44-; FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE 



ensuing rains. The warm rain moistens the ground, and thus softens 

 the pupal " case," the fibres of which will only require wetting to crumble 

 to dust after the heating up they have undergone during the hot months of 

 the year, even in the shadier portions of the forest. The beetle then doubt- 

 less pushes its way out and works up through the subsoil and humus. 

 In the case of a specimen kept I noted that the beetle, when ready to emerge, 

 gnawed its way out of its fibrous covering, cutting a hole at one side (see 

 fig. o-). It will be seen that the pupa is thus safeguarded against enemies, 

 since its covering resembles nothing so much as a decaying lump of vegeta- 

 tion mixed with earth mould. From the above account it becomes apparent 

 that some ten months of the insect's life history are passed in the pupal 

 stage, about five weeks in the imago and egg-laying stage (excluding the 

 period during which the insect remains alive after egg-laying, which period 

 requires further observation to ascertain definitely the number of eggs laid 

 by the beetle), and three to four weeks in the larval or destructive stage. 



This weevil is plentiful in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, in the 



bamboo jungles adjacent to the Karnafuli River. 



Relations to the _ i on ^p cs has proved a most serious pest to the 



Melocanna bainbnsioides bamboo, killing off young shoots 

 over a fairly wide area both in 1899 and 1900. In these years large 

 numbers of young bamboo shoots were observed springing up in the 

 forests at the commencement of the rains. By August some 30 to 40 per 

 cent, on areas inspected round Kaptai and elsewhere had been killed off, in 

 the damper localities the attack being even more severe. The infestation 

 appeared to diminish as the moister localities near the river were left behind, 

 and almost disappeared as one went up the slopes of the hills. I am of 

 opinion that the severity of the attack was probably due to the great clear- 

 ance made in the portions of the forest which lay in the path of the great 

 cyclone of October 1897, which swept up into the Hill Tracts from the Bay of 

 Bengal, destroying some valuable teak plantations near Kaptai, and laying 

 low most of the trees it met with far up into the hills. As a result of this 

 clearance of large tree-growth in the forest, the muli bamboo commenced to 

 shoot up in dense masses during the rains of 1898, and this was followed by 

 the heavy and localized attacks of the beetles in 1899 and 1900. I have no 

 information as to whether they were continued the following year, as I was 

 unable to visit the area in question. 



Mr. Gregson stated in his note that shady places under thick growth are 

 preferred to others. By this I understood him to mean thick undergrowth 

 in moist places, not high forest. In such places the shoots undoubtedly 

 come up thickly, and are most succulent, and as such are doubtless preferred 

 by the beetles for egg-laying. 



In the case of plantations the most obvious remedy is to collect the 

 female beetles when egg-laying; a surer method is to dig up the pupal 

 cases and burn them. A better remedy, however, and one which would be 

 practicable over larger areas, would be to collect all the fallen and 



