200 



A MANUAL OP DANGEROUS INSECTS. 



the leaf mine. Larva yellowish white, flattened, legless, with small brown head 

 brown prothoracic shields, and two apical teeth. Mines the leaves 

 Distribution: Java. 



Van Deventer, W. Handboek voor de Suikerriet-cultuur, Java, 1906, pp. 66-70, 

 Dlaprepes abbreviatus Linnaeus (spcnglerl Linnaeus). 



(West Indian Sugar-Cane Root Borer. Brachyrhinida [Otiorhynchidse]; 



Coleoptera.) 



Hosts: Sugar cane, orange, guava, avocado, mango, rose, Indian corn, Guinea corn 

 sweet potatoes, Bahama grass {Cynodon dactylon), limes, and other plants 



Injury: The larva does serious injury to the roots and the adult to the foUa-e 

 L,iable to transmission in seed-cane shipment. ° 



Description and biology: Adult 8-18 mm. in length; variable in color from white to 

 green and ochraceous, with from four to many denuded elytral stri* beak thick, 



tricarinate, antennae elbowed. Pupa 19 mm. 

 long, soft and white with a long thick beak. 

 Larva long, white, curved, footless. Eggs ob- 

 long, oval, smooth, white, laid in clusters on 

 leaves and glued between two leaf surfaces. 

 The larvae feed at the root system and tunnel 

 the stalk of the plants above named. 



Distribution: Porto Rico to Barbados. (See 

 plate XLViii.) 



Pierce, W. D. On Some West Indian Sugar- 

 Cane Root-Boring Weevils. Journ. Agr. Re- 

 search, U. S. Dept. Agr., vol. 4, pp. 255-263, 

 1915 (Plates XXXV to XXXVIII). 



Metamasius lieinipterus Linnseus. 



CZ- 



(West Indian Sugar-Cane Borer. 

 Coleoptera.) 



Calandridse ; 



Fig. 95.— Sugar-cane borer ( Metamasius 

 sericeus) : a, Adult; 6, larva; c, injury 

 (Ballou.) 



Host: Sugar cane. 



Injury: Serious pest to the stalks of cane. 

 Liable to importation in seed cane. 



Description and biology: Adult weevil about 

 half an inch long, brown with dark markings 

 on the thorax and elytra. The head is pro- 

 longed into a long beak. Pupa white with ap- 

 pendages folded beneath. It is formed inside a 

 cocoon of fiber. Larva pale yellow, with brownish head, legless, wrinkled in appear- 

 ance w^ith the hind part of the body swollen; bores downward in the cane stalk. 

 Eggs laid singly beneath the rind of the stalk or in the leaf sheaths. 



Distribution: West Indies, Trinidad. 

 Van Dine, D. L. Porto Rico Sugar Growers' Association, 1911, Year Book, pp. 55-56. 



Metamasius sericeus Olivier. 



(Sugar-Cane Borer. Calandridse; Coleoptera.) 

 Host: Sugar cane. 



Injury: Serious pest to cane stalks. Liable to importation in seed cane. 

 Description and biology: Very similar in general appearance and habits to Metamasius 

 hemipterus Linnaeus. (See text fig. 95.) 

 Distribution: West Indies. 



