THE 'SHOT-BORERS' OF BAMBOOS AND WOOD-BORERS. 21 



allowed to drop until we have arrived at a definite opinion for or against 

 what has been often termed a mere native superstition. Should the 

 ' superstition' turn out to be based on actual facts, we shall be on 

 more solid ground than at present in endeavouring to explain the 

 reasons of this peculiarity and of turning it to practical account. 



THE EFFECT OF THE MOON'S PHAGES ON THE PERIOD 

 OF FELLING BAMBOOS. 



SY E. P. STEBBING. 



(From " The Indian Forester" Vol. XXX 11, November, page 534.) 



It has been a matter of common knowledge for some decades past amongst 

 those who have had any connexion 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 (coo(ee'). The most 

 serious of these pests are the bostrichid beetles, Dinoderus pilifrons and 

 D. minutm. 9 This curious theory is held so commonly throughout tho 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 im- 

 mediately 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 bamboos, 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 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., built entirely 

 or partially of bamboos. We are not here concerned, however, with this 

 aspect of the question ; our purpose being to discuss the information at present 



* Vide my Notes on the Preservation of Bamboos from 1 he attacks of the Bamboo 

 Beetles or Shot-Borer. Indian Forester, App. Series (1903). Ibid XXXI, 249. 



