Ko. 2.] Notes on insect pests from the Entomological Section. 57 



2. Xylehorus fornicatuSf Eiclihoff 

 (Ord. Coleoptera, Fam. Scoiytids.) 



Plate V, fig. 2 — a, larva ; b, pupa ; c, d, imagos ^ and ? ; e, 

 affected tea stem, 



Xyleborus fornicatuSy Eichhoff. Berl. Ent. Zeitschr., p. 151 (1868). 



On the 28th January 1895, specimens of a small beetle, together 

 with pieces of tea stems riddled by them, were sent to the Indian 

 Museum through Mr. E. E. Green, of Ceylon, from Mr. G. Alston, 

 Superintendent of Tea Estate, Craighead, Nawalapituja. 



The insect proved, on examination, to belong to a species of 

 Scolytid beetle, which has not previously been reported to attack 

 tea plants in India. Specimens were therefore forwarded to Mr. 

 W. F. H. Blandford, who very kindly examined them and identified 

 them as belonging to the species Xyleborus fornicatus, Eichhoff, a 

 form closely allied to the often destructive species Xyleborus dispary 

 of Europe and North America. 



The following is an extract from a letter furnished by Mr. G. 

 Alston : — 



" The pest appears mostly in patches, but has spread very considerably since 

 I first observed it in any numbers three years ago. There is no evidence of any 

 previous disease in attacked trees. Most of the trees attacked show no out- 

 ward sign of the pest, except when almost every branch is attacked, when they 

 turn rather yellow and stop flushing. Young trees about two years old, before 

 they are topped, often snap off at the spot where the borers have made holes for 

 their entrance or exit. Strong vigorous trees in good soil seem to be very little 

 affected by it, and throw out good red wood even from badly bored stems. On 

 the other hand, poor plants on ridges or poor soil seem to naturally feel the effect 

 of it quickly, though in no case have I seen a tree killed by it. Isolated branches 

 die off, but new branches come out in their place. As a rule, you can only tell 

 an attacked tree (except in the case of young plants, when the stems snap off) on 

 pruning it, when the holes in the wood are very apparent. It (the beetle) does 

 not attack the cut surface after pruning, but makes its entrance through the bark. 

 In the case of young red wood it very generally goes straight down the pith : in 

 older branches I have often seen the wood riddled as if a charge of snipe-shot 

 had been fired into it, with only one or two minute holes in the bark for exit or 

 entrance. And yet in the case of vigorous trees, they seem to thrive notwith- 

 standing. Since r8g3 the pest has spread very much, and become more 

 general, though I cannot say that I see much difference in the fields that were 

 attacked then." 



The writer, in the foregoing account of the pest, practicall 

 •suggests the remedy— namely, — either not to plant in poor soil, or, if 



2A 



