FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE 331 



a direct connexion with the outside. In another pupal chamber a mature 

 beetle was found just ready to emerge. This latter was in the heart of 

 the tree. Many beetles had evidently previously issued from this tree, 

 the stump being riddled with pupal chambers right down into the crown 

 of the roots. 



The beetle in the Central Provinces would appear to have a habit 

 Damage Committed of destroying the trees in patches. It has been men- 

 in the Central tioned that Sir S. Eardley Wilmot's attention was drawn 

 Provinces and Chota to its depredations in Balaghat by finding a group of 

 Nagpur Sal Belt. fine krge trQQS dying. In Mandla I noticed the same 

 thing on several occasions. sEolestJics holosericea has the same habit when 

 infesting the sal in the United Provinces. Another serious aspect of the 

 beetle's attack in the Central Provinces is that, as in Assam, it is accom- 

 panied and assisted by a species of Sphacrotrypes bark-borer (p 487) which 

 I discovered seriously infesting the trees in Mandla. As we have seen, the 

 United Provinces sal longicorn is often accompanied by the Sphaerotrypes 

 bark-borer of that locality. 



The evidences of the Hoplocerainbyx attack (so often disguised by the 

 luxuriant growth of creepers on the trees in Assam and Eastern Bengal) 

 are very visible in the Central Provinces : 



(1) The trees pour out masses of resin at the points where the grubs 

 are working below the bark. These masses coagulate on the tree and are 

 very visible in a bad attack. 



(2) In old attacks the bark of the tree may be seen to be lifted and 

 broken or hanging in pieces, thus exposing the galleries of the larvae, filled 

 with condensed masses of excreta and wood-dust, in the sapwood. 



(3) Woodpeckers tunnel into the tree to get at the grubs beneath. 

 (This may be seen in Assam as well as in the Central Provinces.) A large 

 number of small holes on the trees show where woodpeckers have botvd 

 in to get at the grubs. These holes are not large in the Central Provinces, 

 and it is evident that the birds only attempt to reach the young grubs 

 whilst they are still in the outer sapwood. The holes made are not IM- 

 enough to haul out large grubs by, and quite unlike the enormous himiel- 

 shaped orifices made by the birds in Assam (see fig. 222}. 



It is extremely important that every possible means of combating this 



insect in the forest should be made use of, since tin- 

 Protective and , . . , , 



Remedial Measures, damage it is capable of committing 



cultural and economic point ol vi<-\v is very great. 



(i) The most effective form of protection would of course be to 

 undertake fellings only at periods when it is known the beetle is not on the 

 wing, and therefore not egg-laying. It has been shown in the case of trees 

 felled in February that no fresh eggs were laid on the' bark by the beetles 



