FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE 275 



(fig. 3, C). This tunnel is carried deep down into the wood, curving upwards 

 at its orifice in the outer sapwood. When the grub has got far enough 

 down into the hard wood it eats out a pupating-chamber parallel to the 

 long axis of the tree and of larger diameter than the tunnel leading to it. 

 Both tunnel and pupating-chamber are free of all wood particles and 

 excreta, and to get rid of these latter a hole is cut through the bark, and 

 they are pushed out through this. It is the presence of these holes and the 

 heaps of wood-dust and excreta to be seen at the foot of the tree which 

 renders it easy to recognize the presence of the insect in the tree, although 

 externally no trace of the depression in the bast and sapwood is visible. 



The larva eats out the pupating-chamber in May and changes to a 

 pupa in June. The total period passed in the larval stage is unknown. 

 The life-cycle is, however, unlikely to be of more than a year's duration. 



The grub's method of feeding destroys portions of the bast layer, 



whilst its mode of pupation results in large tunnels 



Damage Committed ^^^ chambers being driven into the heart-wood of the 



in the Forest. ^i • ^ ^ • r x .. vi ui 



tree. The msect must mfest a tree m considerable 



numbers to kill it, and probably only does so when the oak is sickly 



owing to serious infestations of the bark beetle Dryocoetes hewetti (p. 545), 



or by the parasitic Loranthus vestitus. The damage done to the timber of the 



tree is, however, more serious. The large circular holes and borings in 



oak timber, the work of this beetle's grubs, are well known in the Western 



Himalaya, and often render the wood unfit for other than firewood purposes. 



This beetle is the common pest of oak timber known to the Breweries, 

 and reported from Naini Tal and Mussoorie on several occasions. The 

 beetle is to be found commonly on the wing in the early part of the mon- 

 soon in Mussoorie, Naini Tal, etc. 



The cutting out and conversion of sickly trees which are found to be 

 badly attacked by the bark bettle or by the parasitic Loranthus should 

 prove a sufficient remedy against the increase and spread of this pest.* 



Paraphrus. 

 Only one species of this grub is at present known from the Indian Region. 

 Paraphrus granulosus, Thorns. 



UKFEREyiCE.— Thorns [CyrtogJiathus), Essai Class. Ceramh. p. 329 (1861): Gahan, F.B.I. Cerambycidae. 



no. 13, p. 14 (1906). 



Habitat.— Bashahr State, North-West Himalaya. Also reported from 

 Mungphu (Sikkim) ; Burma, Thayetmyo, Moulmein, North Chin Hills 

 (Watson) ; Thaungyin Valley (Bingham) ; Kakhien Hills (B. L. Stanton) ; 

 Siam. 



Tree Attacked.— Oak {Quercus ilex). Kotgahr, Bashahr. 



* V/de my paper, " The Loranthus parasite on Quercu.^ dilatata and Q. incanaP—Jour. 

 As. Soc. Bengal, v, 189 (1909). 



S 2 



