Indian Ma sen in Not?*. L Vol- 111- 



in<r them with the spores of a fungoid disease to which they are subject. 

 This method of treatment however has not yet passed beyond the experi- 

 mental stage, so it cannot be recommended for practical purposes. In 

 the case of a species which attacks the roots of vines in Europe, bisul- 

 phide of carbon has been recommended, and this chemical seems likely 

 to prove of practical utility. The simplest method of treatment was to 

 make a hole near the main root of the vine by forcing 1 a small stick into 

 the earth, then to pour about half a teaspoonful of bisulphide of carbon 

 into the hole, and plug it tightly with earth pressed down by the foot; 

 and more elaborate methods which are said to have been successfully 

 adopted in French vineyards for fighting phylloxera with bisulphide of 

 carbon would no doubt be equally effective for dealing with white grub 

 in Sikkim. According to Mayet (Insectes de la vigne 1890), as quoted 

 in a recent report by Mr. Charles Whitehead : " the bisulphide is put 

 into the ground in two or three holes close round the roots of each vine, 

 with a kind of hand pump (pal) terminating in a tube with a short point 

 having an orifice near its end. This is thrust into the earth, and the 

 liquid is forced into the hole by pressure from the pump." 



The damage done to beer casks in India by minute beetles which drill 



•, , . T ,. holes into the staves, has attracted a good 



Cask borers in India. ' 



deal of attention during the past few years. 



Mr. W. F. H. Blandford, F. E. S., Lecturer on Entomology at the 

 Indian Civil Engineering College, Cooper's Hill, has for some time been 

 investigating the subject, and asks for co-operation in procuring further 

 information. 



The subject is a complicated one, as the casks are attacked by several 

 distinct insects, some of which are more destructive than the others. In 

 the case of the casks dealt with in an interesting report by Mr. Bland- 

 ford, which appeared in the Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information, Boyal 

 Gardens, Kew (September 1890), the damage was attributed to a Seolytid 

 of the genus Trypodendron— species domedicnm Linn, also signatum 

 Fahr.-quercus Eich. These insects are natives of Europe, where they 

 attack newly felled timber. From this, and also the fact that some of 

 the holes in the casks examined were found to be covered up by iron 

 cask hoops, which fitted so tightly that it was quite impossible for the 

 insect to have begun to bore after the hoops were put on, Mr. Blandford 

 concluded that the cask was attacked before ever it was filled with beer 

 and shipped. In the case of a further consignment, however, afterwards 

 received, the damage appears to have been done either on board ship or 

 in India by a, Seolytid of t he genus Xyleborus. The species Xyleborux 

 perforana Wollast. was the one recognised by Mr. Blandford ; it is no 

 doubt the same insect as the cask borer from Rangoon, referred to in the 

 Proceedings of the Entomological Society of London, 1&82, p. xvi, as 



