the first large, longish; club flattened and oval. Prothorax wider than long, con\c\
dorsally. armed with small spiny tubercles anteriorly. Klytra cylindrical, rounded at their
posterior declivities, not wider than the thorax. Tibiae finely toothed on their outside edges.
Tarsus with joints i 103 of equal length. Body cylindrical. Length, i mm. or a little over
Fig. 342, n, shows a dorsal and side view of this insect.

The beetle appears on the wing at the end of May and beginning of
June, and tunnels into the branches of old trees or
Life History. into the tops and branches of young saplings i<>r
ovipositing purposes. Green sickly branches and half-
dry ones appear to be chosen for egg-laying. The May-June generation
of the beetle, which was the first one discovered, probably lays the eggs
of the second generation of the year, the eggs of the first generation being
laid some time at the end of March or early in April.

534

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

In boring into a branch this Cryphalus never goes in direct from the

outside, but always searches out some small flake of bark beneath which to

bore its entrance-hole. The bark of the Pinus longifolia is rough even on

small twigs, and so it has no difficulty in making its entrance into the

branch unobserved. On reaching the bast layer a small irregular-shaped

chamber is bored by the beetles, indenting both sapwood and bast (see

fig. 342, b, c (/>)). I have always found two beetles at work making this

excavation, and never more than two, the male helping the female. I

am unable to say whether pairing takes place before or after this chamber

is complete, but as soon as there is room in it for the two beetles, two will

be found together. Round the sides of the chamber a in ^to»M

little indentations are cut (fig. b (e)}. By the time

the shallow excavation is complete it has become full

of white powdery wood-dust, and the eggs are laid

either loosely in this or in the indentations. At this

period only one beetle is present in the egg-chamber.

.Galleries were found in this condition at the beginning

of July. Further than this I have not as yet been able

to carry the life history, but from

an examination of old twigs and

branches it appears that the larvae

mine outwinding galleries in the bast

and sapwood as shown in fig. c (I).

There is at least a third and
possibly a fourth generation of the
beetle in the year. From some
branches taken to Dehra the writer
bred out beetles in the middle of
September, and others may have
issued in August, since dead beetles
were found in the breeding-box, which owing to
;il>sence on tour was not opened in that month.

The beetle was first discovered in company
with the long -needled pine Polygraphus at
Taklesh in the Bashahr State in June 1901,
being obtained the following and succeeding
years numerously in the Jaunsar Division. In

1908 I noted its attacks in Kumaun and in

1909 in Chamba.

XI?

FIG. 342. — Cryphalus longi-
folia, Steb. a, dorsal and side
view of the beetle ; />, poition
though very minute, has the Of a Finns longifolia branchlet

power of increasing in large showing (p] pairing -chamber
Relations to the ,

Forest. numbers, and must there-

fore be included amongst

the pests of the pine. It infests the main stem
of seedlings and small saplings and the smaller

with (e) the indentations made
to enlarge it to deposit the eggs ;
c, portion of a branch showing
(p) the pairing- and egg-chamber,

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 535

branches and twigs of older trees, the cambium layer being entirely riddled
by the borings of the beetles themselves and by the subsequent minings of
the larvae, which practically girdle the top or twig attacked, consequently
ensuring its death. As I have already mentioned, it is often accompanied
lower down the top or branch by the Polygraphus and by Cryphalus major,
both more serious scolytid pests.

All young saplings infested should be cut out and burnt. In nurseries
and small plantations, attacked branches should be
pruned close to the stem and burnt. The attack is
easily discernible when the beetle is present in numbers

(more especially when in company of either of the above-mentioned beetles),
as the needles turn yellow and there is an exudation of resin from the
entrance-holes.

Cryphalus morinda, Stebbing.

REFERENCE. — Stebbing, Depart. Notes, i, 265.

Habitat. — North-West Himalaya.

Tree Attacked. — Spruce (Picea morinda). Simla-Tibet Road, Bashahr.

Beetle. — Very small, cylindrical. Really black in colour, but so thickly set with a dense,
close, golden pubescence as to have the latter colour. The upper three-quarters of the prothorax

slopes rather abruptly in front, and is
Description. thickly studded here with prominent tuber-

cular prominences. Posterior quarter is

finely pitted. Elytra finely punctate. Antennae and legs yellow-
brown. Under-surface black, set with long white hairs. The
ordinary characteristics of a Cryphalus as given under C. boswelliae
are present. Length, T^ in.

The flight-time of this beetle is from about the

second to the third week in June.

Life History. The beetle commences work by

boring in through the bark of a

twig till it reaches the cambium layer. In this it then
bores a small chamber which also goes slightly into the I IG. 343.

sapwood. Whilst this is being prepared another beetle Cryplutlns //i,»-iii,{ti,

joins the first, and in the narrow, small, elliptical cham- Steb;' in spIruce-. North-
u u -11 u u r West Himalaya,

ber two beetles will generally l>e round at work as soon

as the boring is sufficiently large to hold both. In this elliptical chamber
the eggs are laid. The beetle is apparently monogamous in its habits,
the male pairing with but one female. The grubs on hatching eat out a
shallow gallery away from the chamber, this joint larval gallery gradually
increasing in breadth with the development in growth of the grubs.

The insect infests the twigs and smaller branches only of old spruce,
the twigs drying up and the needles turning yellow under the attack. This
is as far as the life history of this minute' insect has been carried.

536 FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

Very little is known about these small cryphalids in India, and it is

therefore impossible to state here the relation they

Damage Committed n b he f t j cann(jt present sav

in the Forest.

whether this beetle is abundant or not, nor whether it

attacks young growth as well as old trees. It has only been found in the
latter to my knowledge up to date. It is probable that it usually searches
for branches which are weak in health ; but examination of dead branches
shows that those which it attacks in any numbers it invariably kills. The
cambium is entirely eaten away by the larvae, the latter being responsible
for the greater part of the damage done. A certain amount of thinning-out
of the smaller branches and shortening of the older ones must take place on
the tree under the operations of this insect. If young growth is attacked
leaders may be killed by the beetle.

Cryphalus tectonae, Stebbing.

REFERENCE. — Stebbing, Depart. Notes, i, 263.

Habitat. — Berar.

Tree Attacked. — Teak (Tectona grandis). Melghat Forest, Berar.

Beetle. — Smaller than Cryphalus boswelliae. Cylindrical. Head, prothorax, and
elytra a reddish brown in colour, and covered with rather scattered short yellow hairs, which

are set in rows on the elytra. The
Description. prothorax set with tubercular pro-

jections anteriorly, and lightly

pitted posteriorly. Elytra fairly finely striate and punctate,
with parallel rows of slmri \dln\\ h.ms mmmi;.: d-un
them. Antennae and legs bright yellowish-brown. Under- f*H9^plSP
surface set with longish tufts of white hairs placed irre-
gularly Length, 1.2 mm. JTIG „ . .

Larva.— The grub of this beetle is very small, white, Cryphalus tectonae, Steb., in
curved, and has no legs. teak. Berar.

The flight-time of this insect is about the latter half of July in this part

of India (Berar). The beetle would appear to have the

Life History. same habits as other minute Cryphali in the continent.

It bores into a branch until it reaches the cambium

layer, and then mines out in this and the sapwood a small chamber, being
then joined by a companion. They then together eat out the egg-gallery,
yhich is simply an irregular-shaped small chamber made in the bast and
sapwood, in which the eggs are laid amongst a small mass of wood-dust.

In one case I found a larva, and it would seem therefore probable

the beetles commence egg-laying about the beginning of July in Berar,

that only a few days are passed in the egg stage, the larvae hatching out

thin a very short time. This minute beetle was discovered boring into

smaller branches of the teak-tree in Berar in July 1901. This is at

present all that has been observed on the habits of this minute beetle.

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

537

Little is known about this Cryphalns. I am unable to say
whether it is at all abundant or otherwise in the teak
forests of the country. It has at present only been
found on old trees. Owing to its method of attack,
under which the cambium of the young shoot is destroyed by it and its
larvae, it is obvious that if it should attack young growth and were to
infest it in any numbers, it would be capable of doing serious injury. It
will perhaps be found most abundant in localities where the teak is of
inferior growth.

Cryphalus boswelliae, Stebbing.

REFERENCE. — Stebbing, Depart. Notes, i, 261.

Habitat. — -Poona, Bombay Presidency.

Tree Attacked. — Boswellia serrata. Bhamburda Reserve, Poona.

Beetle. — Short, elliptical, black, clothed with a very short yellowish pubescence on pro-
thorax and elytra. Head and thorax pitted. Elytra with striae and wide rows of bluish-
white punctures between them. Mandibles
Description. short. A brush of yellow hairs round the

mouth. Scape of the antennae, which are

dark brown, long, club-shaped ; funiculus four-jointed, the first joint ,,.

thick, elongated, the second to fourth only slightly increasing in a

size; club flattened, oval. Eyes long, narrow, transverse. Prothorax
not longer than broad, narrower in front than behind, more or less
uniformly punctate, with punctures and not tubercular projections
anteriorly. Elytra cylindrical, rounded on their posterior declivity ;
not wider, or only very slightly so, than prothoiax, slightly bending
inwards at their base. Legs dark brown. Tibiae curved, and finely
toothed on their exterior 'edges ; tarsus yellow, with the first three
joints of equal length. Length, just over ^ in. Fig. 345, c.

Larva. —A small, white, curved, legless grub. Fig. a.

Pupa. — White, unenclosed in any cocoon or covering, the
antennae, wings, and legs being quite free, and held close to sides
of the beetle. Fig. b.

The flight-time of this beetle is about the be-
ginning of August, and probably
Life History. for some time later. The insect,
in all stages of its life, is to be

found at the beginning of the month. In branches of

the Boswellia which appeared to be dying but were

still green, larvae were plentiful, and also pupae and

light-coloured beetles, the latter not quite mature. The

larvae are to be found in irregular-shaped cavities in

the bast and sapwood, which usually contain a certain Cryfihalns

amount of moist wood-dust. In the pupal and beetle Steb., in /
. serrata.

stages this latter becomes dry. In other branches

darker-coloured beetles were present, and these were apparently the mature
beetles of this generation which had already begun egg-laying. The $ and 9-

X12

FIG. 345.

Poona.

538

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

beetles were found together gnawing out irregular-shaped chambers beneath
the bark in the bast and sapwood. These beetles had apparently only
just matured, and had at once commenced egg-laying, the eggs being those
of a second or third (?) generation. This is all that has been at present
observed about this insect.

The smaller green branches of Boswellia serrata are bored into by
the insect for the purpose of laying its eggs in them.

The larvae' on hatchirjg out> feed uP°n the surrounding
cambium layer and destroy it. If at all plentiful, the
bark is eaten right round, and the twig, being girdled, dies.

Further observation is required to ascertain whether the insect is at all
numerous, and whether it infests young plants. In this latter case it might
on occasions become a serious pest.

Cryphalus strohmeyeri, Stebbing.

REFERENCE. — Stebbing, Cryphalus indicus, Depart. Notes, i, 403.

Habitat. — North-West Himalaya.

Tree Attacked. — Silver Fir (Abies webbiana), Jaunsar, North- West
I linuilaya.

Beetle. — Cylindrical, black, with a pubescence varying from yellow to silvery and reddish.
Head hidden beneath thorax. Antennae reddish yellow, angled, the scape club-shaped, the

funiculus four-jointed, the first joint thick,
Description. others subequal ; club oval, divided into

four divisions by three transverse lines.

Thorax not longer than broad, very convex, narrower in
front than behind, the anterior three-fourths furnished with pro-
minent, acute, tubercular projections set backwards, the basal
portion, especially laterally, clothed with long yellow hairs.
Elytra cylindrical, constricted and rounded posteriorly, very
slightly wider than thorax ; coarsely and irregularly rugulose and
punctate, and covered with a squamulose pubescence consisting
of longitudinal rows of short silvery and reddish hairs. Legs
reddish brown, pubescent ; tibiae curved, and toothed on outer
edge, clothed with a dense yellow pubescence ; tarsi yellowish,
first three joints equal. Length, 2.3 mm.

I find C. indicus is preoccupied, so have pleasure in naming
this species after Herr Oberforster Strohmeyer.

Egg. — White, oval, translucent.

Larva.— Small, white, curved, and legless, with a yellowish
head and brown mandibles.

X12

6

FIG. 346.
strohmeyeri,

silver i'r.
Himalaya.

Cryphalus

Steb., in

North - West

The flight-time of the first beetles of the year is about the middle of

May, at elevations of 8,000 ft. I took the beetle in the

Life History. fourth week of the month laying eggs in green silver- fir

branches. Either masses of eggs or young larvae were

found in the egg-chambers, the beetles having evidently been some days at

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 539

work. Infested branches contained numerous beetles, and appeared to die
upwards from the lowest part affected.

The beetle enters the branch by boring a horizontal tunnel through the
bark to the bast, preferably just at or below the juncture of the branch with
the stem ; though, if these places are already occupied, it will go in any-
where else on the branch. On reaching the bast the insect eats out in the
bark and sapwood a shallow chamber, in which the eggs are deposited
amongst a mass of chewed wood-dust. These eggs are laid in little masses,
apparently stuck together, on one or two sides of the chamber. In the case
of the observed Indian cryphalids it appears to be usual for the male insect
to help the female in preparing this chamber; but I do not know whether
this is the case in this instance, as the attack was too far advanced when
discovered. As soon as the eggs are laid the female appears to leave the
chamber, going out by the hole at which she entered. The larvae, on
hatching out, feed upon the bast layer at the edges of the chamber ; not
boring definite tunnels away from it, but just eating away the edges in an
irregular manner.

From observations made on the habits of other species, it is not unlikely
that there is at least one more generation of this insect in the year, the beetles
from the May larvae probably appearing in July and ovipositing in fresh
twigs and branches. This fact and the rest of the life history of the beetle
have, however, yet to be observed.

C. strohmeyeri has only been found as yet in green silver-fir branches of

old trees. It is probable that it infests branches of trees

to the F r t °^ a^ ages- ^n several instances the beetles have been

found killed in their entrance-tunnels by an outflow of

resin from the living branch. If the beetles are at all numerous the branch
is often killed; and this may be the case when only a few insects infest it,
since the feeding of the larvae by continually enlarging the original egg-
chamber often completely rings the branch, the cambium being eaten away
all round. The needles on infested branches turn bright yellow and die, and
thus the presence of the pest can be easily recognized at a distance. A closer
examination will show on the branches small round holes, surrounded by small
circular rings of resin.

It is not yet known whether this insect infests the loading shoots and
branches of young sapling--.

In ornamental plantations in stations and cantonments, etc., remove all

infested branches and burn them. This should be

Protection and j • ,1 r T ir J.L •

R ,. done in the early part 01 [une. If young growth is

affected, all trees found attacked by the pest should
be promptly cut out and burnt.

540

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

Cryphalus (Stephanoderes) himalayensis, Steb., sp. nov.

REFERENCE — Stebbing (Hypoborusf), Depart. Notes, vol. i, p. 278.

Habitat. — Jaunsar, Simla Forests, North-West Himalaya.

Tree Attacked. — Deodar (Cedrus deodar a}. Jaunsar, Simla Forests.

Beetle-— Small, oblong, shining, dark ferruginous to almost black, at times lighter in colour.
Shaft of antennae and legs yellowish brown, tarsi and antennal club yellow. Front of head

rather coarsely punctate, the vertex finely and transversely striate.
Description. Prothorax slightly wider than long, sides constricted anteriorly, slightly

dilated before base, rounded, the basal angles rounded ; anterior mar-
gin tuberculate, surface raised towards middle and coarsely tuberculate, tubercules decreasing
in size posteriorly, posterior fourth with rather large shallow punctures becoming less distinct
laterally ; surface sparsely set with short stiff whitish-yellow hairs. Elytra more than half as
long again as thorax, smooth, shining, sub-cylindrical, sides constricted from apical fourth,
declivous apically, apices separately rounded ; punctate, the punctures small, placed in rows
with wide smooth intervals, least prominent basally ; declivity somewhat convex, smooth with
a few scattered fine punctures. Under-surface set with a fine yellowish pubescence. The
anterior femora in some cases yellow. Length, 1.5 mm. to 1.7 mm. Fig. 347, b.

Larva. — The larva is a very small, white, legless grub (fig. a).

The male beetle bores horizontally through the
bark down to the cambium layer,
Life History. usually just below the junction of
two branches, and hollows out a

small irregular-shaped pairing-chamber in the bast
and sapwood. As many as three female beetles succes-
sively enter by the same hole and pair with the male.
After pairing, the female beetles do not bore out a

definite egg - gallery
away from the pairing-
chamber, but merely
enlarge this latter by
eating out the bast
and sapwood on one side or the
other, successive beetles com-
mencing work at opposite sides
and laying their eggs in the area
so enlarged. The whole of this

FIG. 347.— Cryphalus himalayensis, Steb., irregular-shaped gallery made by
sp. nov. a, larva ; b, dorsal and side view of the the beetles, which often entirely
beetle; c, branch with bark removed showing Pnrirr|p(; fu~ hranrri hpnpprfi trm
(P; the pairing-chamber, (/) larval galleries, and ^ th6 brancn beneath

the pupating-chambers of larvae. N.W. bark and extends up the forks

of the branches and thus effec-

tuall/ rings the tree, is filled with a wet mass of chewed wood-refuse and
excreta, amongst which the eggs are laid (vide fig. c). The egg stage is short,
wo to four days only, since young larvae are often found in the chamber
near the living female beetles and in the wood-dust.

..

J02

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 54*

The larvae bore away from the central chamber either up or down the
stem, their galleries being blocked up with wood-dust and excreta. When
full-fed they hollow out at the end of the gallery a longish chamber in the
sapwood and pupate in it (fig. c}.

I have taken mature beetles ovipositing in deodar-trees in the first week
of June (1902), and this may be the first generation of the year.

At the beginning of November 1906 I took another generation of these
beetles tunnelling into branches to oviposit. It is therefore probable
that the insect passes through the winter in the larval or immature-
beetle stage.

I am unable to say whether the insect passes through a complete life-
cycle between July and the end of October. It is possible that the June eggs
give rise to a generation of beetles issuing in the latter part of July or in
August, and that these beetles lay the eggs which produce the October
generation of beetles.

Since the insect only feeds in green cambium and its method of ovi-

position often results in the branches being girdled, it is

Damage Committed capable of proving a serious pest to young trees ; the

in the Forest. more so that whenever I have met it it has been in

considerable abundance, the beetle apparently being a

particularly hardy one.

The curious fact that it is almost invariably found infesting the upper
part of branches already girdled by the Scolytus deodar girdler is of im-
portance, since it is necessary to discriminate between this insect in this
position and the real perpetrator of the damage, the Scolytus beetle. The
fact that it chooses this position also minimizes to some extent the
damage it does in the forest.

When the insect is found infesting young growth the only safe plan
of combating it is to wait till it is in the nearly full-
Protection and grown larval stage in the trees, and then to cut out
Remedial Measures, these latter and burn them. Infested trees can be

easily recognized by the fact that the needles turn

yellow and drop off, and rings of resin are to be seen beneath and encircling
the minute shot-holes made by the beetle entering the trees.

Ichneumon sp. — A small black fly with membranous wings ; the
antennae eleven-jointed, bent, the upper part with a white pubescence.

A specimen of this parasite was taken from a pup.il chamber of the

larvae of this Crvblniln* in a deodar twig. The scolytid

Parasitic Insect. grub had evidently lived to reach full size and eat out

its pupal chamber and had then died ; the Ichneumon

grub, which had parasitized it, then pupating in the scolytid pupal
chamber.

542

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

Cryphalus sp.

Siwaliks, Dehra Dun, North India.

.— Erythrina suberosa. Bulawala, Dehra Dun (B. Sen

Habitat.

Tree

Gupta).

Beetle.— Short, elliptical.
spiny yellow pubescence

Light greenish yellow with a short
Head hidden beneath the hood-like
prothorax, punctate ; antennae yellow, club
Description. brown. Prothorax with anterior margin

rounded and tuberculate, disk very convex

medianly ; anterior three-fourths roughly tuberculate and asperate,
i he tubercles placed at regular re'atively wide intervals on anterior
portion, closing up behind ; posterior fourth finely rugose-punctate.
Elytra rugose and striate, the sides straight, declivous apically ;
rather closely covered with short coarse spiny hairs Under-surface
and legs yellow, punctate, pubescent. Length 1.5 mm. The only
specimen I have seen is in too poor condition to enable the species to
be described in detail.

Specimens of this minute scolytid were taken from galleries beneath

the bark in the bast of a felled and recently dead

Life History. Erythrina subcrosa tree in the middle of February 1902

by Babu B. Sen Gupta, at the time a student at the

Imperial Forest School at Dehra Dun. The beetles were almost mature
and ready to issue in the spring. They originated from eggs laid by the
last generation of the insects, which probably oviposited some time in the
autumn of 1901.

V

Fio. 348-

Cryphalus sp. in

Erythrina suberosa.

Siwaliks.

Cryphalus sp.

Habitat. — Jaunsar, North-West Himalaya.

Tree Attacked.— Ban Oak (Quercus incana). Kathian, Jaunsar.

Beetle. — Black, clothed with a long white pubescence. The insects taken were in a poor
state of preservation.

I cut out three specimens of this insect from galleries on the inner side

of the bark of a dead fallen oak-tree. Two of the three

Life History. beetles so taken on 6 July 1902 were fully mature, the

other was lighter-coloured and immature. All three

beetles were dead. Beyond the fact that this insect infests this tree and
its grubs feed in the bast layer, as was evidenced by their excavations,
nothing appears known.

Cryphalus (Hypothenemus) mangiferae, Stebbing.

REFERENCE. — Steb., Ind. Mus. Notes (Hypothenemus sp.), vi, i, p. 68 (1903).

Habitat. — Eastern Dun, United Provinces.

Tree Attacked.- -Mango (Mun^ifera indica). Eastern Dun, Siwaliks.

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

543

'

, x / Beetle. — Minute, brown. Head concealed by prothorax.

>j Latter very convex on disk, sloping forward anteriorly and

posteriorly ; finely punctate. Elytra
Description. moderately convex on disk ; uniformly

striate - punctate ; the apex leaves a

small portion of last abdominal segment exposed ; abdomen
inflexed posteriorly. Length, 3 mm.

Larva -Small, elongate, white, with a brownish head.
Thickest anteriorly just behind the head, the abdominal segments
of much less width ; spiracles prominent laterally. Length, 3 mm.

This small scolytid only attacks the green
shoots of the mango, the eggs
being laid in the bast layer of the

twig. The insect's presence can readily be detected
owing to the fact that black patches appear on the
green cortex. Above these patches the leaves on

r ,, , the twig will be seen to be turning yellow, and they
FIG. 349- -- Cryphalus ^_

Life History.

mangiferae, Steb. 2, 2

die and drop off. Beetles just mature and a few

beetle ; 2(5, 2<r, antenna and larvae were found in the twigs on n Mav 1902,
leg; id. larva. Siwaliks. ,, , ,, u . , ,, ~ f

the beetles being probably the first generation of

the year. It is probable that there are one or two more life-cycles during
the year. The insect proved new to the British and Indian Museum
collections. It was taken with Dinoderus distinctus (see p. 129).

Tribe TOMICINAE (IPINAE).

Differs from Cvypturginae and Cryphalinae in having the elytral declivity
truncate and armed.

The tribe includes the important genus Tomicus (Ips), containing some
serious Himalayan coniferous pests. Also the genera Coccotrypes, Dryocoetes,
Pityophthorus, and Pityogenes.

COCCOTRYPES.
Coccotrypes integer, Eichhoff.

REFERENCES. — Eichhoff, Patio Tomic. 311 (1879) ; Stebliini; (Xyleborus), Assam Sal Ins. Pes. IiiiL

For. Bull. no. 10, p. 62 (1907).

Habitat. — Ceylon ; Assam.

Trees Attacked. — Ebony (Diospyros ebenum) : E. E. Green ; Sal (Sli<>rcn
robttsta) : Goalpara, Assam.

Beetle. -Oval, convex. 1'rothorax black, elytra
red-brown. Head punctate. Prothorax longer than

broad, semi-elliptical, base
Description. truncate, anterior margin

rounded, surface punctate-,

moderately shining, witli rather tine asperatinns
here and there. Elytra slightly wider than pro-
thorax at base, from quarter to one-fifth longer ;
base straight, sides slightly constricting to apex,
which is rounded : disk rather Hat, sides rounded

FIG. 350.

Coccotrypes //v/V^vv, Eich.
s;il-seed in Assam.

Infests

544 FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

laterally ; punctate, the punctures of varying size and containing setae, placed in rows,
the interspaces smooth. Legs ferruginous brown. Length, 1.4 mm.

Larva.— Minute, white, curved, legless, with the segments corrugated.

It has often been noticed and commented upon by those travelling
through, or living near, tracts of sal forest in parts of

Life History. the country, that minute brown beetles are extremely
plentiful in the cold-weather months, especially January
and a portion of February. I have seen them plentifully year after year
in the Chota Nagpur sal areas, and Mr. Perree informs me that they are
equally plentiful in Goalpara. These insects are everywhere, and get into
the food, being often found inside loaves of bread, etc. It has been sur-
mised that they come from the flour of which the bread is made. The
insect is a minute scolytid, and is, I think, the species which I found in
sal-seed in Assam in 1906. There is no previous record of a beetle of this
nature infesting the seed of this tree.

Specimens of the beetle were first cut out of fallen sal-seed in the third
•week of May.

The egg is laid in or near the flower, and the young grub mines into
the newly forming seed, and remains feeding upon the seed substance until
full-grown, when it pupates within the hollowed-out seed case. On maturing,
the beetle bores a round hole through the seed-skin and escapes. The eggs
probably hatch out about March, the grub maturing at the end of April or
first week in May. Beetles were cut out of seeds on 21 May 1906. The insect
would not appear to have been very abundant that year. From a basketful
of seed examined only six mature beetles were taken, each in a separate
seed. It is possible, however, that the time of issuing had not arrived.

Specimens of this scolytid were forwarded to Mr. W. F. Blandford
by Mr. E. E. Green from Ceylon. Mr. Green reported that they caused
serious injury to ebony-seed.

The damage done by this grub and other seed-miners is usually of a

similar nature, the interior of the seed being partially

the Forest or en^rely hollowed out. Under the attacks the seed

is completely destroyed. Pests of this kind require

very careful study, since there can be little doubt that one of the
reasons, and probably the chief one, why there is so little reproduc-
tion in many of the forests under fire-protected management, is the
immense increase in the numbers of these pernicious seed-attacking insect
pests. Before the introduction of fire protection, fires overran wide extents
of forest-covered lands, these fires often occurring at the period of maturity
of the seed or just before. In this way insects living in the manner of
these sal pests were burnt off in large numbers, since at the time of the
fire they were either in the seed on the ground or had left it to pupate
in the soil.

There can be little doubt that these seed destroyers are increasing to
a serious extent in fire-protected forests.

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 545

In case of severe attacks of these pests in areas where natural
regeneration is urgently required, I would recommend

the use of fire. When a severe attack is in progress a
of Protection. °

careful watch should be kept over the area affected,

and when the maximum number of infested seeds have fallen to the ground
the undergrowth should be fired. In Assam this period would be about the
first week or so in June. This firing would kill off large numbers of the
pests, and would thus enable next year's crop of seed to reach maturity.
This suggestion could fall in with the experiments conducted by Mr. Perree
in Goalpara in 1905-6 in firing areas to get rid of the dense undergrowth,
grass, etc., with the object of obtaining natural regeneration.

Coccotrypes sp.

Habitat. — South Malabar, Madras.

Tree Attacked. — Teak (Tcctona grandis). Nilumbur Teak Plantations,
South Malabar.

Beetle.— The only specimen taken was in too poor a state of preservation to make it
possible to determine whether it is C. integer or other known species of the genus

I cut a specimen of this scolytid out of a green dying branch of a teak-
pole. The beetle oviposits in the bast layer and sapwood, the grubs
feeding in the bast only.

DRYOCOETES.
A species of some importance infests the oak in the North-West Himalaya.

Dryocoetes hewetti, Stebbing.

RKKKRENCES — Stebbing, Some Undescr. Scolyt. I ml. For. Mem. Zool. Ser. vol. i, pt. i, p. 1 1 (1908); id. Ins.
Pes. Himal. Oaks, Ind. For. Records, vol. ii, pt. i, 15 (in "'i'-

Habitat.— Kumaun, North- West Himalaya.

Trees Attacked. — Moru Oak (Oacrcits dilatala], Ban Oak (Oncrcns
incanui. Naini Tal and Kumaun Oak Forests.

Beetle.— A small oblong black insect with a reddish-chestnut tinge. llc:id with front
slightly convex, shining, punctate, very finely transversely striate at sides, with long scattered

hairs on front and a fringe of hairs on mouth. 1'rothorax slightly

Description. broader than long, base truncate, humeial angles rounded, sides

and apex forming a blunt ellipse ; surface convex, raised into a point

medianly and depressed posteriorly ; granulose, the granulations coarse on anterior half,
especially on disk, and much liner posteriorly. Scu'.ellum rather large, shining, comes,
rounded. Elytra slightly broader apically than pmthorax and a fouitli as long again ;
truncate at base, apex strongly rounded ; surface shining, flat medianly and stmnjy derlixoiis
apically, the declivity shining and edged with long spiny hairs; test of surface with rows of
punctures which are tine basally and laterally and continent and rugose medianly. I'ndcr-
surface lighter reddish- brown medianly, witli loiigish hairs dense Liter. ilk. Length,
2.5 mm. to 3 mm.

9003 M M

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

Figs. 2, 2 a show the dorsal and side views of the female beetle ; 2 />, 2 c the same
of the male beetle ; 2 d shows the antenna enlarged ; and 2 e a leg.

Larva. — A small white elongate worm with a yellowish head. The grub, instead of being
curved as is usual with bark-boring scolytid grubs, is more or less straight, and tapers slightly
posteriorly. Fig. I shows the larva.

Pupa.— Whitish yellow, with ordinary beetle shape.

The following notes on the life history are compiled from observations
made in the field during the latter half of May and the

Life History. first half of June 1908. The life history of the insect
for the remainder of the year is at present unknown.

The male insect flies to and settles on the outer bark of the oak-tree,
and then bores into the bark, eating out a straight tunnel, of the same

diameter as itself, down to the
kast layer anc^ sapwood of the
tree. On reaching the latter it
gnaws out a small chamber which
grooves both the bast and sap-
wood and is squarish in appear-
ance (pi. lii). When this work
is complete, or before the male
has finished the pairing-chamber,
a female enters the orifice of the
entrance-tunnel of the male in the
bark and works her way down-
wards, enlarging the tunnel as she
goes in (as she is larger in cir-
cumference than the male), till
she reaches the male in the pair-
ing chamber. After pairing with
the male the female commences
to eat out a gallery in the sap-
wood and bast ; this gallery takes
a direction away from the pairing-
chamber, and is always more or

FIG. 351.— Dryflcoctc.s Hewetti,?,\.zb. i,
larva ; 2, 2 a, female ; 2 />, 2 c, male beetle ;
2d, enlarged antenna; 2 c, leg. North-
West Himal lya.

less at right angles to the long axis
of the tree (pi. lii), in this differing
from other Indian Scolytidae,*
in which the gallery bored by the female is parallel to the long axis of the
As she eats out this tunnel, the female makes little indentations
in the edges on both sides and places an egg in each. When she
has completed the gallery, which is the egg-gallery, i.e. when she has
laid all her eggs, she dies in situ at the head of the gallery. Before
the gallery is completed, however, the larvae from the first-laid eggs

Scolytus major, Polygraphus major, Sphaerotrypes siwalikensis, etc.

'

-

•

: with

i

'

PLATE LI I.

''•' ;' -

Iryocoetes /u-:,.' <•///', Stch., in On<'>'<.'tt* incana. Pairing-chambers :ind c^;^ -allcrics in the outer
sapwood. (Government House, Naini Tal, N.W. Himalaya, May 1908.

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 547

commence to hatch out. The larva eats out a narrow tunnel in a
direction at right angles from the egg-gallery, and this larval gallery
appears to be invariably straight. This may be due to the hard straight
fibres of the oak wood ; but, whatever the cause, this habit of the grub
distinguishes it at once from other known Indian scolytid bark-boring
grubs, whose tunnels invariably serpentine ; also, owing to the fact that the
egg-galleries are at right angles to the long axis of the tree, i.e. go round the
tree, the larval galleries go straight up and down the tree. The plan thus
made is so different from any of the at present known Indian Scolytidae
as to render the presence of this insect in the trees easily recognizable.

The larval galleries increase in diameter with the growth of the grub,
but do not groove the sapwood as deeply as the egg-galleries.

The larva when full-grown eats out a depression in the sapwood at the
end of its gallery and pupates. On maturing from the pupal stage the
beetle eats its way through the bark which covers it, making a small
circular exit-tunnel in it, and escapes to seek out a good tree in which to
oviposit and carry on the attack. The presence of these numerous exit-
holes on the outside of the bark serves as an indication that the beetles bred
in it have left the tree.

The pupating-chamber is one-fifth by one-seventh of an inch in si^e ;
the egg-gallery from one and a half to two inches in length, and the larval
galleries from one and a quarter to two and a quarter inches ; the number of
eggs laid is usually about twenty.

This insect is a polygamous one, and the male pairs with three or four
females. In the case of the latter typically the egg-galleries of two of
the females are taken in one direction and those of the other two in an
opposite one, alternate beetles boring in opposite directions after pairing.
A plan similar to that shown in pi. lii is thus obtained. Practically,
however, it will be found that the direction of these egg-galleries varies,
and they may curve considerably; at times even it will be found that
three take off on one side and one only on the other; or again one or
two may be extremely long and a third very short, the fourth being absent.
These variations are doubtless due to differences in the physical capa-
bilities of the beetles themselves and to variableness in the hardness of
the wood, such as knots, etc. After pairing with the females the male dies
in the pairing-chamber.

This beetle is an active little insect, leaving the trees in daylight, which is
unusual with Scolytidae, and walking and flying actively about in the sunlight.

From observations made towards the end of May it is evident that
a generation of the beetle was then just maturing and issuing from the trees.
This generation of the beetles is probably the first generation of the
year, and it is certainly followed by a second, since larvae from eggs laid
by it were taken from the trees in June. It is probable that there is
at least a third generation of beetles during the year, from eggs laid by
the second generation, which probably issues in August. This point, how-

M M 2

548 FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

ever, requires further careful observations to be carried out between July
and the close of the year. The eggs of the May generation of the beetle
are probably laid in the trees early in April by beetles which have either
passed through the winter in the tree or have hibernated as larvae in the
larval galleries in the bast, subsequently maturing and issuing as beetles as
soon as the first warmth of spring makes itself felt.

At present I have only taken this insect in full-grown and old oak trees,

but it apparently attacks both the moru and ban oaks.

Damage Committed Th d t be feared from the insect is due to its

in the Forest. ^

habit of ovipositing in the bast layer of the trees. As

has been shown, the operations of the beetles and their larvae lead to
the destruction and disappearance of the bast, and when the insects are
numerous end in the death of the tree. In several instances the death of
large trees examined appeared to be due directly to the attacks of this insect.

Its greatest danger is, however, evidently to be found in the fact that
it forms such a powerful ally to the Loranthus vcstitus parasite which infests
the oaks. Broad-leaved trees are much more resistant to the bark-boring
beetle attacks than is the case with conifers, and consequently it is probable
that the oak can ordinarily hold its own against the scolvtid.

It is essential to the latter that the bast layer of the tree should be
fresh and sappy ; but the beetle invariably seeks out diseased trees, or
those which have become weakened through some cause, in which to lay its
eggs. The slow strangulation and consequent weakness set up in the trees
by the Loranthus parasite places the tree in the exact condition preferred
by bark beetles, and where these insects are at all numerous an attack in
Lom«£/ms-weakened trees may be looked upon as a foregone certainty.
Once the insects have obtained a hold in a forest their powers of rapid
multiplication render them a pest which has to be reckoned with.

Protective and remedial measures for safeguarding the uninfested trees

in Naini Tal and elsewhere have been briefly considered

Remedial Measures. un^er the longicorn beetles Lophosternus hiigclii and

Xylotrcchus, stcbbingi (pp. 275, 351). It will be well,

however, to glance at measures applicable to this insect alone, since it is
probable that very often it infests the tree before thebuprestid orcerambycid
pests make their appearance.

To combat these bark-borer pests adequately it becomes necessary to
know the exact life history of the insect, and more especially in what
months during the year it is in its larval stage, for it is in this stage that
it can be best attacked. When the tree is full of nearly full-grown larvae,
it should be felled and barked and the bark burnt. From the life history as
at present observed we know that this can be done at the end of the first
week in May for the grubs of the first generation and at about the end of
June for those of the second generation.

Further, both as a means of discovering the number of insects in a
forest and as a means of protecting that forest as well, "trap trees" should

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

549

be arranged for. Trees which are either sickly, already attacked, or are
chosen for other reasons, should be selected and girlded or felled a week
or so before the flight-time of the beetles. The insects will resort to
these to ovipDsit, and when egg-laying has been completed and the trees
are full of nearly full-grown larvae the bark should be stripped off and burnt.

Dryocoetes minor, Stebbing.

