FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE 



313 



In walking the 

 beetle stands high upon 

 its legs and holds its 

 antennae in front of 

 the head, alternately 

 tapping the ground 

 with them after the 

 fashion of ants. These 

 antennae are undoubt- 

 edly used as sensory 

 organs of one kind or 

 another. The insect 

 sits low when at rest 

 on the trunks of the 

 trees. It usually takes 

 refuge in the daytime 

 in old larval borings 

 or its own exit-holes 

 which have weathered 

 or rotted on the ex- 

 terior of the trunk 

 under the influence of 

 the climate. The grey 

 silky colouring of the 

 wing-covers gives it a 

 wonderful resemblance 

 to the bark of white 

 poplar trees, and this 

 undoubtedly serves as 

 a protection to it, ren- 

 dering it difficult to pick 

 out on the trees at any 

 distance. It is this 

 great resemblance 

 which would seem to 

 give additional force to 

 the argument that the 

 insect's original food- 

 plant was this tree. 



The trees reported 

 to date as infested by 

 this beetle in Baluchi- 

 stan are the white 

 poplar {Populus alba), 

 raemar poplar {P. sp.). 



^.^. 



^^ 



Fig. 213. — Portion of a wiilow-stem with the bark fallen oft 

 in places, exposing the attacks of the grubs of jEolcsthes holo- 

 sericea. Ouetta. 



