No. L] Further Notes. 35 



6.— THE CEDRELA TOONA MOTH. 



Magiria rohusta, Moore. 

 Plate lily Jig, 3, a moth, b pupa, c Zar«a ; all natural size. 



Specimens of this pest have been received from Mr. S. E. Green^ of 

 Ceylon, who writes that the larvae damage Cedrela toona trees which are 

 cultivated on the coffee estates for firewood and timber-supply. 



Mr. Green writes ^ : — 



** The larvae appear to affect the new growth only, living on the succulent tops and 

 devouring the pith of the stems and leaf stalks. The effect of the borer is to kill ofE 

 the leading shoot, after which numerous adventitious shoots appear below the point 

 of injury. The presence of the borer may be detected by the accumulation of the 

 excreta at the mouth of the tunnel where they are fixed and woven together with silk 

 by the larva." 



The following- extract is taken from a paper ^ signed T. S. G. that 

 appeared in the Indian Forester in 1876, and which appears to apply to 

 the same species : — 



" The insect almost yearly attacks the young shoots of the toon tree, boring its 

 way along the pith which it seems to live upon, and leaving behind it an unsightly 

 looking mass of transparent gummy exudation. The larvae is white with black and 

 yellow spots It attacks trees both in plantations and in the forests, and pre- 

 fers those about three feet in height and of strong growth. It seems to attack, how- 

 ever, more particularly those trees which grow in cleared land or near roads, while 

 others growing close by, in grass or with other trees, have been comparatively un- 

 harmed." 



Some larvae of this jinsect have been sent to the Museum by the 

 Sub-divisional OflScer of Alipur, Western Dooars, who found them in the 

 wood of some young mahogany trees. In this case, however, it seems 

 probable that most of the injury was done by some Coleopterous larvae 

 that were also found in considerable numbers. 



Mr. Moore, in his Lepidoptera of Ceylon, Vol. Ill, p. 366, quotes 

 from Thwaites that the larvae feed within the branchlets of mahogany. 



From the Director of the Forest School, Dehra Dun, have been 

 received specimens of what appears to be the caterpillar of this moth, 

 found by the Forest Ranger of Nilambur, Madras, " attacking the suc- 

 culent branches of experimental mahogany plants. '' 



Caterpillars of this insect were also obtained from the Museum of the 

 Forest School, Dehra Dun, where they were marked as having, in June 

 1886, proved destructive to the seeds ^ of Gedrela toona. 



Mr. Moore, in his Lepidoptera of Ceylon, classes the insect in the 

 family Phycitidae. 



The following is his description :— 



"Female. Fore wing, pale ochreous-brown, very thickly speckled with cinereous, 

 white along the anterior border, and sparsely speckled with black scales along the 



^ Letter dated 7th January 1889. ' Indian Forester, Vol. I, p. 197 (1876). 



^ This may possibly be a mistake. 



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