REFERENCES. — Stebbing (Phloesinus), Undescr. Scolyt. Ind. Regions, Ind. For. Mem. Zool. Ser. vol. i,
pt. ii, 19 (1909) ; id. Assam Sal Ins. Pests, For. Bull. no. n, 37 (1907).

Habitat. — Assam .

Tree Attacked. — Sal (Shorea robusta). Goalpara Sal Forests.
Beetle. — Short, compact, convex, dull brown, with a largely developed hood-like reddish-
brown prothorax. Head small, dull brown, hidden beneath thorax, punctate. Prothorax

convex, slightly wider than long, closely squamose behind, more open

Description. in front. Elytra black, convex, rounded, truncate behind ; a little

more than one and a half times as long as thorax ; longitudinally

striate-punctate, punctures few. Surface of elytra and thorax with scanty stiff yellowish
hairs. Under-surface black, shining ; legs brownish. Length, 3.9 mm. (PI. 1\-, fig. 2.)

This beetle is found on the wing in the middle and third week of May.

The beetle bores straight down into the wood of newly
Life History. felled green sal-trees (and probably into that of standing

sickly ones) to oviposit. A beetle was cut out of a tree

on the i6th, the tree, a green one, having been felled only three days before.
The insect was engaged in eating out its egg-gallery. The presence of the
insect can easily be recognized owing to the fact that little cylinders of
ejected wood-dust are to be seen projecting from the entrance-holes in the
bark. The colour of these, white or reddish, indicates whether the beetle
is in the sap- or heart-wood. The beetles found in May were probably
those of the first generation of the year just matured, and engaged in laying
the eggs of the second generation.

Dryocoetes indicus, sp. nov., Stebbing.

Habitat. — North-West Himalaya.

Tree Attacked. — Spruce (Picea morinda}. Jaunsar.

Beetle.— Oblong. Light to dark red or red-brown, with a rather
long sparse pubescence. Head punctate, with a bright yellow brush

of pubescence on the front. Prothorax

Description. slightly more than one-fourth the total

length of insect, disk convex behind, sides

uniformly curved from base to apex; surface seal) and rugose, the
scales large and prominent on convex portion of disk, less \\cll
defined and wider apart on anterior parts and replaced In rugose
punctures on depressed area posteriorly; pubescence long and rather
scattered. Scutellum large, heart-shaped, smooth, shining, dark
brown to black. Elytra broader apieally than prothorax, ape.
rather sharply declivous, rounded ; disk shining and strongly punc-
tate, the punctures placed in rows, large, shallow, each ha\ ing a small IKIV-- Steb., in spruce.
puncture at its bottom : the interspaces smaller, set with a row of X.\Y. Himalaya.

FlG. 352.

'.v iin/iinx, sp.

550

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

very fine punctures ; declivity shining, the sututal striae most strongly impressed in upper part,
the punctures smaller, becoming very fine and scattered apically ; pubescence long, spiny,
denser on declivity. Under-surface dark brown, punctate. Legs red-brown, pubescent ;
funiculus and club of antenna yellow. Length, 3.8 mm. to 4 mm.

At the end of September 1906 I found a generation of this insect

tunnelling into spruce saplings. Only beetles were

Life History. present. The insect is polygamous, and in one case

I took five beetles together. All the five were in an

irregular-shaped depression in the cambium and sapwood in the main stem
near its juncture with a branch. This cavity had the appearance of being
a large pairing-chamber, from which arms (the egg-galleries) radiated as
shown in fig. 353. Five of the arms were occupied by the beetles ; the
remaining two, the upper two on the left, being empty. I could find no
eggs. A little higher up in the same tree two other beetles were tunnelling
into the stem ; they had just reached the bast layer. The beetles were
engaged in lengthening the galleries when discovered.

In the middle of the following November I revisited the infested trees,
and found some more beetles in them. No further progress had, however,
been made with the egg-galleries, none of which appeared to be complete.
It appeared that the beetles were hibernating in the galleries till the
following spring. As the elevation at which the insect was found was
close on nine thousand feet, this is a probable assumption. I took one

larva which may have hatched out from
an egg laid by the beetles I took the
previous September. The beetles taken
in November were very lethargic.

Relations to the
Forest

FIG- 353- — Dryocoetes indicus, sp. nov
Pairing-chamber and egg-galleries on the
inner surface of spruce bark. North-
West Himalaya. (E. P. S.)

This beetle infests young green
spruce saplings. I
first discovered the
insect at work in a
small clump of young green spruce on
28 September 1906. The tree most
severely attacked had a considerable
part of the bast layer riddled all round
in several places, and was nearly dead.
In November a further inspection showed
another tree nearly dead (the needles
were dropping off) and a third with the
needles turning yellow. The insect con-
sequently must be looked upon as a
serious pest of young spruce.

As to its abundance I am unable to
speak. I have only met with it on the
two occasions mentioned.

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 551

PlTYOPHTHORUS.

Pityophthorus sampsoni, Steb., sp. nov.
(The Blue Pine Branch Girdhr.}

Habitat. — North-West Himalaya.

Tree Attacked.— Blue Pine (Finns cxcelsa). Jaunsar, NAY. Himalaya.

Beetle. — Elongate, oblong. Very dark piceous brown. Head finely
punctate and reticulate. Prothorax with base finely margined, truncate,

sides behind very slightly oblique, rounded in

Description. front and sinuate below apex, latter obtusely

rounded and scarcely crenate ; the surface in the

anterior half with a number of asperations arranged transversely, most
prominent anteriorly : the posterior half rugose-punctate. Elytra slightly
narrower at base than prothorax, wider apically, fully twice as long as
prothorax, sides straight to apical fourth, thence constricted, apex obtusely
rounded ; the basal area with transverse striae ; rest glabrous, punctate, FlG. 354.

the punctures in rows, interrupted by small transverse striae and rugo- lf-] "^ { °' "*
sities ; the suture raised and glabrous ; declivity nearly vertical, moderately • st 11 ' <>•

shining, punctate, with a few weak tubercles, the outer margins raised. b]ue'pine N?\Y
Under-surface almost black, punctate, and strongly pubescent. Length, Himalaya.
1.7 mm.

I take pleasure in naming the species after Colonel F. Winn Sampson.

This small scolytid infests the blue pine, attacking and girdling the

smaller branches of the tree. I first discovered the

Life History. insect in May 1902, between Deoban and Koti Kanesar

in Jaunsar. I noticed that several blue-pine trees passed

had a number of their smaller branches either dead or dying. Investigation
showed that it was usually the secondary branches taking off from the
main side branches that were affected in this manner. These branches
were either upright, or in their normal position, on the tree, but with the
needles dead and yellow or withering ; or in other cases the branches were
hanging down as if half-broken from the tree. If these latter are pulled
they will come away, and it can be seen that at the point of fracture the
branch has been girdled, and a mass of exuded turpentine will usually
be found at this point. This girdling is done by the female beetles, the eggs
being laid in the branch above the point at which it is girdled. In this w.iy
a provision of slowly dying cambium is provided for the tiny larvae which
hatch out of the eggs laid. Several larvae were taken in individual twigs,
so that each beetle lays more than one egg in the twig she girdles. From
some twigs I obtained beetles just mature on 22 May. In others full-grown
larvae were present. The larvae feed entirely in the bast layer and outer
sapwood, eating small wavy galleries up the girdled twig, and pupating at
the end of them. \Yhen mature the beetle eats its way out through the
bark covering the pupating-place of the grubs.

The beetle sometimes girdles the branch at its juncture with the main
branch, at others chooses a point higher up. In any event the whole of

552

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

the branch or twig above the girdle dies, and in the damage it does the
insect thus resembles the Scolytus deodar branch girdler (vide p. 578). The
remedies to apply are the same as those described for the latter.

TOMICUS (Ips).

A very important genus, containing species infesting the blue pine,
spruce, and Finns longifolia in the Western Himalaya.

Tomicus (Ips) ribbentropi, Stebbing.
(The Blue-Pine Tomicus Bark-borer.}

REFERENCES.— Stebbing, Ind. For. Mem. Zool. Ser. i, pt. ii, 25 ; id. Depart. Notes (Tomiciis sp.),

i, 225 ; id. For. Bull. no. 5 (new ser ), 1911.

Habitat.— North -West Himalaya.

Trees Attacked.— Blue Pine (Finns excelsa); Spruce (Picea morinda}.
Jaunsar, Tehri Garhwal, Kumaun, Kulu, Simla, Bashahr, Chamba.

Beetle.— $ oblong, shining, black. Antennae and legs piceous brown. Head smooth,
sjiining on vertex, with a few scattered fine punctures ; front flat, roughly granulate-punctate,

usually without tubercle, in some cases with a small median pit or
Description. depression, or with two very small tubercles placed transversely

and medianly, the tubercles either minute and sharp, or merely slightly-
raised rounded elevations ; a few long yellow hairs on the lower lateral margin. Prothorax
rounded in front, slightly wider behind than in front, one-fifth less wide than long ; strongly
rugose-punctate in anterior two-thirds ; posterior third smooth and shining, with a few very
scattered and fine punctures, or the punctures very fine but more numerous ; rather densely set
with long, stiff, yellow hairs anteriorly and laterally. Elytra
slightly longer than thorax, striate-punctate, the punctures rather
shallow, the interspaces broad and shining, the striae near the
suture most prominent, finer towards the declivity. Truncate
posteriorly, the declivous portion concave, dull, sometimes
slightly shining and finely punctate towards bottom ; the sides
furnished with four teeth, of which i (upper one) is very small
and set at a distance from 2 ; 2 close to 3, larger than i ; 3 largest,
with a swollen head to it, the swelling not constant, as in some
specimens 2 more nearly approximates in size to 3 ; 4 pro-
minent and sharp, smaller than 3, and set farther from 3 than
3 is from 2 on the one side, and at a less distance from the
lower margin ; the declivity more abrupt than in typographic*
(fig. 355). Elytra laterally and edges of declivity fringed with
long, yellow, spiny hairs. Under-surface black, but slightly
shining, punctate, with a scattered longish yellow pubescence,
<$ smaller than ?. Red-brown in colour and more pubescent.
itnorax is less convex medianly, more highly granulate
anteriorly. Elytra with punctures more prominent, and apical
declivity more sloping. Length, $ 5 mm. to 5.5 mm. ; $ 4.5 mm.
to 4.9 mm. (PI. xlvi, fig. 3, c, d). The absence of the prominent tubercle on the front, and
the different nature of the teeth on the elytral declivity and its more abrupt slope in $,
sufficiently distinguish this species from typographic* of Europe.

Larva.— A small, thick, curved, legless, white grub with a yellow head, and the body seg-
ments corrugated ; the segments following the head are the largest, the body tapering (fig. 3, a).

Pupa.— The pupa is white in colour and has the general shape of the beetle, but with the
antennae and legs pressed to the sides and the wings pressed against the chest (fig. 3 b.}

FIG. 355. -- Elytral de-
clivity ot Tomicic*. a, To-
ut icic* typographus, Linn.;
1), T. ribbentropi, Steb. ;
c, T. longifolia^ Steb. ; d,
7'. blandfordi, Steb.

-
!atter.

•

.

.

; .h •, (

-

'

•

beetle, but

PLATK LI 1 1.

,v rif'/>,-n/r, >/>/', Stel>., in spruce. The pairing-chambers, c..;.;--;illcries, and larval
galleries are shown in the bust liver of the tree on the inner hark. .Many of the larval
<;;illiiics contain living larvae, some »t" which \MT<: commencing to pupate when the drawing
\\asinade. Chamba, North-West Himalaya. M. V.. sttlibing del. et pin.v. 1909.)

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 553

The first beetles of the year are found towards the end of April boring
into the trunks of blue pine (Pinus excelsa) or spruce

Life History. (Picea morinda) of all ages, from the pole stage upwards.

YYhen it has reached the bast the insect gnaws out an

irregular-shaped pairing-chamber, often as much as T in. by ^ in. in size
(see pi. liii ; pi. liv, p.] When this is ready coupling takes place,
several female beetles entering by the same tunnel and being fertilized
by the male. From two to four egg-galleries (the number is usually
three) are excavated, grooving both bark and sapwood, radiating from
the pairing-chamber (pi. liii ; pi. liv, e), and more or less in the long
axis of the tree. These galleries, which contain generally only one air-
hole (pi. liv, a), i.e. a hole bored horizontally through the bark to the
outside to admit air into the egg-gallery, are from two and a half to three
inches in length, and are bored by the female beetles. On the right
and left, but apparently chiefly on the right, she eats out little recesses,
laying in each an egg, from twenty to thirty being generally deposited
in each gallery. The galleries are blocked up with wood-dust. As only
one egg-gallery is bored by each female, it would appear that the beetle
pairs with two to four females.

The first larvae make their appearance before the egg-laying is over,
and at once commence to eat out winding galleries in the bast, which have
a general direction at right angles to the direction of the mother-gallery.
The greater number of the larvae appear to develop from the eggs laid on
the right hand of the gallery (see pi. liii ; pi. liv, /), as the mother bores
away from the pairing-chamber, so that the larval tunnels shall keep
clear of the neighbouring egg-gallery. As the larvae increase in size so does
the diameter of the tunnels they are boring; they go deeper into the bark,
and the whole plan of the mother and larval galleries remains indelibly
impressed on the bark long after the beetles have matured and left the
tree. The larval borings only slightly groove the sapwood, consequently this
latter only bears the impression of the pairing-chamber and the egg-galleries
with the notches cut by the beetles for the reception of their eggs (see pi. xl).
In the case of an old attack, therefore, if one wishes to find out whether the
eggs hatched out and the larvae became full-grown, it is necessary to inspect
the bark on the inside in addition to the sapwood.

The mother galleries are often as much as three inches in length, and
those of the larvae, which are usually very winding, one and a half to two
and a half inches. The larvae pupate at the end of their galleries in the bast
during the first days in June. Towards the middle of the month the new
beetles, now mature, leave the tree through round holes bored horizontally
through the bark from the pupating-chamber, and immediately attack fresh
trees and lay their eggs in them. The larvae from these eggs soon make
their appearance, and the resulting beetles issue about the beginning of
August. A third generation of beetles appears in the first half of October,
and from eggs laid by these the larvae of a fourth during October-

554 FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

November. In favourable years some of these latter develop into beetles,
which pass through the winter either in the pupal chamber, or, not
improbably if fully mature, in the thick bark of the trees. The remainder
of the larvae pass the winter at the end of their galleries, in which they
gnaw out a small chamber and then envelop themselves in a thin, papery
cocoon. Those which, as above described, go on to the beetle stage, are the
beetles of the fourth generation, and are the ones which appear in the
spring (April) and lay the eggs of the first generation of the year. The
hibernating larvae change early in the year into pupae, and these into
beetles, the latter appearing also about the beginning of May, and this leads
to the generations overlapping to some extent.

It is probable that when the circumstances of its environment are
unfavourable, such as damp, very cold weather, shady places at high
elevations, etc., the normal number of generations passed through during
the year is three. Similarly in very favourable situations, and in warm, dry
years, it is not improbable that the insect will be found to pass through
four complete life-cycles.

The time when these various generations may be expected to appear in
the forest is therefore somewhat as follows :—

GENERATION I.

End of April ... Eggs

ist week in May to 1st week in June ..... Grubs

1st week in June to 3rd week in June ..... Nymphs

2nd week in June to end of June ...... Beetles

GENERATION II.

3rd week in June ......... Eggs

4th week in June to 4ih week in July Grubs

4th week in July to middle of August Nymphs

ist week in August to 3rd week in August .... Beetles

GENERATION 111.

2nd week in August ......... Eggs

3rd week in August to 3rd week in September . . . Grubs

3rd week in September to ist week in October . . . Nymphs

End of September to middle of October ..... Beetles

GENERATION l.V.

ist week in October Eggs

2nd week in October to 2nd week in November . . . Grubs

(Some of these will hibernate and pass the winter as grubs.)
2nd week in November to end of November .... Nymphs
3rd week in November to beginning of following May . . Beetles

"his insect, both in the larval and beetle state, does serious injury to

the blue pine and the spruce (Picca inorinda). The
Damage Committed ~ . . ,, , r , . ,

in the Forest oinicus is not usually to be found in young poles,

though it may attack them near the base, and it does
not attack young growth. In older poles it is often present, but it

•

•
•

•
•

'

Plate LW:

nat size.

'.:)rda

GALLERIES OF THE BLUE PINE TOMICUS, TOMJCUS RJBBENTROPI,STEB
[N THE BARK OF 'J

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 555

apparently prefers the older trees whose bark is thicker ; when attacking
poles, it confines its operations more especially to the lower three-quarters
of the bole, leaving the upper quarter and the branches to its companions,
Polygraphs major (p. 501) and Pityogcnes conifcrae (p. 562).

The injuries to the tree are confined to the bast layer, and when it is
badly infested this part of the tree is completely riddled and destroyed,
resulting in death. Attacked trees can be recognized by the shot-hole
borings in the bark, each having a little sawdust at its entrance which has
been ejected by the beetles when making the burrow. If trees with
large numbers of these holes on their outer bark be cut into, the
cambium layer will be found to be swarming with either larvae, pupae, or
beetles.

Sickly trees, ringed trees, and newly felled ones are at once attacked by
it, and its powers of rapid multiplication — which have been shown to be very
great, owing to the number of eggs laid by the beetle and the number of
generations it is capable of passing through during the year — enable it to
spread rapidly over large areas. When particularly abundant in a locality
I have found it attacking green healthy trees. It does not attack barked
trees, and it has not been found in stools or stumps.

Ringing trees to allow them slowly to die is a sure method of increasing
the numbers of this insect in a forest, since the beetles will resort to these
trees, which are in the exact condition they prefer for egg-laying. Also
heavy fellings, when the bark is left on the trees from two to three months
after the trees have been felled, are favourable to an increase in the numbers
of this beetle. Wind- and snow-breaks are similarly taken advantage of if
left unbarked in the forest.

The Tonricus insect must be looked upon as all the more dangerous
owing to the fact that it attacks equally the blue pine and spruce.

The probable working in the near future of areas containing these
species on a far larger scale than has been the case makes it imperative
that a first-hand knowledge of this beetle's life history and capabilities for
damage in the forest should be possessed by the Forest Officer in charge of
such work.

These are very similar to those given in detail lor the deodar bark-
borer on p. 572. Stress must be laid, however, on the
Protection and r i »» t i> r 11 •

Remedies great usefulness of trap trees. l>y felling a few ot

these at intervals through the year (middle of April to

end of November), and keeping them under supervision, it is quite possible
for the Range Officer to keep himself fully acquainted with the abundance of
bark beetles in his forests, and in the event of the insects suddenly beginning
to increase in unusual numbers it will place; him in a position to give early
intimation and warning of this fact to his Divisional ( Mticer.

The girdling of blue pine and spruce to encourage the regeneration of
deodar, if carried out, should be done in such a manner thai the girdled trees

556 FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

are made use of as " trap " trees and removed in due time, when the trees
arc full of mature grubs. Allowing girdled green trees to remain standing in
the forest is sure to lead to a bad infestation of this pest.

Pompilus sp. — The grub of this fly feeds parasitically upon the Tomicus

larvae.
Parasitic and

Predaceous Insects. Fty- — The fly is black in colour, but I have not succeeded in

obtaining any fully mature insects. Mr. Claude Morley identifies the
insect as a species of Pompilus.

Grub. — Yellow in colour, pointed at each end, legless, with a small head and seg-
mented body.

Life History. — I have taken this insect on several occasions in Jaunsar
(in 1902 and 1906), but usually in the larval or pupal stage. It should
prove comparatively easy to rear the flies, but I have been unfortunate
in my attempts.

The life history is simple. The fly evidently creeps down the entrance-
tunnel of the Tomicus beetle and lays her egg or eggs in the pairing-chamber
or egg-galleries. The grub on hatching out crawls down the short gallery
in the bast of the young scolytid larva and attaches itself to the latter. It
then feeds parasitically on its host, but does not kill it until the Tomicus
grub has reached full size and completed its larval gallery and eaten out the
p>upal chamber at the end. The latter then dies of exhaustion, the greyish
black shrivelled skin being visible in the pupal chamber. By the time the
scolytid larva dies the parasitic grub has reached full size and pupates
in the pupal chamber made by its host. The flies mature about the time
the next generation of the Tomicus is egg-laying, and they then leave the
tree and oviposit in the egg-galleries of this generation of their host.
Observation would seem to show that the number of generations in the
year of the parasite coincides with those of its host.

The Pompilus must be looked upon as a most important insect in the
forest.

Cylistosoma dufali, Mars. (p. 106). — This insect is predaceous upon this
Tomicus and also, doubtfully, on Polygraphus pini.

Hcctle. — Elongate, narrow, compact, black, and shining. The head is provided with
stout mandibles and angled brownish antennae ending in a club. Thorax wider than long,
smooth and shining. Elytra elongate, smooth and shining in centre, with several well-
marked longitudinal striae laterally ; the elytra leave the last two segments of the body
exposed, these segments being heavily punctured. Under-surface of body and legs brownish.
Length, ,/i, in.

-This insect is to be found fairly commonly in the beetle
stage at the end of May at elevations of about 7,500 ft. in the coniferous
areas of the Xorth-West Himalaya. It frequents the galleries of the blue-
pine and spruce Tomicus, and apparently oviposits in them. The histerid

PLATE LV.

X 5

1 rf

w, Sieb.. in Finns longifolia. — i, la, larva and pupa; ib, female beetle;

ic, side view of elytral declivity; i<7, pairing-chamber being eaten out in the sapwood by the
male beetle ; i<?, entrance-holes of beetles on the outer bark of the tree, with a female beetle
commencing to bore into the bark. Jaunsar, North-West Himalaya.

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 557

grubs, I believe, feed upon those of the Tomicus, but
further observation is required to definitely settle this
point.

Platysoma rimae ? Lewis (p. 105). — This histerid
is also predaceous upon the Tomicus insect, and is
found in its galleries. This Platysoma may be iden-
tical with the one infesting the Scolytus of the deodar
(p. 576), but I am doubtful on this point.

Both Niponius canalicollis and Thanasimus
himalayensis, the two predaceous beetles already
described as feeding upon the Polygraphus major
beetle (p. 507), prey upon the Tomicus ribbentropi FIG. 356. -- riatysoma

insect in a similar manner, whilst their larvae feed ">»<" ? Lewis, predaceous

i , , i i • ,r i • -i on Tomicus ribbentropi in

upon the bark-borer grubs in the tunnels in a similar !:)jue ine xg_ N.W.

fashion. Himalaya.

Tomicus (Ips) longifolia, Stebbing.
(The Long-needled Pine Tomicus.)

REFERENCES. — Slabbing, Ind. For. Me-n. Zool. Ser. i, pi. ii, 13; id. Depart. Notes, i, 282.

Habitat. —Probably distributed throughout the Pinu* longifolia forests
of the North-West Himalaya. I have taken it in Jaunsar, Tehri Garhwal,
Kumaun, and Chamba.

Tree Attacked.— Chir Pine (Pinus longifolia).

Beetle.— Smaller than T. ribbenlrofii. \'ery dark ferrugineous brown, with longish rufous
brown hairs scattered irregularly over thorax and elytra. Head smooth, moderately shining,

finely punctate, three prominent tubercles on each side of face.

Description. Anterior half of prothorax strongly rugose-punctate, basal half smooth

and shining medianly, punctate laterally; sides clothed with stirt

yellow hairs. Elytra smooth, shining, striate-punctate, the punctures large and evenly arranged
in parallel rows; lateral margins of declivity armed with four teeth — i small, sharp, and
prominent, and set at a distance from 2; 2 and 3 placed close together on a bulging prominence
of the margin of nearly equal size, save that 3 has its apex enlarged into a spade-like club
with a constriction at its base ; 4 smaller than 2 and 3, and set midway between 3 and tin-
lower margin. -1'iift- pi. lv, fig. ic.) Elytra clothed with stout spiny yellow hairs. Under-
surface smooih, shining, punctate, fairly thickly clothed with long yellow hairs, save on the
metathorax medianly. Fig. i b shows a dorsal and side view of the female beetle. $ smaller
than the female, yellowish brown. The rugosities on the thorax are finer. Length, $ one-
fifth inch, $ one-sixth inch. Easily distinguishable from the blue-pine '/'t>micm} by its smaller
size, difference in the apical teeth, and different appearance of front of head.

Larva. — Whitish yellow, curved, corrugated, and L-gless. Head well developed, yellow,
shining ; first prothoracic segment with a dorsal horny plate to it. Length, a quarter of an inch
{pi. Iv, rig. i .

Pupa. — Yellowish white, large and thick. The prothorax shows a well-marked horny shield
on the dorsal surface. The wings are bent on to the breast beneath, as also the legs and
antennae. Length, about a quarter of an inch. T "ig. I a).

558 FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

The life history of this Tomicus resembles to some extent that of

T. ribbentropi, Stebbing, of the blue pine and spruce,

Life History. but varies in a few important particulars. In attacking

the tree the male beetle bores through the thick bark

down to the bast, and eats out in the sapwood a squarish pairing-chamber
about half an inch by just under half an inch. Fig. i d in the plate shows a
male beetle in the pairing-chamber. A female enters by the same hole, and
after pairing bores away from the pairing-chamber in an upward direction
parallel to the long axis of the tree. A second, third, and fourth follow, the
third going in the same direction as the first, the second and fourth in an
opposite one. The egg-galleries so eaten out are very long, often as much
as three to five inches, or even more, in length. The female, as she eats out
her egg-gallery, carries one or more, normally two, aeration tunnels to the
outside ; these air-holes do not pierce the bark entirely, a thin lamella
of outside bark being left for protective purposes to prevent the ingress
of outside intruders, chiefly enemies, into the tunnel.

The female egg-tunnel is always kept entirely free from sawdust, excreta,
and other wood particles. It grooves deeply the sapwood, and is usually
slightly serpentine in character. The eggs, some forty to sixty in number,
are laid in notches eaten in the side walls of the gallery, the larger number
being usually laid on the wall remote from the adjacent egg-gallery of the
other female. On hatching out from the egg the larvae eat out galleries
which are very winding and appear to have no definite direction, often being
inclined at an acute angle to the egg-gallery, and occasionally curving back
upon themselves as the grub approaches full growth ; the grub thus eats out
a much larger gallery than is required for its breadth. This larval gallery
chiefly grooves the inner bark, and is tightly packed with wood excreta
(pi. Ivi). When the insect has attacked a tree in numbers, the long main
egg-galleries and a mass of intersecting larval galleries tightly packed with
wood excreta almost entirely remove the bast layer. When full-grown the
larva enlarges the end of its gallery in the inner bark into a squarish irregular
pupal chamber and pupates in this ; this pupal chamber is the only portion
of the larval gallery which is free from wood-dust and excreta. On maturing
the beetle bores straight through the bark to the outside of the tree and
escapes. Observation would seem to show that the beetles mostly mature
and leave the tree in swarms at about the same time. For instance, in
some green trees blown down during the rains of 1906 (probably towards the
end of August), and examined in the middle of October 1906, the insect was
found in the immature, or nearly mature, beetle stage, in the upper parts of
the main stem of the tree, whilst in the thick lower parts of trunk and butt
where the bark was still green and fresh the newly issued beetles were tunnel-
ling in to lay the eggs of the last generation or partial generation of the year.
No pupae were found in these trees, and only a few belated grubs. Fig. i e
in pi. Iv shows several of these entrance-holes on the outer bark, and a beetle
just commencing to burrow into the tree.

PLATE LYI.

1'urt <>t a stem ol" a /'in/is lun^ifolia showing the pairing-chambers, egg-
galleries, and larval galleries <>!' / "»u\i/s lun^ijulni. Stcli., mi the sapwood.
North-West Hiinalav i.

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 559

From observations made in October and November 1906 in Jaunsar and
Tehri Garhwal, and others undertaken in May and June in both Jaunsar and
Kumaun, it would appear that the insect commences to lay the eggs of the
fir-st generation of the year some time early in April (or perhaps towards the
end of March), the beetles hatching out from these eggs appearing towards
the end of May, a couple of days being passed in the egg stage, some five to
six weeks in the larval, and ten days to a fortnight in the pupal condition.
Allowing from six weeks to two months to a generation, a second generation
of the beetles would issue towards the end of July, and a third towards the
end of September, which would lay the eggs of a fourth generation, which
may either hibernate as larvae in the trees or go on to the mature stage
and pass through the winter as beetles. In favourable years this fourth
generation may be completed, and may lay the eggs of a partial fifth gene-
ration. For instance, on u October, at a fairly high elevation in Jaunsar, I
found the beetles of the third generation issuing and egg-laying, or nearly
mature. On 3 November, at a much lower elevation, in the Tons Valley in
Jaunsar (at Thadiar), I found the beetles of the fourth generation maturing.
These beetles were issuing to deposit in the trees the eggs of the fifth
generation of the year.

I first noticed old traces of the attacks of this insect in June 1902 in the
Tons Valley, Jaunsar, and found one dead beetle. In October 1906 I took
the insect numerously at Jermola and elsewhere in Jaunsar and Tehri
Garhwal, and in May and June 1908 I took the insect in the Kumaun
V. longifolia forests. In June 1909 I found the beetle in chir-trees in the
Ravi Valley in Chamba.

As far as present observations show, this Tomicus only infests the Pinus
longifolia in the pole and older-growth stages. I have
Damage Committed not taken the insect in seedlings or saplings, nor in the
in the Forest. thinner branches of the crowns of the larger trees. The
insect must be classed as one of the more dangerous of
the pests of the tree. It only infests green trees, either newly felled or blown-
down ones, or sickly standing ones in the forest. I have taken it attacking
green trees in company with Cryptorhynchus brandisi and Polygraphus loji^i-
folia. Its presence when in any numbers can easily be detected from the
outside, owing to the fact that it ejects from the entrance-hole small cylinders
or heaps of light red and yellow sawdust, these little heaps being distinctly
visible on the rough red bark of the tree. Once the insect has infested a
tree in any numbers, the death of the tree is a certainty. Owing to tin-
long egg and larval galleries eaten out, and the winding m in ner in which
the latter are taken, little of the inner bast layer of the tree is left intact,
the untouched portions consisting merely of small ridges and rirns of bast
between the mass of excreta-filled galleries.

The attacks of such an insect are naturally the more to be feared in a
pure than in a mixed forest.

560 FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

I need scarcely add anything here to the remarks made under Crypto-
rhynclius (p. 433) and Polygraphus (p. 506). In the case

Protection and of this insect, however, it is most important that the
Remedial Measures, bark should be stripped from the trees as soon as possible

after the latter have been felled. To leave them lying in

the forest for several months after felling means that one, or perhaps two,
complete generations of this pest may be bred out of the trees, this meaning
half a million or more beetles issuing from each tree to carry on the infection
in the forest.

To ascertain the abundance of the beetle in any forest, it might be
advisable each spring to fell a green tree or two and visit it some time early
in May. By stripping off a foot or two of the bark it will be possible to
ascertain to what extent it has been attacked by the insect. This would
enable the Range Officer to obtain a very fair idea of the damage he may
expect to occur from this pest.

Chalcid sp. — -The grub of this small fly feeds parasitically upon the

larva of Tomicus longifolia, and perhaps on that of
Parasitic and n , ,, , ., .. c T . . T

Predaceous Insects. Polygraphs longifolia. I took specimens in Jaunsar

in the North-West Himalaya.

/•'/)'. — A nrnute black-coloured four-winged fly.

Cocoon. — Oval, elliptical, small, flat, and of a papery consistence.

Life History. — I know little of this insect at present. I found it
maturing in the upper part of a large P. longifolia tree in which a number of
Tomicus longifolia beeves were nearly mature. Some of these latter beetles
had already left the tree, as also had some of the Ichneumon flies. I found
them hovering over the lower butt of the tree into which the Tomicus beetles
were tunnelling to lay their eggs, or crawling down the tunnels, pre-
sumably to oviposit. The fly is very active on the wing in broad sunlight,
and is difficult to catch. I took some specimens in the Tomicus galleries.
The larva spins a small, flat, oval, elliptical, papery cocoon in which it
pupates. The grub probably feeds parasitically on the Tomicus grub.

Niponius canalicollis, Lewis. — The grub of this insect is parasitic on
that of Tomicus longifolia and Polygraphus longifolia. This insect has been
already fully described on p. 507. I took specimens of the mature beetle
in Pinus longifolia, in company with both the above bark-borers, on several
occasions in the Naini Tal forests in June 1908. The insect is very
plentiful in the coniferous forests of the North-West Himalaya.

Paromalus sp. (p. 107).— The grubs feed parasitically on those of
Tomicus longifolia and Polygraphus longifolia. I took specimens of this
insect in Jaunsar, in the North-West Himalaya.

—Oval, square, very hard and compact, flat. Black, shining ; the elytra leave
exposed the posterior two segments of the body.

-The beetle was taken in numbers in a large standing
green tree which was being badly attacked by Tomicus longifolia and Poly-

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 561

graphus longifolia in the middle of October. The beetles were evidently engaged
in egg-laying, and the grubs probably feed on those of the Toinicus and Poly-
graphus beetles. I had already taken what I think is the same beetle in a
newly dead tree a week previously. I think these latter beetles were just
maturing, their grubs having fed upon those of the Tomicus and Polygraphus
beetles. The stem and bark were covered with the egg and larval galleries of
these two beetles, but the generations had matured and left the tree. These
genera of histerid beetles are undoubtedly of great importance in the forest.

Tachyta nietneri, Schaum. — The larva is probably predaceous upon the
Tomicus grubs (p. 96).

Timnochila coerulea, Oliv., var. — This large, elongate, blue-black tro-
gositid is predaceous upon the Tomicus and also upon Polygraphus longifolia.
The beetle is figured on p. 115.

Thanasimus himalayensis, Steb.— This clerid beetle feeds upon the
Tomicus beetles. It is described on p. 508.

Tomicus (Ips) sp.

REFERENCE. — Stebbing, The Chilgoza Forests of Zhob and the Takht-i-Suliman, For. Bull.

no. 7, p. 27 (1906).

Habitat. — Takht-i-Suliman, North Zhob, Baluchistan.
Tree Attacked. — Blue Pine (Pinus excelsa). Takht-i-Suliman.
Beetle. — Smaller than ribbentropi. Has a general resemblance to it. The specimens
taken were in too poor a state of preservation to make description possible.

I took a few dead individuals of this beetle from a large wind-blown blue
pine in the Torgai nala at the lower part of the Maidan
Life History. on the Takht-i-Suliman range of the SulimanMountains
in North Zhob in November 1905. I saw other evi-
dences of the work of this insect in blue-pine trees in this locality. There
was no forest conservancy in this part of the country at that time, and a
large tree was felled even if it was only desired to fashion a rude wooden
door from one of the logs by the crude, wasteful, and lengthy method of
chipping off the wood till the desired size and thickness is attained. The
life history of the insect would seem to resemble that of T. ribbentropi.
Three females appear ordinarily to pair with the male, the egg-galleries
grooving both bast and sapwood, the larval galleries being made in the
bast only. This is all that is at present known of this insect.

Tomicus (Ips) blandfordi, Stebbing.

REFERENCE. — Stebbing, Ind. For. Mem. Zool. Ser. vol. i, pt. ii, 27.

Habitat. — Zhob, Baluchistan, Suliman Mountains.
Tree Attacked. — Chilgoza Pine (L'inns gcrarJiana). Shinghar, Zhob.
Beetle.— Oblong, shining. Head and prothorax black ; elytra rufous brown. Head
uniformly rugose-punctate on front, \viili two small tubercles placed close together transversely

just below the middle and on each side of a short, narrow, longitudinal

Description. depression ; a thick fringe of yellow hairs above and below the mouth,

and clothing more sparsely the front. Vertex striate with largish

shallow confluent punctures, which become finer and more numerous on the sides. Prothorax
9003 N N

562 FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

widest in front, convex, most convex medianly ; one-fourth less wide than long ; coarsely
rugose-punctate on anterior half, the rugosities transversely and acutely lozenge-shaped medianly
and being replaced by finer punctures on the lateral edges. Posterior half smooth and shining
medianly, with fine scattered punctures which are closer and thicker on sides. Densely
set with fine yellow hairs laterally. Elytra red-brown, shining, striate-punctate, the punctures
large and shallow, becoming confluent medianly just above the declivity, smaller and less
well marked laterally ; interspaces broad, smooth, but feebly convex, shining, set with
scattered hairs, thicker laterally. Declivity deeply concave, slightly shining, punctate, with
a fringe of stiff yellow hairs bordering the suture and an edging of long and short yellow hairs
encircling the declivous portion. The teeth are four in number ; i is very small and far
removed from 2 and 3, which are close together and of nearly equal size save that 3 is slightly
knobbed, the knob depressed ; 4 is quite close to the lower margin instead of being equidistant
from 3 and the lower margin as in longifolia (fig. 355, d). Under-surface shining, finely
punctate, clothed with long whitish-yellow hairs. The front coxae large, globose, and placed
close together. Length, 4.75 mm.

The difference in the size and position of the apical teeth is sufficient to distinguish this
species from ribbentropi and longifolia.

Little is known about the life history of this species. It was taken
from beneath the bark of dying chilgoza-trees at Shinghar in July by
Captain James, I. A., Political Agent, Zhob.

Tomicus (Ips) stebbingi, Strohm.

