File:Indian forest insects of economic importance. Coleoptera (1914) (14780736774).jpg

Identifier: indianforestinse00stebuoft (find matches)
Title: Indian forest insects of economic importance. Coleoptera
Year: 1914 (1910s)
Authors: Stebbing, Edward Percy, 1870-1960
Subjects: Beetles Forest insects -- India Trees -- Diseases and pests
Publisher: London Eyre & Spottiswoode
Contributing Library: Earth Sciences - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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section in which the grub of this weevil lives, the walls of thegall being of considerable thickness. The grub in its feeding operationssets up an irritation in the cells of the twig which causes the curiousoutgrowth. The weevil evidently lays the egg on the stem or twig either on thebark or in an incision. The grub on hatching tunnels into the soft-woodstructure and commences feeding in the centre, the walls of the twigswelling up. The grubs feed during the monsoon months, the gall being formed atthis period. I have no data as to when the beetles appear or when the eggsare laid. FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE 411 The gall is soft and greenish-brown in appearance whilst growing in size. After the weevil has left it it turns dark brown, a Forest dries, and becomes hard and woody. The portion of the twig with the leaves above it dies and falls off. The nature of the damage done is therefore a more or less heavy pruning of the young branches when the insect is abundant. This is serious enough when
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Fi/i<l<ti slmuini; the galls mutle by thePalas-tree gall weevil (Larinus ? sp.). Seclions »t tin- galls, \\ith a -rub /// situ inone of them, are shown. Central Provinces. (E. P. S.) its effect on young trees is considered. The attack of the insect has, how-ever, another aspect. The palas-tree is used for the cultivation of the lacinsect throughout the Central Provinces, and the twigs infested and killed by 4i2 FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE the weevil would be more usefully utilized for rearing the lac scales. Forthis reason the life history of this insect requires to be fully understood. As to treatment, in years of bad infestation, as was the case in 1901, itshould prove practicable in a lac plantation to lop off, collect, and burn thegalls containing the larvae in the monsoon months. This would stamp outa bad attack. ALCIDES.Alcides porrectirostris, Marshall, sp. nov. REFERENCES.—Marshall, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. Aug. (p. 188)

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