62 INDIAN FOREST INSECTS 



the leaf up into small rolls in which the egg is laid {Apodcrits, p, 418). Some 

 beetles actually feed upon the flowers of the tree, such as the blister beetle 

 Mylabris (p. 247), which devours the flowers of the Artocarpus and many 

 shrubs ; and the chrysomelid Pseudocolaspis those of the chestnut (p. 266). 



The damage to the seed from this order is probably extraordinarily 

 heavy, though much investigation in this direction requires still to be carried 

 out. The family Bruchidae are notorious for this form of damage, species 

 of Caryohorus being known to destroy the seed of Bauhinia and Tama- 

 rindus (p. 251); Curculionidae also have been reported in this connection, 

 Alcides infesting the walnut (p. 412), whilst a second weevil, Calandra, 

 destroys the seed of the oak {Q. incana), (p. 446). A scolytid, Coccotrypes, 

 infests the seed of the sal-tree. 



Beetles do not, however, confine their attacks to the living portions of 

 the tree. The timber is also infested, and often ruined commercially by the 

 excessive numbers of beetles tunnelling into it for ovipositing or other purposes. 

 A variety of beetles infest the wood in this manner. It will be found that 

 a tree lying in the forest newly felled, or a windfall, the result of some storm, 

 will be infested by definite series of pests during each stage of its gradual 

 death and drying up. When newly fallen the bark-borers will make their 

 appearance. At the same time will come those beetles which lay their eggs 

 in the bast, and whose grubs at first feed there, but subsequently go down into 

 the sapwood for their nutriment. Most Buprestidae and Cerambycidae and 

 many Curculionidae feed in this way. Some of these grubs when full-fed, 

 however, tunnel right down into the timber of the tree to pupate, such as, 

 e.g., the Hoploccrambyx of the sal, and thus ruin it for commercial purposes. 

 Other beetles, such as the Platypodidae and some Scolytidae, go straight down 

 into the heart-wood and lay their eggs there. These insects pinhole the 

 timber, and when they are in abundance equally ruin it for commercial 

 purposes. Instances of this latter method of attack in green fresh timber 

 only are Crossotanus (p. 613) in deodar, Scolytoplatypus in silver fir (p. 604), 

 and buk {Quercus lamdlosa) (p. 607), Xyleborm in teak, pyinkadu, sal, etc. 

 (p. 582), Platypus (p. 6ig) in Pinus longifolia, Platypus (p. 621) in Adina and 

 Anogeissus, Diapiis (p. 628) in oak, and Diapns (p. 630) in Shorea robusta, etc. 

 Other beetles which infest freshly felled timber, but will also tunnel into 

 timber of a somewhat drier nature, are the Sinoxylon beetles S. crasmm and 

 S. anale (p. 152), which attack the sissu. They both have a wide range, 

 and, as we have seen, also infest sal, Terminalia, and other trees. 



There are other classes of beetles which will not touch fresh green 

 sappy timber, and which only make their appearance in the tree after the 

 sap has dried off to a considerable extent. 



Several species of Cerambycidae attack the tree in this way, a 

 common example being PloccBderus (p. 295), which is to be found deep down 

 in the sapwood of Odina wodier, sal, and other species, in trees which may 

 have been felled a couple of years or so before. Stromatium barbatuui 

 (p. 291) infests dry timber. 



