396 



FAMILY CURCULIOXIDAE 



Members of both the groups have in a hirge number of instances one 

 habit in common: they sham death when disturbed, and to enable the decep- 

 tion to be carried out to perfection the insect is able to fold up the antennae 

 and legs flat against the sides in such a manner that they are scarcely observ- 

 able. In the diurnal species this habit affords a valuable protection against 

 enemies, as they drop from the plant in a second and are lost in the jungle- 

 growth below. The habit is probably equally useful to the bark- and wood- 

 and seed-feeders during the short period they spend on the wing moving 

 from the tree in which they were reared to the fresh one they select for 

 ovipositing. 



The weevils are a very large family of beetles whose classification is a 

 matter of considerable complexity. The Indian forms known are under- 

 going revision by Mr. Guy A. K. Marshall for the Fauna of British India 

 series, volumes whose publication should prove of great aid to the study 

 of the family. 



Mr. Marshall has very kindly identified the Dehra Dun collections 

 for me, describing some seven new species, dealt with below, in the A)nials 

 and Mai^azine of Xatnral History for February and August 1913. 



ASTVCUS. 



Astycus lateralis, Fabr. 



Reference.— Kabr. F.nf. Syst. i, 2, p. 454. 



Habitat.- -Tharrawaddy, Lower r?urma. Also reported from the Shan 

 States, Tenasserim, and Assam. 



Tree Attacked. — Teak {Tcctona i^n-andis). Kadin 

 Bilin Poorest, Tharrawaddy. 



Beetle.— Elongate, rather narrow, vaiialjle in size. Creen or 



bluc-grecn, golden yellow on sides, with a golden metallic irides- 

 cence ; eyes black. Rostrum short, trim- 

 Description, cate ; coarsely rugose, with a longitudinal 

 narrow median line ; antennae placed near 



up[)cr end. l'rothora\ widest just behind middle, anterior and 



posterior margins str.iight, the surface having the appeaiance of 



a fine tessellated pavement. Elytra with basal outer angles oblique, 



sides straight tc posterior co.Kae, thence rather obliquely constricted, fn;. 267. 



depressed behind, convex ; rugose and finely striate. Inder-surface .Is/viUs lateralis^ Fabr. 



dark-coloured, rugose. Legs tinely rugose. Length, 8 mm. to 14 mm. 



Tharrawaddy. 



I took two dead specimens of this weevil clinging to the stems of }'oimg 



teak saplings in a 1002 tounggya plantation in the 



Life History. Kadin Bilin Forest of the Tharrawaddy Division. It is 



possible that they had died in this position after laying 



eggs on the bark of the trees. 



