422 DIAPUS (?) HERITIERA; MS. 

Relations to the Forest. 
This Déapus bores into the wood of both green and half dry 
sundri, It infests stacks of this wood in the Sundarbans, some- 
times in large numbers, and at times, according to Ranger Gupta, 
completely riddles and spoils the timber. The presence of 
the bark on the wood is immaterial, since the insect will burrow 
down into unbarked timber with equal ease. 
Although the beetles were found in the Backerganj District 
it was always in timber that had been brought from the 
Sundarbans forests, and the beetle is probably indigenous to 
these forests, from which all the sundri wood comes, and is 
carried about in the wood when it is exported. This export 
is always done in boats, the latter proceeding through the 
various mouths of the Hoogly river and their connecting 
network of canals to Calcutta, and the surrounding Eastern 
Bengal towns and villages. 
"Protection and Remedies. Points in the life-history, ete. 
These are much the same as already given for the deodar 
Crossotarsus. 
In these Eastern Bengal districts it would be quite feasible to 
keep the green wood under water for a few months, by which . 
means it would escape the attacks of the beetles, As soon as it 
had lost its sap it would no longer be palatable to the Diapus. 
