184 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE THIRD ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 



Mr. Ramakiishna 

 Ayyar, 



Mr. Senior- White. 



Mr. Fletcher. 



Mr. Senic:-Wtite. 



Mr. Jhaveri. 



Chota Nagpur, Calcutta, Mysore and Ceylon. The adult beetle was- 

 found in S. Kanara cutting stems of young rice-plants on one occasion, 

 and the larvae were found in numbers at roots of rice-plants at Belgaum.. 

 It is apparently a sporadic pest of paddy. 



LuCANIDiE. 



Lucam/s lunifer, Hope, 



Stebbing, Ind. For. Ins. Col., pp. 70-72. ff. 37, 38. 



This species occurs throughout the Himalayan region, the larva- 

 feeding in rotten wood. We have it from Dehra Dun and Ramgarh. 



At Ramgarh, Kumaon District, two male specimens were given me 

 in August 1918 by Mr. N. Gill as having been found boring into peach 

 fruits about the middle of July. The beetles are said to do considerable 

 damage in this way and to bore into sound ripe fruits. 



SCOLYTID.5:. 



Xylebonis fornicatus, Eich. 



This Scolytid is the well-known and destructive " shot-hole borer " 

 of Ceylon and has been reported as found in Travancore also, but this 

 latter record appears to be uncertain. At Bangalore it has been reared 

 from bored castor stems. 



Plants over a year old were attacked. The whole stem was bored. 

 All stages were found in the stem — eggs, grubs and beetles. 



Mr. Speyer states that castor is the normal food of this insect. He 

 came to this conclusion by a comparison of the galleries in castor and 

 tea. He believes that it comes into tea as an overflow when its numbers 

 have increased too much on castor. In the Tea districts of Ceylon 

 the planting of castor has been prohibited. It is extending its range 

 in Ceylon. 



It is strange that it is such a bad pest of tea in Ceylon but not in 

 South India. 



]Mr. Speyer is now recommending fish-oil paints on the tea-bushes. 

 His Bulletin on the subject is expected shortly and will contain all the 

 information. 



[Xylebonis sp. 



Another species of Xylehorm was found in and around Surat damag- 

 ing date and coconut palms. This appears to be a new pest in this 

 locality and has been noticed to spread gradually into the surrounding 

 gardens at Surat. This insect was found to damage the tree by making 

 very small holes of the size of the head of an ordinary pin. The damage 



