2 54 



FAMILY CHRYSOMELIDAE 



EUPODA. 



ESTIGMENA. 



Estigmena chinensis, Hope. 



References. — Hope, Col. Man. iii, p. 175, t. 2, f.'i : lud. Mits. Notes, iii, no. 5, p. 80. 



Habitat. — Berar, Madras, Lower Burma. 



Trees Attacked.— Bamboo {Dendrocalaiuus sp. strictus?): Melghat Forest, 

 Berar; Dcndrocalamns strictus : Anaimalai Hills, South Coimbatore ; Cephalo- 



stachyum pergracile : Kadin Bilin Forest, Tharra- 

 waddy. 



Beetle. — Elongate. Head and prothorax narrower than 

 elytra. Head black, with some red tubercles on vertex. Pro- 

 thorax chestnut, red-brown, or red- 

 Description, dish yellow, shining. Elytra dark 

 red or dark chestnut-brown or black. 

 Antennae and tarsi black, rest of legs brown. Head with 

 some prominent tubercles between the large l)lack eyes ; 

 antennae long and heavy. Prothorax convex, with smooth, 

 shining, irregular, elevate portions, the rest deeply pitted 

 with larger coalescing punctures and depressions. Elytra 

 rather flat, constricted at level of median coxae, thence 

 widened to anterior fourth, and from there constricted on a 

 regular curve ; strongly and regularly striate-punctate, the 

 interspaces smooth and shining. Under-surface rather 

 flat, smooth, shining, dark brown, the abdominal segments 

 very finely pitted. Legs stout and strong, with prominent 

 tarsi. Length, 11.5 mm. to 16 mm. $ smaller than $. 



Fig. 178. 



Estigmena chinensis^ Hope. 



Berar, Madras, Burma. 



Considerable damage to bamboo shoots was reported by the Conservator 

 of Forests, Berar, in November 1892. The insects 



Life History. responsible were identified in the Indian Museum, 



Calcutta, as the chrysomelid Estigmena chinensis. 

 The damage done, as reported from observations made by the Forest Ranger 

 from personal inspection in the forest, w^as to the tops of the shoots, the 

 insect eating away the young succulent rolled-up leaves of the new shoots, 

 thereby either arresting the growth or killing the stems. The destruction 

 was done by the beetle itself. 



At the end of July 1902 I found this insect fairly numerous on scrub- 

 jungle consisting of the bamboo Dendrocalamus strict its in the Anaimalai 

 Hills in South Coimbatore. The beetles were pairing at the time, and were 

 engaged in feeding on the green shoots and leaves of the bamboo. 



Whilst in the Tharrawaddy forests in Lower Burma in January 1905 

 I noticed numerous elongate holes in the young stems of the bamboo 

 CephalostacJiyiun pergracile. Towards the end of the month a number of 

 these stems were cut open, and some of the beetles of this insect were 

 discovered inside. In no instance were beetles obtained from the stems of 

 old bamboos. The investigations made show that the eggs are laid on the 



