THE ' SHOT-BORERS' OF BAMBOOS AND WOOD-BORERS. 25 



felling at any particular phase of the moon had any marked effect in pre- 

 serving 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. 



The above summarises the experiments as far as they appear to have been 

 carried in Madras. They support and confirm observations of my own on two 

 points : — 



(«/) 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. 



(6) 1 hat 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 detniled 

 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 experiments carried out, 

 since it is possible, if not probable, that the bamboos cut at a certain period of 

 the moon's phase 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 ">ther will cease to exist. 



A study of my note on 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 so.me extent for the immu- 

 nity of bamboos from attack at this period. 



In order to settle the question of the effect of the phases of the moon on the 

 period of felling, I would ask those interested in the subject to initiate a series 

 of experiments as follows : — 



(a) Bundles of bamboos to be cut weekly, each week's felling to be numbered 

 and stacked 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 each bamboo attacked to be noted down for each week. 



(e) The species of bamboo experimented with to be accurately noted. 

 4 



