FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE 



349 



These small longicorns have the power, like the small buprestids, of at 



times increasing in very large numbers, and vounsi 

 Damage Committed , , ^ 



in the Forest. growth thus suffers very severely by their attacks, 



whilst the older trees have their crowns seriously 

 diminished owing to the number of branches killed off. 



When the beetle seriously infests young growth the trees should be cut 

 out and burnt. 



Xylotrechus Stebbingi, Gahan. 



REFERENCES. Gahan, F.B.I. Coleopt. vol. i, Ceramb. no. 274, p. 244 (1906); Steb. Ind . For. Rec. ii. 9 (1909). 



Habitat. North-West Himalaya;' Kilba, Bashahr State; Jaunsar; 

 Naini Tal, Almora. Gahan gives North-West Himalaya, Bashahr State 

 (E. P. Stebbing), Tibet. 



Tree Attacked. Quercus dilatata (morn oak). Kilba, Bashahr; Naini Tal, 

 Almora. 



Beetle. Brown ; head and prothorax clothed with a greyish 



pubescence ; the prothorax with four small brown spots in a 



transverse row across the middle, two 

 Description. dorsal and two lateral. Elytra sub- 



glabrous, testaceous brown, narrowly 



covered with grey pubescence at the base, marked with some 



small spots of ashy-grey pubescence which form three interrupted 



bands one near the base, another just before the middle, the 



third midway between it and the apex; the apex also narrowly 



bordered with ashy-grey. Body beneath covered with grey 



pubescence, a rather large posterior spot on each of the meta- 



thoracic episterna ashy-white. Head with the lateral carinae 



oblique, slightly curved, extending below almost to a level with 



the lower margin of the eyes ; front narrowed between the eyes, 



furnished with two prominent convergent carinae which are united 



below. Antennae less than half the length of body ; third joint 



slightly longer than the first. Prothorax widest behind the 



middle, very slightly narrowed in front, strongly narrowed Gahan. N.W. Himalaya, 



towards the base ; disk with a median asperate carina, which is 



broader and more strongly raised behind than in front. Femora rather strongly thickened ; 



the hind pair extending a little past the apex of the elytra. First joint of hind tarsi twice as 



long as the second and third united. Length, 12 mm. to 18 mm. ; breadth, 3] mm. to 5 mm 

 I >t-scr. after Gahan.} 



Larva. Whitish yellow, elongate, the segments of tin- body more or lr-^ of tin- same 



size, decreasing gradually posteriorly. Head black. Length about 25 mm. when hill-:. Town. 



i Sec fig. 237 (i, 1,1 .) 



The larva of this insect feeds entirely in the bast and outer s.ipwood of 



the moru oak. I have not as yet t:ikm it in n. nutiiiii. 



Life History. The grub grooves both bast ami saj. wood, eating out 



large irregular galleries in the long axis of the tree 



(fig. 237 (2)). Occasionally the gallery is quite straight, but it is mre 

 often irregular and serpentine; the larva, however, appears to confine 

 itself to the layer of wood between the long straight medullary rays. 



FIG. 236. 

 Xylotrech us Stebbing i . 



