of Southern India. 1 1 5 



laid in any regular order, but the female beetle roams 

 over the stem in everj^ direction, except under ground, 

 and places her eggs alongside and into the natural fis- 

 sures of the bark. The ovipositor is so organized 

 that it serves as a most iiexible and delicate feeler of the 

 proper locality for the eg^, as well as for conveying* the 

 egg to that spot. As the beetle moves over the stem, 

 this organ is in constant activity, sweeping like the finest 

 hair-brush over and into every little cavity, and stopping 

 occasionally with unerring instinct in the proper place, 

 where it securely drops one or several eggs. After ten 

 days^ careful observation, I am unable to say with any 

 degree of certainty, how many eggs each female has laid 

 or may lay. Of the eight beetles put into the glass, five 

 died after six days' activity ; they laid daily some eggs ; 

 two females and one male are still alive and active. Yes- 

 terday and to-day I examined the two stems, to discover 

 the eggs, and I found on one piece, one foot nine inches 

 in length, over fifty eggs, and on the other, one foot long, 

 thirty- four eggs. The greatest number, grouped in one 

 fissure, was eight eggs ; there are none upon the branches 

 on account of their smoothness, but they are most nu- 

 merous in and round the axilla of the primaries. The 

 eggs are whitish, elongated, and pointed at the top. The 

 laid eggs are so securely hidden in the fissures of the 

 bark, wliether perpendicular, oblique or horizontal, that 

 they are visible only on removing the epidermis and part 

 of the corky layers of the bark. One burst open, and 

 I secured the embryo larva, which is just discernible 

 with the naked eye, but which under the microscope 

 exhibits every characteristic of the full-grown Borer, 

 even the reddish-brown head. 



3. In order to find out what efi'ect coating* the stem 

 with lime would have upon the beetles, I treated a piece 

 of a fresh cofiee-tree in this manner, fixed it into another 

 glass shade, and put the ten mutilated beetles into the 

 glass. Those which still were able to walk, attempted to 

 crawl up the tree, but soon fell off", their claws could only 

 seize the coating of lime, which peeled ofi" and caused 

 the beetle to fall, Next morning most of them were 

 dead. Yesterday I transferred the three active insects 

 of the former experiment to the white- washed stem, and 

 added a second male. They managed to climb up the 

 stem, but the females found on the white-washed surface 

 no hiding-place for their eggs, and repeatedly dropped 

 to the ground, I left purposely the axilla of a primary 



I 2 



