6i6 FAMILY PLATYPODIDAE 



quite simply with no enlargement. At the bottom of one traced to its end, 

 four newl}^ laid translucent eggs were discovered. Just above the eggs in 

 the tube was a dead female beetle. I was unable, unfortunately, to deter- 

 mine whether the beetle had died naturally, or had been killed whilst we 

 were cutting open the tunnel. It is a fact worthy of note, however, that a 

 day or two before I discovered four eggs only at the bottom of a tunnel in 

 deodar with a living female beetle just above them. Whether four eggs 

 is the total number laid by this platypid I am unable to say, but the number 

 of eggs laid in the tunnel is almost certainly small in the case of these 

 Himalayan insects. Those in the hot and moist semi-tropical forests of 

 the country lay a larger number, as is seen in the case of the Assam sal 

 platypids. 



When numerous this platypid must be considered a pest of consider- 



rk ^ r, -x^ J 3-ble importance to the timber of the tree, since a 

 Damage Committed ,11,1, , , 



in the Forest. badly attacked log shows numerous shot-holes on 



the outside of the sapwood, sometimes to such an 

 extent that it is obvious that its strength and durability are greatly under- 

 mined. 



The insect burrows into trees of all ages, and, failing a supply of felled 

 or sickly trees or snow- or wind-breaks, it has been found to attack green 

 standing trees in the forest. 



An obvious method of preventing this beetle increasing in a forest is to 



_, ^ ,. J remove or bark all sickly and wind-thrown trees or 



Protection and , , . . -^ ■,,,,,, 



Remedial Measures- snow-breaks, and, more important still, to bark all trees 



as soon as felled for sale purposes. 



It is essential that this operation be undertaken as soon as the tree is 

 down and has been logged, since once the beetle has got through the bark 

 into the sapwood the removal of the bark will in no way affect it. In fact, 

 it is likely to increase the injury to the timber, since it is probable that the 

 female will carry her tunnel deeper down into the wood to escape the heat 

 of the sun and the consequent more rapid drying of the outer sapwood 

 which the removal of the bark will ensure. 



The beetle attacks trees in swarms, so that a few days are sufficient for 

 the insects to have penetrated an unbarked log throughout its entire length, 

 and the damage to the timber will then be irremediable, since it must be 

 remembered that this damage is entirely the work of the beetle, and is 

 carried out within a period of from ten days to a fortnight. 



Thanasimus himalayensis, Stebbing.— In Jaunsar and Chamba I noted 



that this predaceous clerid (described on p. 508) feeds upon this Crossotarsus 



in the imago stage. I do not know whether the larvae 



Predaceous Insect. crawl down the tunnels in the wood to attack the 



platypid grubs. The beetle catches the platypus insect 



on the bark of the tree whilst it is searching for a spot at which to tunnel 



in, or whilst engaged in the preliminary stages of tunnelling. 



