. SINOXYLON CRASSUM. 1 

were identified as S. crassum, The beetles were swarming 
in the poles. The insect has also been reported from Belgaum 
(in April) and Canara in the Bombay Presidency and also from 
Burma. : hy 
‘* Bostrichid beetles ”’ were reported as damaging Sissu billets 
in the Changa Manga plantation, by Mr. B. O. Coventry in 1899: 
during April rgot I found that S. crassum was one of the 
chief beetles engaged in this attack,} 
Relations tothe Forest. 
S. crassum does serious damage to the fresh-cut billets 
and logs of Sissu (Dalbergia Stssoo) trees in the Shadhera 
and Changa Manga plantations in the Lahore Division. It also 
attacks stag-headed and sickly trees, When in numbers its 
galleries entirely riddle the sapwood and penetrate into the 
heartwood (see Pl. I, fig. 2,d). Stacks of wood so treated are 
covered on the outside with the yellowish wood-powder pushed 
out of the tunnels by the excavating beetles, and the wood has 
a dilapidated decaying appearance, its weight being at the 
same time greatly reduced. The commercial value of the wood 
is thereby lessened, 
When stag-headed and sickly trees are badly infested their 
_vitality is greatly reduced and they eventually succumb. 
_ The beetles’ only attack felled timber while it is still fresh 
and sappy, but it appears to be immaterial whether bark is 
present or not. They.also attack Khair (Acacia Catechu) wood 
in a similar manner. 
Protection and Remedtes. 
The beetle’s active life lasts from April to October, and 
during this period it attacks felled and stacked Sissu wood 
cut in the above mentioned plantations during the previous cold 
weather, November to March. This wood is stacked in heaps 
along the compartment lines in the forest and remains there 
till October, in order that it may dry and so become lighter. 
Owing to having this constant supply of fresh material always 
1 The beetles were kindly indentified for me by Mr. C. O, Waterhouse 
of the British Museum. 