REFERENCE. — Strohmeyer, Entomol. Wochenbl. xxv, p. 69, 1908.

Habitat.— North-West Himalaya.

Tree Attacked. — Deodar (Cedrus deodar a). Kulu.

Strohmeyer received four males of this insect from C. Rost from Kulu,

said to have been taken from deodar. I have never

Life History. found a Tomicus of the size of Strohmeyer's insects

in the deodar in the Western Himalaya, and without

seeing his specimens am unable to distinguish the species from Tomicus
ribbentropi.

PlTYOGENES.

Hagedorn includes this genus under Tomicus (Ips). I have preferred
to keep it distinct.

Pityogenes coniferae, Stabbing.

REFERENCES. — Stebbing, Ind. For. Mem. Zool. Ser. vol. i, pt. i, 30; id. Chilgoza Bark-Bor. Zhob. For.

Bull. no. 3, p 14 ; Depart. Notes, i, p. 242.

Habitat. — N.W. Himalaya ; N. Zhob, Baluchistan (Suliman Mountains).
Trees Attacked. — Deodar (Cedrus deodar a) ; Blue Pine (Pinus excelsa] ;
Spruce (Picea morinda). N.W. Himalaya; Chilgoza Pine (Pinus gerardiana),
Zhob, and Suliman Mountains.

Beetle. — $ Sub-elongate. Black, shining; the elytra often orange or red-brown with
black basal and lateral edging. Head black, with a strongly marked deep square depression

on upper part of forehead and two small posterior ones on either side
Description. of a post-median raised space which is moderately shining and finely

punctate. Thorax constricted and rounded anteriorly ; rugose-
punctate, rugosities strongest in the anterior half and increasing in size to a raised central

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

point ; from the latter a median narrow longitudinal smooth shining space runs to base ; the
rugosities and punctures finer on either side of this smooth space than in the anterior half.
Elytra shining orange-brown ; base, basal half of suture, and lateral edges black ; rather flat,
the punctures fine and not very close together ; the apical depression set with three longitudi-
nally placed blunt teeth, the upper ones nearer suture than the outer margin ; upper one
small and inconspicuous, the next but slightly larger, the apical one more prominent, pointed,
and placed medianly. Under-surface with scattered yellowish pubescence ; antennae and legs
rufous brown. Length, 2.75 mm. $. The front of head is smooth, flat, without depressions,
with a transverse raised ridge, thickest medianly, on posterior margin ; punctures slightly
rugose. Thorax slightly shorter and broader than in the female, the rugosities slightly stronger
anteriorly and the punctures finer in the basal half. Elytra dark red-brown or black, more shining
and more convex than in $ , the punctures finer and rather scattered, the apical depression longer
and less vertical and deeper than in $ ; the three longitudinally placed teeth much longer and
sharper, the uppermost smallest, turned inwards ; the median one longest, set upwards and
inwards ; the apical one sharp, curved inwards, smaller than the median one. Length, 2 mm.
Th- size of both males and females varies to a slight extent (pi. xlviii, figs. 3, 3 c).

Larva.— A minute, curved, rather corrugated, white, legless grub with a canary-
yellow head.

Pupa — White, having the shape of the beetle. X 8

This Pitoygenes commences to lay the first generation of &

eggs of the year in April. The beetles are
Life History. not particular as to the part of the bark of
the tree they bore in through, and appear to
bore through an exposed flake of outer bark as often as they
seek a crevice to shelter themselves whilst at work. Doubtless
numbers are seized and consumed by such enemies as the
Thanasiinus beetle and others whilst they are at work in the
rirst stages of tunnelling into the tree. The male bores the first
tunnel down to the sapwood and eats out in this a pairing- FIG. 357.
chamber. He is aided in the latter part of the work of con- coniferae,
structing this chamber by one or more of the females which Steb.
enter to him, the pairing-chamber being finally as much as '

3 mm. across (cf. fig. 358). The first female to enter to the N.w.
male does so by enlarging the tunnel of the male, since the female
is of larger size. The females subsequently entering either do so by the
original tunnel of the male or eat out separate tunnels of their own
which hit off the lower part of the male's entrance-tunnel or the pairing-
chamber direct.

As many as five females (and occasionally six) enter and pair with
one male. Each female in turn as soon as fertilized bores away from the
pairing-chamber, eating out a gallery which curves in one direction only,
from right to left. Each of the five female galleries, which may be as
much as 13 mm. long, is started in a different direction, so that when all the
galleries are finished the whole thing has a stellate appearance (cf. fig. 358).
Whilst making her egg-gallery the female eats out small notches or de-
pressions in the margin, mostly on the outside of the curve, and places
an egg in each. About ten to twelve eggs are laid in each gallery, this

N N 2

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

being apparently the number laid per female beetle.
The larvae on hatching out bore away from the
mother gallery, their galleries curving in an irregular
manner and being from 10 mm. to 20 mm. in length.
They feed chiefly in the bast layer, so that their
galleries do not groove the sapwood. When full-
fed the larvae eat out a depression at the end of
their gallery in the sapwood and pupate in this.
Fig. 358 shows pairing-chambers, egg-galleries, and
pupating-chambers in the sapwood of a deodar
branch.

The beetles when mature tunnel through the
bark above them and escape from the tree.

The insect passes through four generations in
the year and a partial fifth. The eggs of the
first generation are laid, as I have said, in April, the
'beetles from these eggs appearing early in June.
From the eggs laid by them a second generation of
beetles appears at the end of July, a third in Sep-
tember, and the fourth towards the end of October
or beginning of November. These beetles lay eggs
which produce the larvae which pass through the
winter in this stage in the trees.

The presence of this beetle in a forest can easily
be recognized in the smaller
Damage Committed dead branches and twigs litter-
in the Forest. ing the ground. If these latter
are examined they will be found

to be covered with sharply cut definite patterns (I
am alluding to branches from which the bark has
fallen off). If these markings are examined they
will be seen to consist of from four to six arms or
galleries radiating from a common central depres-
sion ; each gallery curves away from the central
chamber, and is marked on one side with little
recesses arranged in a regular, systematic manner.
The central depression is the pairing-chamber, each
of the radiating arms an egg-gallery made by a
female, and the little recesses, which are from six to
nine in number and made on one side of the gallery
only, formerly each contained an egg. If the bark of
this twig could be examined on the inner side it would
show the larval galleries giving off more or less at
right angles to the egg-gallery, one starting from
each of the nicks and winding round the twig. At

FIG. 358.— Part of a
deodar branch showing the
central pairing - chamber
made by the male beetle of
Pityogenes coniferae, and
the star-shaped egg-galleries
with notches on their sides
made by the female beetles.
N.W. Himalaya.

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 565

the end of the larval gallery a little enlargement is made, and the larva
changes into a pupa in this, the latter turning in due course into a beetle
and boring its way out of the branch.

This little beetle confines its operations to the smaller branches of
the coniferous tree attacked, where the bark is still quite soft. It infests
these places in enormous numbers, working in company with the larger Poly -
gr a pints (P. major, p. 501). It is to be found in the side branches and upper
portion of the leading shoot of older saplings. In smaller ones it infests
every part, and it then becomes a serious pest, as it would appear to have
the power of increasing in large numbers. Its attack can be recognized from
the outside by the small pin-holes seen in the bark, each surrounded with a
small white ring of resin ; the bark when very young turns yellow under the
attack and shrivels up. The arms of the stellate galleries run longitudinally
up and down the stem rather than horizontally, and the plans of the
pairing-chamber and egg-galleries are not unlike those of P. major, with
which they are often found mixed up and interlaced. The latter are,
however, larger, have longer arms, and the egg-galleries are fewer in number
and go much deeper into the sapwood, this being more especially noticeable
in the case of the smaller branches attacked.

I have found this Pityogenes in company with Polygraph-its major infesting
deodar saplings. It was very numerous in the tops of saplings at Pajidhar
in Jaunsar in June 1902. In a few cases it was found in the main stem,
low down, and the gallery had then only four arms or egg -galleries to it, the
pairing-chamber being made entirely in the bast, as also were the larval
galleries and pupating-chamber, only the egg-galleries grooving down into
the sapwood. In the tops, however, and leading shoots the attack corre-
sponded in all respects to that in the blue pine. I was unable to count the
number of egg-galleries bored, as the bark and sapwood were riddled by
the interlacing galleries. All the stages of larva, pupa, and beetle were
found, and also mature beetles just boring into the stems to lay eggs. This
would seem to confirm my theory that the generations in one year of the
life history of this insect overlap one another, since it would seem probable
that the larvae were those of the second generation, the first lot of grubs
appearing somewhere about the beginning of May. This would mean that
the August-September larvae are those of the third generation, and the
November beetles those probably of a fourth, which lay the eggs of the
beetles which issue at the end of April in the following year. The
Pityogenes was equally numerous in the neighbouring blue-pine saplings.
As in the case of P. major, the fact that this beetle attacks the deodar in
addition to the blue pine greatly adds to the importance of the pest, and
renders it essential that its life history should be understood.

I found that a number of the dead deodar-trees killed during a bark-
beetle attack in the years 1907-1908 and rxamined in the forests at Bre in
Chamba in 1909 had been badly infested by this beetle, which had evidently
sw.irmed in large numbers.

566

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

This Pityogencs infests also the Pin us gerardiana in the North Zhob and
Takht-i-Suliman forests, and also in Bashahr in the North-West Himalaya.
In the North Zhob and Takht forests the beetle was extremely plentiful in
1905, accompanying the Polygraphus trcnchi (p. 510) and Phloeosinus beetles
in their attack on the trees. Its life history in the chilgoza is very similar
to that in the blue pine.

The protection and remedial measures are similar to those already
described for Polygraphus major and the Tomicus beetles.

Chalcid. — The larva of this small fly is parasitic upon the grubs of the
Pityogencs.

Fly. — A brightly coloured little insect. Head black with a minute yellow pubescence
Eyes large, pink. Thorax and body dark metallic purple ; thorax beneath is rather yellowish,

as are femora on inner surface ; tarsi yellow, the last joint black ;
tibiae black, yellowish black above. Antennae angled, black with
yellowish pubescence. Abdomen rounded, produced into a blunt
point. Wings membranous, iridescent, upper with a black stigma and a few cells.

Parasitic and
Predaceous Insects.

Life History. — I have taken this insect in the pupal chambers of the
little Pityogenes in blue-pine trees in Jaunsar. The tiny fly either lays her
eggs near the entrance-hole of the beetle or, more probably, crawls down it
and lays them in the pairing-chamber. The larvae feed as external parasites
on the scolytid grubs, which do not die before they have hollowed out
the pupating-chamber in the bast layer. The parasitic grub then pupates in
this, the scolytid larva dying.

Thanasimus himalayensis, Steb.— I have fed the Thanasimus beetles
with this small Pityogenes, which they devoured as
readily as they do the larger bark- and wood-borers
they prey upon (p. 508).

Reduviid.— This insect occurs occasionally very
plentifully in the galleries of the Pityogencs in blue
pine and more rarely in deodar, and also with Cryp-
turgus pusillus and Polygraphus pini in blue pine and
spruce.

Insect.— Minute, elongate, shining ; head, thorax, and

segment of body reddish yellow, rest of body with a purplish

metallic tinge dorsally and dark reddish underneath. Head with

prominent eyes and a curved scimitar-shaped proboscis ; antennae

yellow.

-Small, flat, elongate. Black or greyish

Antennae inserted in front of eyes on the head, the

strong, and curved. Thorax triangular, narrowest

Scutellum triangular, produced into a sharp point FlG< 359- — Reduviid,

Femora thickened. predaceous upon Pityo-

gencs coniferae and other
his small bug is sometimes scolytids (magnified).

onsiderable numbers in the tunnels and North-West Himalaya.

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 567

galleries of the Pityogencs. It is an active and very wary insect, running
in the burrows with great speed. It feeds upon the larvae of the
scolytid, piercing them with its strong proboscis and sucking their body
contents.

Pityogenes scitus, Blandford.

REFERENCE. — Blandford, Ind. Mus. Notes, vol. iii, p. 63 (1893).

Habitat. — Sibsagar, Assam.

Tree Attacked. — ? Pinus khasya. Sibsagar.

Beetle. — Sub-elongate, shining, sub-glabrous, piceous black, the antennae and legs ferru-
ginous. Closely resembles P. chalcographus. The forehead in female has three strong

foveae with a central space raised, smooth and dull. The prothorax
Description. is narrowed anteriorly, the punctures on the posterior half close, well

marked, and rugose ; the interspaces rilled with very fine punctures,

only visible under a high magnification. Elytra testaceous yellow, sometimes with a distinct
dark lateral border ; flatter, less shining, and the rows of punctures not so distinct or regular
as in chalcographus, the punctures becoming obsolete near the apex ; the apical depression
three-toothed. In the male the forehead is convex, rugulose-punctate ; the elytra are
testaceous, strongly infuscate along lateral margin, and for the whole of the apical declivity
they are slightly narrower and flatter, the apical depression is shorter and more vertical, and
the teeth are situated farther back and closer to each other, and the anterior pair point directly
backward instead of obliquely upwards, and their base is longer. Length, 1.7 mm. to 2 mm.

Somewhere about 1886 some specimens of this insect were reported by

the Deputy Conservator of Forests, Sibsagar, Assam,

Life History. as injurious to the makai (Shorea assamica). The beetles

were sent on 4 April to the Indian Museum, through the

Director of the Imperial Forest School, Dehra Dun. The insects were

forwarded to Mr. W. F. Blandford, who found the species to be new to

science.

Italian Museum Notes has the following reference to this scolytid :—

" The insect was originally sent to the Indian Museum as
attacking the Shorea assamica tree in Sibsagar, Assam. On
Mr. Blandford's noticing, however, that other species of Tomicus and
Pityogencs, in the modern limits of these genera, are only to be found
in conifers, some small pieces of stick that were originally forwarded
with the insects were sent to the Royal Botanical Gardens, Sibpur,
for further examination. Here they were kindly looked at by
Dr. George King, who found that they do not belong to the Shorea
assamica tree, but possibly to the I'iiius kluisyti, the sticks, however,
not being sufficient for precise identification. The tree, therefore,
that is attacked by Pityo^e>ic\ \citits, Blandford, though not definitely
ascertained, is, no doubt, one of the conifers."
Beyond the fact that this beetle appears on the wing some time in March,

nothing appears to be known about its life history, which will, in all

probability, resemble that of P. coniferae.

568 FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

CHAPTER XXL

RHYNCHOPHORA (continued)— Family SCOLYTIDAE (continued).

Tribe SCOLYTINAE (ECCOPTOGASTRINAE).

TIBIAE with the outer edge smooth ; front tibiae lengthened out on outer
edge with a one- or two-toothed hook. Abdomen flexed upwards.

The tribe includes the important genus Eccoptogaster, better known
as Scolytus. The genus contains three Indian species which are serious
pests of the deodar.

SCOLYTUS.
Scolytus (Eccoptogaster) major, Stebbing.

REFERENCES. — Stebbing, Ind. For. Mem. Zool. Ser. vol. i, pt. ii, p. 21 ; id. Bark-bor. Beet. Attack, Simla
Catch. Area, For. Bull. no. 2 (1908) ; Scolytus sp. Ind. For. vol. xxvi, p. 560; vol. xxvii, pp. 26, 132,
231, 344 ; Depart. Notes, vol. i, pp. 45, 203.

Habitat. — Throughout deodar forests of North-West Himalaya.
Tree Attacked. — Deodar (Cedrus deodara). North- West Himalaya.

Beetle.— Black, shining ; elytra dark red-brown or black. Front of head flat, impressed
over mouth ; a faint median elevate longitudinal line on front which does not reach the

mouth or vertex, bounded on either side by an area very finely
Description. longitudinally striate ; rest punctate, punctures finer on vertex, a

shallow depression niedianly on vertex just above basal margin.

I'K .thorax constricted and impressed on anterior lateral margin ; very smooth and shining
except for a rather thickly punctate and slightly rugose area behind anterior margin, this
punctured area stretching down diagonally on either side and being intercepted medianly by a
narrow longitudinal smooth space, a prolongation from the smooth area on disk. The whole
of the latter finely, pitted, the punctures rather scattered and more abundant laterally ; a few
lungish scattered hairs laterally in anterior portion. Elytra impressed medianly at base,
slightly narrowed behind, the outer margins of apical fourth finely serrate, apices separately
rounded ; striate-punctate, the striae not prominent and punctures shallow, not very conspicuous
and confluent at apices ; covered with irregular scattered hairs, most abundant laterally.
Abdomen with anterior margin of first segment prominent and produced forwards and thickened,
rugose, shining, second segment concave, third and fomth with a small lateral tubercle on
posterior margin, fifth flat, apical edge incurved medianly. Legs brown to blackish. Antennae
and tarsi rufous brown. Length, 4.25 mm. to 4.5 mm. PI. Ivii, figs, c I, f, d, shows the dorsal
and side view of the beetle.

.— The egg is spherical in shape, yellow in colour, and shining. It is very small,
being about 0.8 mm. in diameter.

-The larva is small, curved, legless, and white in colour. It is largest across at

When full-grown it is from \ to i in. long. On first hatching out the grub

e white dot. The curved shape is, however, easily recognizable by the time it has bored

m. away from the egg gallery. The larva natural size and enlarged is shown in figuiv.

The pupa is white and has the general shape of the beetle ; but all the parts are

, antennae, and wings being held pressed against the breast as shown in figure.
Length, 4 nun.

beetle when it is in the resting stage is light yellow and then light brown,
dually darkening to black as the outer parts harden.

PLATE LVII.

fl 1

(l 1

b 1

b 1

t

m

<: 1

i. .s',v;/)'///.v major, Stch., in deodar. — tf, />, larva and pupa magniliecl ; ai, /n, natural
size ; (, //, female bi-c-tlc. enlarged ; ii, natural size. 2. Scolytus minor, Steb. — a, />, larva and
pupa, enlarged ; <n. /M. natural si/c : , . ,/. Icinale beetle, enlarged ; t/i, natural size. North-

\\Csi Himalaya.

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 569

The deodar bark-borer passes through the winter either as a larva at

the end of its gallery in the bast layer of the tree or as

Life History. a mature beetle in the thicker parts of the old bark of

deodar-trees. The beetle bores into this old bark to

obtain a shelter from the cold of the winter months, and hibernates in this
position. As soon as the first warmth of spring makes itself felt the over-
wintering larvae change to pupae in their galleries, and then, in a week or ten
days, become mature beetles and bore their way out of the tree and seek
other trees in which to lay their eggs. A little before the latter beetles issue
the mature beetles which have passed the winter in the old bark of deodar
trees come out and seek suitable trees in which to oviposit. The eggs laid
at this period are those of the first generation of the year. The exact time
at which egg-laying begins varies according to whether an early or late spring
is experienced. When a very early spring has followed a dry winter the
beetles commence operations early in April, and female beetles which have
wintered as such maybe found boring into trees to lay eggs about the second
week of the month. After a long cold wet winter followed by a late spring
the Scolytus beetle will not commence laying the first eggs of the year before
the fourth week or end of April.

The beetles pair outside the tree. The insect's method of attack from
the outside and its operations within the tree are constant and are easily
recognizable. As is usual with the bark-borers of this family, the female
commences by boring a small "shot-hole" through the bark in order
to reach the bast layer. This may be made anywhere on the tree (save in
the smaller branches of the crown, which are not attacked), but the insect
usually chooses a projecting flake of bark in order to screen itself. In the
case of small saplings it bores in beneath a branch at the juncture of the
latter with the main stem. On reaching the bast layer the beetle carries
its gallery in an upward direction parallel to the long axis of the tree. The
gallery is made mainly in the bast layer, but it also grooves more or less
deeply the sapwood : it is deeper and stronger at its commencement than at
the upper end. The gallery so made is the egg-gallery ; it is from two to three
inches in length and is carried upwards in a series of serpentine curves, first
to one side and then to the other (cf. frontispiece and pi. Iviii). The egg-
galleries made in the boles of large trees are usually shorter than those made
in saplings, poles, and branches. On either side of the egg-gallery, as she
gnaws it out upwards, the beetle bites out small indentations in the wood, in
each of which she places an egg surrounded by small tine particles of wood-
dust ; these egg-notches do not begin quite at the bottom of the rgg-gallery,
a small portion of it being left entire ; they are, however, always nude right
to the extreme upper end, the number cut on either side being approxi-
mately identical. As the gallery progresses upwards the beetle keeps it
quite free from particles of wood by shovelling out with her legs all the
wood-dust, etc., eaten out in constructing it. This dust she ejects through
the entrance-hole in the bark ; a portion of these wood particles is also passed

57o FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

through the body of the insect and ejected. The white and yellow wood par-
ticles thus thrown out can easily be seen in little heaps on the outer bark.
When the beetle has finished egg-laying she does not die, but remains in the
egg-gallery or entrance-tunnel in the bark, both of which she keeps quite free
from wood-dust. The mother beetle may be found alive in the tunnel when
most of the larvae from the eggs she has laid have become full-grown and
are pupating. The beetle probably remains alive in order to protect the
eggs and larvae from predaceous insects such as the Niponius canalicollis
beetle (cf. fig. 331), who could otherwise enter the exposed gallery from the
outside to oviposit or destroy the larvae it contains. When she finally dies
it is usually in the entrance-tunnel in the bark, which she thus blocks up
effectually, as with a cork. The egg-gallery takes from five to seven days
to make. The larvae hatch from the eggs within a couple of days : young
larvae from the eggs first laid may be found already hatched out and boring
their galleries whilst the mother is still completing the egg-gallery above
and egg-laying.

Between 70 and 85 eggs are laid in the egg-gallery, approximately 35 to
42 or 43 on each side. The larvae on hatching out bore in the bast and
sapwood ; they carry their galleries in a direction away from the egg-
gallery, those in the centre eating away in a direction more or less at right
angles, whilst the galleries of those above and below trend away from
the right angle in an upward or downward direction. In this way an
invariably uniform and constant pattern is made, which remains indelibly
impressed on the sapwood (cf. frontispiece and pi. Iviii). The presence
of the beetle in a forest is thus recognized and identified with ease from
these patterns which it leaves behind it in the trees it has attacked.

The larval galleries curve irregularly to a slight extent, and increase in
size with the growth of the grub ; at the end where the larvae are full-grown
they are about the same width as the egg-gallery or slightly wider, and are
from 2\ in. to 2| in. in length. The galleries made by the larvae from the
first-laid eggs are the strongest-marked and often the longest. When full-
fed the larva changes to a pupa at the end of its gallery. In the case of
large trees the gallery may be slightly enlarged at the extremity, a small
depression being eaten out in the bark or sapwood. In poles, saplings, and
the upper parts of large trees the grub appears invariably to bore down into
the sapwood at the end of its larval gallery, eating out a small tunnel or
chamber of sufficient size to take its entire body ; having done this it backs
out from the chamber so made, turns round, and backs down into it again
and then pupates The larva takes about four weeks to reach full growth. The
tetle on maturing crawls out of the chamber and bores its way straight
through the bark of the tree and flies off to find a mate and, if a female, to
:ggs in a fresh tree. The time passed in the pupal stage is about two
the total period of a generation from egg to mature beetle being about
six or seven weeks.

•
-

I'LATK LVIII

Stem of a young deodar C •' ,v • showing the i tunnels and larval galleries of

vtus »i<i/"/\ Sic!)., mi i. •><!. .Some nearly in.ii ire beetles are seen in the pupating-
chambers at the end of the larval galleries. TH\\ .mis tin- l'i i oi < ii sterna larval gallery of the

liupn-Mitl Sfihenoptera aterrima, Kcnci;i., is seen \\ith the enirancc-lmle to tlie pupating-
chainlHT in the wood ulxive it. DianilKi, .\oilh-\\ c-^t Hima i. \1. \'.. Stdiljing del. et pinx.}

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 571

The above describes the life history of one generation or life-cycle of the
insect, but does not account for the life of the species throughout the year.
It has been found that it passes through several generations in a year,
the actual number depending upon the climatic conditions of the early
and late parts of the season.

My observations, carried over a series of ten consecutive years, tend to indicate that in
ordinary years the insect passes through three to four generations (the last a partial one)
in the course of a year, as follows :—

GENERATION I.

4th week in April . Eggs

ist week in May to ist week in June ... . Larvae

ist week in June to end of June Pupae

3rd week in Jure to ist week in July ..... Beetles

GENERATION II.

4th week in June ......... Eggs

ist week in July to ist week in August . . . Larvae

ist week in August to 3rd week in August .... Pupae

2nd week in August to 4th week in August . . . Beetles

GENERATION III.

3rd week in August ........ Eggs

4th week in August to 4th week in September . . Larvae

4th week in September to 3rd week in October . . Pupae

2nd week in October to 4th week in October . . . Beetles

GENERATION IV (a partial generation .

3rd week in October Eggs

4th week in October to 2nd to 3rd week in April of the

following year .... .... Larvae

(Most of these larvae will be overwintering larvae.)

If beetles of this generation mature it will probably be from eggs laid in the ist or
2nd week of October, when the generation would be as follows :—

ist week in October Eggs

2nd week in October to 2nd week in November . . . Larvae
2nd week in November to 4th week in November . . Pupae
3rd week in November to 3rd week in April of the follow-
ing year ...... ... Beetles

(These beetles will hibernate; in the thick outer baik of old standing trees.)

S. major is a most dangerous pest to the deodar, anil is, as far as is at
present known, one of the worst insect foes the tree has

Damage Committed in to conten(j wjtn_ Trees of all sizes are attacked by the
the forest.

beetle, from the largest tree in the forest to the smallest

sapling. It usually confines its attacks to sickly trees and trees broken by
snow or from other causes, in ;ill of which the vitality h;is become lessened
and the upward flow of sap consequently decreased ; it also invariably lays
its eggs in newly felled unbarked trees when such are available. In forests
where such trees are not available or where circumstances have favoured the

57-' FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

insect, such as a long drought and warm winter followed by an early spring,
the latter will increase in such numbers that the ordinary supply of trees
suitable for egg-laying becomes insufficient : the beetle will then attack green
standing healthy trees. When this happens it is usually found that the
insect chooses those which are growing on exposed aspects, especially dry
southern aspects where the soil is poor, and those growing in open forest.
Once, however, a centre of attack has started, the insect, by means of suc-
cessive generations, spreads outwards from the centre in more or less
concentric rings, each generation attacking the trees nearest to those in
which it was reared. The attack on the deodar in Bashahr by this beetle,
reported by Mr. B. Ribbentrop, C.I.E., Inspector-General of Forests, and
Mr. Minniken, spread in this manner. In this way in serious attacks
of the insect whole areas of forest may be killed off in a few months
owing to the incredible swiftness with which the beetles multiply. That
this latter is very rapid will be understood when it is stated that a tree
of 3 ft. diameter at base and 100 ft. bole produced, as a result of a single
generation reared in it, 56,300 beetles, allowing for 50 per cent, casualties.
Observations have shown that in a dry year the casualties are from 15 to
20 per cent. only. Fig. 26, p. 49, shows the effects of the insect's
attacks on young deodar in the Simla Catchment Area in 1908. The
trees shown were killed by the beetle.

Once the life history of this beetle is well understood the introduction
of certain measures to check its further increase on a
lar£e scale becomes possible. It is obvious that any
measures which will result in the killing off of the grubs
before they change to pupae and beetles will result in the disappearance
of the insect from the area as a pest, since there will be no further egg-
laying on a large scale. Our present knowledge of the life history enables
us to cope with the pest in this manner. I have shown already that
three full generations and a partial fourth may be expected in an ordinary
year.

I have also given the approximate periods at which the larvae of each
generation will become full-grown. In order to deal with an attack which
threatens to assume serious proportions it will be necessary therefore to take
steps to destroy the larvae of each generation as it appears.

The beetles may be attacking trees in any one or all of the following
conditions :—

Newly felled or fallen green trees (wind- or snow-breaks).
(b) Standing sickly trees.

green trees in the neighbourhood of a "centre" of
infection.

step to be taken, then, is to seek out and mark all infested

and fallen, and standing sickly or attacked healthy
trees.

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 573

(a) Newly Felled Trees and Windfalls,. — The first of these are known, as
they will be in felling areas. The windfalls must be searched for and
located. This will involve going carefully over the entire area.

(b) Standing Sickly Trees. — Whilst searching the area for windfalls a look-
out will be kept for standing sickly trees, and all such will be marked with
a tar ring or any other suitable mark. It cannot be hoped that all these
trees will have been located and marked in time to catch the first generation
of beetles to issue after the attack was first discovered. If, however, this
generation is not caught, it should be possible to have marked all these trees
in time to catch the larvae of the second or third generation.

In both the above cases the trees will be left in situ until they are
known to be full of grubs : the approximate dates are given under the life
history; (b) trees are then felled and both (a) and (b) barked, and the inner
face of bark turned outwards so as to expose it to the sun. Both larvae
and pupae will be killed. Saplings and branches which are too thin to bark
should be stacked and burnt. None of the standing trees should, however,
be felled until they have become really badly infested by the beetle, even if
this involves leaving them standing over two or more generations. They
thus serve the purpose of trap trees.

(c) Green Standing Infested Trees. — Newly attacked green standing
trees are more difficult to deal with. Their removal depends entirely on the
degree to which they have been attacked and on their proximity to a bad
" centre " of infection. Also it is difficult to mark down these trees until
they commence to fade, when the bright yellow needles attract attention tc
them. When any such trees are discovered it is advisable, if they are not
very severely attacked, to leave them standing over several generations of
the beetles, for as soon as their vitality becomes lowered to an appreciable
extent they will attract beetles to oviposit in them and thus serve as trap
trees. This will prevent the beetles from going to as yet uninfested trees.

Trap Trees. — In order to ascertain definitely and rapidly the extent and
intensity of an attack, green trees in suitable positions should be chosen
here and there throughout the area, preferably along a road or footpath
where they are easily reached and felled. These trees may be chosen at any
time, but they should only be felled a few days before a period at which it
is known that a generation of the beetles will be on tin- wing in the forest
searching for trees in which to oviposit. It will be found that the beetles
will unerringly detect the presence of these felled trees ;iml will oviposit in
them. These trees are termed ''trap" trees. As soon as they are full of
completely grown larvae or of pupae, they should be barked and the hark
exposed to the sun or burnt, as may be most advisable. If a trap tree is
not seriously infested by the generation of the beetles issuing soon alter it
was felled, it may be left to catch the next generation. The trees should be
so felled as to lie in a position sheltered from the sun during the hot portion
of the day. They should not be felled in dense, shade, as in that event the
beetles will not resort to them to oviposit.

574

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

In choosing the trees only such as have a fair flow of sap in the
hast should be selected. To fell nearly dead trees for this pur-
pose will be useless, as the bast layer would rapidly dry and the
beetles will not oviposit in them. They will only lay in fresh sappy
cambium.

To recapitulate :—

The periods to fell trap trees are as follows :—

ist generation .... 4th week in April.

2nd ,, .... 4th week in June.

3rd ,, .... 3rd week in August.

4th ,. .... ist to 3rd week in October.

The periods to fell and bark sickly trees containing full-grown grubs,
to bark fallen or trap trees, and expose the bark to the sun or burn it, are as
follows : —

ist generation
2nd

4th

ist week in June.

ist week in August.

4th week in September.

2nd to 3rd week in November.

It must be remembered that these periods will necessarily vary a little
with differences of elevation, aspect, and climatic conditions, the various
stages in each generation being more forward in a dry year than in a cold
wet one. Also a greater number of generations will be passed through at
the lowest elevations at which the deodar is found.

To ascertain whether the time has arrived to bark sickly fallen
and trap trees, strip off a piece of bark and examine the larval gal-
leries to ascertain whether they have nearly reached their full length.
If they have, the time has arrived to bark the trees and burn the
bark.

Bracon sp.--The grub of this fly feeds as an external parasite upon
the larva of Scolytus major, finally killing it.

/-'(('.--Small, black, with long brownish
yellow legs and two pairs of veined iridescent

wings. Body thin, with
the apical segments
curved downward-.

Lntgth, 5 mm. ; wing spread, 8mm. (Fig. 361.)
-A small white grub pointed at
both ends, segmented. Length, 2.4 mm. (prob-

FlG. 360.— Bracon sp., para-
CY»«0«.-Ovate, elongate; greyish brown, X 4 sitice °? s^lytus major, Steb.

the surface of a parchment - like consistency , a> S™W"S^™ Wlth lchne"-

0 mon grub feeding paiasitically

,v,th small, hne, hgneous fibres, Length, on lt ? ^ cocoonr North-West

Himalaya. (After E. P. S.)

Parasitic and
Predaceous Insects.

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

575

Life History. — I first obtained some cocoons of this insect from larval
pupating-chambers of the scolytid in deodar-trees at Pajidhar in Jaunsar,
but failed to breed any flies from them, the cocoons drying up.

I again found the insect in the Simla Catchment Area forests in
August 1908. I took from one of the galleries a nearly full-grown
Scolytus grub, fixed to the side of which was a small white hymeno-
pterous grub pointed at both ends. It was about a third the size of the
Scolytus larva and was stuck to it, feeding as an external parasite as shown
in fig. 360, a.

When full-grown the Scolytus grub eats out in the bast and sapwood a

pupating -chamber
in the manner al-
ready described
and then dies of
exhaustion. The
parasitic grub then
spins a small oval
papery cocoon in
the pupating-
chamber of the
Scolytus larva and
pupates here. The
fly matures in
about a fortnight

and crawls out of the tree by one of the neighbouring exit-holes of the

newly matured Scolytus beetles.

After pairing, the female Braconid fly searches for a tree into which
the Scolytus beetles are tunnelling to oviposit, crawls down one of the
entrance-holes, and deposits her eggs in the egg-gallery of the Scolytus near
the latter's eggs. On hatching out, each of the parasitic grubs crawls
to one of the young Scolytus grubs and fixes itself to it.

So far as my observations go the parasite appears to pass through as
many generations in the year as its host. Whenever I found a tree badly
infested with Scolytus tunnelling in it to oviposit I invariably observed
some of these flies hovering over the trunk searching for a suitable
entrance-hole to crawl into.

X5

FIG. 361. — Bracon sp., parasitic on Scolytus major, Steb.
Fly natural size and enlarged. North- West Himalaya.

Chalcid. — I have also taken specimens of an unidentified Chalcid fly and
grubs from the larval galleries of this scolytid.

Niponius canalicollis, Lewis. — This histerid beetle, which has been
already described on p. 507, is one of the chief predators on Scolylus unijor
and S. minor, entering the tunnels of the scolytids to oviposit in them.

576

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

The grubs of the Xipnnins feed on those of the Scolytus. The histerid is
black and shining, and has a superficial resemblance to the scolytid.

Platysoma rimae, Lewis (p. 105).— This insect is fairly plentiful in the
\Yi-stern Himalayan coniferous region. It is predaceous upon Scolytus major
and S. minor, and other coniferous bark- and wood-borers.

/;,.,•//,•.— Flat, compact, somewhat elongate, black and shining ; all parts of the insect
tit well together. Head is transverse and narrow and provided with stout black mandibles
and two elbowed antennae,
each of which ends in a
club. Thorax is wider than
long, smooth in the centre
with a few scattered punc-
tures, these latter more
numerous and larger at
sides between the two broad
shallow striae. Elytra twice
as long as thorax, glabrous
medianly, with very fine
punctures, the sides with
three longitudinal promi-
nent striae, the surface
being punctured between
them ; the elytra leave
two segments of the abdomen and a portion of a third visible dorsally, these segments
an: constricted posteriorly, the surfaces being finely punctured. Length, 4.5 mm. to
6.2 mm.

X8

;. 362.— Platysoma rimae, Lewis, predaceous upon Scolytus
major, Steb. North- West Himalaya.

Life History. — The first generation of the year of this histerid beetle
is to be found in various species of conifers in May. A second generation
has been taken towards the end of June in newly felled deodar-trees which
were infested by the Scolytus bark-borers ovipositing in the trees. The
histerid beetles were found in the egg-galleries of the bark-borers, and were
apparently engaged in laying their eggs in the tunnels. It is probable that
the histerid grubs feed on the larvae of the Scolytus and the beetles
perhaps on the eggs.

But little is at present known about the larval and pupal stages of
the beetle. I think it possible that the number of generations in the year
coincides with those of the Scolytus insects.

The insect, owing to its abundance in the trees and to the fact that
it appears to be predaceous upon several bark-boring beetle pests in
the Himalayan region, is evidently of considerable importance in the
forest.

Thanasimus himalayensis, Steb. — This clerid beetle has been already
fully icribed on p. 508. It is one of the most important of the Scolytus
predators, and is commonly to be found flying over or running about on
felled or fallen green deodar-trees which are infested by the two Scolytus
bark-borers S. major and S. minor.

Hate LK.

fe

Slightly under Vnat. size.

J.H.Lace, Faoto. Fnotogravure. Sunreyof India Offices.Calcutta..'FcTaruarylS03.

EGG AND LATIVAL GALIE'RIES OF SCOLYTUS MAJOR.STEB
AND SCOLYTUS MINOR , STEB. IN :

.

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 577

Scolytus (Eccoptogaster) minor, Stebbing.

REFERENCES. — Stebbing, Ind. For. .Mem. Zool. Ser. vol. i, pt. ii, p. 22; Depart. Notes, vol. i, p. 207.

Habitat. — Deodar Forests of the North-West Himalaya.

