202 FAMILY BUPRESTIDAE 



Capnodis. 

 Black or smoky-^rey beetles with short antennae, a shield-shaped 

 prothorax, and squarish shape. 



Capnodis indica, Thorns. 



References.— Thoms. GueTin,\Rev. et Mag. Zoo/. (3), vii, 176 (1878); orientalis, Thorns, teste Abeille, 



Rev. d'Ent. Caen, 270 (1896). 



Habitat.^Almora, Punjab ; Jaunsar, 2,000 ft. (below Kathian). 

 Trees Attacked.— Chir Pine {Pinns longifolia) : Almora ; Jaman 

 {Eugenia jaiubolana) : Jaunsar. 



Beetle.— Elongate, black, with spots and patches of golden metallic colour studded with 



punctures on head, prothorax, and elytra. Prothorax with much-rounded sides, anterior edge 



emarginate, the posterior angles produced into points ; deeply 



Description. punctate, the punctured areas greyish ; an irregular, central, raised, 



smooth, coppery area, with on each side two rounded, raised, smooth, 



coppery spots, tirst below upper margin, second contiguous with the lower margin half-way 



between outer angle and centre. Elytra elongate, with apex truncate and a number of 



greyish-coppery or black thickly punctured areas on surface. Length, 24 mm. to 26 mm. ; 



breadth, 9.5 mm. to 10 mm. 



Full-grown Larva.- Elongate cylindrical, whitish yellow, with a small head and twelve 

 segments following it, which gradually taper posteriorly from the second. The prothoracic 

 segment is of great width and size, and has a hard thick orange plate on its dorsal surface. 

 Length, 62 mm. 



The beetle is usually to be found on the wing in Kumaun during July, 



August, and perhaps September. I took full-grown 



Life History. larvae of the insect in Finns longifolia trees in the first 



week of June. They were just commencing to pupate. 



The eggs are laid in crevices in the bark of the trees during July and 



August. On hatching, the grubs tunnel down to the bast, and at first 



feed there, their tunnels soon, however, grooving the sapwood. These 



tunnels increase in size with the growth of the grub, and wind about in an 



irregular manner in the bast and sapwood, becoming very broad as the 



larva reaches full size, though remaining shallower than the tunnels of a 



longicorn grub of the same size. The tunnels are packed tightly with the 



wood-dust and excreta of the larva. When full-grown the grub carries its 



tunnel down into the sapwood, eats out there a pupal chamber parallel to 



the long axis of the tree, and pupates. When mature the beetle crawls up 



the entrance-tunnel, bites its way through the bark, and escapes from the tree. 



A specimen in the Dehra Dun collections was taken from a jaman-tree 



some 2,000 ft. below Kathian in Jaunsar. 



Although the Capnodis is a comparatively common beetle in the 



Himalayan forest, I can find no mention of its attacks 



Damage Committed ■ ^^ ^-^ -^^ Further observations are required 



\n the Forest. ' , 



on this head before its importance as a pest to the 



tree can be determined. 



The remedial measures described for the buprestid pest of the deodar 

 {Sphcnoptera, p. 204) and the other one of the chir pine {Anthaxia, p. 212) 

 would apply as well to this insect. 



