CYRTOTRACHELUS LONGIPES. TQ5 

in any one attacked shoot. Dying shoots are common at the 
beginning of July, and numbers were examined by Mr. Gregson 
in 1899, and again by him and by myself in rg00. The larva, on 
hatching out, probably bores through the tissue horizontally 
until it reaches the centre of the shoot and then invariably bores 
downwards, eating away the soft central portion and increasing 
in size at arapid rate. It continues feeding downwards until 
it reaches the base of the shoot, by which time it is full fed, 
The grub then retreats back up its gallery, probably enlarging 
the upper portions, which will be now too small for it until 
it reaches about the place it started from. It then cuts 
this portion off, ynawing it through all round below him (see 
Pl. IX, f). The top drops to the ground, and the now fully 
mature larva burrows into the soft rain-loosened earth, carrying 
the top or a portion of it with him, thus completely sheltering 
itself from atmospheric influences. Larvze in various stages of 
growth are to be found in the shoots in the middle of July, 
and they mostly become full-grown by the end of the month, 
About the middle of August young shoots are to be seen on all 
sides with their tops fallen and in a dying or dead condition. 
The larva changes to the pupal state within the fallen buried 
end of the shoot at a depth of 3to 4 inches, or even more, below 
the surface of the ground, the depth depending upon the consis- 
tency of the soil. The top of the shoot soon rots, only the harder 
fibres persisting (see Pl. 1X, g,h). Inside this fibrous cover- 
ing, which is generally caked with earth, the pupa remains 
during the following cold and hot seasons, emerging as a beetle 
at the commencement of the ensuing rains. The warm rain 
moistens the ground and thus softens the pupal ‘ case,’ the fibres 
of which will only require wetting to crumble to dust after 
the heating up they have undergone during the hot months 
of the year, even in the shadier portions of the forest. The 
beetle then doubtless pushes its way out and makes its Way up 
through the subsoil and humus. In the case of a specimen kept 
I noted that the beetle when ready to emerge gnawed its way 
out of its fibrous covering cutting a hole at one side (see Pl, 
IX, g). It wiil be seen that the pupa is thus safeguarded 
against enemies, since its covering resembles nothing so much 
