FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE 295 



swelling, in the cavity formed by its having eaten away the pith ot 

 the tree completely for several inches in an upward direction. 



"It appears usually in one- and two-year-old trees, but has also 

 been found in trees of five to six years' growth." 



The small punctures in the bark referred to In Mr. A. G. Mien would 

 be the holes made by the grubs to admit air into the gallery, which, 

 as he states, is blocked with wood-fibre and excreta, part of which is got 

 rid of at the aeration outlet. Some of these fibre particles are used to make 

 a rough kind of semi-cocoon, when the grub pupates, in a manner similar 

 to that shown for Coelosterna scabrata (pi. xxv). 



Some of the beetles bred out by Mr. Mien were evidently sent to the 

 Indian Museum in Calcutta, since a specimen in the collections is marked 

 " Kulsi Teak-borer." In 1890 the attack again broke out, and larvae were 

 again sent to the Indian Museum. 



It was the consignment of beetles subsequently sent, consisting of 

 species of Molesthes and Aegosojiia, with Stromatiuui bcivbatnm, not appa- 

 rently specifically stated to have been taken from the trees, which gave 

 rise to the confusion over the true Kulsi Teak-borer. That this insect was 

 indisputably identified and determined as the author of the damage by 

 Mr. A. G. Mien eleven years before seems hardly open to doubt. 



According to Mr. Mien, the treatment instituted at the Kulsi planta- 

 tions to get rid of the pest was to coppice all young 

 Treatment. and badly attacked poles, and encourage the growth 



of the strongest shoot from the stool by removing the 

 rest when they appeared. Older and more vigorous trees, which did not 

 appear otherwise sickly or fading, were left alone, and often recovered from 

 the effects of the borer's attacks, though traces of the globular swelling 

 invariably remained. 



Ploc.ederus. 

 The genus was for long thought to contain the worst sal longicorn pest. 

 Investigation has shown that this is not so. The known Indian species 

 of importance, obesm, has, however, a wide range in the forest. 



Plocaederus obesus, Gahan. 



REFERENCES— Gahan, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (6) v, p. 51 and (6) vi, p. 259 (1890); PloccEderus pedestris, 

 Cotes (nee White), Ind. Mus. Notes, i, no. 2, pi. v, fig. 4 ; Monochanms sp., Thompson, Rep. Ins. 

 Injur. Woods and Forests, Allahabad (1878) ; Stebbing, Depart. Notes, i, 368 (1902) ; Gahan, F.B.I. 

 Ceramb. no. 117, p. 121 (1906). 



Habitat.— Throughout India, with the exception of the Bombay Presi- 

 dency, from which at present there is no record of its presence 



Trees Attacked.— Sal {Shorea robmta) : Dehra Dun ; Odina wodur 

 (Thingham): Dehvd Dun; Bombax heptaphyllum: United Provinces Terai; Butea 

 frondosa (Dhak): United Provinces Terai; Bombax malabaricum (Semul): 

 United Provinces ; Spondias mangifera : Tista Valley, Eastern Himalaya 



