i68 FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE 



Larva. — The larva is a little, white, curved grub, with the anterior segments enlarged, and 

 a median dark-coloured line running down the back ; three pairs of legs are present. The 

 grub is active in its movements, wriggling al^out when disturbed. Length, when full-grown, 

 5^ mm. to 6i mm. 



Pupa. — The pupa has the ordinary white, beetle-like form, which 

 "* gradually assumes the shape of the mature insect. The head, legs, and 



wings are pressed on to the under-surface. 



,,..- ''-%^- S. analc appears to have been first discovered in the 



Bombay Presidency. In February i8gi 

 Life History. Mr. F. Gleadow, of the Indian Forest 



Service, sent specimens of the beetle to 

 the Indian Museum, with the information that it tunnelled 

 into the wood of Tcrininalia bclcrica. Messrs. T. R. Bell 

 and Andrewes, of the Forest Service, also took the insect, 

 tiG. 114. ^jjg latter in Belgaum, at light, in March and April, and 



Sinoxylon anale beneath old bark, the former in Kanara, in the trees Xylia 

 Lesne. dolahrifomiis and the shisham (Dalbergia latifolia). Mr. Bell 



Changa Manga. Q^^ggj-^.g,^ ^j^jg gpecies boring into the bark of the above- 

 mentioned trees, and then mining out beneath the bark a longitudinal 

 gallery ; the female chooses dead trees the wood of which is not quite dry. 

 Mr. Bell found the male and female in the same galler}^ in March. 



From one or more of these Bombay specimens the insect was described 

 by Lesne in 1897. It was in the year 1897 that I first took the insect 

 attacking sal logs in the Singbhum forests of Chota Nagpur. In October 

 1899 bostrychid beetles were reported from the Changa Manga planta- 

 tion by Mr. B. O. Coventry, of the Forest Service, which were determined 

 as 5. anale during a ^•isit I was able to pay to this area in April 1901. 

 Between that year and 1909 a detailed series of continuous investiga- 

 tions into the life history of this pest were carried out. These observations 

 have shown that the beetle is found commonly, although not apparently 

 invariably, attacking trees in company with its larger companion S. crassum, 

 already dealt with, and that there are considerable points of resemblance 

 between the life histories of the two insects. Perhaps the most strongly 

 marked differences between the two are to be found in the fact that S. anale 

 will apparently attack wood in a drier state than will its companion ; and, 

 secondly, that the former appears to pass through a greater number of life- 

 cycles in the year, and to remain longer at work in the autumn and on 

 into the early winter, than does S. crassuui. This latter point in the 

 life history has been observed in Dehra Dun, and may be accounted for 

 by the fact that we know that the October or early November generation 

 of beetles of S. crassnni tunnels into the leading shoots and twigs of 

 green sal saplings, a habit which has not }et been traced to 5. analc, who 

 appears to be a wood-eater pure and simple. 



The times at which the different generations of the beetles appear on 

 the wing vary in different parts of the country. In North India (Changa 

 Manga, Dehra Dun, etc.) the beetles issue early in April. In Bombay 



