), L 1 Miscellaneous Notes. 



liated the Buk {Querczis lamellosa) trees over an area of about twelve 

 miles long- by eight miles broad, near Darjiling, the trees, which were 

 in some eases as much as seventy feet high, being often completely denud- 

 ed of their leaves. Much injury was not done however, as, at the time 

 that the caterpillar appeared, the trees had only their last yearns leaves upon 

 them, while they put forth young leaves again in the following June. 

 The 8ungare katns {Qriercus pachyphylla), a valuable forest tree which 

 grows in Sikkim at an elevation of 7,000 to 10,000 feet, suffers from 

 the attack of the larvae of one of the Curculionidse beetles, which is esti- 

 mated to destroy 90 per cent, of the seed. The only specimens that 

 could be obtained were small grubs, about a quarter of an inch in length, 

 and of the characteristic cureulionid shape; they ai'e insufficient for pre- 

 cise identification, 



A large swift-flying Cureulionid beetle, which has been identified as 

 Cyrtotrmlidns dux, and which, in the male, is characterised by enor- 

 mously developed front legs, attacks the asparagus-like shoot of the hill 

 bamboo Dendrocalamus hamiltonii at elevations of about 3,000 fee'r above 

 sea-level. In May and June the imago is often found clinging- on to 

 the growing shoot, which is perforated by a big hole from which it 

 has emerged. Shoots thus attacked come to nothing. 



In June a large green Rutelinid beetle, which has been identified as 

 Anomala vlridis, strips leaves off the Al tree [Alnus nipalensis), growing 

 at elevations of from five to six thousand feet above sea-level. 



A Stag beetle, which has been identified as Lucanus mearesi of' Hope, 

 bores into the dead sapwood of the Kharaui tree [Symplocos, sp.) at eleva- 

 tions of between five and six thousand feet above sea-level. 



A large wasp, which has been identified as Vespa magnificat builds a 

 nest sometimes two feet in diameter in the trunk of a laurel known lo- 

 cally as Kawlee. The nest occupies the whole of the interior of rotten 

 trees, and is to be found in July at elevations of about 6,500 feet. The 

 hill people ar^e in the habit of eating the grubs of this wasp, though the 

 sting of the imago is so severe that an Englishman has been known to 

 have nearly died after being stung by three of them, 



The wild bee, Apis dorsata, is not often noticed at elevations above two 

 thousand feet, though in one piece a large bee which probably belongs 

 to this species builds combs on the face of some rocks at an elevation of 

 four or five thousand feet, and yields, in good years, a revenue of as 

 much as a hundred rupees to the Forest Department. 



From the Bhergaon garden, Mungledye district, Assam, were receiv- 

 ed in October 1890, tlirough Messrs. Wil- 



Flata conspersa on tea. ,. ,-- , ^ , ,, \ ^ i, i.\ 



hamson and Magor, tea shoots attacked by ttie 



larvEe of the horaopterous insect Flata conspersa, which had covered the- 



shoots with its characteristic white secretion and was said to be feeding 



