54 INDIAN FOREST INSECTS 



in the orchard, for they are liable to insect attack. Mango-trees are badly 

 infested by several longicorns {Batocera, p. 367, Plocaderm, p. 295, etc.), and 

 by a buprestid {Belioiota, p. 217), these beetles killing off large branches 

 or the whole tree, as was evidenced in a bad attack of these borers at 

 Chicacole in Ganjam. Fig-trees suffer in Baluchistan from a longicorn 

 borer {Batocera, p. 362). The small branches of the mango suffer from 

 the attacks of a bostrychid (p. 129) and a scolytid (p. 542), and the 

 whole crown from a Monophlebus scale insect. Loquat-trees suffer in their 

 leaves, flowers, and fruit from the attacks of caterpillars. Palms of various 

 kinds are infested throughout the country by the rhinoceros beetle {Oryctes, 

 p. 87) and the palm weevil {RhyncJiophorus, p. 444) and so on. These trees 

 may be tended and treated for these attacks in various ways. 



Really badly infected trees, infested by borers and large bast-feeding 

 pests, must, if the insects are in the main trunk, be cut out and burnt in toto. 

 If left they merely form centres from which other at present healthy trees will 

 become infested. If only branches are attacked these should be cut off near 

 the main trunk and burnt, and the pruned spot thickly coated with tar. 

 Whenever a tree is pruned the place from which the branch has been taken 

 should be thickly tarred. When small branches and twigs are seen to 

 be drying and dying they are probably infested with a bostrychid or scolytid 

 pest, or a small longicorn and buprestid borer. These branches should be 

 collected and burnt. This will prevent the next generation issuing from the 

 trees and infesting fresh ones. The case of bark-boring beetles in the main 

 stems, as also that of the bast- and sapwood-feeding caterpillars, is more 

 difficult. Often their presence may be detected either by shot-holes on the 

 outside of the bark with sawdust below them, or by masses of resin or 

 "tears" of resin dripping down the bark on the outside, or in the case of 

 the caterpillars by outside galleries composed of silk and excreta corkscrew- 

 ing round the trunk. In the latter case the grub may be found in the 

 tunnel, though more often during the daytime it conceals itself beneath the 

 bark in a cavity made in the bast and sapwood and only issues to feed on 

 the outer soft bark at night-time. He can, however, be traced back to the 

 opening leading to his shelter if the silken tunnel is pulled off the outer bark. 

 A thick patch of tar placed over the opening and jammed into it may kill 

 him. In the case of broad-leaved trees, such as the poplar, an outflow of 

 sap from the hole will be seen on the bark (pi. vii). 



Another plan is to paint the bark with a mixture of kerosene and tar and 

 set fire to the area. This will kill all the insects in the bast and outer sap- 

 wood. Only the area affected will be burnt, and the burnt portion should 

 then be thickly coated with tar, especially at the edges where it meets the 

 unburnt bark. This mixture was tried by Captain H. S. James on the 

 chilgoza-trees in the Zhob forests, which were infested with bark-boring 

 beetles, after he had experimented with several other materials, and found 

 to give excellent results. It would probably only be applicable to thin- 

 barked trees. 



