82 FAMILY SCARABAEIDAE 



Mature and immature specimens of this beetle were obtained in the 



Horai sal forest in the United Provinces in the middle 



Life History. of May igo8. The insect was found in the soil at the 



roots of sal-trees in a manner similar to that in which 



I took Lachnostcrna problematica and L. clypcalis described above. 



Melolontha. 

 Melolontha ? sp. 



(The Deodar Cockchafer Grub.) 



References. — Stebbing, Depart. Notes, i, 87 ; Ins. Pests of Coniferae of Himalaya, Ind. For. Mem, 



Zool. ii, p. 63. 



Habitat. — Western Himalaya. 



Tree Attacked. — Deodar {Cedrus deodara). Jaunsar and Bashahr, 

 Western Himalaya. 



Beetle. — Unknown. 



Larva. — The larva is a large, heavy, yellowish-white curved grub with a light brown head 

 bearing two antennae and a pair of long curved very powerful mandibles. The body is thick 

 and curved, the anterior segments being much corrugated, whilst the posterior three segments 

 are swollen up in a bag-shaped manner, and are black in colour. Length, li in. to 2 in. 



So far as is at present known it is the larva of this cockchafer beetle 



which is dangerous to deodar growth. The grub cuts 



Life History. through the roots of seedlings and young plants, or 



more often gnaws away the bark all round, thus girdling 



them. Grubs apparently full-grown were found engaged in this manner in 



some patches of deodar sowings in theTaranda Forest, 



Bashahr Division, in June-July 1902. 



In June 1909 a report was received from Mr. Bill- 

 son, Divisional Forest Officer, Jaunsar, that patches 

 of young deodar seedlings were suffering from grubs in 

 a similar manner. The grub proved to be a melo- 

 lonthid one, and not improbably identical with the 

 one I found in Bashahr in 1902. 



Fig 46 — 1/'/ lo tha '^^^ '^^^^ °^ ^^ ^^^^ history of this insect has yet 



grub of deodar. N.W. to be studied. It is probable that the beetle will be 

 Himalaya. found on the wing some time during the summer 



months, and it may be that the larvae pupate at irregular intervals through- 

 out the summer, so that some beetles will always be found between June or 

 July and October. This point has to be definitely ascertained. 



So far as ol)servations have yet gone this insect is only destructive to 

 Damage Committed seedling and perhaps very young sapling growth, and 

 in the Forest. the damage is done by the larva only. 



Regeneration of the deodar has been carried out in the past to a con- 

 siderable extent by sowing the seed in patches, and it has been a common 



