xxv 
Exhibitions, &c. 
Mr. F. Moore exhibited specimens of Tomicus monographus, with portions of the 
staves of a cask destruyed by this beetle, and read the following note respecting its 
ravages :— 
“An official report has lately been received at the India Office from the Military 
Department at Madras, relating to the destruction of the casks containing the malt 
liquors sent out to India from this country for the use of our troops, and which is 
caused by a small boring-beetle perforating the staves of the casks to such an extent 
as to entail very considerable loss of the liquor by leakage. From an examination 
made in India of a large number of the perforated staves, it is there supposed that the 
insect first effects a lodgment beneath the hoops, which offer it a temporary shelter, 
and that it then bores into the wood and works its way in all directions. A large 
proportion of the holes run at right angles to the surface of the staves and reach from 
one side to the other, thus allowing free exit to the liquor, but others again traverse | 
the wood in all directions. In some casks these perforations are literally innumerable, 
and taking a portion of a stave before me as a guide it is calculated that in the cask to 
which it belonged there were not less than 134,400 perforations communicating with 
the outer surface, most of which served as the exit for several of the beetles, as upon 
cutting the stave lengthwise they were found in Indian-file in all directions. The 
larva is stated to be of a white colour and armed with a pair of powerful jaws. The 
beetle is also stated to be very similar in appearance to that which perforates the 
bamboo, but much smaller and more slender in proportion to its length; and to be 
precisely similar in outward appearance to the species which attacks the ‘shola’ of 
which pith-hats are made. It is unknown when this insect first made its appearance 
in India. It is extremely probable that at no period since the first importation of 
malt liquor for the troops has it been entirely absent, but in former years the stock on 
hand was much less than at present, and the insect was probably less destructive and 
consequently its presence was not officially reported. As far back, however, as 1855, 
when the then Deputy Commissary-General was on a tour of inspection in Burmab, 
the destructiveness of this beetle was brought prominently to his notice when at 
Tonghoo. From that date until the year 1862 the insects increased in numbers, and 
still continue to be very destructive; in some seasons the wastage has been less than 
in others, but the insect has never at any time been entirely unobserved. Up to 1862 
the ravages of this pest appear chiefly to have been reported from stations in Burmah, 
ut in the same year it was observed at Jaulnah, and probably at other stations also, 
nd it has now broken out again in the last consignment of malt liquor received at 
ecunderabad. The most difficult and important inquiry connected with this subject 
is the question as to where the beetle first came from. The generally received opinion 
in India appears to be that the germ of the insect is already in the wood when the 
casks are sent from England, and that it becomes developed and makes its appearance 
afier its arrival. To support this theory, however, no satisfactory evidence has been 
adduced. Itis believed that all the staves undergo a process of steaming before being 
made into casks, and this of itself would be sufficient to destroy the germ of any insect ; 
moreover, the insect has been found within a very short time after the arrival of the 
casks in India, and yet it has never on any occasion been detected in casks when first 
received from the ship. On the other hund, it has been suggested that the insect drops 
