1G Indian Forest Records. [VolFI 
in a compact cylinder of coherent fibres, bnt scattered far and wide 
by the male beetle. When the initial stages of the galleries are com¬ 
pleted and the larvae have commenced to feed, the nature of the ej ecta- 
menta changes. The wood-dust is replaced by larval excrement, which 
consists of small rounded yellow pellets, and is characteristic of the frass 
throughout the remainder of the period of infestation. 
Maturation and Pupation. 
As is shown later, it is believed that the period of the life cycle may 
occupy 10 weeks, but, as to the length of the various stages of the 
cycle, no observations have been made owing to the impossibility of 
breeding up isolated larvae under natural conditions. 
When mature and ready to pupate, the larva retires to one of the 
short branch galleries on the inner zone of the gallery system and eats 
out a vertical cell at the extremity. The orientation of the cell 
longitudinally is directed by the run of the wood-fibres and is conse¬ 
quently not necessarily exactly in the vertical line, but may slope to 
either side of the vertical. All pupal cells in one group slope in the 
same direction. The cell constructed by the first larva is situated at 
the extremity of the branch gallery, and the second cell is constructed 
so that its centre is opposite the outer margin of the first cell; the third 
cell is constructed alongside the first,and the remainder are subsequently 
added in similar order, i.e ., so that youngest cell is at 
the extremity of the branch gallery and farthest from the main gallery. 
Plate I, fig. 12 shows ( y 4) a group of pupal cells with the insects in 
successive stages of development. 
All the pupae face with their heads towards the exit, i.e., those situated 
above the branch-gallery with their heads downward, and those below 
the branch-gallery with their heads upward. The sex of the beetle is 
not influenced by this arrangement. 
The larva is able to turn round in the pupal cell while excavating 
it and does so as its final action before sealing up the exit with a plug 
of wood-dust. It then casts its skin which is always to be found at 
the end of the pupal cell, and remains until mature. The pupal skin 
is then cast and the beetle slowly matures, while the integuments harden 
and the colours develop. It is not known how long this process takes 
or how long the immature beetle spends feeding in the galleries after it 
has emerged from the pupal cell. 
The emergence of the whole brood takes place through the original 
entrance tunnel. 
[ 16 ] 
