SILKY OAK WEEVIL BORER. 107 



CHAPTER CXXV. 



Silky Oak Weevil Borer. 



{Msiotes notabilis, Pascoe.) 



Order : Coleoptera. Family : Curculionidce. 



This is a very handsome but destructive beetle, first 

 found in Southern Queensland, and described by the late 

 Mr. Pascoe in 1865. In Master's Catalogue of Australian 

 Coleoptera, two other species of this genus are listed, 

 one being a native of Victoria. Kg. IV. shows the 

 beetle in its natural size, and Fig. VII. the larva ; I regret 

 being unable to include the pupae, as we were unable to 

 obtain specimens, although both larvae and the beetles 

 were in quantities. 



This pest was first brought under my notice by my 

 Assistant, Mr. C. French, jun., who describes the working 

 as follows : — " These weevils are found in logs of Silky 

 Oak (Grevillea robusta) and in Queensland Kauri (Dam- 

 mara) logs imported into Victoria from Queensland. The 

 eggs are deposited in the bark, and when the larvae hatch 

 they at once commence to bore through the bark into the 

 hard wood, where they remain for some considerable time. 

 They eat out a hole about 1 inch in depth, and cover it over 

 with pieces of wood eaten out of the hole made. Fig. III. 

 shows a hole covered with the eaten wood, and Fig. I. a 

 hole after the timber has been removed. Fig. II. shows 

 where the insects, when fully grown, have eaten their way 

 out of the cocoon-like covering, and Fig. III. the bark 

 where the beetles had come through when they were 

 fully grown. Most of the imported timber referred to 

 goes to the Newport Railway Workshops, where, owing to 



