364 FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE 



The pupa spends three to three and a half months in this stage. 

 The beetle, when mature, bores a circular tunnel straight to the outside of 

 the tree, the large exit-hole being very visible on the outside (see pi. xxvii). 



Up to the present it has not been definitely proved that this pest kills 

 the fig-trees. Major Roome, Commandant of the Zhob 



Lev y Cor P s > i nformed me that some of his trees m the 

 Levy Corps garden at Fort Sandeman were so badly 



riddled that one or two were blown down and several others had to be cut 

 out. I myself saw two or three trees in this garden in 1905 which were so 

 full of larvae that it appeared to be only a question of time when they would 

 succumb to the attacks of the insect. Colonel Kemball informed me in 1906 

 that no trees had so far actually died under the attacks at Duki. It would 

 seem, however, that in this garden the attack had only recently culminated 

 at the time of his report. The insect, occurring but sparingly at first, 

 committed but small depredations, and these remained unnoticed. 



We have seen that the grub tunnels chiefly inside the stem and 

 branches of the trees ; it is owing to this method of attack, whereby the 

 bast layer remains for the most part untouched, that the trees are not 

 at once killed by the insect. At the same time the strength of a tree 

 containing many boring larvae is naturally sapped and undermined 

 owing to the numerous hollow galleries and tunnels it contains. It 

 therefore becomes but a question of time for the tree to succumb to 

 these attacks ; either being blown down by the wind, or falling owing 

 to the stem being no longer capable of bearing the excessive weight of 

 the crown. 



It should also be remembered that these trees are in themselves a 

 danger, since by rearing up larvae, which become beetles and lay eggs, they 

 help to spread the infection to as yet unattacked or but slightly attacked 

 trees. The beetles also, owing to their power of strong flight, are able to 

 carry the infection to unaffected gardens and trees. 



H. M. Lefroy alludes to this insect (in Indian Insect Pests, p. 375) as 

 follows : 



Batocera rubra, Linn., is the large beetle found throughout the 

 plains whose larva is common under the bark of trees ; it appears to 

 occur chiefly in decaying bark, and the trees felled in Pusa contained 

 abundance of the large larvae and pupae. 



From what has been written above, the question of the protection of the 

 fig and mango trees, and the clearing of infested gardens, becomes a matter 

 of considerable importance. 



It has been said that this insect has a very wide distribution through- 

 out the country. There is little chance, therefore, of 

 Protection and . . , ,_, r ' , 



Remedies stamping it out, and the question of preventing its 



spreading in the gardens is the one for consideration. 

 It has been shown that from the nature of the attack on the tree the latter 



