74 Indian Museum Notes. [Vol. V. 



flattened, and had a peculiarly light sort of feel. On splitting up the canes, the 

 interior of each was seen to have been transformed into white long fibres, with a 

 somewhat silky lustre. These fibres were quite isolated, and could be torn up 

 through the crumbling tissue of the nodes with ease and without breaking. The 

 fibres were in fact the fibrovascular bundles of the cane, which had become quite 

 separate from one another by the destruction of the intervascular-cellular tissue. 

 The cause of this destruction was not at first evident, but further examination of 

 canes sent from other districts, and showing the same appearance as the Banka 

 ones, left no doubt on the matter. 



" In almost all the other canes, showing their interior transformed into strands 

 of fibre, there were detected in abundance small beetles, belonging evidently to 

 the genus Xyleborus. These small beetles were seen busily occupied in burrow- 

 • ing in all directions through the cane, and reducing the inter vascular tissue to 

 fine powder. They seem to be particularly fond of congregating about the 

 nodal tissue. They were repeatedly seen in the tunnels leading from the " shot 

 holes " on the outside of the cane. Specimens of the beetles were submitted to 

 Major Alcock, I.M.S., Superintendent of the Indian Museum, for identification. 

 They proved to be new to the Entomological collection there, but are probably 

 closely allied to X. perforans, if not identical with that species. " 



I can corroborate much that Lieutenant Gage has above described 

 from my own observations, although I am at present inclined to 

 believe that my Chittagong specimens will not be found to be X. per- 

 forans, although undoubtedly closely allied. 



Another point that I have observed is one that has been noticed 

 in the case of the West Indian X. perforans, and that is that the 

 female does not always bore her way into the cane but at times 

 takes advantage of the borings of the larvae of the Chilo simplex, 

 etc., and enters the cane by these. Burrows running from these 

 holes and forking -repeatedly can be seen if searched for, proving 

 that the beetle must have entered in this Way. The observations 

 were not made sufficiently early to enable me, however, to discover 

 eggs. 



Lieutenant Gage discovered beetles in the cane sent him from the 

 following Bengal districts : — 



Bhagalpur, Beheea (E.I.R.), Bogra, Burdwan, Dacca, Durbangha, 

 Dinajpur, Faridpur, Jessore, Midnapore, Monghyr (Begusarai and 

 Jamni Sub-division), Murshidabad, Mymensingh, Nadia (the Sub- 

 divisional Officer of Kushtia alluded to a disease of the cane he called 

 ' Bonga ' attributed to an insect which enters the cane between two 

 nodes and eats into it), Noakhali, Pabna (the disease Bonga also 

 alluded to here), Rangpur, and Saran. 



To the above I add Chittagong. 



The curious part about the information at present collected on 

 this pest is the fact that when it is present the borer Chilo simplex 