Tree Attacked. — Deodar (Cedrus deodara), North-West Himalaya.

Beetle.— This insect greatly resembles the larger Scolytus, the eggs, larvae, and pupae
presenting no differences of importance. The beetle has the following differences in external

characters :—
Description. Smaller than major-, which it greatly resembles, the elytra usually

darker in colour to nearly black. The front of head presents dif-
ferences. In the female there is no median longitudinal line or striate area or median
depression near basal margin on vertex ; the front is uniformly and rather coarsely rugose
(at times almost tuberculate), except on vertex, which is punctate ; a few yellowish hairs over
mouth. Prothorax constricted and rounded anteriorly, the thickly rugose and punctate area
on the anterior margin broader than in major and not interrupted by a longitudinal median
smooth area, the disk less shining than in major and the punctures finer and more numerous.
Elytra differ from major in having the punctations not confluent and very much smaller ; they
are more regularly spaced, but wider apart in the rows, becoming finer apically ; the serrate
margins of apical fourth more marked. The first segment of abdomen less rugose-punctate
than in major, the posterior margins of third and fourth segments thickened throughout tin ii
entire length without a median or posterior tubercle. Length, 2.5 mm. to 3111111. In pi. Ivii,
figs, a-t/, rti, In, ih, show the larva, pupa, and beetle, enlarged and natural size.

Save in size and the appearance of the front of the head and the disposition of tin-
punctures on the thorax, this species is scarcely distinguishable from major. The difference
in size and the other points of divergence appear, however, to be constant.

The method of oviposition and the plan of the egg and larval galleries

resemble those of S. major, the differences being that

Life History. the egg-gallery is shorter in length, being rarely over

an inch long and usually even less, and the number of

eggs laid averaging about thirty-five to forty, i.e. from seventeen to twenty
are deposited on each side of the egg-gallery.

The time taken to pass through one life-cycle and the number of gene-
rations pissed through in the year resemble those of S. major.

Bracon sp. — Some nearly mature species of a Bracon fly were found
in a deodar sapling at the end of the first week in June in the pu| Biting-
chambers at the end of the larval galleries of the bark-
Parasitic Insect. * borer Scolytus minor. The tree was growing at a 1<>\\
elevation, and the e-.^s \\cre probably laid at tin

beginning of May. The insects were too immature to identify further with
any certainty. These flies are evidently parasitic upon the larvae of the
small Scolytus beetle. The eggs are laid by the female insect, who probably
pierces through the bark and deposits them in the larval tunnel, or she niav
place them in the entrance-tunnel. The young maggot feeds upon the
larva, and does not kill it until it has reached its full growth and gnawed
out its pupal chamber.

The other insects mentioned under Scolylns major are predaceous upon
this scolytid.

9003 O O

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

X8

a,

Scolytus (Eccoptogaster) deodara, Stebbing.

REFERENCES.— Stabbing, Ind. For. Mem. Zool. Ser. vol. i, pt. ii, 23; id. Depart. Notes, vol. i, 220.

Habitat.— Jaunsar, Simla Hill States, Bashahr, Chamba.

Tree Attacked.— Deodar (Cedrus deodara). North- West Himalaya.

Beetle.— Intermediate in size between S.
major and minor. Black, moderately shining,

cylindrical, the elytra
Description. tinged with rufous

brown. Head thickly

striate behind the eye with close-set vertical
striae which are produced down on to the
ventral surface, this striation not being pre-
sent in 6". minor. Prothorax not longer than
broad, not so thickly punctate as is head, the
punctures finer and fewer behind. Elytra fairly
thickly striate-punctate, sparsely covered with
yellow hairs, especially laterally, as are pro-
thorax and head. Antennae yellowish brown ;
legs rufous brown, tarsi yellow. Length,
3.2 mm. to 3.5 mm.

Larva. — When just hatched the young
larva is a minute white circular ball.

This beetle apparently makes its
first appearance
Life History. in the year in
the forest about
the middle to the third week of June,

i.e. not long before the first burst of

FIG. 363. — Scolytus deodara. Steb. a. T , , ,

dorsal and side view of beetle; 6, part of the monsoon rams. Its method of
girdled shoot showing point of girdle and egg-laying is quite unlike that of the
larval galleries in sapwood above girdle (bark other two species of Scolytus known
removed). to infest the deodar.

The female beetle selects the leader of a sapling or the branch of a

large tree which may have a thickness of as much as three-quarters of an

inch in diameter, and proceeds to girdle it. The beetle tunnels first into

the branch down to the cambium layer, and then eats out a deep groove in

the bast and sapwood in a horizontal manner round the branch, this groove

completely girdling the stem. The beetle manages to keep such an even

course on its way round the stem that it usually hits off to within a fraction

the point where it started from (vide fig. 363, b.) Small notches are cut

out on the upper side of the groove and an egg laid in each. These notches

are usually cut only on the shady or northern aspects of the branch, and the

groove is generally deepest on this side, so that when the weight of the

branch causes it to break and bend over it falls on this side. The number of

eggs laid in one girdled branch is as many as eight, and may be a few more.

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 579

I have not yet been able to ascertain whether the beetle girdles more than
one branch. After laying her eggs she leaves the branch by the hole of
entrance, which is usually just above the groove.

That the young larvae hatch out from the eggs in a few days has
been proved from the fact that quite young larvae are to be found boring
away from the girdle whilst the cut branch is still fresh and green. The
girdle is of course made by the beetle to prepare a sufficiency of food material
in the withering condition required by its grubs on issuing from the eggs.

The larvae on hatching bore straight up the girdled branch (as
shown in fig. b) in the cambium and sapwood, eating out slightly winding
galleries about one and three-quarters to two inches in length. These
larval galleries are blocked throughout their entire length with wood-dust
and excrement.

When full-grown the larva eats out in the sapwood a chamber slightly
larger than the gallery, and pupates in this. The beetle on maturing bores
its way out by a horizontal tunnel through the bark.

The life-cycle of the generation from the eggs laid in June or com-
mencement of July takes about seven weeks, beetles being obtained in the
latter part of August from branches found freshly girdled on 3 July. The
larval stage of this generation thus probably lasts from four to five weeks.

Occasionally it has been noticed that a branch has been girdled in two
separate places, whether by the same beetle or not I cannot say. An
instance of this is shown in fig. 365, A, I and 2.

During a tour in the Jaunsar Himalaya in the autumn of 1906
(September to middle of November), I found the beetles engaged in girdling
branches and egg-laying at the end of October. This proves that there are
two generations, or the whole of a first and a partial second, in the year.
I arn inclined to think that the August beetles lay the eggs of the second
generation of the year and that the beetles found in October are from the
August eggs.

The insect is extremely wasteful in its method of ovipositing. Large
branches are girdled often two to three feet in length and with several forks
or side branches on them. From the whole of this large cut branch but
one and a half to two inches are grooved beneath the bark by the larvae
as shown in fig. 363, b. The rest of the branch thus destroyed is, so far
as this scolytid is concerned, entirely wasted.

As a matter of fact, however, the upper portions of these branches
are very often infested by a second scolytid, Ciyp/uilits (Stcp/uiinnJcrcs),
described on p. 540.

This Scolytus differs from the other Scolytidae known to infest the
deodar in the fact that it makes its appearance very late in the year.
I have never yet found the beetles ovipositing before the middle to the
third week of June, whereas the other scolytid pests known commence
laying the eggs of the first generation of the year towards the end of
April. This late appearance may be due to the fact that this insect is

002

58o

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

a branch girdler laying its eggs in the girdled portion of the tree. Since
the monsoon bursts on the average about the end of June, the girdled
branch would dry less rapidly, and consequently serve as food for the
larvae hatching from the eggs for a longer period, if the eggs were laid
just before the rainy season, than if they were laid in the early summer
when the branch would be exposed to the full rays of the summer sun.

The only other period of the year at which I have found branches
freshly girdled by this beetle is at the end of October. It may be that
the trees are girdled some time during August (I have not been able to study

the insect during that month)
by beetles resulting from the
eggs laid in June ; and if so,
this would indicate that the
insect passes through two
full generations and a par-
tial third one in the year,
the partial third generation
resulting from the eggs laid
at the end of October, the
larvae from which either
pass through the winter as
such or develop into beetles
which remain in situ in the
branch until the following
year.

This scolytid beetle at-
tacks trees of all ages, but

it ischieflv

Damage Committed i r "i

harmful
m the Forest.

t o young

growth, saplings, and young
poles. These it more usually
than not attacks at the top,
girdling the leading shoot
and thus spoiling the shape
of the tree. I have seen a
sapling which had had its
leader and two subsequent leaders (formed by side branches replacing the
last leader) girdled by the beetle.

In large trees its work is also easily recognizable. They may be
observed to have a curious irregular shape owing to numbers of the

3 having had their ends " cut " by this insect.

. his curious raggedness in the shape of the tree is even more marked
:he case of smaller trees, and the number of branches treated in this.
manner must seriously interfere with and retard their growth.

FIG. $64.— A young 8ft. Deodar Sapling with tup
girdled 16 in. down by Scolytus deodara, Steb.
Jaunsar, N.W. Himalaya. (J. W. Oliver, photo.)

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

In saplings the maximum amount of damage is observable, as the
girdling of the leading shoot and side shoots leads to misshapen trees
which are easily recognizable in plantations. Fig. 364 shows a young
sapling with its leading shoot cut off by this insect. The photograph was
taken in the forest by Mr. J. W. Oliver, I.F.S. Fig. 365 shows the top of
another sapling (from a photograph by Mr. H. Jackson, I.F.S.) in which
two side shoots have taken the place of the girdled leader.

The work of the girdler is easily seen. If the end of the girdled branch
is examined a por-
tion of the groove
made by the beetle
is always discer-
nible. Also owing
to the deep groove
cut by the beetle
and the h e a v y
weight of the nee-
dle-bearing branch
above it, the latter
very soon bends
over and hangs
down (until it does
this there is no-
thing to show that
the branch has
been attacked, save
the small entrance-
hole from which
resin exudes), at-
tached by a few
shreds of bark and
wood to the branch
below the cut, and
a certain amount
of resin exudes a-
round the groove.
This pendent posi-
tion of the green branches renders fresh attacks at once perceivable in the
forest, and more especially is it visible in young plantations. Conse-
quently, the amount of damage being done by the beetles, once the life
history is clearly understood, is easily discernible.

A curious fact I have observed about the insect is that it appears
to be very local in its distribution, occurring year after year in certain
comparatively small areas of forest, and being apparently almost entirely
absent from other regions. This point is of importance, since if it

Kl<;. 365. — A, Deodar branch -irclk'd in two pines at i and 2 by
the Deodar Hranch Girdler (S. deodara). i:. Leading shoot ot a
10 in. deodar sapling girdled at 3 bv -V. tlcoilarti. Two side shoots
are taking the girdled leader's place. Jaunsar, X.\V. Himalaya.
(H. Jackson, photo.)

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

true it should be possible to ascertain its local distribution and ex-
terminate it.

A second point of importance is that the insect has been found invariably
in pure deodar forests, the greatest damage being caused in young pure
pi mtations. It is much rarer in mixed forests, a point worthy of some
nsideration.

Sub-Family 3.— SAK'I IDK.VI ATAI .

Ld;;es of middle jaw fringed with bristles. The sub-family contains the tribes
G/rthvlinae ed in the Indian forest; and Xyleborinae.

Tribe XYLEBORIXAE.

The first joint of the labial palp swollen, and furnished on the inner

: with a beard of hairs. Includes the very important and large genus

Xylchont'-,, and the genus Xyloterm, of which one species only is known from

In':

XYLEBORUS.

The genus Xyleboms includes a vast number of species of small form
and great economic importance in the East.

Xyleborus fallax, Eichhoff.

'.hhoff, Kalio Tomic. p. 508 fi^j'j) ; Stubbing (Tomicus shoreae), Undescr. Scolyt. Ind.

if, ; id. Ass. Sal Ins. Pests, /-'or. Hull. no. n, p.

Habitat. —Assam, Bengal lJuars.

Tree Attacked. — Sal (Shorea rohwda). Goal para, Assam ; Jalpaiguri Sal
I -rests, Du,

Beetle.— Elongate, rather slender, with an elongate convex reddish thorax and dark

tra. I'rotho: •• -fifth longer than broad. Moderately strongly rugose-punctate

anteriorly with :i f>:". scattered yellow hairs ; finely pitted on posterior

Description. portion with irregular fine transverse lines and striations. Klytra

irregularly punctate, with an ill-defined stria not reaching base and

the sun. • api'.nl fleelivity of elytra furnished with three prominent teeth on

each side and three smaller ones. ;ittered hairs on the surface. Under-surface

slightly punctate and sp .em. Legs and antennae yellowish red. Length. 3.1 mm.

(Figs. 4 and 5, pi. 1

I have taken this insect only sparingly. Specimens were found on

if> May tunnelling down into the sapwood of a green

Life History. sal-tree felled in the Kachugaon Forest on the I3th

of the month. The beetles were tunnelling into the

main trunk Ranger ii. Sen Gupta cut out some specimens of this insect

in the Jalpaiguri forests in the Bengal Duars.
1 the information at present available on the species.

FA M I L Y SC O LYT I U AE

583

Xyleborus perforans, Wollaston.

REFERENCES.— Wollaston, Ca*. Col. Mader. 96, $ $ (1857); Blandford, Bull. R' .ardens,

Keu ("Sept. i8f>oj ; Xyleborus sp., Stebbing, Depart. Notes, i, 406.

Habitat. — Sivvaliks, N". India; Goalpara, Assam; Tharrawaddy Forests,
Lower Burma; Mysore. Also reported from Bombay, Calcutta, Rangoon.

Tree and Wood Attacked. — Sal (Shorea robmta): Siwaliks and Goalpani :
Anogeissus latifolia : Kadin Bilin, Tharrawaddy; Areca catechu: Mysore;
Beer-casks.

Beetle,— Elongate, cylindrical. Red-brown. Head punctate, with a brush of hair
mouth. Prothorax semi-cylindrical, longer than broad ; base truncate, the basal angles

rounded, apex strongly rounded ; anterior fourth with close trans-
Description, verse asperities, becoming less defined but continued to middle on
sides, rest smooth, punctate, more closely so on sides ; a sparse

covering of spiny hairs anteriorly. Scutellum transverse. Elytra wider than prod.
behind, about half as long again, humeral angles rounded, sides slightly widened from behind

Pi

Xyleborux perforans, \Voll.

in Anogeissus latifolia.

Tharrawaddy.

r IG. 367.

Xylelinrtt ; perforate, Woll.

in Anogeissus latifolia.

Tharrawaddy.

f I

Xyleborus fierfurans, \Vol
in Areca cat»:ckn.

humeral .iterior fourth, thence rounded to apex: .nctures rather '.

and shallow ; apical portion strongly but obliquely declivous and rial' 'h small

pointed tubercles : the apical portion clothed with e spiny yellow i .red

with sp;: y hairs. Length, 1.9 mm. to 2.4 n

This little Xyleborus has a wide distribution in the country and app»-

to infest a number of timber species.

Life History. In North India the beetle appear- <>\\ the \v in-

wards the end of April, this being in ;dl probability th»-

first generation of the \ ear. The beetle tunnels down into th>- v/ood of the
sal-tree and lays its I ially goes straight into tl, 1: but

at times, after reach it '-.rtain depth in tfi- 1, thr \»-<-ll>: turns

and carries the gallery at right . its for. • . If the

bark is still on th >:ry n, through the bark in thi>

manner instead of in the ><\. It is carried for abou*

inches, and then the beetle again ch tl lirection a.nd br^res rlown

into the heart-wood. Th i not appear to conhr !f to f;

k or wood for its operations, but at th»: -.ame tinr; I have not found it

584 FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

in very dry wood. In the latter, old galleries of previous years were
discoverable, but no new ones or beetles. From this it would seem to be
possible that these wood-borers — and the same has been noted in several
other instances — confine their attacks to a certain condition of the wood
during its seasoning process. When the wood has reached a definite degree
of dryness they will no longer attack it. The beetles when discovered on
24 April were egg-laying.

I subsequently found this Xyleborus in some numbers tunnelling into
the sapwood of a green sal-tree felled on 13 May 1906 at Kachugaon, in
Goalpara. The beetles were mostly taken between the i6th and 2Oth of that
month. They were all found in the sapwood and had not yet penetrated
down into the heart-wood. They were here tunnelling into absolutely
fresh wood full of sap, apparently with the object of egg-laying.

Whilst in Lower Burma in 1905 I noticed this scolytid appearing
in some numbers on the evening of 21 January just before sunset, in the
T.harrawaddy forests. I obtained no specimens of the insect on sub-
sequent evenings, and it became apparent that on the evening in question
a swarm of this insect had just reached maturity and left the tree or
plant the insect infests. The insects were flying around and inside the
Myaungbinzin Bungalow, built of teak and thatched with grass, bamboos
being used in the construction of the walls. The teak posts and rafters
and the bamboos used in the construction of the bungalow were earth-
oiled, so it was not definitely ascertainable that the insect came from
either of them.

On the following day, however, I found the first beetles of the year
mature and maturing in a large felled Anogeissus tree. The tree had
been felled in a tounggya clearing in the previous year (May). These
clearings are made in the forest with the object of creating teak plantations,
the grantee being allowed to fell the trees, fire the area, and then to take a
crop of rice off the area provided he sows on it at the same time teak seed
at intervals of 6 ft. by 6 ft.

m/

The wood of the large tree in question was still fresh, although the bark
was dry in the upper part.

A few belated white curved larvae were also found at the bottom of

the egg-tunnels. The female beetle tunnels straight through the bark

down into the sapwood for a certain distance, and then the tunnel

to the right or left. At the bottom of the tunnel she lays four to six

larvae appear to be ambrosia feeders, as they do not feed upon

The beetles, when mature, crawl up the mother egg-gallery and

cape from the tree. The beetles mature and maturing on 22 January

were issuing to lay the eggs of the first generation of the year, i.e. the first

The beetle was infesting the tree in company with the
platypids Platypus rectangulatus and P. solidus (p. 623).

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 585

Specimens of this scolytid were sent to me by the Mycologist of the
Mysore Agricultural Department, with the information that they seriously
infested Areca catechu trees.

The life history of this insect, in reference to its attacks on beer-casks,
had to a great extent been worked out by Mr. W. F. Blandford. In the
latter part of the 'eighties of last century it was discovered that serious
damage was being done to beer-casks in India. It was at first attributed
to European scolytids of the genus Typodendron, and it was thought
that the casks were riddled in Europe. Subsequent investigation brought
to light the fact that in some cases the damage was done to the cask
either on board ship, as casks were discovered to be leaking on being
landed at Bombay, or after reaching India.

The beetle tunnels down into the wood to oviposit. The females eat
out tunnels in the wood which branch a great deal.

This Xyleborus has acquired a world-wide reputation. It has been
known for over thirty years as a destructive beer-cask borer in India,
and occasionally causes considerable loss by riddling the staves, thus
causing a leakage of the beer.0 About 1892 it appeared in connection
with another industry, that of the sugar-cane in the West Indies, where,
under the well-known name of the "shot borer," it has committed
serious havoc. In 1900 a Xyleborus was reported in this connection from
Bengal, and it is considered to be either identical with, or closely allied to,
X. perforans.

Whether an insect known to be a dry-wood borer will at the same time
bore into a plant such as the sugar cane is a point open to very considerable
doubt, and a careful examination of all the specimens so reported would
appear to be required to set the matter at rest. As the writer pointed out,
however, in an article on sugar-cane pests written in 1900, and published in
the Indian Museum Notes, t if these should on further examination prove to be
identical, it will greatly aid its increase should the wood it affects be
lying in the neighbourhood after the removal of the green crop.

This Xyleborus is another addition to the lengthening list of the sal
wood-borers. I first took it in April 1901, in a wood

RelatForest° ^ dePot in the siwaliks> attacking logs which had been
felled in the cold weather of 1000-1901. Further
observations are required on its life history in order that a correct estimate
may be made as to the damage it is capable of doing to stores of wood.

Investigations in subsequent years tend to prove that the beetle
commences its depredations on the timber whilst still green and full
of sap. Up to what stage in the drying or seasoning of the timber it
will continue its attacks is nt present doubtful. The fact that, accord-
ing to Blandford, this species attacks the dry seasoned wood of beer
casks, that another report makes it a sugar-cane pest, whilst Sampson

* Vide Injur. Ins. In<l. Forests, p. 65. f /fit/. Mi/x. \<<t. v, p. 72.

586 FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

identifies the species tunnelling into half-dry and green sal wood in the
Siwaliks and Goalpara (two localities with very different climates), green
Anogeissus in Tharrawaddy, and green Arecu in Mysore, as perforans, con-
siderably complicates the question of the true habits of the species. From
the study of the habits so far as carried at present, I incline to the belief
that the insect here given as perforans may possibly be found to consist of
two or more distinct species or sub-species.

Xyleborus gravidus, Blandford.

REFERENCE.— Blandford, Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond. 427 (1898).

Habitat.— Chittagong Hill Tracts.

Tree Attacked. — Mahogany (Swietenia mahogani, Linn.). Kaptai.

Beetle.— $ Short, robust, very convex, somewhat shining, bright reddish testaceous, the
elytra ferruginous, darker posteriorly ; pubescence sparse, fulvous. Head very large, globose ;

front more shining towards the mouth, with scattered rather large
Description. punctures ; eyes oblong. Prothorax ample, broader than long,

strongly convex, the sides slightly, the apex more strongly rounded,

the latter with two prominent median blackish tubercles ; surface with large transverse
asperities anteriorly, closer towards the middle, posteriorly punctured closely and distinctly on
sides, obsoletely medianly, where there is a dense tuft of short upstanding hairs just above the
scutellum, the remaining pubescence scanty. Elytra strongly declivous and retuse from before
the middle to the apex, about a third longer than prothorax, separately rounded at base ;
surface convex from the base to the declivity, with indistinct rows of feeble punctures, the flat
interstices with finer scattered irregular punctures ; declivity sub-abruptly rounded above into
the cylindrical portion, margined at the sides and apex with an acute ridge ; surface of
declivity with sub-impressed rows of shallow punctures carrying long fine hairs, interstices flat.
Under-side and legs testaceous, the tibiae closely and finely serrate. Length, 4.5 mm.

Mr. Blandford mentions that it is possible that the specimens from which he described
the insect were immature, and that the colour of the beetle may be blackish.

Specimens of this beetle, together with Scolytoplatypus brahma (p. 607),

were sent to the Indian Museum from the Chittagong

Life History. Hill Tracts by the Divisional Forest Officer with the

report that they were destructive to mahogany-trees.

I have been unable to trace the further history of the specimens. They in
all probability came from Kaptai on the Karnafuli River, where there is a
small mahogany plantation. I was never able, however, to find the insect
there myself, although I searched for it on several occasions in 1899-1900.

The insects were sent from the Indian Museum amongst some
Bostrychidae to M. Lesne at the Paris Museum for identification, and by
him were forwarded to Mr. Blandford.

The insect may be identical with a scolytid which infests the mahogany
at Nilumbur in Madras, but that has yet to be proved.

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 587

Xyleborus mancus, Blandford.

REFERENCE. — Blandford, Trans. Ent. Soc. Land. 428 (1898).

Habitat. — Ceylon.

Tree Attacked. — Cocoa-tree (Theobroma cacao}.

Beetle. — °- Front of head convex, sub-opaque, rather closely and finely punctate, with a
short shining elevated longitudinal line above the middle of the shining blackish epistoma ;

eyes rather deeply emarginate. Sides of the prothorax nearly

Description. straight behind the middle, with a black conspicuous patch of

piliferous punctures near the base. Elytra darker apically, nearly

black, the apical declivity not very opaque, not concave on either side, but gradually raised
towards the suture, with a somewhat irregular surface, the rows of punctures somewhat
wavy, the punctures rather large shallow subnitid impressions, the interstitial punctures not
perceptible. Length, 3.3 mm.

On a first study of diseased cocoa-trees in Ceylon, Mr. E. E. Green,

Government Entomologist, forwarded to Mr. Blandford

Life History. three species of Scolytidae and Platypodidae which

he believed were responsible for the attack. The

Scolytidae proved to be Xyleborus semigranosus, Xyleborus fornicatus, and

Xvlcborus (Eccoptopterus) sc.\xpinosus. At the same time Mr. Green stated

that he was not satisfied that the beetles were the real source of the disease,

as a fungus was also present. Subsequently Mr. Green sent two other

Scolytidae who were really responsible for the damage done. These proved

to be new to science, and were described by Mr. Blandford as Xyleboriis

mancus and Xyleborus discolor.

On the subject of the damage done Mr. Green wrote :—

" I am of opinion that the beetles first sent were not primarily
responsible for the injury, and this opinion has been corroborated
by the discovery of a fungus in all the diseased specimens of bark
submitted to Kew.

" I am now forwarding two more species of scolvtid beetles that
are found in the younger branches of the cocoa-tree, which really
are injurious to the plant. They form their tunnels in what appears
to be healthy wood, and rapidly cause the death of the parts
attacked. A dark chocolate or purplish stain spreads through the
tissues of the wood surrounding the galleries of the insect."

Xyleborus discolor, Blandford.
K'I • KKKENCE. — Blajadford, Trans. Ent. Soc, Lond, i ••• •
Habitat.— Tista Division, Bengal if. C. Carroll); Ceylon.

Trees Attacked. — Nahor (Mcsiui fcrrcu] : Tista Division : Cocoa-tree
(Theobroma cjcao).

588 FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

Beetle.— $ Very small. Short cylindrical, bright testaceous, elytra black. Head dull,
the front rather finely punctate, with a fine raised median longitudinal line. Prothorax as

long as broad, the sides nearly straight behind, gradually rounded to
Description. the apex in an ellipse ; surface in front with small granular eleva-

tions, very finely punctured behind with a brush of short erect

fulvous hairs medianly. Elytra as long as prothorax, cylindrical, abruptly truncate behind
the middle, shining black, finely punctate, the punctures of the rows and interstices scarcely
separable from each other ; apex strongly declivous, circular, covered with very short fulvous
pubescence and thence sub-opaque, finely striate, the interstices quite flat. Under-side and
legs bright testaceous, the anterior tibiae narrow. Length, 1.8 mm.

The bright testaceous colour of body, black elytra, and fulvous downy pubescence of the
sharply curtailed extremities, render it easy to recognize.

Specimens of this Xyleborus were forwarded to the Forest Zoologist,
Dehra, together with X. inter jectus and Xyleborus sp., by Mr. J. C. Carroll,
I.F.S., from the Tista Division in Bengal, in August 1910. Only the
beetle was obtained, it having been found infesting twigs of Mesuaferrea.
Mr. Carroll wrote: "The inquiry is made in connexion with an extensive
mortality which is occurring in this division amongst the nahor-trees, and
'I would mention that extensive fungal infection has also been found in the
trees that have died. Whether the beetle attack follows the fungal attack
or vice versa I cannot ascertain, and I should be glad of your opinion as
to whether the beetle attack alone would be sufficient to cause the death
of large trees."

As described under Xyleborus mancus above, this beetle was reported
as causing injury to the branches of the cocoa-tree in Ceylon.

Xyleborus interjectus, Blandford.

REFERENCE. — Blandford, Trans. Ent. Soc. Land. 576 (1894).

Habitat. — Tista Division, Bengal (J. C. Carroll). Also reported from
Japan, China.

Tree Attacked.— Nahor (M esua ferrea). Tista Division.

Beetle. — Oblong, piceous black, shining, antennae and legs ferruginous. Thorax squarish,
the sides and apex rounded, finely punctate anteriorly ; elytra cylindrical, scarcely half as

long again as the thorax, convex ; striate-punctate, the lines of

Description. punctures non-impressed, the interstices flat, with long close seriate

bristles, which arise even up to the base from punctures which have

at least the anterior margin elevated, so as to be subtuberculate ; apex obliquely depressed
and convex, striate-punctate and tuberculate, the interstices scarcely convex. Length, 3.4 mm.

This species greatly resembles Eichhoffs X. validus, a common
Japanese species infesting firs.

As already mentioned, .Y. interjectus was sent from the Tista Division
Mr. Carroll in company with Y. discolor. It tunnels into the twigs of
Mesuaferrea.

Xyleborus sp.

Species of Xyleborus, as yet undetermined, were sent in company with
discolor and interjectus as infesting Mesuaferrea in the Tista Division.

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 589

Xyleborus semigranosus, Blandford.

REFERENCE. — Blandford, Trans. Ent. Soc. Land. p. 211 (1896).

Habitat. — Ceylon. Also reported from Sumatra.

Tree Attacked. — Cocoa-tree (Theobroma cacao) (E. E. Green).

Beetle — Oblong, slightly shining, ferruginous red, darker behind. Front of head rather
strongly punctured, the mouth fringed with pale hairs ; antennae pale testaceous. Prothorax

as long as broad, strongly rounded at the apex, the sides very slightly

Description. curved, hind angles obtuse but not rounded, the base truncate ;

surface with a very slight transverse median elevation, scantily but

uniformly pubescent with fine hairs, in front convexly declivous with granular asperites, some-
what irregular and scattered towards the apical margin, behind the middle cylindrico-convex ;
finely punctured, the punctures stronger over the middle portion, median smooth line absent.
Scutellum triangular, shining. Elytra as wide as prothorax and about a third longer, base
truncate, shoulders rounded rectangular, sides parallel, abruptly inflexed at apex, the apical
margins sharply bordered below ; surface very finely and apparently confusedly punctate ;
declivity beginning before the middle, depressed, opaque without evident striation ; very finely
and closely granulate and set with single series of rather long upstanding hair-. Under-
surface darker, tibiae rounded above and finely serrate. Length, 2.4 mm.

Specimens of this insect were forwarded to Mr. W. F. Blandford by

Mr. E. E. Green as causing injury to the cocoa-tree

Life History. (Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond. pt. iv, 1898). The beetles

tunnel into the wood to oviposit. The insect was first

reported from Sumatra, where it is a pest of the tobacco.

Xyleborus fornicatus, Eichhoff.

REFERENCES. — Eichhoff, Berl. Ent. Zeitschr. xii, 151 (1868); Blandford, '1 i-m:\. l-'nt. Soc. Lond.

p. 213 (1896).

Habitat. — Ceylon.

Trees Attacked. — Tea (Camellia thcifolia ), Cocoa (Theobroma cacao)
(E. E. Green).

Beetle. — Very small, oblong, rather shining, varying from pallid testaceous to pitchy-
fuscous, with long, sparse, erect setae. Front of head somewhat flattened, with an indistinct

longitudinal elevation, shining, obsolctcly punctate; eyes smull,
Description. narrow. Prothorax much broader than long, sides sub-parallel.

apex very obtusely rounded, hind angles sub-rectangular, base

transverse ; surface strongly convex from base to apex, somewhat flattened in front, apical
half with very scattered granules, weaker behind, the basal half finely reticulate. t<H>l\
punctured at the sides only. Elytra as wide as and nearly a half longer than thr prot'norax,
with gently curved sides narrowed behind and broadly rounded at tin: apex ; surface pul-
vinate, obliquely declivous and somewhat flattened from the anterior third, punctate at the
base, with scattered weak punctures on the interstices ; declivity weakly striate, the interstices
sub-convex, with elevate piltferous points. Antennae and legs light testaceous. Length.
1.4 mm.

59o FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

This small Xylcborus has proved a pest of considerable impor-
tance in Ceylon, where it has caused destruction to tea and cocoa
plants. Mr. E. E. Green, who has studied its attacks, reports that the
beetles tunnel into the living branches of the bushes, eating out ramifying
tunnels in the wood, having a diameter of i.i mm. to 1.2 mm. These
tunnels are at times so numerous as to kill the infested branches.

Xyleborus bengalensis, Stebbing.

REFERENCES.— Stebbing (Dryocoetes), Undesr. Scolytid. Ind. Reg. Ind. For. Mem. Zool. Ser. i, pt. i,
p. 12 (1906) ; Assam Sal Ins. Pests, For. Bull. no. n, p. 38 (1907).

Habitat. — Assam.

Tree Attacked.— Sal (Shorea robusta). Goal para Sal Forests.

Beetle. — Short, oblong, convex. Reddish brown. Head with fine transverse striae
laterally beneath the eyes ; front punctate. Prothorax but little longer than broad, base

truncate, humeral angles sharp, not rounded ; sides and apex rounded.

Description. Disk convex medianly, depressed anteriorly, flat posteriorly, granu-

lose, the granulations fine, with the interspaces smooth and

shining ; the posterior half of disk is almost smooth, especially on sides ; surface set with
long golden-yellow hairs. Scutellum large, blunt-elliptical, very shining, smooth. Elytra
broader than thorax at point of junction with latter and one-sixth as long, truncate at base,
Matter slightly sinuate medianly. humeral angles rounded, sides scarcely sinuate, slightly
dilated apically, apex pointed medianly ; surface shining, slightly convex basally and
depressed before middle, and strongly declivous apically ; basal area almost smooth, with
longitudinal rows of faintly marked punctures ; apical declivity slightly convex, set with
rows of fine, rounded elevations, which form a continuation of the rows of faint punctures
on the basal half, and with fine, sparse, yellow, spiny pubescence. Length, 2.8 mm. (PI. Ix,
fig- 3-) The type on which the species was describe i is damaged. It is doubtful, therefore,
whether the species will stand.

This beetle infests the sal (Shorea robusta) in the Goalpara forests of

Assam. The female beetle has been taken tunnelling

Life History. into the sapwood of green newly felled trees in the

middle of May. It was ascertained that the beetles

will bore into the trees within a couple of months of their being felled.

Xyleborus major, Stebbing.

REFERENCES.— Stebbing (Phloeosinus), Undescr. Scolyt. of Ind. Regions, Ind. For. Mem. Zool. Ser. vol. i,
pt. ii, 19 (1909) ; id. Assam Sal Insect Pests, Ind. For. Bull. no. u, p. 36 (1907).

Habitat. — Assam.

Tree Attacked. — Sal (Shorea robusta). Goalpara Sal Forests.

Beetle.— Robust and thick ; moderately shining. Head and prothorax reddish. Elytra
dark reddish-brown. Head large, front smooth and dull medianly, at the sides of the eyes

and posteriorly punctate, the punctures large and confluent, tailing

Description. off behind and above the eyes; a fringe of yellow hairs at base of

mandibles. Prothorax but slightly broader than long, very convex,

ilminating in a prominent peak on centre of disk ; covered with sharp spiky prominences
icales on anterior portion, these decreasing in size behind and laterally ; the depressed

PLATE LX.

11 12

i. \'i, Xylcliorus majflT , Steb. ; \l>, borings in s;Il wood of Xyleb >rns major, Steb. ; 2, Dryocoetes
minor, Steb. : 3. Xvlci'orits bengalensis, Sicli. : 4. :,, Xyleborus fallax, Eichh., $ and $ beetles ;
6, Xyleborus >(////,////. Steb. ; 7. .\'r/i-/><>r/t.< perforans^ \V. ; 8, Platypus ci<rttts, Chap. ; 9,
Ilia fin \ quinquespinatus, ('hap. : in. /.I'miost's sp. ; 10^, borinjjs of Zemioses s|). in sal wood :
1 1, Platysoma .' sp. ; 12. /

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 591

area posteriorly smooth, shining, and finely pitted. Sparsely clothed with long yellow hairs
anteriorly. Elytra not wider than thorax, not quite twice as long, moderately convex, sides
straight to apical declivity, thence rather sharply constricted to apex ; surface dull with
feebly impressed rows of small punctures, the sutural striae more defined apically ; the de-
clivity moderate, set with small spiky prominences and clothed with a sparse long yellow
pubescence. Under-surface dark brown, abdominal segments punctate, with a spiny seta in
each puncture. Antennae and legs brown, shining. Length, 5.4 mm. to 5.8 mm. PI. Ix,
.figs. I and i a, shows this beetle, and fig. i b the borings in sal wood.

Larva. — Short, thick, white, but slightly curved, legless. Body corrugated. Length,
5.8 mm.

Pupa. — Short, thick, whitish yellow, having a resemblance to the beetle.

The Xyleborus, which is the largest of the scolytid borers at present

known as infesting the sal-tree, bores a single tunnel down

Life History. through the bark into the sapwood. This is probably

the work of the male. It goes in for about half an inch.

At the end the insect hollows out a pairing-chamber. Two females are
apparently fertilized here by the male, or possibly sometimes three. After
pairing, each female tunnels away at an angle from the pairing-chamber,
either to the right or left, or if there are three females the third will go
directly downwards. In the gallery of a female carried to the right which
was examined on 20 May I took out, about two inches down, two pupae
and three nearly mature beetles (males and females). They were all in the
one gallery, to which there were no offshoots, and had a diameter equal to
that of the tunnel in which they closely fitted. As there \vere no offshoots
to the egg-tunnel nor any indication of the grubs having lived upon \vood,
it is probable that they belong to the class of ambrosia feeders and live upon
fungous growths lining the walls of the tunnels. The question arises, Are
the pupae and nearly mature beetles found in the wood in the latter part
of May those of the first generation of the year ? I think this possible.
Beetles wrere also found tunnelling into newly felled trees within four days
of the latter being cut, evidently with the object of pairing and egg-laying.
It is thus probable that there are at least two, if not more, generations in
the year.

