FAMILY BUPRESTIDAE 



197 



Sikkim ; Sylhet, Naga Hills ; Lower Burma ; Siam ; Java ; Luzon ; Sumatra ; 

 Borneo. 



Trees Attacked. — P\'inkadu {Xylia dolabriformis) : Rangoon Forests ; 

 ? Sal {Shore a robmta) : Rajabhatkhawa, Buxa Duars. 



Beetle. — Elongate, very large. Brilliant metallic green, blue, or purple ; prothorax in 

 green specimens may be blue or green, the lower outer angle always yellow ; two transverse 

 oval yellow patches on apical portions of elytra a little below centre. 

 Description, Head is deeply furrowed. Prothorax much dilated laterally at hind 



angles, these latter being swollen up into prominent lobes orange- 

 yellow in colour. Elytra smooth, with four narrow more or less prominent longitudinal lines 

 down them ; the yellow transverse patch varies in size, but never reaches to either the suture 

 or the outer margin. Length, 55.5 mm. to JJ mm. ; 

 breadth, 18.5 mm. to 25 mm. The curiously swollen pos- 

 terior outer angles of the prothorax, only present in this 

 species, are sufficient to identify it. The following varieties 

 of this insect are distinguishable : — 



var. gio-anfca. — Head and prothorax dark metallic 

 blue ; elytra dark green ; the yellow elytral patches rather 

 small, and surrounded by an irregular dark-blue marginal 

 band, the yellow basal angular lobes large. This variety 

 reac les 77 mm. in length, and specimens are recorded 

 from the Himalaya, Allahabad, and Sikkim. 



var. cyanura. — Head and prothorax dark bronzy ; 

 elytra dark purple, yellow elytral patches large ; basal 

 angular lobes of prothorax mucli swollen. Specimens 

 in the British Museum measure as much as 62 mm. It 

 comes from Sikkim. 



var. brunnea. — Whole insect metallic coppery. Re- 

 corded from Siam. 



var. ;«>m-ar;//i-. — Resembles gigantea, but has 

 more elongate basal angular lobes on prothorax, and 

 narrower transverse yellow elytral patches. Reported 

 from Borneo. 



Although this species thus varies greatly in colora- 

 tion, no specific characters have so far been distinguish- 

 able amongst the many varieties. The marked differences 

 in colour cannot be made use of, since intermediate 

 stages, where the one colour appears to be merging into 

 the other, are present in the tine British Museum series of individuals of this insect. 



1 have described the varieties at length to avoid the confusion which might otherwise 

 arise. For the purpose of the Forest Officer, the specific name of hicolor may be considered 

 sufficient at present to indicate the species wherever met with in India. 



Larva.— The larva is elongate, yellowish white, with stout black mandibles, and a well- 

 developed prothoracic segment furnished with a hard orange plate on the dorsal surface ; the 

 segments following the prothoracic one are much narrower, the posterior ones constricted 

 slightly. Length, 87 mm. 



The larvae of this insect have been taken tunnelling in the bast and 



sapwood of the pyinkadu-tree, in the Lower Burma 



Life History. {q^^^x.%. It is possible that it lives in other trees in this 



region. On becoming full-fed the larvae tunnel down into the sapwood 



Fig. 131. — Catoxantha bicolor^ 

 Fabr. Burma and Assam. 



