FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE 



295 



swelling, in the cavity formed by its having eaten away the pith ot 

 the tree completely for several inches in an upward direction. 



" It appears usually in one- and two-year-old trees, but has also 

 been found in trees of five to six years' growth." 



The small punctures in the bark referred to by Mr. A. G. Mien would 

 be the holes made by the grubs to admit air into the gallery, which, 

 as he states, is blocked with wood-fibre and excreta, part of which is got 

 rid of at the aeration outlet. Some of these fibre particles are used to make 

 a rough kind of semi-cocoon, when the grub pupates, in a manner similar 

 to that shown for Coelosterna scabrata (pi. xxv). 



Some of the beetles bred out by Mr. Mien were evidently sent to the 

 Indian Museum in Calcutta, since a specimen in the collections is marked 

 " Kulsi Teak-borer." In 1890 the attack again broke out, and larvae were 

 again sent to the Indian Museum. 



It was the consignment of beetles subsequently sent, consisting of 

 species of JEolesthes and Aegosoma, with Stromatium barbatum, not appa- 

 rently specifically stated to have been taken from the trees, which gave 

 rise to the confusion over the true Kulsi Teak-borer. That this insect was 

 indisputably identified and determined as the author of the damage by 

 Mr. A. G. Mien eleven years before seems hardly open to doubt. 



According to Mr. Mien, the treatment instituted at the Kulsi planta- 

 tions to get rid of the pest was to coppice all young 

 Treatment. and badly attacked poles, and encourage the growth 



of the strongest shoot from the stool by removing the 



rest when they appeared. Older and more vigorous trees, which did not 

 appear otherwise sickly or fading, were left alone, and often recovered from 

 the effects of the borer's attacks, though traces of the globular swelling 

 invariably remained. 



PLOC^DERUS. 



The genus was for long thought to contain the worst sal longicorn pe^t. 

 Investigation has shown that this is not so. The known Indian speci< - 

 of importance, obesus, has, however, a wide range in the forest. 



Plocaederus obesus, (iahan. 



REFERENCES. Gahan, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (6) v, p. 51 and (6) vi, p. 259 (1890): 



Cotes (nee White), Ind. Mus. Notes, i, no. 2, pi. v, fig. 4 : .V.i <'<-/;.< /;.<. sp., Thompson. AY/V Ins, 

 Injur. Woods and Forests, Allahabad (1878); Stebbing, /V/MJ/. Notes, i, 368 (1902 Gahan 

 Ceramb. no. 117, p. 121 (1906). 



Habitat. Throughout India, with the exception of the Honibay Presi- 

 dency, from which at present there is no record of its presence 



Trees Attacked. Sal (Shorca robusta) : Dchra Dun ; Odina ,r<> ( // ( T 

 (Jhingham): Dehra Dun; Bombaxheptaphyllum: United Provinces Terai ; llntca 

 frondosa (Dhak): United Provinces Terai; llomhax malabaricnin (Semul>: 

 United Provinces; Spondias mangifcra : Tista Valley, Eastern Himalax.i 



