48 
Indian Forest Records. 
[Vol. VIII. 
The low mean percentage of 7*0 for all sample plots is unexpected ; 
(the figure of 35 per cent, for Bilumyo, Katha is hardly typical as it is 
based on a very small number of beeholes and is for a short period of 
years). Assuming that half the pupae destroyed in beeholes were females 
we have 3*5 per cent, as the reduction in the numbers of the borer due to 
woodpeckers during the last 40 or 50 years. If overgrown woodpecker 
holes are examined it will be found that the time of attack is almost 
invariably after the close of the season’s growth, and that no callus is 
formed until next year’s ring commences to grow, i.e., it is the com¬ 
pleted beehole containing the pupa or resting larva that is attacked 
and at a time when possibly food is scarce elsewhere. 
The absence of signs of woodpecker attack on the early stages in the 
formation of the beehole is striking, and may be due to a more abundant 
alternate food-supply, but may also be due to the fact that the larva is 
probably within reach of the bird’s long tongue, inserted through 
the entrance hole in the sap wood chamber, and is extracted without the 
necessity for further excavation in the wood. Analyses of woodpec¬ 
kers’ stomach-contents towards the close of the rainy season are 
required. 
Woodpeckers’ holes are healed up in vigorous trees in the course of 
one year’s growth, but in less vigorous trees they require 2 or 3 years to 
close up completely, particularly if tenanted by ants, earwigs, etc., and 
in suppressed trees may remain open for long periods. In the last case 
local decay of the timber not infrequently occurs, but in well-grown 
trees the wood around a woodpecker hole remains quite sound as around 
a beehole. [vide Plate VI, lower figure]. Plate V shows overgrown 
woodpecker holes of various ages ; the largest, [Fig. 5], is probably 
the work of Hemilophus pulverulentus and the rest [Figs. 1—4] are 
piobably formed by Chrysocolaptes and allied genera. 
Parasites. 
Very little attention has been paid to parasites, as the field work was 
carried out mainly during the moth and early larval stages. The follow¬ 
ing observations indicate that investigation in this direction is desir¬ 
able. 
1. Tachinidae ? The beehole borer larva is parasitised by a 
tachinid fly, possibly by 2 species, as puparia of 2 sizes have been 
found. The empty pupal skins of the parasite have been found in 
several localities in half-formed and full-sized beeholes, sticking to the 
wall of the beehole in groups of 10 to 20. Live pupae of the fly were 
taken inside the dead body of a nearly mature borer caterpillar in 
r, 276 ] 
