FAMILY CHKYS(3MELIDAE 259 



Beetle.— Oblong, thick-set. Head, prothorax, antennae, and legs 



shining ; eyes canary-yellow, and mouth parts black ; elytra a bright 



salmon-pink in colour, each with eight spots 



Description, the upper and lower ones of which coalesce 



when the elytra are closed, and thus give 



fourteen spots. Beneath the basal median spot is a large round 



or square one on each elytron, another large one beneath this, and 



then the large apical one. On the outer margin of each elytron 



are four smaller spots placed more or less equidistantly from one 



another. These spots sometimes coalesce to form transverse 



bands. Under-surface of abdomen canary-yellow, darker on 



thoracic region. Length, 13 mm. to 17 mm.; breadth, 7 mm. to 



8.6 mm. „ , ''."'• ''^3- 



Podontia \\-piinctata. 



Larva.— Dirty yellow or yellow-brown, the bodv thick and L'""- ^^"ited Pro- 

 corrugated. The grub is thick, soft, and fleshy, and has a black '■"'*''^'* ^^^"S''^'' ^''''^"■'• 

 shmmg head, a black patch on dorsal side of prothorax, and three pairs of black shining legs. 

 Length, 16 mm. The larva covers its body with its own excrement, and so has the appearance 

 of the droppings of a bird, and is thus able to escape the attacks of foes. 



Cocoon and Pupa.— The grub pupates in a coarse earthen cocoon in the soil. This 

 cocoon resembles in size and shape a hazel-nut. 



In October 1895 Mr. C. O. Bateman of the Indian Museum, Calcutta, 



presented specimens of this insect in all stages of larva, 



Life History. pupa, and imago to the museum, with the information 



that the insect stripped the leaves from a Spondias 



mangifcrae tree in his compound in Calcutta. Mr. Bateman stated that the 



beetles appeared almost every year when the tree was in full foliage in July 



and August, and disappeared in October. The injury done is confined to 



the leaves, which are consumed, the 4;rees being often rendered leafless. 



Investigations have been made into the life history of the insect in 

 Dehra Dun. Here the beetle and its grubs also attack the Spondias 

 mangiferae. I first noticed this attack on a tree in September 1902. 

 The insects commenced work in the first week of the month, and by the 23rd 

 the tree was entirely leafless. So numerous were the insects towards 

 the end of the period that they looked like brightly coloured fruits on the 

 branches. 



Nearly every year between 1904 and 1909 I noted this attack in the 

 station, and a particular tree was either partially or entirely defoliated 

 each year by the beetles. 



As has been already pointed out, the larva is a most curious and 

 interesting subject for study, owing to the wonderful methods of self- 

 protection it has adopted. In many cases it is almost impossible to 

 distinguish the grub upon a branch from the exxrement of a bird so long 

 as it keeps still. The beetle when disturbed or alarmed feigns death and 

 keeps quiet for a considerable period. 



In the year 1906 I found this insect on the wmg in April in the 

 Charduar Rubber Plantation in the Darrang Division in Assam. I first 

 noticed the insect in some numbers in several compartments of the 



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