126 SPICES 



CHAP. 



colour, almost black. It is very convex above and has 

 a small, bent-down head, sunk in the throat and orna- 

 mented with a brush of yellow hairs. The antennae are 

 clubbed, the tip of the club being whitish. The elytra 

 is strongly ribbed, with a row of raised dots between 

 each rib. The other beetle is rather larger. It 

 deposits its eggs beneath the bark of the tree, either 

 at the base of the trunk below the ground or in the 

 branches. The very small white grub attacks the 

 cambium layer between the bark and the wood. When 

 it attacks the branches it burrows at the base of the 

 twigs, cutting away the cambium where the twigs join 

 the main branch. In this case the twigs die speedily, 

 and the leaves do not fall, but dry on the twig, and 

 boughs may be seen with all the lower twigs dead and 

 bearing dry leaves while the upper twigs are still alive. 

 After burrowing round the base of the twig the grub 

 often bores into the centre of the woody part. 



The beetle remains for some time, even weeks, in the 

 boughs and will, unless destroyed, attack other parts of 

 the tree. 



The subterranean portion of the trunk is next 

 attacked, and sometimes even before the boughs show 

 any signs of the presence of the beetle. 



Usually the injury to the base of the tree is over- 

 looked till the disease has reached above-ground, when 

 it is almost too late to save the tree. Hence it is 

 commonly said that the tree dies in ten days after it 

 is attacked. 



In Collingwood's description of the destruction of 

 the trees in Penang and Singapore in 1860, which was, 

 I have little doubt, caused by this pest, it is said that a 

 tree would be attacked in the night, and in the morning 

 the topmost branches would be withered. In reality, 

 doubtless the tree had been attacked weeks before, 

 perhaps months, but the injury was not noticed till the 

 tree was at the point of death. 



As the beetles work away from the parts of the tree 

 they have killed into still living parts, many other 