The beetle itself bores down into living green wood of standing trees,

which is a peculiar habit (pi. Ix, fig. i b). It probably

^nTthe Forest. onb7 infests sickly trees with stag-headed tops, but it is

never found in the dead parts of the tree. Several green

standing trees infested were examined. The dead tops invariably showed
that they had been tunnelled into in previous years by the beetle. Below
the dead parts near the junction of the old dead and the live green wood
it will be found at work. The beetle ruins the timber of the tree when
very numerous.

592 FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

Xyleborus schlichii, Stebbing.

REFERENCE. — Assam Sal Ins. Pests (Acanthotomicus truncatus), For. Bull. no. n, p. 40 (1907).

Habitat. — Assam .

Tree Attacked. — Sal (Shorea robusta). Goalpara, Assam.

Beetle. — Short, compact, with elytra abruptly truncate behind, the truncation being
circular in section. Head and thorax reddish yellow, elytra dark ferruginous brown. Head

smooth, shining, vertex covered with very fine reticulations, the front
Description. rugose with a few small prominences, a sparse fringe of longish

hairs over base of mandibles. Thorax longer than broad, very convex

in anterior half, depressed in posterior, sides rounded apically, posterior outer angles bluntly
rounded, base truncate; surface set with scaly asperations, smallest apically, becoming larger
and denser centrally, tailing away behind and on sides, where the scales are replaced by fine
striations and reticulations ; the posterior depressed area with very fine reticulations and
scattered fine punctures. Scutellum small, rounded. Elytra as long as thorax, smooth, with
irregularly impressed striae carrying a few very shallow punctures, the intervals shining smooth
or dull, and set with very fine reticulations; apex abruptly truncate, the declivity being
circular in section, impressed, with three vertical rows of rather large shallow punctures in
each half and sharp teeth on the sutures, the sutural ones at the top of the declivity being
most prominent ; a few spiny hairs on declivity. Under-surface reddish yellow, set with yellow
hairs on anterior portion. Abdominal segments punctate, legs and antennae yellow-brown,
latter pubescent. Length, 3 mm. to 3.2 mm. PL Ix, fig. 6, depicts a dorsal and side view
of this beetle.

This small Xyleborus was taken plentifully at Kachugaon in Goalpara in

the latter part of May 1906. It tunnels down into the

Life History. wood of fresh-felled or sickly standing trees, apparently

laying its eggs deep down in the sapwood. The beetles

were engaged in egg-laying during the latter half of May.

Xyleborus sp.

REKERENCE. — Stebbing (Dolurgus), Assam Sal Ins. Pests, For. Bull. no. n, p. 38 (1907).

Habitat. — Assam.

Tree Attacked. — Sal (Shorea robusta). Goalpara Sal Forests.

Beetle.— Elongate, slender, reddish brown. Apical portions of elytra sharply constricted

into blunt points, antennal club with two transverse bands of light yellow hairs. Thorax con-
stricted behind and truncate anteriorly, trim-
Description, cation blackish and finely asperate ; the disk
shining and very finely punctate. Elytra

constricted sharply to a point behind ; basal portion red and finely

punctate ; the remainder becomes blacker in colour as apex is

reached, the surface scaly and punctate and clothed with scattered

yellow hairs. The curious constricted apices of the elytra are a

marked characteristic of this insect. Length one-sixth of an inch.

The species remains undetermined, as only a single
individual has been taken.

A specimen of this scolytid was found tunnelling
wn through the bark of "the sal-tree felled in the FIG. 369.

:hugaon Forest on 13 May. The beetle was taken on Xyleborus sp. in
the l6th. s£l wood in Assam.

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

593

FIG. 370.

andrewesi,

, in S/iorea

Xorth Coimbatore.

Xyleborus andrewesi, Blandford.

REFERENCE. — Blandford, Trans. Ent. Soc. p. 227 (1896).

Habitat. — North Coimbatore, Madras. Also taken in Belgaum by
Andrewes.

Tree Attacked. —Shorea talura. Dhimbum, North Coimbatore.

Beetle.— Elongate, cylindrical, elytra constricted apically. Red-
brown. Prothorax anteriorly and apical two-thirds of elytra darker

to almost black. Prothorax slightly longer

Description. than wide, widest across middle, base

• straight, basal angles slightly truncate, apex

strongly rounded; anterior two-fifths with rather close small transverse
asperities, decreasing in size inwardly from apex, being replaced on
rest of surface by fine shallow punctures, the apex with some sparse
yellow setae. Elytra but slightly wider than prothorax at base,
humeral angles oblique, sides constricted behind latter, thence
slightly widened to apical third and thence sharply constricted ;
striate-punctate, the punctures of uniform size and placed rather
close together ; the interspaces smooth and bearing rows of long
white stiff setae ; the declivity oblique, occupying half the elytra,
punctate and set with sharp tubercular asperities and long stiff spiny setae. LTnder-surface
light red-brown, shining, punctate. Legs and antennae reddish yellow. Length, i.S mm.

The beetle is to be found egg-laying in the first week in August. On

the bark of the tree a largish circular orifice is made of

Life History. considerably greater diameter than the insect itself.

This orifice reaches down to the sapwood. It is

apparently commenced by one beetle, probably the male, and then enlarged
subsequently by the other, the female. In the sapwood a short, vertical,
funnel-shaped hole narrowing inwards is hollowed out, this being the
pairing-chamber. After fertilization the female insect eats out a tunnel
down into the sapwood, this tunnel taking off from the upper part of the

funnel-shaped opening. The tunnel
is straight, not winding, and goes
down into the sapwood at an angle.
The eggs appear to be laid at the
bottom of the tunnel, but I have
not ascertained exactly how they
are laid, as in the only attacks
observed the beetles were just com-
mencing to oviposit, the egg-tunnel
being still incomplete. The insects
observed engaged in this operation
were taken on 6 August 1902.

The beetles oviposit in newly

felled green timber, and, owing to their small size, the damage done is not
great unless the beetles occur in large numbers. In the latter case the
value of the wood would be seriously impaired.

9003 P p

FIG. 371. — Tunnel of Xyleborus
Blandford, in heart-wood of sal (Shorea talnrti\.
a, entrance-hole of <$ and £ beetles ; /•, pairing-
chamber ; c, egg-tunnel in heart-wood.

594

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

Xyleborus parvulus, Eichhoft.

REFERKMCE. — Eichhoff, Berl. Eiit. Zeitschr. vol. 12, p. 152 (1868).

Habitat. — Siwaliks, Northern India ; South Malabar. Madras.

Trees Attacked. — Odina wodier: Shajehanpur, Siwaliks ; Buchanania
latifolia : Karwapani, Dehra Dun ; Unknown : Karimponga Plantation,
Nilumbur.

Beetle.— Elongate, cylindrical. Red-brown, moderately shining ; under-surface lighter,

h-_;s and antennae orange-brown. Head hidden by prothorax, punctate, front convex. Pro-
thorax longer than wide,
Description, base truncate, sides
straight, apex rounded :

anterior third with large transverse asperi

lies decreasing in size and giving place to

reticulations mcdianly on disk ; posterior

half punctate, smooth ; sides and apex

wi.th sparse long spiny setae. Scutellum

large, heart-shaped, blackish brown.

'1

FIG. 372.

Xyleborus pari'iilns
Eichhoff, in Odina
Siwaliks.

FIG. 373.

Xylebortts farvulus,

Eichhoff. Nilumbur,
Malabar.

Elytra nearly half as long again as pro-
thorax, scarcely wider than latter at base,
slightly wider apically ; strongly punctate,
the punctures large, shallow, often becom-
ing reticulate ; the suture thickened and
lil.n:kish : declivity rather sharp, with a black pointed tubercle near upper part and close
to suture and a much smaller one laterally and higher up ; punctate, with scattered stiff
setae which are also present on sides of elytra. Under-surface punctate, tibiae dentate and
spincd. Length, 2 mm. to 2.3 mm.

This small scolytid oviposits in the dying timber of Odina wodier. At
the beginning of December 1902 I took a number of

Life History. the beetles from tunnels in the wood in which they were
maturing. The trees in which they were found had

been felled over in coppice fellings made between the previous January and
March. I was able to ascertain the fact that the female lays several eggs
at the bottom of the egg-tunnel, which is driven into the solid wood.

At the commencement of February 1906 a generation of this insect
w;is found maturing in a standing tree of 2ft. girth. The bark showed
numerous shot-holes on the outside, and on removing it these holes were
seen to penetrate the sapwood. An inspection showed that the tunnels
in the sapwood were carried from varying distances inwards, but that the
majority went down to the centre of the heart-wood. The upper part of the
tunnel at its entrance into the sapwood was in most cases blocked by the
dead body of the mother beetle. After completing the egg-tunnel in the
wood and laying her eggs in it, she had retired up it and died near the
entrance, thus effectually blocking it against intruders.

The egg-tunnel is carried as mentioned to near the centre of the tree
by the female insect, and her eggs are laid at the bottom of it. On hatching

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAK

595

out the grubs appear to feed close together side by side, eating out a broad
gallery or tunnel in the heart-wood whose direction is at right angles to the
mother tunnel, the gallery taking off from the bottom of the mother tunnel.
This broad gallery made by the larvae gradually increases in width with
their growth. On reaching full size the grubs pupate /';/ situ, and from the
pupae the beetles gradually mature.

At the beginning of February these broad larval galleries each contained
from twenty-five to thirty beetles in them just maturing or mature. This
would indicate that each female lays at least twenty-five to thirty eggs.

The heart -wood of the tree examined contained a number of the broad
larval galleries, from the narrower end of which the egg-tunnel took off at
right angles, running up into the sapwood and bark.

FlG. 374. — Egg-tunnel and larval gallery of XyL'/'orn.t parvulus, Eichhoff,
in the wood of Biichanania latifolia. A, gallery made by larva in heart-wood (/),
with base of egg-tunnel (e] ; B, egg-tunnel (e) and larval-gallery (7). Siwaliks,
Northern India. (K. P. S.)

The egg-tunnel had evidently been eaten out and the eggs laid in the
autumn of 1905, and the beetles arising from these eggs would issue about
March or the beginning of April.

I have not yet ascertained how many generations the insect passes
through in the year.

The chief importance of this insect is in the damage it causes to the
heart-wood of the tree. In the case examined the

Damage Committed whoje of thfi timber was worthless for anything Save
in the forest. °

firewood. When the insect attacks a tree in the

numbers here observable it also weakens it owing to the- large number of
holes riddling the cambium layer. The tree in question had died, and every-
thing pointed to the fact that the beetles had killed it.

The Buchanania is of some importance in the Sivvalik Forests, as it
helps the sal-tree to cover the ground and thus prevent denudation and
impoverishment of the soil.

I calculated that some 10,000 to 12,000 beetles at least were destroyed
in the infested tree examined, which I had felled, cut up, and burnt.

p p 2

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

I took an individual of this species which came into a bungalow at
night, attracted by the light. The bungalow is situated in the Karimponga
teak plantation, in the middle of the forest at the foot of the Ootacamund
Hills. The insect was captured on 27 August 1902.

Xyleborus hagedorm, Stebbing, sp. nov.

REFERENCE.— This insect was submitted to Dr. Max Hagedorn, who kindly prepared drawings of the
mouth parts, antennae, and fore leg. These I propose to publish with the description in the Indian
Forest Memoirs. I have pleasure in naming the species after Dr. Hagedorn.

Habitat. — Tharrawaddy, Lower Burma.

Tree Attacked.— Teak (Tectona grandis). Kadin Bilin Forest, Tharra-
waddy.

Beetle.— Elongate cylindrical, stout. Red-brown, shining, the prothorax anteriorly, elytra
apically and laterally, darker in colour ; rather densely pubescent except on disk of prothorax

and on basal part of elytra. Front of head moderately convex,
Description. uniformly and finely punctate ; a fringe of long yellowish setae over

mouth ; antennae reddish, club yellow. Prothorax with base straight,

basal angles oblique, sides and apex strongly rounded ; the anterior half strongly covered
with large and close transverse asperities, largest and densest on anterior margin ; these
asperities stretch backwards on lateral surfaces to the basal angles ; on disk the asperities
are replaced by transverse striae which reach to the highest point of disk, which is
situated behind the middle ; rest of surface depressed to base, shin-
ing, and very finely and sparsely punctate. Scutellum transverse.
Klytra more than half as long again as thorax, slightly wider at base,
sides nearly straight, apex rounded ; finely and regularly punctate,
the punctures placed in rows and consisting of two kinds — round
shallow ones in rows, and in the intervals a double row of smaller
and deeper punctures, each containing one or more setae ; a longi-
tudinal shallow depression on either side of suture ; declivity rather
oblique, upper part punctate, lower portion with asperities ; one or
two longitudinal depressions down declivity, the surface rather
densely covered with long spiny yellow hairs, densest on lowest
portion. Under-surface darker in colour, finely punctate and pubes-
cent. Legs red-brown, the tibiae long and dentate on anterior outer
halves. Length, 2.8 mm. to 3.4 mm.

FIG. 375.

Xyleborus hage-

ctorui, Steb., sp. nov.,

in Teak. Lower Burma.

This scolytid infests the leading shoots of young teak saplings.

Whilst inspecting a young plantation in Tharrawaddy

Life History. on 25 January 1905 I noticed a number of dead

shoots, and inspection showed that they had each been

tunnelled by an insect, the tunnel being carried up the centre of the shoot.

The female tunnels into the shoot, girdling it in part, and perhaps

occasionally entirely. She then lays an egg near the centre above the

partial girdle. On hatching, the grub eats out a gallery in the heart of

the shoot, tunnelling upwards and killing the portion above where the egg

On reaching full size it pupates at the top of the tunnel. When

eats its way out of the shoot by a horizontal tunnel

carried to the outside.

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

597

This insect must be looked upon as a serious pest in young plantations.
The trees noted as infested in this manner averaged from five to six feet in
height.

Xyleborus velatus, Sampson, sp. nov.

REFERENCE. — Sampson, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 8, vol. xii, p. 443 (1913).

Habitat. — Katha, Upper Burma; Salween River, Tenasserim.

Tree Attacked. — Teak (Tcctona grandis). Mohnyin Forest, Katha ;
Wutgyi, Salween River.

Beetle. — Elongate, cylindrical. Red-brown, prothorax darker, almost black on sides ;

legs reddish yellow. Prothorax not much longer than wide, base

straight, basal angles only slightly oblique,
Description. sides straight, apex bluntly rounded ; ante-

rior third with rather close transverse aspera-

tions, decreasing in size and changing to transverse striae to centre

of disk ; behind this smooth, rather shining, and finely punctate.

Elytra nearly twice as long as prothorax, sides oblique, apex rounded,

convex basally, sloping to apex ; striate-punctate, the punctures large,

circular, and shallow, the interspaces smooth and shining ; elytral

declivity rather abrupt, punctate, with several pointed tubercles and

\

FIG. 376.

Xvleborus velatiis,
some long spiny setae. Under-surface piceous brown, abdominal Sampson sp. nov. in

segments red-brown, punctate. Length, 2.2 mm.

Teak. Tenasserim.

This is one of the teak-wood-boring scolytids. I took specimens of the
beetle tunnelling into the timber of newly dead teak-
Life History. trees in the 1896 teak plantation in the Mohnyin Forest
towards the end of February 1905. The beetle tunnels
straight down into the timber, laying its eggs at the bottom of its tunnel.

I found the beetles ovipositing in the last
week of February, probably laying the eggs
of the first generation of the year.

The beetles were infesting new dead
standing trees, and also cut stumps. I also
took some beetles which were apparently
just maturing at the bottom of the egg-
galleries from eggs laid the previous year
(October-November).

The following month I again found
this insect infesting teak, this time at
Wutgyi on the Salween River in Tenas-
serim. My observations here showed that
the beetles apparently invariably select
newly dead trees for their operations. The
female tunnels down through the bark and

. _I \

I' "'• 377- — Egg - tunnel of Xyle-
borus velatus, Sampson, in teak
wood. Katha, Salween River.

for a quarter to half an inch into the sapwood ; the gallery then curves a
little, and then resumes its original course straight into the heart-wood, the

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

eggs being laid at the end of the tunnel. At the end of the first week in
March I took mature and maturing beetles at the bottom of the egg-
galleries. Some appeared to have already left the tree, crawling up the
egg-gallery made by their mother to escape.

Subsequently a generation of the beetles was found just maturing and
leaving a tree, on n March 1905. The beetle apparently chooses the
hardest portions of the timber to tunnel into for ovipositing purposes.
The insects taken were maturing in tunnels driven into the hard wood of
a green stump of a teak in the Shwegun plantation, and the egg-tunnels
went alike through hard knots as through the knotless parts.

In the case examined the teak-stump was riddled with holes, and the
numerous tunnels cut into contained for the most part quite mature or
maturing beetles, the latter still light yellowish-brown in colour.

This small Xylchonix is of importance owing to the readiness with
which it tunnels into the hardest teak timber and

thus ruins its commercial value- The life history and
abundance of the beetle requires careful attention on
the part of Forest Officers in Burma.

Xyleborus noxius, Sampson, sp. nov.

REFERENCE. — Sampson, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 8, vol. xii, p. 445 (1913).

Habitat. — South Malabar ; Salween River, Tenasserim.

Trees Attacked. — Teak (Tcctona grandis): Nilumbur Teak Plantation,
South Malabar; Yindiak (Dalbergia cnUrata}: Kowloon Island, Salween
River; Pyinkadu (Xylia dolabriformis) : Kamamaung, Salween River.

Beetle.— Elongate, cylindrical. Piceous brown ; prothorax darker, almost black anteriorly.
Head punctate, antennae yellowish brown, club yellow. Prothorax longer than wide, base

straight, basal angles oblique, sides slightly rounded, apex strongly

Description. so ; with prominent transverse asperities covering more than

anterior two-thirds of the surface, decreasing in size to highest point

of disk and extending laterally to base ; rest smooth, shining, very finely longitudinally

FIG. 378.

Xyleborus noxius,

Samps., sp. nov., in Dal-

bcrgia ciiltrata. Salween

River, Tenasserim.

FIG. 379.

Xyleborus no.rius,

Samps., in pyinkadu.

Tenasserim.

FIG. 380.

Xvlcborus
Samps., in teak.
Nilumbur, South
Malabar.

Scutellum round, large, smooth. Elytra about as wide as thorax at base, not half
again ; punctate, the punctures circular, shallow, rather large, the interspaces smooth,

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

599

with a very fine row of small punctures down them ; declivity only moderately abrupt, striate-
punctate, with a moderately dense covering of spiny setae, which are also present on disk and
sides of elytra and on prothorax anteiiorly. Under-stirface light in colour, punctate, with
a few sparse spiny setae. Legs brown, tibiae with four teeth on outer edge anteriorly
and a terminal hook. Length, 2 mm. to 2.5 mm.

This insect is one of the common pin-hole borers of teak in Madras.

I took the insect riddling teak poles in Nilumbur in

Life History. August 1902, and saw the results of its work on other

occasions in these forests. The female appeared to

drive tunnels into hard timber, laying her eggs at the bottom of the tunnel.

Three years later I was able to make some further observations in
Tenasserim on this insect, which is new to science.

A generation of beetles just mature and leaving a Dalbcrgia cultvata
tree was taken on Kowloon Island, Salween River, on the loth of March
1905. The insect evidently oviposits in nearly dead and newly dead trees.
To oviposit the beetle tunnels down through the bark till it reaches the
sapwood. On the outer surface of this latter a short transverse gallery
about an inch in length is eaten out (fig. 381, b, c), and the female

beetle is probably fertilized by the
male here. From somewhere in this
gallery the female beetle tunnels down
into the wood, the tunnel curving at
first and then going straight down
into the wood for four to five inches (d).
In several cases two holes took off
from the transverse gallery, and
the male may pair with more than
one female. From the long tunnels
in the wood I took two, three, and as
many as four mature beetles which
were obviously just mature and re;ul\
to leave the tree. The eggs are evi-
dently laid at the bottom of the tunnel

FIG. 381.

Egg-tunnel of Xyleborus noxiits. Samps.,
in the wood rtDalber^ia cultrata. /r, bark ;
b, c, transverse gallery in outer sapwond : bv the female beetle, at least four eggs
d, egg-gallery. Salween River, Tenasserim. being laid in each tunnel.

The infested tree examined was a large newly dead girdled standing
yindiak, a large part of the lower portion of whose trunk was literally
pitted with the entrance-holes of the insect. The attack in question was
evidently just over, and the wood too dry for further attack, as I found
none of the issuing generation of beetles tunnelling into tin- wood to oviposit.

This is also one of the pyinkadu sr.olytid wood-borers. I took this
Xvlclionts numerously in March in a large live which had been felled
in a clearing at Kamamaung, Salween River, some four to six weeks

6oo FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

previously. The beetles were just maturing from eggs laid to all appear-
ance soon after the tree had been felled. If this is correct, the insect will
probably be found to pass through several life-cycles in the year.

In the case of the galleries examined in the pyinkadu the female beetle
bored vertically down into the sapwood for some distance, and then turned
and carried her tunnel at right angles to its former direction. In this
latter portion of the tunnel the eggs were laid, five or more in number.
From one of these tunnels I took as many as five maturing beetles. When
mature, the beetles simply crawl up the egg-gallery to escape from the tree,
the mother-beetle dying at the end of her egg-gallery.

The egg-tunnels of this beetle were very numerous in the tree examined,
and were taken deep down into the wood. Consequently the insect will
undoubtedly prove one of considerable importance when this tree is
exploited to a greater extent than at present.

Observations would seem to show that a generation appears on the
wing some time in the latter half of January, and another in the first and
second weeks in March. I took beetles on 8-u March 1905.

In wood depots the insect may prove itself an annoying pest.

Anthocomus ? sp. (p. 183). — The beetle is predaceous upon this Xyleborus
in Tenasserim, attacking it outside the tree.

Beetle. — Resembles in size and general appearance the insect shown in fig. 124. Head
black. Prothorax canary-yellow. Elytra pale golden-yellow, the basal rifth purple, a purple

blotch laterally, just above middle, not meeting suture, and another

Predaceous Insect. covering apical fifth. Head and prothorax together elongate, narrow,
the former large, punctate. Prothorax but slightly wider than head,

widest anteriorly, sides rounded ; punctate. Elytra wider than prothorax at base, widest at
level of posterior coxae, depressed behind, finely and rather closely punctate. Legs and
antennae black. Length, 5.5 mm.

Life History. — I took a specimen of this small, active melyrid beetle on
a launch on the Salween River. In order to ascertain whether its habits
were predaceous, I placed it in a tube with the Xyleborus beetle described
above and several other small bark beetles. The melyrid devoured the
\ylebonis, picking it out from the other smaller beetles, rejecting only the
harder outer parts of the scolytid.

Xyleborus improbus, Sampson, sp. nov.

REFERENCE. — Sampson, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 8, xii, 444 (1913).

Habitat.— Darjeeling, North-East Himalaya.

Tree Attacked.— Buk (Quercus lamdlosa, Smith). Darjeeling (B. B.

Osmaston).

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

601

Beetle. —Front black, sub-convex, just above the mouth are two coarsely punctured
depressions separated by a slight longitudinal elevation ; the posterior surface is finely

reticulate ; prothorax sub-globose, anteriorly

Description. asperate, transversely gibbous, posteriorly

finely shagreened and sparsely granulate,

with a very small cluster of piliferous punctures at the centre of the
base. The scutellum black, transverse, and feebly punctate. Elytra
equal in breadth to prothorax, about half as long again, sub-parallel,
with apex somewhat bluntly rounded ; striate-punctate, the punctures
variolose in character ; a double irregular row of punctures on the
second interstice up to the commencement of the declivity, where
there is a short, sharp spine, the declivous portion having a single
row of minute punctures each furnished with a very long hair ; the
third interstice has two or three small spines on the declivity, which
is depressed on each side of suture ; the striae are sinuous outwards
towards the apex. Length, 3 mm. (Descr. Sampson.)

FlG. 382.

Xylebortts improbus,

Sampson, sp. nov.

Darjeeling, Bengal.

I received some specimens of this Xylebonts from Mr. B. B. Osmaston
in 1903. They were sent with the Scolytoplatypus darjeelingi beetles (p. 607),
and were reported to tunnel into the wood of the oak Qnercits lamellosa in
the Darjeeling forests.

Xyleborus adumbratus, Blandford.

REFERENCES. — Blandford, Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond. 115 (1894) ; Osmaston, Ind. For. Rec. vol. i, pt. 3, p. 243.

Habitat. — Andaman Islands.

Tree Attacked.— Padauk (Pterocarpus dalbergioides). Andaman Islands
(B. B. Osmaston).

Beetle. — Oblong, cylindrical. Black to piceous brown, thorax sometimes lighter than
elytra, moderately shining. Head with front strongly punctate, with a more or less evident

carina. Prothorax longer than wide, anterior portion covered with

Description. prominent asperities and long hairs, the central elevation prominent

and transverse ; basal half very shining, diffusely punctate. Elytra

as wide as thorax, one half longer ; sides parallel at base, slightly narrowed and rounded
behind middle, apex feebly produced in middle, sinuate on either side ; punctate, the declivity-
abrupt, punctate, the suture not elevated except at apex, the tubercles prominent and surface
clearly punctate. Under-surface lighter in colour, abdomen somewhat darker. Length, 3111111.

This insect was discovered by Mr. B. B. Osmaston infesting padauk-

logs stored in depots in the Andumans. Specimens

Life History. were forwarded to me by Mr. Osmaston in 1908, with

the report that the insects were riddling the logs.

The insect was determined as a species of Xylcborus. In a note published
on the Andamans Padauk Mr. Osmaston alluded to this insect as follows :
" Padauk logs are usually stored in wet depots (fenced enclosures of

602 FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

the sea). They may be safely kept in this way for a few months, but if
subjected to prolonged immersion they are ruined by the marine worm
(Teredo nuvalis). To avoid this an experiment was recently made in
the dry storage of logs, which has, however, proved unsuccessful, the
logs having been attacked by a small beetle which tunnels through the
sapwood, penetrating more or less into the heart-wood. The damage
done by the borings of this insect is not really very serious, as the
tunnels do not as a rule penetrate more than about half an inch into the
heart-wood ; but the sapwood is riddled by the borings, and the heart-
wood usually shows the holes on its surface, which detract from the appear-
ance and market value of the log."

Xyleborus (Progenius) laeviusculus, Blandford.

REFERENCE. — Blandford, Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr. vol. 65, p. 21 (1896).

Habitat. — Andaman Islands. Also reported from Mysore (R. de la
Perraudiere).

Tree Attacked. — Padauk (Ptcrocarpns dalbergioides). Andaman Islands
(B. B. Osmaston).

Beetle.— Elongate, somewhat shining, with a scattered short pubescence. Head and
prothorax testaceous fuscous, blackish medianly ; elytra piceous black, under-surface piceous

fuscous, legs testaceous. Head with front closely but deeply punctate.

Description. Prothorax squarish, anterior angles rounded, posterior ones almost

straight ; sides and apex but slightly rounded, apical margin tuber-

culate. Scutellum rounded. Elytra just as wide and nearly twice as long as prothorax, base
sub-transverse, humeral angles almost straight, anterior half of sides sub-parallel, thence
obliquely incurved, apex strongly acuminate ; punctate-striate, striae feeble, obsolete basally ;
punctures small, interstriae sub-convex and shining ; declivity oblique, suture apically elevate :
punctures obsolete, interstriae with minute rugosities ; second spine on each side acute.
Length, 3.4 mm.

So far as is at present known this insect would appear to have the
same habits as X. adnmbratus described above. Both species were identi-
fied by Colonel Winn Sampson.

XYLOTERUS.
This is the first record of a species of Xylotenis from India.

Xyloterus (Trypodendron) intermedius, Sampson, sp. nov.

REFERENCES. — Sampson, Ann. Nat. Hist, xii, 445 (1913) ; Eccoptopterus sexspinosiis, Steb., Depart.

Notes, i, 284 (1902).

Habitat.— North- West Himalaya.

Tree Attacked. — Silver Fir (Abies webbiana). Baghi, Bashahr State.

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 603

Beetle.— <5 Brown. Head with front slightly concave and
pubescent, coarsely punctured, two depressions just above the

epistoma separated by a median longi-
Description. tudinal carina ; eyes bipartite ; antennal

scape and funiculus, in most specimens,

darker than the club, which is closely covered with pale pubescence,
solid, obtusely rounded apically ; prothorax transverse and depressed,
constricted in front and without tubercles on the anterior margin,
apex and sides clothed with longish hairs, the whole surface finely
asperate. Scutellum bluntly triangular. Elytra not quite twice as
long as prothorax, very slightly narrower than latter at its greatest
width, sides sub-parallel, apex obtusely rounded, surface with long
hairs, especially towards the sides and apex, finely lineate-punctate,
interstices irregularly and closely punctate.

2 Head brown, front sub-convex and pubescent, sculpture similar
to that of male ; prothorax sub-globose, apical margin bitubercu- p1(;

late and the anterior part strongly asperate, whilst the posterior ^ , . • ,

.... . ' A ylotertis intermeduts,

portion is onlv shghtlv rugose. Scutellum similar to that of male. 0

V,, . .... Sampson, sp. nov.,

Elytra lineate-punctate, the punctures rather more distinct towards -,

.,,..*.. in silver nr.

the base, interstices irregularly punctured. Under-side less hairy than XT -, „,

. ^ C. North- West Himalaya,
in male. Length, <5 3.2mm., $> 3.5 mm.

The flight-time of this beetle is probably about the first fortnight in

July at elevations of 8,000 ft. The female girdles the

Life History. pendulous side branches of the silver fir, and oviposits

in the portion above the girdle. I am unable to say

whether the male beetle helps the female in this work. The girdle is made
about a third of the length of the branch down from its upper extremity, the
ringing being done just above the point of juncture of a small offshoot
side branchlet. The egg or eggs are apparently laid generally just above
the girdle. The object of the girdle is to kill the portion of the
branch above, and thus provide a supply of dying wood for the larva to
feed upon. The larva on hatching out bores up the branch, mining out a
fairly deep gallery in the sapwood. This gallery may be straight or may
curve about, but always goes up the branch. The wood consumed by the
larva is passed out at its anal extremity, and fills up the part of the gallery
it has already gnawed out. When full-fed the grub enlarges the top of
the tunnel, forming a pupal chamber, and pupates in this. It was in these
enlarged chambers at the head of the galleries that the beetles were ob-
tained in July, the galleries below the chamber being invariably blocked up
with the wood excreta of the larvae. In some cases I noticed that branches
were ringed in several places at successive offshoot branchiate with the main
branch. In each case a gallery was present above the girdle. Whether
this was the work of the same beetle or of different ones I was not able to
determine. It would seem, however, that only one egg is laid, or only
one larva develops, above each girdle. In none of the galleries from which
beetles were obtained was any opening to be seen on the outside of the
branch, the girdle (usually partially or wholly encircled with resin) and the

6o4 FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

dying or dead condition of the branch being the only external evidence
of the beetle's work. Branches attacked by a previous generation of
beetles showed, however, in the cases where the dead portion above the
girdle had not already dropped off or been knocked off, a small round hole
of exit communicating with the outside from the pupal chamber, and it is
evident that the matured beetle leaves the branch by boring horizontally
through the bark above it.

I am at present unable to state whether this beetle has more than one
generation in the year. I found on 5 July 1901 two newly ringed branches,
and it is probable that the beetle lays her eggs soon after issuing, about
the middle of the month. The July insects may be the beetles of the first
generation of the year laying the eggs of a second generation.

The damage done is to the side branches of the silver fir. The beetle

rings these at a point generally about two-thirds to

P three-quarters up from where they leave the main

trunk. The portions above the rings die, and the effect,

whilst causing a certain loss of branches and consequently leaf-area to
the tree, gives it a scraggy appearance, the ends of numbers of the branches
being in a dead or dying state.

The power of the insect for harm will, however, be far greater if it
attacks the leading shoots of seedlings, saplings, and young poles.

When attacks of this nature take place in nurseries, plantations, etc.,

a feasible plan of getting rid of the beetles is to collect
Protection and f ,, ,, ,, ,. r , , . ,

Remedies. carelully all the portions of the twigs and branches

above the rings and burn them. If this operation is
done carefully and at the proper time, i.e. when they contain larvae or
pupae, it will stamp out the pest.

Sub-Family 4. — MIXTODENTATAE.

Edges of middle jaw fringed with pubescence and bristles. The sub-family contains the
curious tribe Spongocerinae.

Tribe SPONGOCERINAE.

This tribe appears to link up the Scolytidae (Ipidae) with the Platy-
podidae. It includes the genus Scolytoplatypus, of which the greater number
of the seventeen species known come from Japan and the Himalaya.

Scolytoplatypus himalayensis, Stebbing, sp. nov.
Habitat.— North-West Himalaya.

Tree Attacked.— Silver Fir (Abies webbiana). Chamba State, North-
West Himalaya, 8,500 ft.

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

605

Beetle. — $ Dull, head and thorax black, elytra dull rufous brown
deeply concave to eyes, very densely, finely, and uniformly punctate :

rest almost hairless. Thorax with apical
Description. margin evenly rounded with a median cleft.

sides rounded and produced outwards me-

dianly, thence constricted gently to basal angles which are slightly
produced, base bisinuate. produced medianly ; surface with a median
line most prominent in basal portion and not reaching to anterior
margin, punctate, the punctures rather large and shallow, the inter-
spaces very finely punctate. Elytra with basal margin raised and
bisinuate ; striae deeply impressed, the two inner ones obsolete
towards basal margin, the third not quite reaching the margin, the
surface irregular with a few scattered punctures, the interstices
broad, finely reticulate with irregularly transverse punctures, strongest
apically: alternate interstices .carinate from two-thirds up to apex,
the surface of carinae irregularly punctate, ending in a fine sharp
black spine with a few sparse yellow hairs beneath. Apical declivity
light reddish brown with a very short sparse yellow pubescence.
Under-surface black.

apically. Head with front
antennal club pubescent,

FIG. 384.

.v lytoplatypus kit/ia-
ftsfs, Steb., sp. nov..

in silver fir.
Xorth-West Himalava.

$ Head and elytra shining, red-brown, thorax black, dull.

Head globose, shining and smooth on vertex, dull and finely and closely punctate on front
and sides, a slight brush of hairs over mandibles. The median line less prominent, not
extending beyond the median pore, which is moderate in size and filled with a short golden
tuft of pubescence, the punctures similar to male on disk below the pore, but above it and
laterally they merge into a fine dense reticulation. Elytra smooth, shining, \\ith interstices
similar throughout, broad, rather flat, uniformly and finely reticulate with a few scattered
punctures. Under-surface black, the last two abdominal segments light yellow-brown.
Length, g 3.2 mm. : $ 4 mm.

The differences in the thorax are sufficiently distinct to distinguish the species from
mikado. lUandford, and the head from raja, Blandford.

This beetle matures and leaves the tree in the latter part of June

at high elevations fS,ooo to 9,000 ft. and over). In

Life History. 1909 I was fortunate enough to discover it infesting

a blown silver-Mr pole which was still partly green.

A few larvae and pupae were taken, but the insect was mostly in the
mature-beetle stage, and some of the generation had already left the
tree.

The male beetle tunnels into the tree through the bark, and on reaching
the sapwood eats out a short gallery in the bast and wood, usually com-
pletely in the latter. This is the pairing-chamber, and a female enters to
him here and is fertilized. After fertilization, the female tunnels down into
the sapwood at an angle for about an inch, and then eats out a straight
gallery parallel to the long axis of the tree. From this main gallery she gnaws
out little offshoot tunnels at intervals on either side, from one-fourth to
one-third of an inch in length. These little offshoot tunnels are usually
from six to eight in number, and are made alternately on either side.

6o6

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

Occasionally, as shown in pi. Ixi, they may all take off on one side. In
these the eggs are laid. On hatching out, the grubs feed upon the sap

on the walls of the tunnel, or on
fungus outgrowths growing there.
By the time the grubs are mature
the walls of the offshoot tunnels are
deep black in colour to a depth of
one-twentieth of an inch.

When full-fed the grubs pupate
in situ in the offshoot tunnels,
there being at least two eggs laid in
each of the latter. On maturing,
the beetles leave the tree by crawl-
ing out of the offshoot tunnel into
the main gallery, and up this to the
pairing-chamber, and then burrow

FlG. 385. — -Egg-gallery of Scolytoplatypus
himalayensis, Steb., in the wood of silver
fir. Chamba, North-West Himalaya.

out through the bark.

I found some of the beetles which had just matured in the blown
pole tunnelling into a newly blown silver-fir close by, laying what were
probably the first eggs of the year at this elevation (8,500 ft.). It is doubtful
whether there is a second generation in the year, but it is possible that
the June eggs may give rise to a generation of beetles by the following
September.

This scolytid is one of the most injurious insects I have yet found

infesting the wood of the silver fir. The tree appears

Damage to Tree. to be singularly free from a number of the bark and

wood beetles which infest the other conifers of the

Himalaya region to so serious an extent. It is impossible at present to say
whether the insect is in any abundance in the Western Himalaya. I have
only taken it on one occasion, but the wood of the tree in which I took
it was riddled to a very serious extent, and useless for any save firewood
purposes.

