170 FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE 



in the north of India generally, i.e. the Punjab, the Siwaliks, and sub- 

 montane terai areas of the United Provinces, the insect passes through 

 two and a half to three complete life-cycles, the first eggs being laid early 

 in April. The beetles from these eggs appear in May (I have taken them 

 in the middle of the month at Changa Manga and in the Kumaun sub- 

 montane forests) and in June, laying eggs which give rise to the September 

 (or late August) beetles. These oviposit and produce the third (or partial 

 third) generation, of which some beetles mature and issue in late November. 



In the Central Provinces and Bombay the insect appears early in March 

 (or possibly late in February), and it is probable that the insect here, as also 

 in Upper Burma, passes through three and a half to four life-cycles in the 

 year, beetles appearing on the wing and ovipositing in wood in February, 

 early March, middle of April (I have taken them numerously on 14 April in 

 Mandla), July, and September. Finally, in Tenasserim there are possibly 

 four and a half to five generations in the year, the first beetles probably 

 appearing some time in January. 



There is a certain amount of overlapping in the generations, owing to the 

 last generation hibernating partly as larvae and pupae and partly as mature 

 beetles. This accounts for my finding mature beetles issuing in the middle 

 of May at Changa Manga, whilst the rest of the generation was still in the 

 larval, pupal, or immature beetle stage. For example, between the I7th 

 and 2jrd of the month I found the following in sissu and phulahi trees : 



(a) Larvae (a few), pupae, and immature light yellowish-brown beetles 

 in the galleries in the wood. 



(6) Mature beetles just commencing to tunnel into fresh trees or billets 

 to oviposit. It may be noted here that the beetle is to be found 

 on the wing in the daytime, flying over the bark of standing 

 trees or firewood stacks, or tunnelling into the one or the other. 



(c) As mature beetles in the wood, well on their way to complete their 

 egg-galleries. 



The beetles would thus appear to disregard a hot sun as well as great cold. 

 In the late winter of 1904-5 tremendous frosts were experienced all over the 

 north of India as far down as the Central Provinces. In spite of this fact, I 

 found the insect swarming in the Changa Manga plantations in May 1905, 

 it being that year, perhaps, more numerous than its companion S. crassiun. 



The presence of S. an ale in a tree or in a billet or log can be easily 

 recognized by : 



(1) The beautifully circular entrance orifice. 



(2) The white sawdust powder it ejects from the orifice during its 



tunnelling operations. This, if the outer surface of the bark or 

 wood is at all uneven, is caught up in white masses, and 

 inevitably betrays the presence of the beetle. 



To oviposit, the beetle bores straight through the bark (or, if 

 absent, sapwood) until it has got down about a quarter of an inch to half an 

 inch into the sapwood, and then scoops out a deep pit-like gallery which 



