59 o FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 



This small Xylcborus has proved a pest of considerable impor- 

 tance in Ceylon, where it has caused destruction to tea and cocoa 

 plants. Mr. E. E. Green, who has studied its attacks, reports that the 

 beetles tunnel into the living branches of the bushes, eating out ramifying 

 tunnels in the wood, having a diameter of i.i mm. to 1.2 mm. These 

 tunnels are at times so numerous as to kill the infested branches. 



Xyleborus bengalensis, Stebbing. 



REFERENCES. Stebbing (Dryocoetes), Undesr. Scolytid. Ind. Reg. Ind. For. Mem. Zool. Ser. i, pt. i, 

 p. 12 (1906) ; Assam Sal Ins. Pests, For. Bull. no. n, p. 38 (1907). 



Habitat. Assam. 



Tree Attacked. Sal (Shorea robusta). Goal para Sal Forests. 



Beetle. Short, oblong, convex. Reddish brown. Head with fine transverse striae 

 laterally beneath the eyes ; front punctate. Prothorax but little longer than broad, base 



truncate, humeral angles sharp, not rounded ; sides and apex rounded. 



Description. Disk convex medianly, depressed anteriorly, flat posteriorly, granu- 



lose, the granulations fine, with the interspaces smooth and 



shining ; the posterior half of disk is almost smooth, especially on sides ; surface set with 

 long golden-yellow hairs. Scutellum large, blunt-elliptical, very shining, smooth. Elytra 

 broader than thorax at point of junction with latter and one-sixth as long, truncate at base, 

 Matter slightly sinuate medianly. humeral angles rounded, sides scarcely sinuate, slightly 

 dilated apically, apex pointed medianly ; surface shining, slightly convex basally and 

 depressed before middle, and strongly declivous apically ; basal area almost smooth, with 

 longitudinal rows of faintly marked punctures ; apical declivity slightly convex, set with 

 rows of fine, rounded elevations, which form a continuation of the rows of faint punctures 

 on the basal half, and with fine, sparse, yellow, spiny pubescence. Length, 2.8 mm. (PI. Ix, 

 fig- 3-) The type on which the species was describe i is damaged. It is doubtful, therefore, 

 whether the species will stand. 



This beetle infests the sal (Shorea robusta) in the Goalpara forests of 



Assam. The female beetle has been taken tunnelling 



Life History. into the sapwood of green newly felled trees in the 



middle of May. It was ascertained that the beetles 



will bore into the trees within a couple of months of their being felled. 



Xyleborus major, Stebbing. 



REFERENCES. Stebbing (Phloeosinus), Undescr. Scolyt. of Ind. Regions, Ind. For. Mem. Zool. Ser. vol. i, 

 pt. ii, 19 (1909) ; id. Assam Sal Insect Pests, Ind. For. Bull. no. u, p. 36 (1907). 



Habitat. Assam. 



Tree Attacked. Sal (Shorea robusta). Goalpara Sal Forests. 



Beetle. Robust and thick ; moderately shining. Head and prothorax reddish. Elytra 

 dark reddish-brown. Head large, front smooth and dull medianly, at the sides of the eyes 



and posteriorly punctate, the punctures large and confluent, tailing 



Description. off behind and above the eyes; a fringe of yellow hairs at base of 



mandibles. Prothorax but slightly broader than long, very convex, 



ilminating in a prominent peak on centre of disk ; covered with sharp spiky prominences 

 icales on anterior portion, these decreasing in size behind and laterally ; the depressed 



