S2 



ON A SPECIES OF MOTH (EPIC ROC IS TEREBRANS) 



DESTRUCTIVE TO RED CEDAR AND OTHER TIMBER 



TREES IN NEW SOUTH WALES. 



By a. Sidney Olliff. 



Early in March, 1889, the young Red Cedar trees (Cedrela 

 toona, Roxb.) in the State Forest Nursery, at Gosford, were 

 found to be suffering from the attack of some insect, which 

 seriously interfered with their growth, and as tlie evil appeared 

 to be upon the increase, the matter was Ijrought Ijofore the notice 

 of the Colonial Secretary's Office, to which Department the Forest 

 Nursery is attached, with a view to obtaining accurate informa- 

 tion as to the nature of the pest, and the best means of checking 

 its ravages. For this purpose the Principal Under-Secretary, 

 Mr. Critchctt Walker, communicated with Dr. E. P. Ramsay, 

 the Curator of the Australian Museum, forwarding specimens of 

 a moth, and portions of the trees containing a number of larvae 

 or caterpillars, presumed to be the early stage of the accompanying 

 moths, and the real cause of the injuries. Unfortunately these 

 specimens could not l)e identified owing to their poor condition, 

 but Dr. Ramsay recommended that the trees should be carefully 

 examined, and all the infected parts cut off and burnt, and 

 subsequently he handed the larv;e to me for investigation, with 

 the request that I should endeavour to breed the moth. This I 

 failed to do although I had more than one consignment of larvae 

 from the Nursery, owing to the dry condition in which the cedar 

 twigs were received, so it was determined that I should visit 

 Gosford, and if possible o])tain a better supply of material. 

 Accordingly on '2'lnA August I made a careful examination of the 

 plantations, and with the assistance of Mr. J. McCoig, the Overseer 

 of the Nursery, succeeded in obtaining a number of larvae in 

 various stages of growth. I found that the injury is caused by 

 the larv:e burrowing into the main stems or " leaders " of the 

 trees for the purpose of eating the pith and soft tissues, which 

 has the effect of arresting the natural growth of the tree, and 

 thus seriously affecting its value for forestry purposes. At the 

 time of my visit to Gosford a large number of the infected trees 

 had been freed from tlie pest by the energy of the Overseer, who 

 had used the pruning-knife with excellent results, but a few of 

 the larva? were still to be found by careful searching in an 

 outlying plantation at some distance from the Nursery. A 

 number of the " leaders " containing the burrows of these larva? 

 were cut and afterwards placed in a jar, partly filled with eartli 

 and sand which was kept moist to prevent the wood from 



