384 FAMILY CEKAMBYCIDAE 



Summarizing the above we see that this pest may — ■ 

 (i) Kill saplings (probably not often). 



(2) Bore up the heart-wood of young living trees. Subsequently 



the vitality of these latter is sufficient to grow over the air and 

 exit holes, thus hiding all trace of the attacks, which are only 

 discovered when the wood is converted for sale. 



(3) The exit and air holes may " weather " to such an extent that 



they coalesce, and thus 50 per cent, or more of the heart-wood 

 of the tree may be destroyed. 



During a visit I paid to the Sandal Koti at Bangalore I was able to 

 inspect the damage done to the wood by these insects. Unfortunately, 

 I arrived a week too late to be present at the actual sorting of the year's 

 outturn, which was stored in the godown. Had I been present at 

 this it would have enabled me to inspect many hundreds of logs, and 

 it would have been possible to form some conclusion as to the insects' 

 abundance or otherwise in Mysore. I was shown the various classes of 

 wood, and the system of classification was described. Wood with holes 

 and galleries in it (as shown in pi. iii), even though its quality may be 

 otherwise absolutely first class, is relegated to the third or fourth class, 

 and therefore it is quite possible to calculate the actual monetary loss 

 occasioned by the work of this longicorn. My inspection showed it to be 

 sufficiently great to render the full working out of its life history a matter of 

 the first importance. 



The question of methods of protection against these internal boring 



pests is a difficult one, and the drastic one of cuttinir 

 Protection and , ,, ^^ • r , ■, . • n j_, , 



Remedies. '^"^ burnmg all mtested trees is often the only one 



that can be recommended. The matter is rendered 



more difficult in this case owing to the scattered way in which the 



sandal-tree grows. 



We require to know a good deal more about the Coelosterna's life 

 history, and firstly the period at which it lays its eggs and how long 

 they take to develop and hatch out the grubs. If the beetles all issue at 

 approximately the same time and lay their eggs on the bark within a period 

 of a fortnight or so, it would be quite possible to make an attempt to 

 check the pest in localities where it is seen to be bad by scraping down the 

 bark of the trees with a blunt instrument. This would get rid of the eggs 

 and save the tree. I recognize that there would be difficulty in doing this, 

 owing to the fact that the sandal usually grows in the midst of thorny 

 scrub bushes. In the case of severe attacks, however, it would be quite 

 feasible, and the value of the tree would justify the expense. It is there- 

 fore of great importance that the periods of emergence of the beetle and 

 of oviposition should be ascertained. Trees infested are recognizable by the 

 air-holes bored to the outside. Further, we have seen that a tree infested 



