MAY ^^ 



/O/O 



1897 



Vol. III.] 



[ No. 1. 



MISCKLLANEOUS NOTES. 



By E. C Cotes, 0^. Depufij Saperinlevdcnt, Indian Mm^enni. 



A <^ood (leal of damage is said to have been done in 1891 to youno 

 '^ Horiiig insects in sandal sandal wood [Sanfalum album) trees in Mysore 

 wood and tea stems. by a boring insect. According' to a report, 



dated l"ith July 1891, by the Assistant Conservator of Forests, Mysore, 

 furnished through the Director of the Dehra Dun Forest School, this borer 

 attacks both the stem and the roots, either killing- the sapling outright or 

 weakening it, so that it is liable to get blown over by the wind. Sandal 

 w^ood yields an important revenue to the Mysore State, so that any 

 damage done to the young trees is of e()n.seQnence. 



The insect that seems to be chielly responsible for the damage is the 

 caterpillar of tiie moth Zenzera cojjecB Nietner, a species which occasion- 

 ally attacks both coffee {Coffea arahica) and tea (Camellia thelferd) 

 bushes. 



Some Coleopterous larvEe, howovtr, which appear to be Tcuehrionidce, have 

 also been received, but are not thought likely to have played more than a 

 subordinate part in injuring the sandal wood saplings. The identity of 

 the insect was made out from a moth which emerged in the Museum, 

 on 9th February 1892, from some affected sandal wood stems that were 

 kindly furnished by .VIr. J. Cameron, Superintendent of the Govern- 

 ment Gardens, Bangalore. The only suggestion that could be made 

 for dealing with the insect was to cut out and burn the infested stems 

 and thus prevent the spreading of the pest. The fignre shows the various 

 stages of the Zeuzera with a piece of wood bored by it, all natural size. 



