32 
ON A SPECIES OF MOTH (EPICROCIS TEREBRANS) 
DESTRUCTIVE TO RED CEDAR AND OTHER TIMBER 
TREES IN NEW SOUTH WALES. 
By A. Sidney Olliff. 
Early in March, 1889, the young Reel Cedar trees ( Gedrela 
toona , Roxb.) in the State Forest Nursery, at Gosford, wore 
found to be suffering from the attack of some insect, which 
seriously interfered with their growth, and as the evil appeared 
to be upon the increase, the matter was brought before the notice 
of the Colonial Secretary’s Office, to which Department the Forest 
Nursery is attached, with a view to obtaining accurate informa- 
tion as to the nature of the pest, and the best means of checking 
its ravages. For this purpose the Principal Under-Secretary, 
Mr. Critcliett Walker, communicated with Dr. E. P. Ramsay, 
the Curator of the Australian Museum, forwarding specimens of 
a moth, and portions of the trees containing a number of larvae 
or caterpillars, presumed to be the early stage of the accompanying 
moths, and the real cause of the injuries. Unfortunately these 
specimens could not be identified owing to their poor condition, 
but Dr. Ramsay recommended that the trees should be carefully 
examined, and all the infected parts cut off' and burnt, and 
subsequently he handed the larvm to me for investigation, with 
the request that I should endeavour to breed the moth. This I 
failed to do although I had more than one consignment of larva? 
from the Nursery, owing to the dry condition in which the cedar 
twigs were received, so it was determined that I should visit 
Gosford, and if possible obtain a better supply of material. 
Accordingly on 22nd August I made a careful examination of the 
plantations, and with the assistance of Mr. J. McCoig, the Overseer 
of the Nursery, succeeded in obtaining a number of larvae in 
various stages of growth. I found that the injury is caused by 
the larvae burrowing into the main stems or “ leaders ” of the 
trees for the purpose of eating the pith and soft tissues, which 
has the effect of arresting the natural growth of the tree, and 
thus seriously affecting its value for forestry purposes. At the 
time of my visit to Gosford a large number of the infected trees 
had been freed from the pest by the energy of the Overseer, who 
had used the pruning-knife with excellent results, but a few of 
the larvse were still to be found by careful searching in an 
outlying plantation at some distance from the Nursery. A 
number of the “ leaders” containing the burrows of these larvse 
were cut and afterwards placed in a jar, partly filled with earth 
and sand which was kept moist to prevent the wood from 