'1 he genus is an interesting one, having been founded by Mr. W. F. H.
Blandford on two specimens from the Himalaya (S. raja) (one in the
I'-ritish Museum and the other in the Brussels Museum), and four others
obtained by Mr. G. Lewis in Japan. To the forester the importance and
interest of the genus lies in the fact that it forms a connecting link between

Scolytidae and the Platypodidae, and that its habits are wood-boring,
it thus resembling the Xylcbori and platypids in this respect.

PLATE LX1.

Bark and wood of tin- ^icin <>! n silver tir pule showing tin- r^-tunnels in the wood made by Scolvtfl-
platypus liiinaltivt-itxh* sp. no\ .. Sicliliiii-. Cliamli.i. North-West Himalaya. June 1909.

FAMILY SCO.LYTIDAE 607

Scolytoplatypus brahma, Blandford.

REFERENCE.— Blandford, 7'nni.s. Knt. Soc. Loud. 425 (1898).

Habitat.— Chittagong Hill Tracts.

Tree Attacked. — Mahogany (Swietenia inahogani, Linn.). Kaptai.

Beetle.— 9 Resembles the Japanese S. mikado in form, but the elytra are relatively
shorter, not more than one-third longer than the prothorax. Blackish-pitchy, dull, entirely

covered with fine and extremely dense alutaceous reticulation.
Description. Front minutely punctate, with a transverse subnitid impression over

the mouth, the space between it and the black epistoma brown-
testaceous ; antennae brown-testaceous, the club infuscate, obovate-acuminate. Prothorax
with the lateral and hind angles prominent and acute, median pore not large, oblong, surface
with very close, confluent, longitudinal, strigose punctures, not deep. Elytra scarcely bisinuate
at base, lighter along the suture and at the apex, closely shagreened with traces of striae, the
punctures of which are not discernible ; interstices from behind the middle with a faint median
raised line, the first, third, and fifth on the declivity with a series of minute tubercles ; declivity
convex, with short, erect, yellowish pubescence. Under-side piceous, lighter in places, with
coarse, shallow punctuation ; anterior legs piceo-ferruginous, the middle and posterior legs
brown-testaceous. Length, 3 mm.

I can trace very little about the life history of this insect. Specimens
were evidently sent to the Indian Museum by the

Life History. Chittagong Divisional Forest Officer, presumably from
Kaptai, where, amongst other exotics, there is a planta-
tion of mahogany, the only one, I think, existing at that time in the
district. They were said to be destructive to mahogany-trees in company
with Xyleboruy, ^ravidns (p. 586). Although I examined the trees several
times whilst I held charge of the Chittagong Division, I was never fortu-
nate enough to secure any individuals of this insect. The specimen or
specimens sent to the Indian Museum were forwarded with a collection
of Bostryrhidar to M . Lesne at the Paris Museum, and by him sent to
Mr. Blandford.

Scolytoplatypus darjeelingi, Stebbing, sp. nov.

Habitat.— Darjeeling, Fast Himalaya.

Tree Attacked. — Bilk (Oncn-iis lnuicllo^i, Smitln. 15. 15. Osmaston,
Darjeeling.

Beetle.- -Oblong, cylindrical, moderately shining. Head and
thorax dark brown, elytra chestnut yellow, the apical portion <l;irlc

brown, darker in $ and pnlie^c-nt m both.
Description. 1 1 e. id and thorax with small rather si altered

\\ell-delineil pimcllires, the surface lielueell

very finely and closely reticulate ; the elytra wider than ilmiax. not
one and a half times as long, uilli basal margin but slightly cl<-\ate.

M ^flBRkU "

smooth, feebly Striate and punctate, the pumtmcs in io\ss, with the Kir'

intervals smooth and \ery finely punctate, the declivity darker- s-, ,,/r/V>//,7/r/>,Y v ,/,/>•/,;•-

coloured, striae stronger, rugose, and tuberculate : the apical third /iii^i, Steli., sp. nov.,

oubescent, the pubescence closer and shorter on declivity. in oak. Darjeeling.

6o8

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

$ Head concave on front, with two long brushes of reddish hair over eyes curling
down on to front. Prothorax wider than long, base straight, sides much rounded, the anterior
margin emarginate, the surface covered with a few sparse hairs. Elytra with sides slightly
rounded to near apex, thence constricted slightly, the apex bluntly obtuse ; surface somewhat
flattened basally, moderately shining, the apical third dark brown, the colour gradually
darkening to apex ; the diskal striae feeble but visible from base, absent on lateral areas,
more prominent on apical declivity, the surface of which is rougher, the intervals rugose and
tuberculate ; the pubescence fairly dense on declivity.

9 Head without central brush of hair on front, with a longitudinal rather feeble median
line, convex, with scattered fine punctures becoming larger on vertex, the surface between
very finely reticulate. Prothorax with anterior margin nearly straight, base slightly bisinuate,
sides rounded anteriorly, produced into a blunt point medianly, thence emarginate, the
posterior outer angles bluntly obtuse ; the diskal pore elliptical in shape, filled with a dense
yellow pubescence. Elytral striae very feeble, the suture brown throughout, the rest of
colouring darker than in $ : the striae and rugosities on declivity not so prominent as
in $ and the pubescence less dense. Length, $ 2.8 mm., £ 3-1 mm-

This beetle was first discovered in 1903, tunnelling into the timber of

oak-wood in Darjeeling, by Mr. B. B. Osmaston, in

Life History. charge at the time of the Darjeeling forests. The beetle

was cut out of the galleries in the wood of the tree, but

no further information on its life history was obtainable.

UNDETERMINED SCOLYTIDAE.
Hylesinus ? or Dryocoetes ? sp.
Habitat.— Siwaliks, North India.
Tree Attacked. — Ssindan(0iigeiniadalbergioides). Sabbhawala, Siwaliks.

Beetle.- I have taken only immature dead specimens in tunnels in the wood of the tree.
These were light yellowish brown to dark brown, but dried up and undeterminable.

Towards the end of April I obtained a number of dead beetles
from the inner bark and sapwood of a dead Ougeinia

Life History. dalbergioides. The female tunnels
through the bark of the tree to

oviposit. On reaching the sapwood she eats out in
this and the bast a transverse gallery, i.e. at right
angles to the long axis of the tree, laying her eggs on
either side. On hatching, the grubs eat out galleries
at right angles to the female tunnel, the larval
galleries keeping a straight course with but little
serpentining. All the galleries groove deeply into the
sapwood.

Observations seemed to indicate that the beetles
oviposit in trees which have died and lost a portion

f . * * A

FIG. 387. — Egg and
larval galleries of Hyle-

r sinus ? or Dryocoetes ?

of their sap, but further investigation is required to !?• »n the sapwood of
substantiate this point. Ougeinia dalbergioides.

Siwaliks. (E. P. S.)

FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 609

Xyleborus ? sp.
Habitat. — Tezpur, Assam.
Tree Attacked. -Semul (Bombax malabaricum). Tezpur.

This small scolytid is one of the semul-wood borers, and is a pest
of considerable importance. Soon after the trees are

Life History. felled this beetle tunnels down into the wood to ovi-
posit, the egg-tunnels being carried in to a varying

distance, sometimes reaching deep down in the wood. The eggs are laid
near the bottom of the tunnel in small offshoot galleries. The grubs would
seem to be ambrosia feeders, since they do no wood-tunnelling themselves.
They pupate in these small galleries, and the beetles, when mature, crawl
into the main egg-gallery and up this, and so escape from the tree. A gene-
ration of the beetles evidently appe irs on the wing in the semul areas
in January or February, and tunnels into newly felled trees to lay its eggs.
These trees are subsequently sawn up into planks in the sawmills for tea-
boxes, probably during the following hot weather and rains, and the wood is
then found to be riddled with the minute galleries of this beetle. At times
the wood is so full of the galleries that the planks are seriously weakened
thereby, and the portions so infested have to be discarded.

At the commencement of April 1906 I visited a sawmill near Tezpur,
where semul-logs were being cut into planks and small boards for the
preparation of tea-boxes. As soon as cut, the small boards are stood up
against one another in small heaps to dry, as the wood is still full of sap.
I examined a number of these small planks, and found many of them scored
with the tiny galleries of this insect. From many of these galleries I took
live beetles, some maturing and others apparently tunnelling into the fresh
wood to lay eggs.

From its method of attack in the semul, this small scolytid is a pest of
some importance ; and in sawmills it would be well to burn all seriously
infested planks, and to burn all fresh refuse material in which otherwise the
beetle might be likely to oviposit, and so breed out fresh broods to carry on
the infestation of fresh timber as it arrives in the mill.

Undetermined Scolytid.

Habitat. -Tharrawaddy, Lower Burma.

Tree Attacked. — Adina (Xnnclcci) \cssilifolin. Konbilin Forest, Tharra-
waddy.

I took some specimens of a minute scolytid tunnelling into a green

stump of Adina sessilifoliti, in company with Platypus

Life History. suffodiens (p. 621), in the last week of January 1905. The

tunnels of the scolytid are easily distinguishable from

those of the platypids, owing to their much smaller diameter. The beetles

9003 Q Q

6io FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE

were ovipositing at the time of capture, the first beetles to appear in the
r laving the eggs of the first generation. The egg-tunnel is carried down
more or less straight into the wood of the tree, the eggs being laid at the
bottom of it. I took no larvae in the egg-tunnels, most of which appeared
to be yet incomplete.

Undetermined Scolytid.
Habitat. — Ataran River, Tenasserim.
Tree Attacked. — Tcnninalia bdcrica. Xatchoung. Ataran River.

A minute scolytid was cut out of the sapwood of a large, felled, dead
Ttrminalici bt tree on 17 March 1905. I know nothing further about

its life historv.

( 6n )

CHAPTER XXII.

RHYNCHOPHORA (continued)— Family PLATYPODIDAE.

THE beetles of this family are easily distinguishable from the Scolytidae
(Ipidae) owing to their more elongated form with parallel sides, the large
exserted head, and the long legs with slender five-jointed tarsi. They
were originally classified as a sub-family of the Scolytidae. From a study
of the habits and the considerable difference in the structure of the family
I have long held the opinion that they should be classed as a true family.
In his recent work for the Genera Insectorum Dr. Hagedorn confirms this
opinion in that he omits the Platypodidae from his family Ipidae. Colonel
Winn Sampson, who has kindly described some of the new species, also
treats the Platypodidae as a distinct family.

So far as present observations have been conducted, the Platypodidae
would appear to be entirely wood-borers. The Indian species known all
tunnel into the wood of trees to oviposit, the eggs being deposited at the
bottom of the tunnel either in the sapwood or heart-wood of the tree. The
beetles may be considered as semi-diurnal, since they are often to be found
tunnelling into the tree in the daytime, fly well in sunlight, and have a
habit of coming up to the orifice of their tunnel in the bark and protruding
the head, possibly to obtain fresher air. They remain alive for some time
after the eggs are laid and have hatched out, and often die in the upper
part of the tunnel in the portion made in the bark, thus blocking the tunnel
to the entry of predaceous foes. The larvae resemble in habits those of
the scolytid wood-borers who are " ambrosia " feeders, as they invariably
appear to feed upon the sap in the walls of the egg-tunnel or on fungous
growths growing in this sap.

The family appears to have a wide distribution
throughout India and Burma, both in the mountains
and plains, and probably includes a considerable number
of species. In my book on Injurious Insects of Indian
Forests, published in 1899, I could only record one
species of this family, reported as infesting oak-trees
in the Himalaya, as a forest pest, viz., Duipus n///>;r.vw/.s,
Janson. In this chapter I deal with nineteen species,
of which eight are new to science, which oviposit
in timber trees in different parts of the country and
about whose life histories some data have been j.-l(. ,88

collected. The family would appear to be one of Cros.iofiirsits

economic importance in the tropical and sub- trot >ir;il St<rj}." m

deodar. \\ c:sU-ni
forests. Hirnala;

Q Q 2

612 FAMILY PLATYPODIDAE

The beetle is easily recognized by its elongate shape, which is quite

unlike that of a scolytid. The head is exserted and free,

Beetle. and wider than the thorax ; the eyes are round and

prominent ; the antennae are elbowed and short, placed

between the base of mandibles and the eyes ; the funiculus is very short and
four-jointed, with a large and solid club. The prothorax is sub-cylindrical,
with grooves at the sides in which the legs can be placed. The legs are
elongate, slender, the femora and tibiae compressed ; the coxae are large ;
the tibiae short, the front ones with fine oblique parallel lines on their outer
surfaces; tarsi long, slender, weak, five-jointed, the first joint longer than
all the others together. (Cf. fig. 388.)

The colour of the beetles is usually light or dark brown or nearly black
or yellow in parts, the surface often shining. The elytra at times terminate
in a calliper arrangement.

The grubs are white or whitish yellow in colour, elongate and straight,
seldom being at all curved. The head is prominent
Larva. and usually yellow, the body tapering gradually pos-

teriorly, the corrugations being less well marked
than in the Scolytidae (fig. 396).

The pupa is elongate, narrow, white, and easily distinguishable from
the scolytid pupa.

•

The family contains Indian representatives, who commit a considerable
amount of damage to the timber of various species of

Damafe forest trees. Perhaps the best known -instance of this
done by the Family.

is the Platypus (P. biformis) of the Pinus longifoha,

which has been reported as committing serious damage to the timber in
Kumaun. In this part of the Himalaya it is known as " ghoon," a common
name in India for the small wood- boring bostrychids of bamboos (Dinoderus).
Investigations have shown that the "ghoon' of Kumaun is a Platypus.
Other species in the Himalaya tunnel in a similar manner into the timber of
deodar, spruce, and blue pine. In these cases and in several others investi-
gated in Burma and elsewhere, the insects would appear to infest only the
timber of freshly felled trees or that of dying trees standing in the forest.
They will not attack dry timber. This is understandable when it is
remembered that the larvae require that the walls of the egg-tunnel made
by the beetle should be sappy, and thus capable of affording them the
sustenance they require. The larvae as they develop stand, so to speak,
one over the other in the tunnel, as no offshoot tunnels are eaten out by
the mother, and appear to move up it as they grow in size, or shift about
up and down as one or other part becomes eaten out. The grubs when full-
fed change into pupae in the tunnel, and as the beetles mature (the upper
ones maturing first) they crawl up the tunnel and escape, the first usually
eating out an exit-hole through the bark.

Some species pass through two or more life-cycles in the year.

FAMILY PLATYPODIDAE 613

In the plains species have been taken infesting the sal, pyinkadu,

Tcnnijialia, Nanclea sessili flora, Mcliiisa, Pithecolobium, Ahtonia,Wendlandia,
Dalbergia.

Chapuis, in his Monograph*: ties Platypides, divides the family (which he treats as a

sub-family) into nine genera : Crossotarsns, Platypus, Tesserocerus,

Classification. Spathidicerns, Periommatns, Symmerus, Mitosoma, Cenocephalus,

and Diapus.

Of these three only are known at present to contain species of importance in the forests,
i.e. Crossotarsus, Platypus, and Diapus.

Crossotarsns. — Head as wide as the prothorax, often concave and carinate in £.
Maxillary palpi membranous, depressed. Mentum in £ with base coarctate.
Mandibles convex on outer and concave on inner face, with a tooth below summit.
Abdomen often appears vertical (resembling genus Scolytus], the posterior pair of
legs appearing to be placed at the end of the body and far apart from the two anterior
pairs, which are close together. Most of the pygidium is exposed.

Platypus.— Head as wide as thorax in $, a little less in $. Maxillary palpi as in
Crossotarsus. Mentum in $ with base dilated or linear ; mandibles short, robust,
armed with two teeth on inner face ; pygidium covered up in both sexes ; apex of
elytra varies in sexes.

Diapus. — Head wider than thorax, prolonged into a short rostrum. Maxillary palpi
coriaceous, cylindrical. Mandibles often with an appendage. Front coxae far apart.

CROSSOTARSUS.

Crossotarsus coniferae, Stabbing.
(The Deodar Wood-boring Platypid.)

REFERENCES.— Stebbing, Depart. Notes, i, p. 411 ; id. Crossotarsus piccae, p. 11.?; hid. For. Memoirs,

For. Zool. Ser. ii, pt. i, 66 (1911).

Habitat. — North- \Yest Himalaya.

Trees Attacked. — Deodar (Cedrits deodara}, Spruce (Picca inorindti}.
Tehri Garhwal, Jaunsar, Chamba.

Beetle. — Klongate, narrow, reel-brown, shining : head nearly black. In the leinale the
head is large witli a transverse median line and two longitudinal depressions behind it on the

vertex. I'rothorax smooth, shining, with close wavy transverse

Description. slr.ac, punctate posteriorly. Klylra broad, slightly \\ider in front

than behind, striate-punctate, striae less defined mrdianly, tnmr.ite.

apex terminating in a calliper-like process, the points much incurved, the truncate portion
clothed with stiff yellow hairs. Ventral surface shining, abdominal segments roii>a\e. Mark.
Legs yellowish brown. In the male the head is smaller, the transverse line being absent ; the
elytra are narrower and parallel, the terminal hooks shorter and only slightly curved inwaids :
abdomen not concave. Length, 4 mm. to 4.7 mm. I'l. Ixii shows the male and female beetles.

Egg. — Ovate, elliptical, white, semi-translucent. KesemMes a lien's egg <->i miniature.
Length, 0.75 mm.

Larva (Young Stage).— Elongate, straight, white ; thickest anteriorly, tapering posteriorly,
head pale yellow. Length, i mm.

614 FAMILY PLATYPODIDAE

The mature beetle is to be found boring into fresh deodar wood towards

the end of June at elevations of from 6,000 ft. to 7,000 ft.

Life History. The beetle bores down through the bark, making a

cylindrical tunnel straight into the sapwood, this

portion of the tunnel being either carried vertically downwards (in case of
felled trees) or at an angle, perhaps more often the latter. When she has
got down from half an inch to an inch into the sapwood the female is joined
by a male beetle. This latter may have entered by crawling down the
female tunnel, or he may bore a separate tunnel to intersect the female
tunnel in the sapwood. Pairing takes place here. From this point the
female subsequently takes her tunnel for an inch or so at an angle to the
previous direction, and then zigzags in another direction until she has
attained the required distance down into the wood. She then turns and
eats out the remaining portion or branch of the tunnel in a direction usually
more or less parallel to the outer bark, and at right angles to the long axis
of the tree. This part of the tunnel is about 2 in. in length, is quite straight,
a.iul has no enlargement at the bottom (pi. Ixii). Close to the end she
deposits her first eggs. The number of eggs laid altogether by the beetle
has not yet been ascertained, but in 1909 I found a little mass of four
freshly laid eggs adhering
together near the bottom
of the tunnel with the
female beetle a little higher
up. The eggs are not stuck
together by any adhesive
matter, for the ones taken
were found to be quite
separate and easily parted
on drying.

Only a few young
larvae have as yet been FIG. 389.~Egg-tunnel (diagrammatic) with eggs and female

beetle of Crossotarsits com ferae, Steb., in deodar wood,
these tunnels. Chamba, N.W. Himalaya. (E. P. S.)

1 hey do not feed upon

the wood, but probably belong to the so-termed "'ambrosia'' beetles,
feeding upon fungous matters, either growths on the walls of the tunnel
from the fresh sap which exudes down the walls, or perhaps induced
there by the beetle itself, at any rate at first during the young stages of
growth of the larvae. That this latter may be the case the habit of the
beetle in remaining alive in the tunnel and moving up and down it during
a considerable portion of the period required by the larvae in reaching
full growth would seem to support. On the other hand, the wet sappy
state in which the walls of the lower or inner part of the tunnel are
vays to be found, and the depth to which the female takes the portion of
the tunnel in which she lays her eggs, where the walls remain moist for a
period sufficiently long to enable the grubs to reach their full growth, would

FAMILY PLATYPODIDAE

seem to indicate that the material upon which the larvae feed is purely a
growth of sap origin, and that the reason for the beetle remaining alive is to
be sought rather in the protection she affords to the eggs and larvae when
hatched out by blocking her tunnel against the entrance of predaceous
insects and their grubs (in a manner similar to that of Scolytus major and
S. minor], than in any attempt on her part to provide food for her offspring.

The female gallery is never carried into the hard rings of the heart-
wood, though it reaches down to them, and may have penetrated the tree to
a depth of from 6 in. to 12 in. or more when the sapwood is very thick.
The insect burrows into the tree in an indiscriminate manner, the thickest
end of the butt of trees, 6ft. in diameter, being attacked equally with the
top end of the stem and the thickest of the branches. It will only infest,
however, deodar-trees with absolutely fresh sapwood, and so far as present
observations go it appears only to bore in through the fresh bark and
will not attack barked logs.

The beetles to be found at the end of June are laying the eggs of the
second generation of the year.

A third generation of beetles have been taken in October laying eggs.

This Crossotarsus is more active than the ordinary platypids, and it
walks at a comparatively good pace when outside its tunnel. It is active in
daylight, and tunnels into a log on the ground as much on the side on which
the sun impinges as into the parts in shade.

I first took this insect in Jaunsar and Tehri Garhwal in 1902, and have
since found it numerously in newly felled green deodar logs in Chamba. It
is probably distributed throughout the deodar tracts of the North-West
Himalaya.

In June 1902 I cut some dead specimens of this platypid from the wood
of a large girdled dead spruce in Tehri Garhwal. I could find no living
beetles that year. Towards the end of June 1909 I discovered the beetle on
the wing at Kainthli in Chamba. The beetles were tunnelling through the
thick bark of a dead spruce, felled four months previously, to oviposit. This
tree was in a drier state than I have ever found the insect in in deodar.
The spruce beetles were observed
to be pairing, the female entering
by the same hole as the male, or
vice versa, the insects pairing in
the outer sapwood. The female
then carries the tunnel in the sap-
wood in a series of zigzag curves
parallel to the circumference of
the tree, and about two inches
in. The tunnel then turns, and
goes zigzagging down into the
wood. There are no offshoots
to the tunnel, the latter ending

|.-1(;. 390.

K-g-tunnel of
in spruce. Chamba, X.\Y. Himalaya.

, Stel>.,
(E. P. S.)

6i6 FAMILY PLATYPODIDAE

quite simply with no enlargement. At the bottom of one traced to its end,
four newly laid translucent eggs were discovered. Just above the eggs in
the tube was a dead female beetle. I was unable, unfortunately, to deter-
mine whether the beetle had died naturally, or had been killed whilst we
were cutting open the tunnel. It is a fact worthy of note, however, that a
day or two before I discovered four eggs only at the bottom of a tunnel in
deodar with a living female beetle just above them. Whether four eggs
is the total number laid by this platypid I am unable to say, but the number
of eggs laid in the tunnel is almost certainly small in the case of these
Himalayan insects. Those in the hot and moist semi-tropical forests of
the country lay a larger number, as is seen in the case of the Assam sal
platypids.

When numerous this platypid must be considered a pest of consider-
able importance to the timber of the tree, since a
badlY attacked log shows numerous shot-holes on
the outside of the sapwood, sometimes to such an
extent that it is obvious that its strength and durability are greatly under-
mined.

The insect burrows into trees of all ages, and, failing a supply of felled
or sickly trees or snow- or wind-breaks, it has been found to attack green
standing trees in the forest.

An obvious method of preventing this beetle increasing in a forest is to

remove or bark all sickly and wind-thrown trees or
Protection and . , -,i L t n j

Remedial Measures, snow-breaks, and, more important still, to bark all trees

as soon as felled for sale purposes.

It is essential that this operation be undertaken as soon as the tree is
down and- has been logged, since once the beetle has got through the bark
into the sapwood the removal of the bark will in no way affect it. In fact,
it is likely to increase the injury to the timber, since it is probable that the
female will carry her tunnel deeper down into the wood to escape the heat
of the sun and the consequent more rapid drying of the outer sapwood
which the removal of the bark will ensure.

The beetle attacks trees in swarms, so that a few days are sufficient for
the insects to have penetrated an unbarked log throughout its entire length,
and the damage to the timber will then be irremediable, since it must be
remembered that this damage is entirely the work of the beetle, and is
carried out within a period of, from ten days to a fortnight.

Thanasimus himalayensis, Stebbing. — In Jaunsar and Chamba I noted
that this predaceous clerid (described on p. 508) feeds upon this Crossotarsus

in the imago stage. I do not know whether the larvae

Predaceous Insect, crawl down the tunnels in the wood to attack the

platypid grubs. The beetle catches the platypus insect

on the bark of the tree whilst it is searching for a spot at which to tunnel
in, or whilst engaged in the preliminary stages of tunnelling.

Crossotarsus c<>nij\'rac. Std>.. in deodar. The plate depicts the male and female beetles and a split
section of a part of tin- trunk d a tree showing the egg-tunnels in the wood. North- West Himalaya.

FAMILY PLATYPODIDAE

617

^ FIG. 391.
Crossotarsus

sauitdersi,

Chap. Siwaliks,.

N. India.

Crossotarsus saundersi, Chap.

REFERENCE. — Chapuis, Mongr. des Platypides, 80 (1866).

Habitat. — Siwaliks, North India. Also reported from
Borneo (Coll. Wallace).

Tree Attacked. — Sal (Shorca robusta). The Dun Sal
Forests, Siwaliks.

Beetle.— Robust, shining, ferruginous brown, head and apical third
of elytra nearly black. <J Front of head rugose-punctate, vertex punctate

with a longitudinal raised median line. Scape of

Description. antenna nearly twice as long as broad. Prothorax

oblong, with a short median furrow, not well

defined, finely punctate, densest anteriorly. Elytra very lightly punctate-
striate, apical portion clothed with a short stiff pubescence ; declivity
vertical, triangular, flat, and granulose. Abdominal segments finely punctate,
coarsely pubescent. Length, 3^ mm. to 4 mm. $ Front slightly impressed
between the eyes, punctate-rugose, with a narrow smooth interrupted
median carina, with strong coarse hairs. Prothorax with the median furrow
confined to the posterior third, punctate, densest in front Elytra punctate-
striate, with a few deeply impressed short striae near the base ; intervals finely and sparsely
punctate, constricting in the posterior third, becoming narrow and carinate on the declivity,
the carina tubercular. Apical margin of elytra strongly emarginate, the outer lateral angles
projecting and sharp, with a sharp tooth placed inwardly. Abdominal segments flat, with a few
deep piliferous pits ; last segment deeply concave and densely punctate. Length, 3 £ mm. to 3! mm.

This platypid infests newly felled sal-trees in the Dun sal areas in the

Siwaliks. The beetle tunnels down into the wood to

Life History. oviposit. About the middle of September I had some

green sal-trees felled in three different years, and on

each occasion this beetle was found boring down into the inner sapwood
within a fortnight of the trees being felled. The insect would thus appear
to resemble the deodar platypid in requiring fresh sappy wood for its
operations. The tunnel is carried at an angle or in zigzags down into the
wood, the eggs being laid at the bottom of it.

Crossotarsus fairmairei, Chap.

REFERENCE. — Chapuis, Mongr. Platyp. 79 (1866).

Habitat. — Jaunsar, North-West Himalaya.
Tree Attacked — Blue Pine (Pinns excelsn).

Beetle. — Elongate, parallel, large and stout. Moderately shining, ferruginous brown,
darker on head and apical half of elytra. Head smooth and finely punctate on front, more

coarsely so on vertex. Prothorax square, strongly and finely punc-

Description. tate with scattered larger punctures, a narrow longitudinal median

channel on basal third : elytra punctate-Striate, striae must prominent

basally, suturally, and apically, the intervals shining ; the apices ending in a small curved
caliper ; the surface furrowed towards the apex and rugose. Abdominal segments densely
punctate, the first armed with a long spine directed backwards. Length, 5;', nun.

Two specimens of this platypid were cut out of the wood beneath the
bark of a girdled blue pine at Konain in Jaunsar on 16 April 1902 by
Babu B. Sen Gupta.

6i8 FAMILY PLATYPODIDAE

Crossotarsus fairmairei, Chap., var. wilmoti, Stebbing.

REFERENCE. — Stebbing (Diapus), Depart. Notes, i, 415.

Habitat. — North-West Himalaya.

Tree Attacked. — Ban Oak (Qnerciis incunu). Jaunsar.

Beetle. — The beetle resembles fairmairei. The colour is darker red, the thorax being
entirely of this colour, as are the legs, with the exception of the tarsi, which are lighter brown.

The front of the head is only very finely pitted in the male, but

Description. strongly punctured in the female. The thorax is strongly constricted

at the sides behind the middle and has no median line. The apical

margin of elytra is concave in. male, and in female truncate, with the outer edges produced
into teeth curving inwards. The abdomen is concave behind in the female. Length, 5 mm.
to 5.4 mm. Figs. 6, 6a, pi. xlv, show this beetle side and dorsal view.

The insect is to be found on the wing at the commencement of June at
elevations of 6,000 ft. It tunnels into the ban oak for
Life History. egg-laying purposes. The beetle appears to prefer trees
which are dead but not yet absolutely dry, and it bores
down through the thickest bark into the heart -wood, making circular tunnels,
the sawdust eaten out being ejected at the surface of the entrance-hole. A
tree attacked can be easily detected by the presence of these small heaps of
sawdust piled up on the outside bark. The tunnels may be quite straight
or curved slightly. Both male and female beetles are to be found in the
tunnel, and pairing probably takes place inside. The female insect appears
to live for some time after egg-laying is completed, finally dying in the
mouth of the tunnel and so blocking it to predaceous enemies. The eggs
are laid at the bottom of the tunnel, and the larvae feed on fungous growths
with which the walls of the tunnel are discoloured. The tunnels are as
much as 9 in. to 12 in. in length. This is all that is at present known about
the life history of this insect.

As will be seen, the damage done is entirely to the timber of the

tree, since the small portion of bast platypid beetles
Damage Committed , . * . .

in the Forest. through on their way to the heart-wood is a

negligible quantity. When plentiful the beetles en-
tirely ruin the wood of a tree for timber purposes, and greatly reduce the
value of fuel stacks.

When wood is badly attacked by these wood-boring beetles, the only

safe method of destroying them and endeavouring to
Protection and . . J b b

Remedies. lessen their numbers in an area is to burn the whole ot

the infested timber and fuel. The actual hole or tunnel
in the wood is, as we have seen, of small diameter, and therefore in itself
of no great consequence. The damage done, however, when the beetles
are numerous is economically very similar to that of the Xylebori. It has
already been noted that Xyleborus perforans (p. 585) occasionally causes great
loss of beer from beer-casks in India, and since the Hill Breweries in

FAMILY PLATYPODIDAE 619

North-West India make use of oak timber to a great extent it becomes
of the first importance to have a working acquaintance with the wood-
borers of the tree.

PLATYPUS.

Platypus biformis, Chap.
(The Chir Pine Platypid Borer.}

REFERENCES. — Stebbing, Jour. Bombay Nat. Hist. Society, vol. xviii, p. 19 (1907); id. wilmoti, Ind. For.

Mem. Zool. ii, 36 (191 1).

Habitat. — North-West Himalaya. Also reported from Darjeeling (Coll.
Janson).

Tree Attacked. — Chir Pine (Finns longifolia). Jaunsar, Kumaun, Chamba.

Beetle. — Elongate, cylindrical, rufous brown, shining ; elytra slightly yellow-brown on
sutural area. Head broadly transversal, prominent, as wide as prothorax ; a median elevate

longitudinal line on vertex, latter finely punctate ; front concave,

Description. punctate-reticulate, with a median small circular depression or pit.

Prothorax square, the median furrow terminated in front in an

indistinct pit, followed by a median line ; near the anterior portion of furrow a small, finely
rugose patch, the rest irregularly rugose. Elytra striate-punctate, the first stria in the form of
a furrow, the intervals nearly smooth, the third widened basally, 2 and 5 with a basal tubercle,
all strongly and sparsely punctate, becoming tuberculate on the declivity, with a seta on each
tubercle. In the $ a small projection just above apex on each elytron. Under-surface
shining, punctate. Length, 5 mm. to 8 mm. The male and female beetles are shown in
pi. Ixiii.

Larva. — White and elongate, straight, with a well-developed head and prothoracic
segments ; abdominal segments tapering posteriorly. Length, \ in.

This Platypus infests newly felled trees and also standing green ones.

The insect in attacking a tree tunnels straight through
Life History. the bark into the sapwood, carrying its tunnel for an

inch or so into this before going off at an angle ;

from this latter point the gallery may have several sharp zig/ags in it, as
shown in fig. ib. When completed, or nearly complete, a male and female
beetle will be found in the tunnel, which is kept entirely free of wood-dust,
this latter being pushed up and ejected on the outer surface of the wood or
bark. As many as twenty or thirty eggs are laid by the beetle, and from them
hatch out minute white dots, the size of pins' heads, which ultimately grow
into small elongate larvae with yellowish heads. These larvae do not appear
to feed on the wood, but on a kind of fungus with which the tunnel bored
by the beetles is linnl. The life-cycle of this beetle is about six weeks from
egg to beetle, in the case of the autumn generation. Eggs laid about the
first to second week of October hatch out within a couple of days or so, and
the larvae are full-grown by the end of the month or first week in November.
The pupal stage is about two weeks, and the mature beetles issue about the
third week of the month should the weather prove favourable. I have not
been able to work out the complete number of life-cycles passed through in

620 FAMILY PLATYPODIDAE

the year, but I am of opinion it will be found to be four or five. The first
eggs of the year are laid about the middle of April, mature beetles from
these issuing at the beginning of June; this is the first generation of the
year. I found beetles of this generation issuing from a large dying tree in
the forest near Chaubattia in Kumaun on 4 June 1908. The beetles of the
second generation appear somewhere about the middle of July, those of the
third at the end of August, whilst a fourth lot appear to oviposit in the
second week of October. Should the year be a favourable one — 1 mean by
this, should the autumn be a dry and warm one and the winter set in late—
a fifth lot of beetles may develop towards the end of November, and hiber-
nate as such. Should the year be unfavourable, the insect probably hiber-
nates in the larval stage at the bottom of the tunnels in the wood.

Such is the life history of this past as far as it has at present been
worked out in the Western Himalaya. Colonel Sampson considers the
species to be identical with Chapuis' bifoniiis taken in the Darjeeling district
and named from specimens in the Janson Collection. It will he of interest
to know what the food plant of the insect is in the Eastern Himalaya. As
I 'have said, in the western part of the range it only attacks the wood when
fresh. In no instance have I found the insect alive in dry timber.

I first took this insect in the Tons Valley, Jaunsar, in October

R j 1906. In a paper in the Journal of the Bombay Natural

Forest. History Society for 12 November 1907, I replied to

Mr. Norman F. Troup, of Kumaun, who had asked in a

previous number for some information on the subject of the shot-borers of

the Pi nits longifolia, which he imagined were identical with those of the

bamboos ••'/>/; Wen/.s). From investigations of these "shot-borers" of the

Pinus longifolia made the following spring in Kumaun, I was able to satisfy

myself that the Plnty/ms was the responsible agent.

The damage committed by this insect is to the timber of the tree.
From the account given of its life history we see that but little harm is done
to the cambium layer. When the beetle is numerous the zigzag galleries
eaten down into the heart-wood have a serious effect in weakening the log
for timber purposes, and can quite conceivably render it useless for anything
but firewood.

Mr. Troup has shown, the beetle is well known to timber dealers
in Kumaun, where it is considered to be a pest of considerable importance.

^here is little to be said upon this head at present, until it has been

Protectioi definitely ascertained whether the insect will tunnel

Remedial Measures, into barked timber. It is now certain that the insect

will only infest fresh timber, i.e. newly felled trees or

sickly standing green trees in the forest.

Practically the only way to deal with a bad attack or seriously infested
would be to stack together all the badly attacked logs when the
have finished egg-laying, and burn the lot.

PLATE LXIII.

1 a

1 b

Platypus Informix, Chap., in J'i/uts loti^ifolia. — i, la, male and female beetles ; i/>, section of the
unk of a tree showing entrance-holes and <.•-;_; -tunnels of the beetles in the wood. North-West Himalaya.

FAMILY PLATYPODIDAE

621

Platypus suffodiens, Sampson, sp. nov.

REFERENCE. — Sampson, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 8, xii, 447 (1913).

Habitat. — Lower Burma.

Trees Attacked. — Adinasessilifolia and Adina cordi folia;
the Rain Tree (Pithecolobiiun sain an}. Tharrawaddy.

Beetle. — Moderately shining chestnut brown, the head and elytra in
apical half dark brown to black ; under-surface lighter chestnut, the thoracic

segments and legs yellow. Head finely punctate,

Description. front concave. Prothorax shining, subquadrate,

with scattered punctures ; a small blunt-ellipti-

'cal area with a rasp-like surface situated medianly a short distance below
anterior margin ; disk with a longitudinal elongate elliptical depression
laterally. Elytra striate-punctate, the sutural striae most prominent,
interstices shining, minutely punctured. Two small projections on apical
depression, one on each elytron, shortly above apex ; apical depression
convex, surface dull and roughened, clothed with a stiff sparse yellow
pubescence. Under-surface very shining and finely punctate. Length,
4.8 mm. to 5.2 mm.

Larva. — Elongate, slightly tapering posteriorly, white with a small yellow head and brown
mandibles. The prothoracic segment ridged behind the head.

FlG. 392.— Platy-
pus sitjfsdiens,

Samps., sp. nov.
Lower Burma.

