No. L] Further Notes. 43 



and it is probable that, with increased warmth, this number may be 

 exceeded in India. 



From the habits of the insect, preventive measures have been devised 

 which Eichhoff recommends very strongly, and which have certainly been 

 adopted in some parts of Germany, though it remains to be seen to what 

 extent they are applicable in India. 



The following are the measures which Eichhoff recommends (see 

 his Europaischen Borkenkafer, p. 228). 



All damaged and unhealtliy trees should be, as far as possible, 

 removed or barked, as it is in these that the beetle chiefly breeds. Un- 

 barked trees should not be allowed to lie about in the forest. Traps 

 should be prepared periodically for the insects, at the times that the 

 insects are known to be on the wing, by felling or ringing a certain 

 number of trees, and leaving them in a withering condition in the forest 

 during the two or three weeks the insects are about. Most attractive 

 food will thus be provided for the beetles, which will lay their eggs in 

 vast numbers in the prepared trees and spare the healthy ones, which 

 they would otherwise attack. After the prepared trees have remained for 

 three or four weeks in a withering condition in the forest, they should be 

 carefully barked, and the bark and branches burnt, so as to destroy the 

 grubs of the bark beetles, which would otherwise emerge as beetles about 

 two months after the eggs had been laid. 



The beetles sent to the Museum were forwarded from Assam on the 

 4th of April last year ; it may therefore be presumed that about that 

 date, or shortly afterwards, they would have emerged, and have com- 

 menced laying their eggs. The end of March would therefore be the 

 time to prepare trees to entrap the first generation of the insect, while 

 the following generations might be expected to emerge respectively in 

 June, August and October; about the number and dates of emergence of 

 the respective generations, however, no information has been obtained. 



It would be well worth, in observing the general life history of the 

 insect in India, to direct particular attention to the number of gener- 

 ations in the year, and the dates of their respective emergence ; and, 

 having done this, to ascertain by careful experiment whether or not 

 Eichhoff's recommendations are likely to be of service. 



10. BAMBOO INSECT. 



Mr. G. Anderson, of Munzerabad, Mysore, sends pieces of jungle 



wood * attacked by an insect locally known as " Cootee.^ ■'■' He writes : — 



" This class destroys bamboos, watties (basket-reeds), and many jungle woods. 

 The natives have a superstition that no jungle poles or bamboos should be cut when 

 the moon is full, as they argue that the sap is then very abundant, and unless the 



* " Probably Erinoearpus nimmoanus." See his letter dated Barguai, 21st April 1888, 



* A Canarese word, ibid. 



