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CHAPTER XVIII. 



RHYNCHOPHORA {cent iinied)— Family BRENTHIDAE. 



These insects resemble weevils, from which the}- may be distinj^^uished 

 by the straight antenna of nine to eleven joints instead of the angled one 

 of the weevil. The proboscis also is straight, never bent downwards. The 

 few forest forms stndied are narrow, elongate beetles, brown, black, or 

 reddish in colour, usually shining. 



But little is known about the famil}-. The larger and more striking 

 forms would appear to inhabit the dense tropical or semi-tropical evergreen 

 primeval forests of the country. A stud}' of these forms will prove of interest 

 scientiiicallv, since it is highly probable that modern conservation and pro- 

 tection when introduced into such areas will result in the extinction of these 

 forms of insect life. 



The few species known to me have been taken beneath the bark and in 

 the sapwood of trees, the larvae apparently living and feeding in such 

 places. It is not impossible that a study of the habits of these larvae may 

 show that some of them are predaceous on bark- and wood-feeding insects. 



Ceocephalus. 

 Ceocephalus reticulatus, F. 



Habitat. — Dehra Dun, Siwaliks, Northern India; Duars, at the foot of 

 the Eastern Himala}a. 



Trees Attacked. — Semul (Botiibax nialabaricuui) : Dehra Dun, Siwaliks; 

 Musre Katus {Castauopsis tribiiloidcs) : Mai Forest, Duars. 



Beetle. — Very elongate, narrow, with a very long rostrum and 



prothorax. Dark 1)rown, an elongate median depression on pro- 

 thorax, and the elytra! punctures filled 

 Description. with a short dense yellow pubescence. 



Head small, the eyes large, brown, placed 



at the sides ; rostrum longer than prothorax, swollen in middle, 



where the short antennae are inserted, widened at tip, the lower 



half pubescent, the upper smooth, the apex shining. Prothorax 



widest just above base, the anterior margin almost smooth ; disk 



flat, rather shining, punctate, with a rather wide longitudinal median 



depression starting from below the anterior margin. Elytra broadest 



basally, strongly and widely striate-punctate, the disk flat to near 



apex, thence constricted, the apical edges flattened into a broad 



edge. Under-surface black, shining, an elongate wide median 



depression on anterior abdominal segments strongly reticulate 



and punctate. Length (Eastern Duars), 26 mm. to 39 mm; 



(Siwaliks), 18 mm. 



Fici. 261. 



Ccoct'pli a lit s reiicn- 



latiis, V . Dehra 



Dun ; Duars. 