I took a number of these beetles maturing in green Adina sessilifolia and

A. cordifolia trees or tunnelling into them to oviposit at

Life History. the beginning of February 1905 in the Tharrawaddy

forests. A study of the method of attack was thus

possible under favourable circumstances. A beetle, possibly the male, tun-
nels down through the bark and into the sapwood for a short distance, and
then eats out a short gallery at an angle to the previous direction. In
this a female joins him, is fertilized, and then carries a tunnel which goes
down into the wood, usually curving to right or left to a certain extent. At
the bottom of this tunnel, which at times is carried clean through the stem,
terminating in the outer sapwood on the opposite side, she lays her eggs.
The larvae on hatching out feed upon the sap in the walls of the tunnel or
upon outgrowths which develop in this sap. They evidently move about
in the tunnel, the oldest being the highest up, the youngest at the bottom
of the row. The immature beetles also move up and down the tunnel to
some extent before finally emerging. The greatest number of grubs taken
in one tunnel was five, but at the period when they were taken (beginning
of February) mature beetles were also present in other tunnels in the tree,
as also pupae. It is a matter of considerable importance to ascertain the
number of eggs laid by these platypids, since it is by no means easy to
follow the curving and sometimes winding tunnels in the hard wood, more
especially because the wood is usually fresh and s;ippy and does not lend
itself to splitting well in most instances. When the tunnels are numerous
they run so close to one another down in the wood that it becomes a matter
•of considerable difficulty to follow with certainty the one being studied. The

622 FAMILY PLATYPODIDAE

plate (pi. Ixiii) depicting the Platypus of the Pinus longifolia shows the
manner in which the tunnels are carried. Also cf. fig. 390.

I first took some specimens of this beetle in their egg-tunnels (which
\\vre not complete) several inches down in the wood of an Adina scssilifolia
tree on 22 January 1905 in the Kadin Bilin forests in Tharrawaddy.
I have no information as to how many generations the species passes
through in the year.

I also took a specimen of this platypid tunnelling into the green branches
of a large rain-tree in the compound of one of the forest bungalows in the
Tharrawaddy Division. The modus operandi of the insect is very similar
to that in the Adina cordifolia already described. The beetle was found
down in the centre of the branch at the end of January 1905.

The Adina cordifolia, the haldu of Northern India, is a wood of some
value, and therefore the attacks of an insect of this
description require to be well known. I have noticed
the attacks of a platypid, I think of a different species
from the Burma one, in the United Provinces forests, but so far it has not
become evident as a pest. The danger of the insect is that it infests and
requires absolutely fresh green timber for its ovipositing operations. Whilst
in Tharrawaddy, in company with Mr. R. S. Troup, at the time the
Divisional Officer, we had an excellent demonstration of this fact. We
carefully inspected a green living and apparently healthy standing tree
in the lower part of which a number of these platypids were tunnelling into
the timber. We could find nothing wrong with the tree, and yet a swarm
of the beetles had descended upon it, and many were already deep down in
the heart-wood, having tunnelled with impunity through the thick succulent
bark and the sappy sapwood. The freshly made tunnels were oozing with
sap, but this did not appear to incommode the insects. This particular
instance remains the most remarkable example of attack I have seen by
platypid beetles. About ten yards away a second green tree stood. It had
been cut half through but was still quite green, and the tree would have
in all probability lived in such a damp hot climate. The lower parts of
the trunk were, however, full of the tunnelling beetles.

.he wood of A. cordifolia is an excellent one for turning, and is used for
a variety of purposes, such as articles of furniture, combs (in which there is a
considerable trade in the United Provinces), small boxes, agricultural imple-
ment^, etc. It will be readily acknowledged that logs infested by this insect
to any considerable extent would be quite unfit for any of the above purposes.

of this insect when in any abundance is, fortunately,
fairly easily seen once the forester knows what to look
Treatment. for. The entrance-holes in the bark are usually dis-

cernible, and beneath them on projections of bark may
be seen little masses of white or yellow sawdust, whilst at the foot of the tree
in cases of bad attacks, such as that observed by Mr. Troup and myself, masses

FAMILY PLAT YPODI DAE 623

of sawdust will be observable. A tree badly infested in this manner should
be watched for a couple of weeks, and as soon as it is apparent that no more
fresh sawdust is being ejected from the orifices in the bark it should be felled
and the whole of the infested portions be split up and burnt. It will not be
necessary to deal with the uninfested portions, i.e. the parts which show no
entrance-holes on the outside, as they will not contain any of the maturing
larvae or pupae. A generation of the insect probably takes about two months
to mature from egg to beetle. It is of importance that the generation in the tree
should not be allowed to approach the mature-beetle stage before being dealt
with, or some of the insects will escape from the tree to carry on the attack.

Hectarthrum heros, Fabr. (pp. 116 and 166). — This insect was taken
in considerable numbers beneath the bark and sapwood of trees infested

with the platypid dealt with above, upon which it is
Predaceous Insect. undoubtedly predaceous.

Beetle. — Shining black. Antennae long and promi-
nent, eleven-jointed, the middle joints much larger and broader than the rest.
Thorax smooth, shining. Elytra with a number of prominent raised parallel
longitudinal striae down them. Length, 12 mm.

This is one of the commonest of the Hectarthrnm beetles in India. It
varies considerably in size. It is a most useful insect in the forest, and
should be recognized as such. Its grubs enter the tunnels of the platypids
and feed upon the platypid larvae.

Platypus rectangulatus, Sampson, sp. nov.

REFERENCE. — Sampson, Ann. .1/11.1;. .\at. Hist. ser. 8, xii, 448 (1913).

Habitat. — Lower Burma.

Tree Ktt&ck&d.~Anogeissus latifolia. Tharrawaddy, Lower Burma.

Beetle. — Small, elongate, cylindrical, narrow. Shining. Dark
ferruginous brown, head and apex of elytra nearly black, middle three-
tilths of elytra yellow or yellowish green,
Description. $ paler than <$ . Head prominent, wider than

prothorax, front finely punctate. I'rothora\

two-fifths length of elytra, sides sinuate, irregularly punctate. In <5
about fifteen punctures on each side of the anterior extremity of the
median sulcus. In °. a broad patch of punctures extending the whole-
length of the median sulcus. Klytra with apex truncate or ending in
callipers, finely linear-punctate, basal tifih dark brown, apical fifth
nearly black, rest yellow. Under-surface and legs shining yellowish
brown. Abdominal segments dark brown. Length. -\ mm. to "" 393- Platypus

3.2 mm.

Samps., sp. nov.

Larva and Pupa. — The larva is white, straight, elongate, and Tharia\\aild\ , |,o\\< i
thin. Pupa white with prominent black eyes. Hmma.

This platypid was found in all stages of its metamorphosis, with the

exception of the egg stage, in tunnels in the wood of

Life History. . 1 uo^'cissits lulijnliti towards the end of January 11)05 in

Tharrawaddy. It was taken from a large tree felled in

a 1904 tounggya clearing. Some of the beetles were mature and readv to

6_' 4

FAMILY PLATYPODIDAE

issue, but in no case did I find any of the beetles tunnelling into this tree
for ovipositing purposes, the wood now being too dry. The beetle evidently
only tunnels into the fresh sappy wood of newly felled trees or into standing
sickly ones. The female beetle bores her egg-tunnel right into the heart-
wood and lays her eggs in a manner similar to the platypus of the Adina.
The insect had infested the tree in considerable numbers in the thicker part

of the trunk.

It is probable that there are at least two generations of the insect in

the year.

Hectarthrum heros, Fabr. (p. n6).--This cucujid was found in the tree
infested by this platypid in some numbers, and was engaged in preying
upon the Platypus beetle. Tachyta nietneri (p. 96) was also present.

Trachypholis hispida, Weber (p. 113).— This beetle was taken in com-
pany with the platypus.

Platypus solidus, Walk.

REFERENCES.— Walker, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. ii, 3rd ser. p. 286; Chapuis, Mongr. Platy. 267 (1866).

Habitat.— Lower Burma. Also reported from Ceylon,
Malacca, etc.

Tree Attacked. — Anogeissus latifolia. Tharrawaddy.

Beetle.— Elongate, the elytra sharply constricting to apex in upper
third. Moderately shining. Dark ferruginous brown, apical half

almost black, antennae and legs paler. Head
Description. slightly concave on front, latter rugose, punc-

tate anteriorly, reticulate behind. Prothorax

with a median furrow, punctate, the punctures stronger behind and on
each side of the median furrow. Elytra striate-punctate, the striae
and punctures very fine on basal part, becoming stronger and denser
in apical portion, the inner striae most pronounced, the punctures
close ; declivity smooth and shining, with deep striae ; the apex of
each elytron produced into a blunt point ; abdominal segments finely FIG. 394.

punctate and granulose. Posterior femora with a very sharp tooth. Platypus solidus,
Length, 3.8 mm. to 4 mm. Walk- Lower Burma.

A specimen of this insect was taken from a tunnel bored vertically down
through the bark into the heart-wood of a large felled Anogeissus tree in a
1904 tounggya teak plantation in Tharrawaddy. The insect was evidently
engaged in ovipositing. It was taken on 22 January 1905.

The insect is very variable, and Chapuis distinguishes three varieties
from Malacca and elsewhere in the Indian Archipelago.

Platypus curtus, Chap.

REFERENCES.— Chapuis, Mongr. Plnty. p. 261 (1866) ; Stebbing (Platypus sp.), Assam Sal Ins. For.

Bull. no. ii, p. 46 (1907).

Habitat.— Assam. Also reported from Singapore and Sarawak (Coll.
Wallace).

Tree Attacked.— Sal (Shorca robusta). Goalpara.

FAMILY PLATYPODIDAE 625

Beetle. — Stout, robust, short, abruptly truncate posteriorly. Dark brown, apical half of
elytra black and set with golden yellow stiff short hairs. Head with front flat, dull, punctate-
rugose, finely reticulate between the eyes ; club of antennae not articu-
Description. late. Prothorax square, with a longitudinal median carina, a small

oval rugose patch on each side in front of carina, and scattered

largish punctures. Elytra short, widened behind, with a strongly punctured sutural furrow,
the striae weak and multi-punctate, the intervals sub-convex, with a double row of fine points
bearing inclined hairs. Declivity oblique, sub-circular, with dull furrows, the intervals with
double rows of spiny granules. Abdominal segments densely punctate-rugose. Posterior
trochanters punctate, each terminated with a double spine. Length, 3.7 mm. PI. Ix, fig. 8,
shows this insect. The curious short squat thorax and elytra give a characteristic appearance
to this species.

This is a common beetle in freshly felled sal-trees in the latter half of
May. It was taken in numbers from a green tree

Life History. felled in the Kachugaon forests on 15 May 1906 and

also from other felled green trees. In all cases it had

attacked the trees after they had been felled. It was, however, also cut

out of green sickly dying standing trees. The insect evidently only attacks

green wood, and is not to be found in dead wood.

The beetle was ovipositing in the latter half of May, the beetles then
taken being probably those of the first generation of the year laying the
eggs of a second. The egg-gallery may go in through the bark at a slight
angle, but on reaching the sapwood the beetle tunnels straight down into
the heart-wood. There are no offset galleries to the main one, the eggs
being laid at the bottom of this latter. The larvae on hatching out of the
eggs appear to feed upon fungi lining the walls of the egg-gallery, since in
old tunnels examined there was no evidence of any larval gallery or tunnel
eaten in the wood.

The beetle will attack the wood with the bark on or off, so that barking
the felled tree is no protection against it. It enters a log with as much
facility at a cut end as by boring down through the bark. This habit is of
considerable interest and importance, since other species I have examined,
as detailed above, would appear to require the bark on the stem as a
condition of attack. The presence of this platypid is easily recog-
nizable, as the particles of wood eaten out in making the gallery are
pushed up the tunnel and ejected from the mouth of it either in the
form of little heaps of wood-dust or, more usually, as little cylindrical
wood masses which project upwards out of the bark. The colour of these
cylinders will at once tell the observer how deep the beetle has got into
the wood.

When numerous this platypid badly pin-holes freshly felled sal-trees,
standing sickly trees, and freshly sawn logs lying in the forest. For this
reason felled trees should be converted and removed from the forest as soon
as possible.

Tillicera assamensis, Steb. (p. 187;, is predaceous upon this platypid.
It is described on p. 486.

9003 R R

626

FAMILY PLAT Y POD I DAE

Platypus cupulatus, Chap.

REFERENCE.— Chapuis, Mongr. Platy. p. 278 (1866).

Habitat.— Tenasserim, Lower Burma. Also reported from Borneo,
Sarawak (Coll. Wallace).

Tree Attacked.— Terminnliu belerica. Natchoung, Ataran River.

Beetle.— £ Front of head flat, sparsely and strongly punctate
with a very short smooth stria medianly. Prothorax oblong, the

median furrow faint, a smooth median line

Description. in front, a small patch of close punctures on

each side, rest with scattered rather large

punctures. Klytni striate-punctate, a deep sutural stria, with faintly
marked striae near base, the intervals with scattered punctures ;
apical depression obliquely subquadrangulate, the sutural margin
longest, surface densely punctate, with a shallow pit near sutural
angle. Abdominal segments rugose-granulose, the last most strongly
so and scarcely concave.

2 Front less strongly punctate. Prothorax with the median
furrow and line longer than in &. Elytra more deeply punctate-
striate, the intervals more regularly and finely punctate. Apical FlG. 395. — Platypus
depression circular, very concave, shining and nearly smooth ; cupulatus, Chap,
sutural angle prolonged backwards. Abdomen nearly flat, the seg-
ments finely punctate. Length, $ $ 5 mm.

Tenasserim, Lower
Burma.

The female tunnels down into the heart-wood of the tree, the tunnel1

going straight in for a couple of inches or more and then

Life History. curving to the right or left. The insect is of fair size, the

tunnels thus having a considerable diameter, whilst the

entrance-holes are easily visible on the outer bark. The eggs, as is usual, are
deposited at the bottom of the tunnel. I took a number of dead beetles,
mature and partially mature, in the tunnels on the loth of March 1905.
They had apparently been killed in situ by a fire which had been lit to clear
the compound of rubbish, the dead Tenninalia in which they were found
lying in the compound of the forest bungalow. The tunnels showed signs
of age, indicating that they had been made whilst the wood was still green
and s;ij)j)y.

Platypus talurae, Stebbing.

REFERENCE. — Stebbing (Diapus), Depart. Notes, i, 418 (1906).

Habitat. — Coimbatore, Madras.

Tree Attacked. -Shorcu talnni. North Coimbatore.

Beetle.— Elongate, narrow, shining. Head and thorax dark chestnut-brown, almost

k ; basal margin, sides, and apical portion of elytra chestnut-brown, rest pale yellow..

Antennae yellowish brown, legs pale yellow. Head vertical,.

Description. broader than thorax, shining and glabrous ; eye vertical, pale silvery

yellow. Antennae set with long curved yellow hairs on scape and

funiculus scape subcylindrical, longer than funiculus. Thorax oblong with shallow depres-
sions on anterior half, emarginate at sides before middle, basal margin bisinuous, finely pitted
with a median line. Scutellum is large, triangular, and separates the elytra at the base..

FAMILY PLATYPODIDAE

627

i

Elytra smooth, finely punctate-striate, their apices produced into points in the female, concave
in male. Last abdominal segment pubescent. The thighs of the middle pair of legs fit into
sockets on the mesosternum. Length, J in.

Egg. — Very small, in shape like a hen's egg, translucent and
colourless, shining. Length, .4 mm.

Larva. — Not full-grown. White, legless, elongate, and not curved.
Length, -^ in. in largest specimens obtained. Fairly active.

This beetle is to be found on the wing at the be-
ginning of August in Southern India,

Life History. and lays its eggs in wood at this
period. On 6 August 1902 beetles'

eggs and newly hatched larvae were discovered in the
wood of Shorea talura. The beetles bore circular tunnels
right down into the heart-wood of the Shorea. From
the lower part of these tunnels small offshoot galleries
at right angles to the main one are cut out, and the eggs
laid in these. The main tunnel appears invariably to
be bored right down into the heart-wood, and in the case
of a felled tree is bored vertically downwards through
bark and sapwood. The larvae are "ambrosia" feeders,
feeding upon a kind of fungus growing on the walls of the parent beetle's
tunnel.

This beetle bores into comparatively fresh Shorea talnra wood. The
tree \vhich it was found attacking had been felled in the preceding April for
road-repair work. Until more is known about its life history its importance
in the forest cannot be determined.

FIG. 396. — Platypus

talurae, Steb. Coim-

batore, Madras.

Platypus sp. nov.

Habitat. — Upper Burma.

Tree Attacked. — Wendlandia
Katha.

tincloria. Kadu Hill,

Beetle. — Elongate, narrow, shining. Head and apices of elytra
black, thorax dark brown, elytra and legs yellowish brown, llr.nl

punctate. Thorax smooth and shining ; finely
Description. and uniformly punctate. ; elytra widest at apical

extremities, striate and punctate. I.en-th.

3.8mm. As this insect is represented by a single individual only, Colonel
Winn Sampson is unwilling to describe it until more are procured.

This insect was cut out of its tunnel deep in the wood
K-1 of a newly felled Wcndlaiidiu on the

Hill, Katha. Life History. Kadu Hill in Katha on 21 February

1905. It was engaged in eating out

its egg-tunnel. I took only the one specimen of the insect. The wood
was fresh and sappy.

R R 2

\

Vic,. 397.

628 FAMILY PLATYPODIDAE

Platypus sp.
Habitat. — Upper Burma.
Tree Attacked. — Wcndlandia tinctoria. Kadu Hill, Katha.

Beetle.— Large, reddish brown, shining. Prothorax finely punctate, smooth. Elytra
strongly striate-punctate, the striae prominent and strongest basally, interspaces broad and

punctate. The specimen has the head, anterior portion of prothorax,
Description. and the posterior end of abdomen missing. Length of mutilated

specimen about 9 mm.
This Platypus is therefore of considerable size.

I found a specimen of this insect embedded in the wood of a large

newly felled Wendlandia tinctoria in the clearing on

Life History. the summit of Kadu Hill in Katha on 21 February 1905.

The beetle was dead and mutilated, and wedged into

its tunnel, which penetrated deep down into the tree.

DIAPUS.

Diapus impressus, Janson.
REFERENCE. — Janson, Ind. Mus. Notes, iii, i, p. 74 (1893).

Habitat.— North-West Himalaya.

Tree Attacked. — Ban Oak (Quercus incana). Jaunsar.

Beetle.— Elongate cylindrical, with a vertical exserted head, broader than thorax, and weak
legs. Red-brown, shining, basal margin of the thorax and elytra brownish yellow, apical

posterior of the latter red-brown ; legs and antennae pale yellow.

Description. Thorax oblong, strongly emarginate at sides before the middle, base

finely and closely punctured and with a slight median line. Elytra

punctate-striate, the second striae from suture and the outer marginal one broader and more
strongly punctured, the first and second interstices from the suture strongly raised, the fourth
slightly convex ; the apex coarsely punctured, subtruncate. and unarmed in the male, in the
female with five acute apical spines. Under-surface light orange-yellow between the second
and third pairs of legs, brown anteriorly to this, and dark brown to black on abdominal seg-
ments, which are very short. Abdomen densely pubescent at apex in male, in the female con-
cave, rugulose. Length, 3^ mm. to 4 mm. (PI. xlv, figs. 5, 5 a.)

Larva.— White, legless, straight, with a light orange-yellow head and black mandibles.

The only specimens of this insect taken appear to have been sent to
the Indian Museum, Calcutta, from Deoban, Jaunsar, in
Life History. December 1891. The insects were reported as tun-
nelling into ban-oak stumps, but nothing further appears
to be known about them.

Diapus ( ? ) heritierae, Stebbing.

REFERENCE. — Stebbing, Depart. Notes, i, 420 (1906).

Habitat. — Bengal.

Tree Attacked. — Sundri (Hcnticra littoralis). Backerganj, Sundarbans
(Sen Gupta).

FAMILY PLATYPODIDAE 629

Beetle.— Elongate, narrow, shining. Head dark chestnut-brown or black ; thorax
chestnut-brown ; elytra pale yellow, slightly tinged with chestnut on basal margin and merging

into pale chestnut-brown in upper third, becoming chestnut-brown in

Description. apical fourth. Antennae yellow, legs chestnut-brown. Head vertical,

not broader than thorax, rugose, with scattered spiny yellow hairs on

front. Thorax about a quarter as long again as wide, only slightly emarginate at sides
below middle, anterior margin straight ; glabrous, and finely punctate. Elytra striate-punctate ;
four striae prominent at base, the outer marginal one most prominent, the second from suture
becoming less marked soon after leaving base, the first interstice from suture raised, the fourth
strongly raised and convex, with scattered large punctures ; a depression between second and
third striae depressed at base ; apex truncate, showing eight well-defined ridges, the depressed
portion in $ set with five teeth on side and four apical ones, of which the outermost is prolonged
and turned outwards ; $ unarmed ; the truncate portion and marginal edges of elytra set with
yellow spiny hairs, denser apically. Under-surface brown, abdominal segments dark-brown to
black, and very short; concave and rugulose in $. Anterior tibiae toothed on outer edge.
Length. $ 4.7 mm., $ 3.9 mm.

This insect was first found by Ranger B. C. Sen Gupta tunnelling into
sundri (Heritiera littoralis) wood in June 1902. An examination of some

pieces of attacked timber showed that the insect bored
Life History. right down into the heart-wood, the gallery made by

the beetle being quite straight. The following year

the Ranger was able to make some further observations on its habits in the
beginning of April. The following is a summary of his valuable investiga-
tions. He found two beetles of different sizes in the pieces of wood
(probably $ and $). His study of the habits led him to conclude that the
adults bore through the wood into the sapwood and lay their eggs. They
probably do not go into the heart-wood at this stage, as he found that in
all the newly attacked wood the heart-wood was left untouched ; it was
only after some period that the galleries were found in the heart-wood.
Only a few eggs are laid in each tunnel ; the number, however, has
not been observed. The larvae did not appear to bore galleries in the
wood, but were to be found at the bottom of the parent's tunnel. This
latter may branch (or curve?) when it has been carried right down into the
wood. The larvae pupate at the ends of the galleries, and the adults on
maturing make fresh borings into the timber as long as it is sufficiently
fresh for their purpose. The galleries are very small (about one-thirteenth
of an inch in diameter), and the adult beetles continually move- up and down
the tunnels. This insect is another of the so-called "ambrosia" beetles, and
the reason for the non-discovery of larval tunnels is due to the fact that the
larvae probably live upon a fungous growth which develops on the \\.ills of
the tunnel of the parent beetle. Since the mature insect is found in April
and again in June there are evidently two generations in the year, and
probably several. These beetles attack sundri wood as soon as it has been
felled, and as long as it is fresh. They will not touch dry wood. Their old
galleries can be seen in this latter, but no living beetles are ever found in
them. The}' only attack the sundri in this locality. Other kinds of wood,
green and half dry, are left untouched.

FAMILY FLATYPODIDAE

This insect was found by Ranger B. C. Sen Gupta at Wazirpur, in the

Backerganj District in Bengal. The wood in which the

beetles were found was, however, brought in boats from

the Sundarbans, the latter place probably being the

true habitat of the insect.

This Diapns bores into the wood of both green and half-dry sundri.
It infests stacks of this wood in the Sundarbans, sometimes in large
numbers, and at times, according to Ranger Gupta, completely riddles
and spoils the timber. The presence of the bark on the wood is
immaterial, since the insect will burrow down into unbarked timber with
equal ease.

Although the beetles were found in the Backerganj District it was
always in timber that had been brought from the Sundarbans forests, and
the beetle is probably indigenous to those forests (from which all the sundri
comes) and is carried about in the wood when it is exported. The timber
is always carried in boats, the latter proceeding through the various mouths
of the Hooghly River and their connecting network of canals to Calcutta
and the surrounding Eastern Bengal towns and villages.

Diapus furtivus, Sampson, sp. nov.

REFERENCES. — Sampson, Ann. .Vd.c. \at. Hist. ser. 8, xii, 450 (1913); Stebbing (Diapns sp.), Ass. Sal

Ins. Pests, For. Bull. no. u, p. 43 (1907).

Habitat. — Assam ; Central Provinces.

Tree Attacked. — Sal (Shoreu robnstci). Goalpara ; Banjar Valley, Mandla,
Central Provinces.

Beetle.— Minute ; ferruginous brown or black, shining ; elytra sometimes with yellowish
patches on the median portion. Head punctate, with front concave, the antennae inserted in

a line almost parallel with upper edge of eyes ;
Description. at base of each antenna, on inner side, arises

an oval excrescence, larger than eyes them-
selves, and covered with deep punctures ; a small bunch of bright
M-lliiw hair is placed at the centre of the epistoma, and smaller ones
at the apical frontal angles near the insertion of the mandibles. Thorax
oblmig, a very short basal median line with eleven large pores
irregularly placed on either side ; with very fine transverse striae on
posterior parts, the median area being smooth. Elytra with very
Mn.n-ly raised longitudinal ridges, which starting from the base
become stronger as they approach the apex, and are prolonged into
shorl l>lunt spines which project from the elytra at the point where the
latter are declined downwards at apical end. A prominent spine F

from the median apical end of the elytra. This elytral frrjtous amm
armature is only present in the $, the apical ends of elytra in $ being sp. nov. ' Assam!
truncaic and straight ; feebly lineate-punctate, the interstices flat with

Last segment of abdomen in $ deeply concave and coarsely punctured
Length, <*> 3.5 mm. to 4 mm., $ 4 mm.

FAMILY PLATYPODIDAK 631

This tiny platypid was very plentiful in the Kachugaon forests in the
latter half of May 1906. Within twenty-four hours of

Life History. a tree being felled it made its appearance and at once
commenced to tunnel down into the wood, entering

through the bark or at one end of the logs. It drills circular tunnels more
or less straight, except at their commencement, into the sapwood. The insect
infests both the main stem and the larger branches. This little beetle
differs from most platypids owing to its great activity. Most of these
insects have very long, slender, weak tarsi, and are quite unable to progress
at all fast when out of their tunnels. This one, however, is able to run
about over the sal bark at a very rapid rate. It appears to infest only green
wood, and attacks standing green sickly trees as well as newly felled ones.

I took a generation of this insect maturing in the Central Provinces
sal forests in the middle of April 1909, from eggs laid by beetles which
appeared some time late in February or early in March. From large green
sal-trees felled in the Banjar Valley I cut out maturing beetles, the eggs
from which their grubs had hatched having evidently been laid in the trees
after they had been felled in the previous February. I found other beetles
tunnelling into newly felled trees in the middle of April to oviposit. The
platypid tunnels down through the thick bark, selecting fresh sappy trees
and tunnelling in near the base of the tree in the butt or into the stump,
and then goes straight down into the sapwood, the tunnel curving here
and entering the heart-wood. The eggs are evidently laid at the bottom of
the tunnel, the grubs feeding on the sap or on outgrowths on the walls of
the tunnel.

As in Assam, the timber, when the insect is numerous, is badly pinholed
on the external surface.

The damage committed by this insect is very similar to that described

for other species of platypid. The timber, so far as the

Damage^Committed sapwood is concerned, is badly pinholed, giving the

logs the appearance of being more badly affected than

they are in reality. This insect evidently appears in large numbers in
areas where fellings are made in the forest.

Platysoma ? sp. (p. 106). — This histerid is, I think, predaceous upon
this platypid and I), minis, and perhaps upon the sal-wood Vhitypus of
Assam (P. curt us).

Beetle. — Smaller than the one attacking Sphacro-

Predaceous Insects. /rvyV.s ns\iii/icnsis (p. 487). Black, shining, compact,

with black smooth thorax and striate elytra, the striae
far apart. Two posterior segments of the elytra are exposed. PI. Ix, fig. ix,
shows this beetle.

Life History. — Not common. It was taken from beneath the bark of
the sal-tree felled on 13 May 1906 in the Kachugaon forests in Goalpara.
It was apparently engaged in entering the tunnels, probably for ovipositing

632 FAMILY PLATYPODIDAE

purposes, of the wood-borers. Diapus fitrtivus appeared likely to be the
chief of its hosts.

Tillioera assamensis, Steb. (p. 187), is predaceous upon this Diapus and
upon D. quiiujiicspinatus and D. mints. It is described on p. 486.

Hemiptera.— This small bug is predaceous upon the Diapus.

Insect.— Black. Head small, pointed anteriorly with short four-jointed
antennae. Thorax convex-punctate. Abdomen black ; elytra membranous.
Under-surface black; antennae and legs crimson brown. (PI. Ix, fig. 12.)

Life History. — This small bug was taken in company with the small
wood-boring Diapus in the green sal-trees felled at Kachugaon in Goalpara.
It appeared to be predaceous upon the platypids. It was also taken in slabs
cut from trees felled in February 1906.

Diapus quinquespinatus, Chap.

REFERENCES. — Chapuis, Mongr. Platy. p. 335 (1866) ; Stebbing, Assam Sal Insects, For. Bull. no. 1 1 (1907).

Habitat.— Assam. Also reported from Borneo and New Guinea (Coll.
Wallace et Janson).

Tree Attacked. — Sal (Shorea robusta}. Kachugaon, Goalpara.

Beetle. — Brownish black, shining, elytra brown, posterior edge of prothorax, antennae, and
legs ferruginous yellow. $ Front of head slightly convex, with a median line ; the mandibles

armed with an appendage. Prothorax oblong, with a narrow median

Description. furrow with a faintly marked pit anteriorly. Elytra striate-punc-

tate, the second furrow prominent from base to apex, the intervals

irregularly punctate, 3 most prominent at apex and extremity ; elytra thickened behind with a
narrow deep transverse marginal furrow ; last abdominal segment smooth, edged with long
hairs. $ Front of head sparsely and strongly punctate. Prothorax subqundrate, shorter and
wider than in <J, sparsely and finely punctate, the punctures stronger laterally, with a few
large ones on each side of median line. Elytra with the second furrow prominent, the intervals
finely and sparsely punctate : 3, 5, 7, 9 prolonged into a prominent sharp spine ; 2, 4, 6, 8
constricted behind, lengthening successively from innermost outwards and terminating in short
sharp spines ; last segment of abdomen more or less densely granulose. Length, $ 2 2J mm-
PI. Ix, fig. 9).

This beetle was taken plentifully from the sal-trees felled during my

stay in the Kachugaon forests (i.e. between 15 and

Life History. 23 May 1906). The first specimens were taken on

15 May from the tree felled on the i3th of that month.

Likefurtivus, the beetle tunnels into the wood of the tree, entering either at

the end of a log or through the bark. The hole made is of considerably

smaller diameter than that of Platypus curtus, and in this way the attacks

of the Diapi can be distinguished on the outside from those of their

companion, the little cylinders of ejected wood having a considerably

narrower diameter.

FAMILY PLATYPODIDAE

Diapus mirus,* Sampson, sp. nov.

REFERENCE. — Sampson, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist, ser: 8, xii, 452 (1913)-

Habitat. — Assam Sal Areas.

Tree Attacked. — Sal (Shorea robust a). Goalpara.

Beetle. — Small, shining. Head black, prothorax dark brown, elytra yellowish green,
apical third brown. Under-surface of metathorax dark brown, rest lighter-coloured ; legs

yellowish brown. From anterior edge of front
Description. of head arises a transverse ridge of stout

yellow hairs divided into four groups which

extend upwards and backwards over whole front to middle of vertex ;
between the eyes are two large clusters of similar hairs, also divided
into groups, the inner pair of which extend straight out from front, but
are slightly bent downwards at tips and then end abruptly, having a
total length of over .5 mm. ; the other two groups are twisted round
the first pair and then cross the middle of the front, thus concealing
nearly the whole frontal surface. Prothorax smooth, with a group of
pores as in furtivus, with two depressions placed transversely on
anterior third of disk. Elytra very finely striate-punctate, the apex
rounded. Length, 3.7 mm.

FlG. 399, — Diapus
mints, Sampson,
sp. nov. Goalpara,
Assam.

This platypid was taken commonly in company with

D. furtivus and D. quinquespinatus,

Life History. tunnelling into newly felled sal-trees

in the Kachugaon forests in May 1906.

Its life history is probably not unlike that of its companions already
described.

Diapus capillatus, Sampson, sp. nov.
REFERENCE. — Sampson, Ann. Mai;. Xat. Hist. ser. 8, xii, 449 (1913).

Habitat. — Darjeeling, Eastern Himalaya.

Tree Attacked. — Buk (Quercus lamellosa). Darjeeling Forests (C. G.
Rogers).

* In a communication dated 6 January 1914, Colonel Winn Sampson wrote me as follows
with reference to this species : — " I have just had news from Dehra Dun that upsets my species
Diapus minis. It seems that during the marriage flight the $ D. fur tints, mihi, has a large
cluster of frontal hairs (which I fully described, but as belonging to the £, not having material
for dissection) ; when she commences boring these clusters are "cast off" I am informed
(more probably worn off I should imagine !). From specimens just sent me, I have determined
the sexes to be the reverse of what I thought, and my mistake is excusable as I could not
know that the, generally <J, characteristic of a hairy front was reversed in these insects or
that these hairs were lost in later life. A still more extraordinary thing is, that the $ has the
insertion of the antennae level with the upper edge of the eyes, \\hiKt in the £ they are much
lower down the front. . . . This (if correct) reverses my sexes of D. f'nrfivns, and />. mints
becomes a synonym, being the $ of the former species with the hairs on."

634

FAMILY PLATYPODIDAE

Beetle.— Small, elongate, narrow, shining. Head black, thorax dark ferruginous brown ;
elytra yellow, bases and apex brown ; under-surface brown, legs yellow ; antennae yellow, the

scape edged with a conspicuous fringe or
Description. brush of yellow-brown hairs forming a

prominent bunch on either side of the front

of head. Head concave in front, with coarse punctures and two deep
impressions on either side of a median line extending half-way to
vertex ; two tufts of yellow hair just above the epistoma turn slightly
upwards, four other tufts arising close behind. Prothorax oblong,
deeply indented at sides, with a slight median line from base to
centre, basal half punctate, rest smooth. Elytra finely striate-
punctate, the apices separately rounded. Length, 3.2 mm. to

_u._^_ _ 3-5 mm-

In July i go i Mr. C. G. Rogers obtained a few of
these beetles from the wood of a
Life History. railway sleeper of Quercus lamellosa
cut in the Darjeeling forests. The

insect evidently oviposits in the timber of this tree, but nothing further
is at present known about its life history.

FIG. 400.

Diapns capillatns,
Sampson, sp.n. Darjeeling.

UNDETERMINED PLATYPID.
I have been unable to obtain the determination of the following species.

Platypus ? sp.
Habitat. — Lower Burma.

Tree Attacked.— Pyinkadu (Xylia dolabriformis). Tharrawaddy, Salween
River, Tenasserim.

Beetle. — Mack, pointed posteriorly.

The beetle tunnels directly down into the wood of the tree, the tunnel

curving a little after it has entered the sapwood. The

Life History. eggs are laid at the bottom of the tunnel, which is

several inches in length. I took a dead mother-beetle

in the egg-tunnel in a large girdled tree in Tharrawaddy in January 1905,
and others mature and just issuing (the first beetles of the year) in trees at
Kamamaung, on the Salween River, in Tenasserim, the first fortnight in the
following March. The beetle only oviposits in fresh sappy timber.

Hectarthrum heros, Fabr. (pp. n6 and 166).— This beetle is predaceous
upon the platypid found in the pyinkadu-tree. It was taken in some
numbers in the mature state on 8 March 1908 in company with the Platypus.

APPENDIX.

The following insect should be included in the Tenebrionidae (p. 232).

PALORUS.
Palorus minor, Waterhouse.

REFERENCE.. — Waterhouse, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (6) xiv, 71 (1894).

Habitat.— Calcutta.

Tree Attacked. — Siris (Albizzia lebbek). Royal Botanic Gardens,
Calcutta.

Beetle.— Elongate, cylindrical. Dark red-brown, tibiae and
tarsi yellowish red. Head smooth, flat, finely rugose, with an

elevate longitudinal ridge just above the
Description. mouth. Prothorax longer than broad, apex

rounded, the apical third with strong trans-
verse asperations changing to transverse striae on disk medianly ;
surface punctate and smooth on posterior half. Elytra not one and a
half times as long as prothorax ; striate-punctate, the punctures shallow
and rather large on disk, smaller laterally ; declivity abrupt, strongly
set with asperations and pointed tubercles and sparse spiny setae.
Length, about 2 mm. (Description (>ni/ii] from a poor specimen.)

FiG

IG. 401.-
i>iino>', W
in Albizz
Calcutta.

Palorus
aterhouse,
ia lebbek.

I cut out a single dead individual of this tenebrionid from a gallery in
the wood of a dead siris-tree in the Botanic Gardens
in Calcutta towards the end of April 1903. I know
nothing further about the insect.

Xyleborus noxius, Sampson, sp. nov.

Described on pp. 598-600.

This insect appears to be also one of the Andamans padauk (Pterocarpus
dalbergioides) boring beetles. It has been found tunnelling into the wood in
a manner similar to that described under \\lchonts adumbratus (p. 601) and
A', laeviusculus (p. 602).

Xyleborus nilgirensis, llagedorn.
Habitat. — Andaman Islands.

Tree Attacked. — Padauk (I'lcniair^it^ dalbergioides). Andamans.

