308 DTNASTIN2E. 



into a slight tooth just behind the front margin and a still slighter 

 one at the middle. The cavity is rugose and the remaining surface 

 of the pronotuin smooth and minutely punctured. The pygidium 

 is smooth, convex and very thinly and minutely punctured. 



In less developed males the cephalic horn is shorter and tapers 

 to a sharp point without any dilatation at the end. and the pro- 

 thoracic excavation is smaller. 



§ . This is more elongate and generally larger. There is a 

 small sharp tubercle upon the vertex, directed backwards. The 

 pronotum is entirely convex and punctured, the punctures being 

 distinct at the sides and base, and very dense and confluent in 

 front and in the middle. The pygidium is not very convex and 

 is punctured and thinly clothed with erect hairs. 



Length 16-24 mm. ; breadth 10-14 mm. 



SiKKiM : Karsiang ; Bekgal ; Purneah District, Chota Nagpur, 

 Calcutta ; Bombay : Belgaum ; Madras : Berhampur, Mysore ; 

 Ceylon. 



This beetle is destructive in its larval stage to rice-crops and 

 has been described and figured in all its stages by Mr. II. Maxwell 

 Lefi'oy in ' Indian Insect Life,' 1909. Specimens sent from the 

 rice-fields were reared in captivity by 31r. Lefroy in soil in which 

 rice-plants were groxAing, upon the roots of \^hich they fed. The 

 following is an outline of the life-history : — 



The egg is white and soft ; when first laid it is oval, being 2 mm. 

 in diameter. It grows larger day by day until it is nearly round 

 and 3 mm. in diameter, the increase in weight beuig from '04 grain 

 to '16 grain, due probably to the absorption of moisture. The 

 larva is of the typical fonu, a full grown one measuring 36 mm. 

 by 6 mm. The larva; live in the soil, feeding upon tlie roots of the 

 rice, and there is no indication of their presence but pellets of 

 earth thrown up near the plants. When full grown they burrow 

 down a foot and make cells of consolidated earth, Mhich are 

 smooth inside. They then pupate. The periods are as follows : — 

 The eggs are laid during June and July, and hatch in five to eight 

 days. The larvae feed during July, August, and September ; they 

 then pupate, the pupal period being eight days only. The beetles 

 rest in the soil till May, when they become active, burrow out, fly, 

 mate, and lay eggs. Prom eight females only thirty-four eggs 

 were obtained, but perhaps all did not lay eggs. This curious 

 life-history is an adaptiition to the climate. Some showers fall in 

 May, before the monsoon, and the beetles then emerge ; the mon- 

 soon breaks in June and then the eggs are laid, the larvae finding 

 plenty of food and soft moist earth ; the period from November to 

 May is dry, the earth being hard and no rice available. 



Mr. Lefroy has never heard this species make any sound. 



