274 FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE 



Sub-Family i.— PRIONINI. 



Fairly easily distinguishable by the fact that the prothorax is marginate 

 at the sides ; the front coxae are strongly transverse. 



LOPHOSTEKNUS. 



Only one species of this genus is at present known to infest forest 

 trees. 



Lophosternus hugelii, Redtenb. 



{The Oak Timber Longicorn Borer.) 



References.— Redtenb. (Cyrtognathns) Hugel's Kaschmir, iv, 2, p. 550, pi. 28, fig. i (1848) ; Gahan, 

 F.B.I. Coleopt. vol. i, Ceramb. no. 8, p. 11 (1906); Stebbing, Insect Pests Himal. Oak, Ind. For. 

 Rec. vol. ii, pt. i (1909). 



Habitat. — North-West Himalaya Oak Forests. Gahan in Fauna gives 

 Kashmir, North-West Provinces, Punjab, Assam. 



Trees Attacked. — Ban Oak {Qiiercus incana). Probably also the Moru 

 Oak {Qiiercns dilatata). 



Beetle. — (J The beetle is chestnut-red in colour, the head and prothorax darker than 

 elytra, at times the thora.x being almost black. Head closely punctured ; the last joint of the 

 palpi distinctly widened towards the extremity. Eyes large and 

 Description. placed rather close to the insertion of the antennae behind. An- 



tennae a little shorter than body, the first joint not reaching beyond 

 the hind margin of the eye, third to tenth joints acutely produced at the apex on the anterior 

 side. The prothorax is finely and closely punctured in front and along sides, smooth and 

 shining medianly, the hind angles obtuse and projecting, and the side margins produced 

 outwards into two sharp points ; elytra rugulose, the ridges finely punctured, and each with 

 two or three weak raised costae. The hind breast beneath covered with a tawny-coloured 

 silky pubescence. The last ventral segment is sinuate at the apex. 



2 The antennae hardly reach to middle of elytra, and are more slender than in male. 

 Hind breast with no tawny pubescence. Last ventral segment with rounded hind margin. 

 f^Descr. after Gahan.) Length, $ J -9^53 rnrn. Plate xvii, fig. 2. 



Larva.— A large, yellowish-white, elongate, much-corrugated, thick grub, with stout black 

 mandibles, and a large hard prothoracic shield dorsally. Fig. i in plate. 



Pupa. — Yellowish-white, stout, with the general appearance of the beetle, the parts such 

 as the antennae, wings, legs, etc., being free and pressed against the sides and breast. 



The beetles appear on the wing during the monsoon, July and August, 



pair, and the eggs are laid at this period. The eg^g is 



Life History. placed in an interstice in the bark, and on hatching out 



the small grub bores down to the bast and sapwood 



and feeds in this. Whilst young the sapwood is only slightly grooved 



(pi. xvii, fig. 3, A), but as the grub increases in size and its mandibles become 



stronger it works down deep into the sapwood, filling the whole of the gallery 



and depression thus made between the outer shell of the bark and the inner 



layer of the sapwood with wood particles and excreta (fig. 3, B). A large 



irregular area is thus eaten out which may be as much as 5 in. across and 



4 in. high, the edges being irregular and stretching at times a fifth or a 



fourth round the tree. When full-fed the grub tunnels down into the wood 



to pupate, usually from a point at one of the lower edges of the depression 