It has quite recently come to my knowledge that specimens of a
Xyleborus identified as Hagedorn's uil^ii'oisis have been taken from padauk
wood in the Andamans. The insects were reported as tunnelling down into
the hard timber.

INDEX TO TREES.

Abies vvebbiana, 6, 13, 15, 17, 20, 43, 62, 63,

loo, 123, 408, 538, 602, 604,
Acacia arabica, 12, 60, 61, 199, 200, 301,

358.
Acacia catechu, 4, gi, 149, 153, 167, 174, 291,

402, 404.

Acacia intsia, 403.
Acacia modesta, 4, 14, 153, 167.
Adina cordifolia, 621.
Adina sessilifolia, 62, 116, 609, 621.
Aegle marmelos, 262.
Ak, 357.

Albizzia amara, 175,
Albizzia lebbek, 220, 221, 252, 635.
Albizzia procera, 153, 427.
Alnus nepalensis, 86.
Alstonia scholaris, 241.
Anogeissus latifolia, 4, 18, 19, 61, 62, 96, 103,

ii2, 113, no, 153, 174, 175, 189. 209, 355,

375, 422, 476, 490, 583, 623, 624.
Anthocephalus cadamba, 428.
Arbutilon asiatica, 221.
Areca catechu, 583.
Artocarpus, 17, 62.
Artocarpus sp., 247.
Arundinaria aristata, 446.

Babul, 12, 13, 51, 199, 358.
Bael, 262.

Bamboo, 4, 14, 92, 108, 109, 119, 130, 133,
143, 145, 146, 167, 177, 179, 238, 239, 254,

354. 388. 443-
Bamboo, The Hill, 443.
Bambusa arundinacea, 92.
Bambusa polymorpha, 100.
Bambusa sp., 354.
Ban Oak, 70, 274, 416, 446. 498, 542, 545, 618,

628.

Bassia latifolia, 119.
Bauhinia, 17, 62,
Bauhinia racemosa, 251.
Ber, 265, 397.
Betula, 63.

Betula cylindrostachys, 68.
Blackwood, 76.
Blue Pine, 5, 6, 7, n, 13, 15, 17, 20,37, 38,

39, 41, 43, 61, 63, loo, 103, 106, 107, 123,

233. 236. 437. 451, 473- 499, 5°i. 52Q, 522,

SSL 552, 561, 562, 617.

Bombax malabaricum, 67, 148, 227, 245, 289,

295. 379, 389. 400, 609.
Bombax heptaphyllum, 295.
Boswellia, 15.

Boswellia serrata, 260, 261, 537.
Buchanania latifolia, 108, 109, 112, 594.
Buk, 62, 600, 607, 633.
Butea frondosa, 176, 295, 410.

Calotropis gigantea, 357.

Calotropis sp., 414.

Camellia theifera, 74, Si.

Camellia theifolia, 589.

Cannas, 87.

Cassia fistula, 17, 251.

Cassia montana, 251.

Cassia muritura, 251.

Cassia occidentalis, 17.

Cassia siamea, 422.

Castanea vesca, 230, 266.

Castanopsis tribuloides, 68, 389.

Casuarina, 13, 39, 45, 51, 61, 87, 152, 176, 229,

235, 251, 344, 358, 379.
Casuarina equisetifolia, 87, 152, 176, 229,235,

251, 344, 358, 379-
Cedrela toona, 4.

Cedrus deodara, 5, 6, 7, 11-16, 17, 21, 22, 28,
37. 38, 39. 4L 43. 50, 61, 82, 100, 103, 106,
204, 209, 2jo, 236, 241, 243, 280, 284, 340,
408, 416, 451, 501, 527, 528, 540, 562, 568,
577, 578, 613.

Cephalostachyum pergracile, 229, 254, 443.

Chenar, 203, 307.

Chestnut, Sweet, 266.

Chikrassi, 195, 198.

Chickrassia tabularis, 195, 198.

Chilgoza Pine, 240, 287, 496, 510, 561, 562.

Chir Pine, 96, 202, 281, 453, 474, 522, 524,

530. 533. 557. 619.
Chloroxylon swietenia, 301, 305.
• 'itrus aurantium, j \<<.
Cocoa, 151, 587, 589.
Coco-nut, 44 (, 4.)',.
Cocos nuciiera, ||). ))'•.
Coelospernum gossypium, 221.
Coffea arabica, 75, 351.
Coffee, 75, 124, 351.
Cryptomeria, 51, 61,
Cryptomeria japonica, 80.

638

INDEX TO TREES

Dalbergia cultrata, 226, 242, 243, 598.
Dalbergh latifolia, 76, 167,1422.
Dalbergia paniculata, 398,403, 445.
Dalbergia sissoo, 4, 86, 105, 112, 153, 167,

183, 195, 213, 219, 231, 237, 258, 401, 402,

418, 438.

Dalbergia sp. (cultrata?), 427, 449.
Dendrocalamus hamiltonii, 443.
I lendrocalamus strictus, 92, 108, 119, 130,

133, 143- 145. 146. 167, 177, 238, 239, 254,

291, 388, 454-
Deodar, 5, 6, 7, n, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 21,

22, 28, 37, 38, 39, 41, 43, 50, 61, 100, 103,

106, 204, 209, 230, 236, 241, 243, 280, 284,

340, 408, 416, 451, 501, 527, 528, 540, 562,

568, 577, 5/8,613.
Dhak, 176, 295.
Diospyros ebenurn, 543.
I unbanga sonnatioides, 2, 321.

Ebony, 543.

Elm, 307.

EVythrina, 112.

Erythrina suberosa, 112, 118, 120, 236, 542.

Eugenia grandis, 100.

Eugenia jambolana, 77, 202.

Ficus caricus, 362.

Ficus elastica, 17, 51, 61, 67, 100, 211, 228,
255. 258, 339, 352, 366, 413, 439, 456, 472.
Ficus glomerata, 375,
Ficus roxburghii, 375.
Ficus rumphii, 375.
Fig-tree, 54, 362.

Garruga pinnata, 100.
Gmelina arborea, 266.
Grewia asiatica, 263.
Grewia tiliaefolia, 423.
Guava, 144.
Gular, 375.

Hardwickia binata, 301.
1 larra, 153.
Helicteres sp., 424.
Heritiera littoralis, 628.
Hibiscus, 17, 92, 247.
Holarrhina antidysenterica, 261.
Homalium tomentosum, 95, 100.
Horse-chestnut, 16.

India-rubber, 67, 255,339, 366,413, 439,456,

472.
Indigofera pulchella, 210.

Jaman, 77, 202.
Jarul, 195, 198.
Jhingham, 295, 336.
Juglans regia, 412.

Kadam, 428.
Khair, 91, 150, 153, 167.
Kharani, 63, 68, 72.
Kharshu Oak, 183, 266, 276.
Kibu, 414.

Lagerstromia, 69.

Lagerstromia Flos-Reginae, 195, 198.

Lagerstromia parviflora, 103, 104, 112, 116,

118, 120.

Lonicera angustifolia, 248.
Lonicera quinquelocularis, 248.
Loquat-tree, 54.

Mahogany, 76, 199, 449, 586, 607

Makai, 567.

Mallotus philippinensis, 74, 407.

Mallotus roxburghianus, 176.

Mangifera indica, 129, 217, 263, 291, 296, 301,

362, 367, 397, 415, 436,542.
Mango, 125, 129, 217, 263, 291, 296,301,362,

367, 397, 415, 436. 542.
Melocanna bambusioides, 42, 440.
Mesua ferrea, 587, 588.
Milletia brandisiana, 100, 231.
Miluisa, 19.

Miluisa velutina, 100, 117.
Mohwa, 119.

Moru Oak, 70, 274, 349, 416, 493, 545.
Morus alba, 183, 371, 374.
Morus laevigata, 100, 112, 456.
Mulberry, 13, 61, 183, 371, 374.
Muli Bamboo, 440.
Musa sapientum, 21.).
Musre katus, 68, 389.

Nahor, 587, 588.
Nauclea sessiliflora, 63.
Nauclea, vide Adina.

Oak, 62, 63, 84, 212, 275, 300, 317, 367,

37J.

Odina wodier, 62, 295, 336, 378, 594
Olea cuspidata, 494.
Olive, 494.
Orange, 346.
Ougeinia dalbergioides, 608.

INDEX TO TREES

639

Padauk, 425, 601, 602, 635.

Pakar, 375.

Palas, 410.

Palm, 87.

Palm, The Date, 444.

Palm, The Toddy, 444.

Peach-tree, 122, 123, 124, 397.

Pentacme suavis, 2, 321.

Phoenix dactylifera, 444.

Phoenix sylvestris, 444.

Thulahi, 153, 167.

1'icea morinda, 5, 6, 7, 13, 15, 17, 41, 43, 61,

63, 100, 103, 106, 107, 123, 225, 233, 236,

280, 283, 286, 408, 451, 473, 499, 501, 522,

535, 549. 552, 562, 613.
Pinus excelsa, 5, 6, 7, n, 13, 15, 17, 20, 37,

38, 39, 41, 43, 61, 63, 100, 103, 106, 107,

123, 233, 236. 437, 451, 473, 499, 501, 520,

522, 551, 552, 561, 562, 617.
Pinus gerardiana, 7, 14, 37, 61, 103, 203, 236,

240, 287, 496, 510, 561, 562.
Pinus khasya, 7, 13, 61, 100, 428, 567.
Pinus longifolia, 6, 7, n, 13, 15, 16, 22, 38, 41,

61, 62, 96, 100, 103, 107, 115, 202, 211, 212,

236, 281, 390, 428, 453, 474, 500, 522, 524,

530, 533. 557. 619.
Pithecolobium dulce, 87.
Pithecolobium saman, 621.
Plane, 307.
Plantain, 214.

Platanus orientalis, 203, 307.
Plum, 397.
Poinciana, 13, 61.
Poinciana elata, 148.
Poinciana regia, 90.
Poplar, 14, 203, 277, 307.
Populus alba, 307.
Populus ciliata, 345.
Populus euphratica, 203, 307.
Preng Bamboo, 446.
Prosopis spicigera, 104, 153, 167.
Prunus communis, 397.
Prunus persica, 397.
I 'sidium guava, 144.
Pterocarpus, 1 1 .
Pterocarpus acerifolium, 391.
Pterocarpus dalbergioides, 425, 601, 602, 635.
Pterocarpus marsupium, 153, 167.
1'yinkadu, 20, 62,63, IO°. II2, IX6, 197, 220,

289. 386, 387, 455, 598, 634.

Ouercus dilatata, 16, 70, 85, 274, 349, 416,

493. 545-

Quercus griffithii, 300, 317, 367, 371.
(juercus ilex, 275.
(juercus incana, 16, 17, 50,62, 70, 85, 100, 106,

212, 274, 416, 446, 498, 542, 545,<>iK, 628.

Quercus lamellosa, 16, 62, 600, 607, 633.
Quercus semicarpifolia, 16, 17, 22, 50, 183,

266, 276.
Quercus sp., 84.

Raemar, 307.
Rain-tree, 621.
Rhododendron, 63, 68.
Rosa sp., 75, 87, 92.
Rosewood, 76.
Rubus niveus, 219.

Sal. 2, 4, 7, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 20, 27, 28, 4iT
42, 50, 61, 62, 63, 64, 74, 75, 76, 77, 79, 81.

98, 100, 102, 103, 105, IDS, 109, IIO, 112,

114, Il8, 122, 125, 143, 144, 146, 147, 148,

153, 167, 179, 193, 197, 200, 2l6, 225, 234,

235, 237, 238, 239, 243, 245, 246, 257, 278,

288, 295, 301, 321, 336, 347, 355 358, 376,

385, 39i, 454, 455, 475, 481, 487, 543, 549,
582, 583, 590, 592, 617, 624, 630, 632, 633.

Salix alba, 307.

Salix babylonica, 257, 307.

Salix elegans, 257, 264.

Sandal wood, 12, 380.

Sandan, 608.

Santalum album, 12, 380.

Satinwood, 305.

Saner, 63,68.

Schima, 69.

Schima noronhae, 100, 117.

Schleichera trijuga, 249.

Semul, 67, 148. 227, 245, 289, 295, 379, 389.
400, 609.

Shiran-tree, 266.

Shisham, 167.

Shorea, 69.

Shorea assamica, 567.

Shorea robusta, 2, 4, 7, 12-15, 17, 18, 20, 27,
28, 41, 42, 50, 61, 62,63, 64, 74, 75, 76, 77,
79, 81, 98, 100. 102, 103, 105, 108, 109, no,

112, 114, Il8. 122, 125, 141, 1. 14, 146, 147,
148, 153, 167, 179, 193, 197, 2CO, 2l6, 225,

234. 235, 237, 238, 239, 243, 245, ->4(., 257,
278, 288, 295, 301, 321, 336, 347, 355, 358,

376. 385. 3UI, 454. 455. 475. 481, 487. 543.
549, 5SA 3Sj, 590, 592, 617, 624, 630, 6jj,

633.

Shorea talura, 593, 626.
Silver Mr, 6, 13, 15. 17,20,43,62,63,100,

i2j. 408, 538, 602, 604.
Siris, 252, 035.
Siris, White, 427.
Sissu, 4, i <, i |, [6, 18, 41 , 50, (12., Sf>, 95, 104,

105, 112, 153, 167, 183, 195, 213, 219, -'37,
, 401, 402, 418, 438.

INDEX TO TREES

Smilax borbonica, 133.

Smilax sp., 145.

Spondias mangiferae, 17, 258, 295.

Spruce, 5, 6, 7, 13, 15, 17, 41, 43. 61, 63, 100,
103, 106, 107, 123, 225, 233, 236, 280, 283,
286, 408, 451, 473, 499, 501, 522, 535, 549,
552, 562, 613

Strobilanthus pectinatus, 414.

Sundri, 628.

Swietenia macrophylla, 76, 199.

Swietenia mahogani, 449, 586, 607.

Symplocos, 63.

Symplocos theaefolia, 68, 72.

Tabernaemontana alba, 377.

Tamarind, 251.

Tamarindus, 17, 62.

Tamarindus indica, 251.

Tamarix articulata, 301.

Tamarix gallica, 256.

Tea, 74, 81, 589.

Teak (Tectona grandis), 4, 13, 14, 15, 16, 62,
96, 100, 112, 113, 120, 124,126, 181, 182,
199, 224, 239, 267, 279, 291, 293, 317, 339,
347. 396, 398, 401, 4°3. 405. 424. 438, 536.
545, 596, 597, 598.

Terminalia, 69, 74.

Terminalia belerica, 77, 117, 167, 439, 610,
626.

Terminalia chebula, 114, 116 153.

Terminalia tomentosa, 4, 14, 41, 62, 63, 104,
105, 115, 116, 117, 118, 150, 153, 167, 177,
200, 214, 245, 301, 353, 390, 476, 487,495.

Theobroma cacao, 151, 587, 589.

Timla, 375.

Trachylepidea fructicasiella, 17.

Tun-tree, 4, 15.

Ulmus sp., 307.
Utis, 86.

Vines, 242, 280.
Viscum orientale, 306.
Vitis vinifera, 242, 280.

Walnut, 62, 412.
Wendlandia tinctoria, 113, 627.
Willow 14, 257, 264, 307.
Wrightia tinctoria, 376.

Xylia dolabriformis, 167, 197, 220, 289, 386,
387, 455, 598, 634.

Yindiak, 243, 598.
Zizyphus jujuba, 265, 397.

( 64i )

INDEX TO INSECTS

Acantho'phorus serraticornis, 277.

Aceraius hirsutus, 69.

Acmaeodera, 193.

Acmaeodera belli, 193.

Acmaeodera kerremansi, 195.

Acmaeodera stictipennis, 14, 193.

Acridiidae, 13.

Acronycta anaedina, 16, 22.

Adelocera modesta, 224.

Adephaga, 64, 93.

Adoretus, 86.

Adoretus bangalorensis, 87.

Adoretus caliginosus, 86.

Adoretus caliginosus, var. bicolor, 87.

Adoretus cardoni, 87.

Aegosoma costipenne, 279.

/Eolesthes, 301.

Jiolesthes holosericea, 2, 13, 42, 48, 61, 301.

jEolesthes induta, 305.

yEolesthes sarta, 37, 52, 58, 307.

/Eolesthes sp. prox. aurifaber, 317.

Agonischius metaliicus, 228.

Agrilinae, 193, 218.

Agrilus birmanicus, 219.

Agrilus brevicornis, 220.

Agrilus salweenensis, 220.

Agrotis, 13, 28.

Alaus putridus, 226.

Alaus sculptus, 225.

Alcides, 62.

Alcides porrectirostris, 412.

Alcides scenicus, 413.

Alindria, 19, 63, 95, 96, 114, 129.

Alindria orientalis, 114, 165.

Alindria orientalis, var. parallela, 114, 165.

Alphitobius piceus, 243.

Amarygmus cuprarius, 242.

Amblyrrhinus subrecticollis, 407.

Amblystomus magnus, 96.

Ancylocheira geometrica, 211.

Anobiides, 178, 179.

Anobium, 178.

Anobium paniceum, 179.

Anomala grandis, 86.

Anthaxia, 41, 212.

Anthaxia marshalli, 213.

Anthaxia osmastoni, 212.

Anthia sexguttata, 19, 63, 95, 173.

Anthocomus sp., 183, 600.

Anthrenus vorax, 126.

9003

Anthribid, 387, 388.

Anthribidae, 63, 386.

Apate submedia, 152.

Apatines, 144.

Apatophysis sp. prox. modica, 280.

Aphid, black, 13.

Aphidae, 10, 12, 13.

Aphis, blue pine, 17, 20, 63, 123

Aphis, peach, 122, 123, 124.

Apion strobilanthi, 414.

Apoderus, 16, 50, 62, 416.

Apoderus incana, 416.

Apoderus sissu, 418.

Apoderus sp., 422.

Apriona, 13, 61.

Apriona cinerea, 374.

Apriona germari, 371.

Arbela tetraonis, 13, 39, 40, 45, 345

Arbelidae, 10.

Aspidiomorpha sanctaecrucis, 267.

Astycus lateralis, 396.

Atmetonychus peregrinus, 397.

Attelabus discolor, 422.

Attelabus octomaculata, 423.

Attelabus sp., 424.

Aulis bestita, 125.

Babul-root borer, 358.
Baris sp., 439.
Bark-borers, 457.
Basilianus cantori, 68.
Hatocera, 54, 56, 362.
Batocera albofasciata, 366.
Batocera rubra, 362.
Batocera titana, 218, 367.
Bee-hole borer of teak, 317.
Belionota, 54.
Belionota prasina, 217.
Bistria suppressaria, 16.
Blaps armata, 240
Blepharida hirsuta, 260.
Boarmia selenaria, 4, 16, 17, 20, 50.
Bostrychidae, 4, 17, 127.
Bostrychinae, 129, 144.
Bostrychines, 144.
Bostrychopsis parallela, 145.
Bothrideres, 19, 112, 129.
Bothrideres andrewesi, 112, 165.
Bothrideres vellatus, 112.

S S

642

INDEX TO INSECTS

Bothrideres sp., 112,334-

u hvtrupes achatinus, 13, 51.
Brachyxystus subsignatus, 408.
Bracon fly, 22.

Bracon sp., 163, 388, 480, 574, 577-
Brenthidae, 61, 389.
Bruchidae, 4, 10, 250.
Mrumus suturalis, 124.
I :M'_,', the black, 520.
Buprestidae, 10, n, 26, 27, 190.
Buprestids, undetermined, 222.
Buprestinae, 193, 210.
Buprestis geometrica, 211.
Buprestis kashmirensis, 212.
Burying-beetles, 99.

Cacoecia, 17, 43.
Caenophrada, 144.
Calandra, 17, 50, 62.
Calandra sculpturata, 446.
Callirhytis semicarpifoliae, 17, 50.
Caloclytus annularis, 354.
Caloclytus sp. prox. signaticollis, 355.
Calopepla leayana, 266.
Calosoma orientale. 94.
Camarimena rugosistriatus, 241.
Camptosomes, 253, 256.
Cantharidae, 10, 246.
Cantharis antennalis, 248.
Capnodis, 41, 202.
Capnodis indica, 202.
Capnodis miliaris, 203.
Carabidae, 94.
Carcinops sp., 106.
Cardiophorus sp., 229.
Cardiophorus sp. prox. maer, 229.
Carpophilus, 108.
Carpophilus flavipes, 105, 109.
Carpophilus foveicollis, 109.
Carpophilus hemipterus, 107, 108, 109.
Carpophilus mutilatus, 108.
Carpophilus obsoletus, 109.
Caryoborus, 251.

Caryoborus gonagra, 4, 17, 62, 251.
Caryoborus sp., 252.
Catoxantha, 195.

>xantha bicolor, 196.
Catoxantha opulenta, 195.
Cecidomyid fly, r6, 22.
Cenocephalus, 6i'.
Ceocephalus, 61, 389.
Ceocephalus carus, 390.
Ceocephalus reticulatus, 389.
Cerambycidae, 10, IT, 12, 17, 25,26, 27,268.
Cerambycidae, undetermined, 379,
Cerambycinae, 273.
Cerambycini, 273, 284.

Cerambyx sp., 385.

Cercidocerus lateralis, 445.

Ceresium simplex, 344.

Cetoniinae, 73, 91.

Chafers, 73.

Chalcid, 507, 527, 560, .566, 575,-

Chalcididae, 10, 22.

Chalcophorinae, 193, 199.

Chermes, 13, 15, 20, 55, 63.

Chermes himalayensis, 123.

Cheroot-borer, 178.

Chilocorus circumdatus,-i24-

Chilomenes sexmaculata, 123.

Chloridolum alcmene, 346.

Chramesus globulus, 498.

Chrysobothrinae, 193, 214.

Chrysobothris, 214.

Chrysobothris indica, 214.

Chrysobothris musae, 214.

Chrysobothris sexnotata, 216.

Chrysochroa vittata, 198.

Chrysochroinae, 193, 195.

Chrysomela guttata, 257.

Chrysomela sp., 258.

Chrysomelidae, 10, 17, 253.

Cicindela octonotata, 94.

Cicindela sexpunctata, 94.

Cicindelidae, 63, 93, 94.

Cissites, 20.

Cissites debyi, 249.

Cissites testaceus, 248.

Cistelidae, 243.

Cistelomorpha andrewesi, 243.

Cistelomorpha annuligera, 244.

Cleridae, 184.

Clerus formicarius, 18.

Clerus sp., 187.

Click beetles, 223.

Clitea picta, 262.

Coccidae, 10, 12.

Coccinella septempunctata, 20, 63, 123.

Coccinellidae, 20, 63, 121.

Coccotrypes, 17, 43, 62.

Coccotrypes integer, 543.

Coccotrypes sp., 545.

Coccus, 55.

Cockchafer, 12, 28, 73, 78.

Cockchafer grub, deodar, 82.

Coelophora sauzeti, 123.

Coelosterna scabrata, 12, 51, 60, 358.

Coelosterna sp., 380.

Coleoptera, 56.

Collyris, 93.

Colydiid, 299.

Colydiidae, 63, in.

Colydiid beetles, 519.

Conarthrus affinis, 454.

Conarthrus jansoni, 454.

INDEX TO INSECTS

643

Conogethes, 17, 43, 50.

Coraebus cingulatus, 219.

Cosmoderes deodara, 528.

Cossidae, ro, 17.

Cossoninae, 63, 450.

Cossoninae, undetermined, 455.

Cricket, 13, 51.

Criocephalus tibetanus, 287.

Crioceris impressa, 255.

Crossotarsus, 613.

Crossotarsus coniferae. 14,62, 186, 613.

Crossotarsus fairmairei, 186, 617.

Crossotarsus fairmairei, var., 618.

Crossotarsus saundersi, 617.

Cryphalinae, 528.

Cryphalus, 15, 528.

Cryphalus boswelliae, 537.

Cryphalus deodara. 528.

Cryphalus himalayensis, 540.

Cryphalus longifolia, 533.

Cryphalus major, 530.

Cryphalus mangiferae, 542.

Cryphalus morinda, 535.

Cryphalus sp., 542.

Cryphalus strohmeyeri, 538.

Cryphalus tectonae, 536.

Cryptocephalus pusaensis, 256.

Cryptophlebia carpophaga, 17.

Cryptorhynchus, 6, 13, 38, 41, 61, 428.

Cryptorhynchus brandisi, 115, 428.

Cryptorhynchus gravis, 436.

Cryptorhynchus mangiferae, 436.

Cryptorhynchus raja, 437.

Cryptorhynchus sp., 438, 439.

Cryptostomes, 253, 265.

Crypturginae, 498.

Crypturgus, 498.

Crypturgus pusillus, 100, 101, 499.

Crypturgus sp., 500.

Cucujidae, 63, 115.

Curculionidae, 10, 17, 393.

Curculio sp., 416.

Cutworm, 13, 28, 51.

Cyclica, 253, 257.

Cylistosoma, 102, 106.

Cylistosoma dufali, 106, 556.

Cyphicerus, 405.

Cyrtepistomus, 405.

Cyrtepistomus pannosus, 405.

Cyrtotrachelus, 440.

Cyrtotrachelus dux, 443.

Cyrtotrachelus longipes, 42, 440.

Cyrtotrachelus sp., 443.

Dasychira, 4.
Death watch, 178.
Dendrocopus himalayensis, 208.

Dereodus pollinosus, 397.

Dermestes vulpinus, lad.

Dermestidae, 126.

Dialeges pauper, 336.

Diamerinae, 472.

Diamerus fici, 61, 472.

Diaphanes marginella, 180.

Diapus, 62, 613, 628.

Diapus capillatus, 633.

Diapus furtivus, 106, 630.

Diapus heritierae, 628.

Diapus impressus, 187, 628.

Diapus mirus, 633.

Diapus quinquespinatus, 632.

Dichrocosis leptalis, 17.

Dinoderinae, 129.

Dinoderus, 129, 355.

Dinoderus brevis, 143.

Dinoderus distinctus, 129.

Dinoderus minutus, 4, 14, 18, 19, r}3, 186,

355-
Dinoderus pilifrons, 4, 14, 48, 130, 133, iSG,

188.

Diptera, 22.
Disteniini, 273.
Doliema spinicollis, 246.
Dryocoetes hewetti, 545.
Dryocoetes indicus, 549.
Dryocoetes minor, 549.
Dryocoetes sp., 608.
Dung bettles, 73.
Duomitus ceramicus, 13, 14, 28.
Duomitus leuconotus, 29.
Dynastinae, 73, 87.

Eccoptogaster, vide Scolytus.

Eccoptogastrinae, 568.

Eccoptopterus sexspinosus, 587,

Economaeus, 105, no.

Economaeus haroldi, 110.

Economaeus waterhousei, no.

Klater, 61, 63.

Elateridae, 17, 223.

Klaters, undetermined, 230.

Kncyalesthus foveoseriatus, 241.

Kndomychidae, 125.

Ephialtes viridipennis, 22, 33, 207.

Epicauta antennalis, 248.

Episomus lacerta, 398.

Erotylidae, 121.

Erthesina fullo, 20.

Kstii;niena chinensis, 254.

Eubactrus sp., 390.

Kublemma amabalis, 22.

Euchirus macleayi, s |.

Eugnamptus marginellus, var. semirufus,

644

INDEX TO INSECTS

Eugonius gratus, 126.

Eupoda, 253, 254.

Euzophera cedrella, 17, 43, 50.

Firefly. 180.
Forficulidae, 99.

Gazalina, 16.
Gecinus squamatus, 208.
Gelonaetha hirta, 339.
Geometrina, 16, 50.
Gibbium scotias, 178.
Gibbium sp., 178.
Girdler, the blue-pine branch, 551.
Glenea multiguttata, 378.
Glenea spilota, 379.
Glypta, 22.

Gonocephalum depressum, 237.
Gonocephalum elongatum, 237.
•Ground beetles, 94.
Gynandrophthalma sp., 258.

Haltica sp., 261.
Heciarthrum, 19, 115, 116, 129.
Hectarthrum heros, 63, 100, 116, 140, 166,

623, <>J4, 634.

Hectarthrum trigeminum, 116.
Hectarthrum uniforme, 117.
Hemiptera, 632.
Heterobostrychus, 63, 146.
Heterobostrychus aequalis, 148.
Heterobostrychus hamatipennis, 143.
Heterobostrychus pileatus, 147.
Heterobostrychus unicornis, n<>.
Heteromera, 64, 232.
Heteroplia, 50.

Heteroplia varians, 79, 81, 95.
Himatium asperum, 455.
Hippodamia, 122.

Ilippodamia constellata, 123.

1 1 ippudamia variegata, var. doubledayi, 122.

Histeridae, 101.

I lololepta, 103.

Hololepta baunlyi, 103, 104.

Hololepta indica, 104.

Hololeptis 3-cornis, 249.

Holosus sp., 100.

Holotricha, 73, 77.

Hoplocerambyx, 320.

Hoplocerambyx spinicornis, 2, 12, 13, ig.
27, 40, 42, 48, 5^, 61, 112, 320.

II \.ignis fistularius, 355.

Hyblsea puera, 4, 16, 22, 50.

Hydrophilidae, 98.

Hylastes, 6, 18, 63, 473.
Hylastes himalayensis, 103, 186, 473.
Hylastes longifolia, 474.
Hylesininae, 472.
Hylesinus sp., 608.
Hymenopterous flies, 518.
Hyperops unicolor, 235.
Hypoeschrus indicus, 288.
Hypophloeus flavipennis, 236, 5:0.
Hypophloeus sp. nov., 236, 527.
Hypothenemus mangiferae, 542.
Hypsipyla robusta, 4, 15, 53.

Icerya aegyptiaca, 124, 125.
Ichneumon, 21, 22.
Ichneumon sp., 333, 474, 541
Ingura subapicalis, 4, 16.
Inopeplus sp., 117.
Ipidae (vide Scolytidae).
Ipinae, 543.
Ips (vide Tomicus).

Julodinae, 193.

Kulsi teak-borer, 13, 293.

Lachnosterna, 50, 60, 61, 77.

Lachnosterna clypealis, 79, 82, 95.

Lachnosterna impressa, 8t.

Lachnosterna intermedia, 80.

Lachnosterna problematica, 77, 79, 82, 95.

Lachnus, 13, 20, 55, 63.

Lacon sp. prox. davidi, 225.

Ladybird beetles, 121.

Laemophloeus, 116, 118.

Laemophloeus testaceus, 118.

Laemotmetus, 116, 117.

Laemotmetus insignis, 117.

Lagria sp. nov., 245.

Lagriidae, 244.

Lamellicornia, 64, 66.

Lamia sp., 379.

Lamiinae, 273, 357.

Lampra assamensis, 211.

Larinus sp., 410.

Lasiocampidae, 4.

Lasioderma testacea, 178.

Laspeyresia, 17, 43, 50.

Lecanium caffeae, 124.

Lepidiota, 73, 77.

Lepidiota bimaculata, 77

Leptaulacides roepstorffi, 67.

Leptaulax darjeelingi, 67.

Leucocraspedum ?sp., 100.

INDEX TO INSECTS

645

Leucoma, 4.
Leptura rubriola, 283.
Lepturini, 273, 279.
Lina populi, 257.
Litropeda panicum, 179.
Locust, 13.

Lophosternus hiigelii, 274.
Lucanidae, 63, 69.
Lucanus, 70.

Lucanus lunifer, 63, 70, 85.
Lucanus mearesi, 63, 72.
Luciola gorhami, 180.
Luciola ovalis, 180.
Ludigenus politus, 227.
Luperomorpha weisi, 263.
Lyctus sp., 177.
Lyctus spinifrons, 177.
Lymantria semicincta, 4, 16.
Lymantriidae, 4, 10, 16, 22.
Lymexylonidae, 189.

Macrochilus bensoni, 79, 95.

Malacodermata, 180.

Malacodermidae, 180.

Mascicera, 22.

Mascicera ? sp, 265.

Massicus unicolor, 317.

Mecistocerus fluctiger, 427.

Mecistocerus raucus, 427.

Mecistocerus sp., 428.

Meges marmoratus, 371.

Melambia, 19, 63, 95, 114, 129

Melambia crenicollis, 114, 166.

Melambia sp. prox. memnonia, 115, 166.

Melanotus sp , 229.

Melasoma sp. prox. populi, 264.

Melolontha, 73, 82.

Melolonthinae, 12, 60, 73.

Mesomorpha villiger, 239.

Meteones, 22.

Microlepidoptera, 10, 15, 17.

Mimastra cyanea, 263.

Mitosoma, 613.

Mixtodentatae, 471, 604.

Monohammus nivosus, 357

Monomma brunneum, 245.

Monommidae, 245.

Monophlebus, 13, 14, 20, 44, 50, 54, 55, 63.

Monophlebus, sal, 121, 125.

Monophlebus stebbingi, U5.

Monophlebus stebbingi, var. mangi ferae, 125.

Morio, 63.

Morio subconvexus, 96, 174.

Mylabris, 17, 62.

Mylabris pustulata, 247.

Myllocerus, 398.

Myllocerus carinirostris, 401.

Myllocerus catechu, 402.

Myllocerus discolor, var. variegatus, 403.

Myllocerus lineatocollis, 245, 400.

Myllocerus transmarinus, 402.

Myllocerus u-pustulatus, var. maculosus,

401.
Myllocerus viridanus, 398.

Neocerambyx sp., 300.

Niponius, 101, 102.

Niponius andrewesi, 7, 63, 102, 480, 485,

493-
Niponius canalicollis, 7, 18, 63, 102, 103,

453, 507. 519, 527, 557, 560, 575-
Nitidulidae, 63, 107.
Noctuidae, 4, 10.
Nothorrhina, 5, 38, 41.
Nothorrhina muricata, 281.

Odoiporus longicollis, 446.
Odoiporus sp., 446.
Olenecamptus bilobus, 375.
Olenecamptus sp., 375.
Omphra ? sp., 97.
Opatroides vicinus, 242.
Ophion aureolatus, 22.
Ophrida marmorea, 261.
Oreoderus gravis, 92.
Oryctes rhinoceros, 13, 54, 61, 87.
Oxycetonia versicolor, 92.

Pachydissus sp., 336.
Palorus minor, 635.
Paramecops farinosus, 414.
Paraphrus granulosus, 275.
Paromalus, 18, 63, 102, 107.
Paromalus sp., 560.
Paromalus sp. nov., 453, 474.
Passalidae, 63, 66.
Pectocera cantori, 227.
Periommatus, 613.
Phloebius apicalis, 387.
Phloeosinus zhobi, 37, 496.
1'lucita abietella, 17, 43, 50.
Phytophaga, 64, 250.
Pilidentatae, 471.
Pimpla, 22.
Pityogenes, 61.

Pityogenes coniferae, 100, 186, 562.
Pityogenes scitus, 567.
1'ityophthorus, 15.
Pityophthorus sampsoni, 551.
Plateros dispallens, 181.
Plateros sp., 182.

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648

INDEX TO INSECTS

Trinophyllum cribratum, 5, 14, 33, 38, 61,

Trochilium omnatiaeforme, 12, 51.
Trogositidae, 63, 114.
Trogositita rhizophragoides, 115.
Trypodendron (vide Xyloterus).
Trypopithys luteopilosus, 179.

Vedalia, 20, 63, 121, 125.

Vedalia fumida, var. roseipennis, 125.

Vedalia guerinii, 125.

Vedalia sp., 125.

Weevil, acorn, 446.

Weevil, chir pine, 428.

Weevil, padauk, 425.

Weevil, palm, 444.

Weevils, 393.

Weevil, undetermined, 449.

Weevils, undetermined seed-eating, 450.

Weevil, walnut, 412.

Wireworm, 12, 28.

Woodpecker, 208, 335.

Xoanodera regularis, 339.
Xyleborinae, 582.
Xyleborus, 48, 62, 63, 582.
Xyleborus adumbratus, 6or, 635.
Xyleborus andrewesi, 593.
Xyleborus bengalensis, 590.
Xyleborus discolor, 587.
Xyleborus fallax, 582.
Xyleborus fornicatus, 587, 589.
Xyleborus gravidus, 586.

Xyleborus hagedorni, 596.
Xyleborus improbus, 600.
Xyleborus interjectus, 588.
Xyleborus laeviusculus, 602, 635.
Xyleborus major, 590.
Xyleborus mancus, 587.
Xyleborus nilgirensis, 635.
Xyleborus noxius, 183, 598, 635.
Xyleborus parvulus, 594
Xyleborus perforans, 583.
Xyleborus schlichii, 592.
Xyleborus semigranosus, 587 589.
Xyleborus sexspinosus, 587.
Xyleborus sp., 588, 592, 609
Xyleborus velatus, 597.
Xylinades, 63, 386.
Xylinades plagiatus, 386.
Xylocopa latipes, 20, 249.
Xylocopa tenuiscapa, 249.
Xylodectes ornatus, 150.
Xylopertha sp., 150.
Xylorrhiza adusta, 376.
Xyloterus intermedius, 602.
Xylothrips flavipes, 151.
Xylotrechus, 14, 347.
Xylotrechus gahani, 352.
Xylotrechus quadripes, 351
Xylotrechus smei, 347.
Xylotrechus sp., 353.
Xylotrechus stebbingi, 349
Xylotrupes, 13, 61, 90.
Xylotrupes gideon, 90.
Xystrocera globosa, 289.

Zemioses sp., 391.
Zeuzera coffeae, 12,

8959