38o 



FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE 



We know little at present about the life history of this insect. The 

 grubs attack and live in the cambium layer and sap- 

 Life History. wood of the roots of the tree, and are said never to be 

 found in the stem. Grubs were found in this position 

 on the 1st June, and one mature beetle was obtained from the Talaukoda 

 plantations near Cuddalore. There are no records as to the amount of 

 damage this beetle commits. Since it lives in the cambium laver of the 

 roots it is likely to prove a very serious pest when present in anv numbers 

 in a plantation. 



Coelosterna ? sp. 



Reference.— Stebbing [Stromatium ? sp.), Depart. Notes, vol. i, p. 379 (1906). 



Habitat. — North Coimbatore and Mysore Sandal-wood Areas. 



Tree Attacked.— Sandal- wood {Santalum album). Coimbatore and 

 Mysore. 



During an examination of portions of the sandal-wood areas of North 

 Coimbatore and Mysore in July-August 1902 I found that a longicorn 

 grub was a source of considerable injury to sandal- wood, its tunnels causing 

 a heavy depreciation in the price of the wood, first-class wood being 

 required to be flawless, without holes of any kind in it. 



I describe below the life history of the larva which is responsible for 

 the damage. I took a good many grubs, but in no instance was I able to 

 find a beetle. It is, I think, probable that the beetle appears on the wing 

 about November or December. 



Larva.— White with a pinkish tinge, thickish, tapering slightly behind. Elongate, 

 consisting of a small head and twelve following segments. Mouth parts black. Thoracic 

 segments yellowish. Length, i in. to lA in. 



Grubs differing in size but from two-thirds 



to nearly full-grown were found 



Life History. in galleries in the stems of the 



trees in the first week of August. 



No small larvae were found. From their total size 



and the length of the galleries bored and from the 



fact that no young larvae were found in the stems 



examined, I should think it improbable that they 



spend over a year in this stage, and the period 



may be a few months only. Neither the pupal 



nor the beetle stage of the pest has been yet 



found. 



Method of Attack. — The larvae are to be found 

 2^ either in the main stem or the small branches. 



Fig. 254. An examination of these latter shows that 



Grubs of the sandal-wood ,1 11 r. ,.i-^i i 1 



longicorn borer. .Mysore and ^^"^^ "'"'^'^^ ^^^ o"en startea in the branch, 



Coimbatore. bored down it to the main stem, and then down 



