FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE 



283 



trees or newly felled ones are infested. Dead trees are not attacked. 

 This longicorn beetle appears to be commoner in the trees than either 

 of the buprestids. 



The remedies and methods of protection aj^ainst this pest which can 

 be instituted will be found detailed under Crypto- 

 Protective and y1^y,^chus brandisi (p. 433). The best time to put them 

 Remedial Measures. . -^ ^ , , , T • .1 1 11 ^u 



mto force would be the wanter months, waien all these 



insects are in the larval stage in the bast layer of the tree. A simple plan 

 to ascertain the abundance of the insects in the forest is to fell a few trees, 

 or, better still, ring them and leave them as trap trees. A monthly 

 examination of these trees will show how plentiful the insects are on the 

 area. If the trees are found to be heavily attacked by the buprestid, 

 longicorn, or weevil larvae, it will mean that the insects are numerous 

 in that area, and steps will have to be taken to get rid of them. 



Left LIRA. 



A number of Indian species of these small longicorns are known, but 

 only one as of forest importance. 



Leptura rubriola, Bates. 



Referen'CES.— Bates, P.Z.S. 1878, p. 720 5 ; id- Scientific Results Second Yaykaud Mission, Coleopt. 

 p. 22, pi. I, figs 21 and 22 ^ 2 ('890) ; Gahan, F.B.I. Ceramb. vol. i, no. 75, p. 81 (1906). 



Habitat.— Kainthli, Chamba, North-West Himalaya. Gahan gives 

 Kashmir, Murree, near Gulberg, 5,000-9,000 ft. (Dr. Atchison), and Lidder, 

 11,000 ft. 



Tree Attacked. — Spruce {Picea morinda). Chamba State. 

 Beetle.- 5 Black, with the elytra from the base to a Httle 

 beyond the middle yellowish red (at times the elytra are com- 

 pletely black). Head dull, finely and 

 Description. closely punctured. Antennae nearly as 



long as body, third joint scarcely longer 

 than fourth and a little shorter than fifth ; eleventh about one- 

 third longer than tenth. Prothorax a little longer than broad, 

 slightly constricted, and transversely channelled just behind the 

 front margin, widest at base, narrowed in front, dull and closely 

 punctured. Elytra strongly and closely punctured and dull sa\-e 

 at apex ; apices broadly truncate and slightly sinuate, feebly 

 dentate at each of the angles. Hind tarsi very long, the first 

 joint nearly twice as long as the next two united ; third joint 

 cleft to the middle ; claw-joint long. 



$ Prothorax, except along front and hind borders, and 

 the whole of the elytra, red. Antennae not extended beyond 

 the middle of the elytra, with fourth joint distinctly shorter than 

 third. Length, 11 mm. to 15 mm. ; breadth, 3^ mm. to 5 mm. 



I took a specimen of this beetle on a large girdled dying spruce-tree at 

 Kainthh in Chamba on 22 June igog. The insect, a female, was deep 

 down in a crevice of the bark and was egg-laying. 



Fig. 194. 



Leptura rubriola, Bates. 

 ,5. X f. Western 

 Himalaya. [F.B.L) 



