4i6 FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE 



Curcuho ? sp. 



Reference. — Stebbing, Ind. For. Mem. Ser. For. Zool. ii. 



Habitat. — Jaunsar and Tehri Garhwal, North-West Himalaya. 

 Tree Attacked. — Deodar (Cednis dcodara). Jaunsar, Tehri Garhwal. 



Beetle.— Small, greyish brown, rostrum short, blunt, prothorax rather narrow. Elytra 

 broader than prothorax, widest behind ; longitudinally ridged and punctate. Length, 8 mm. 



I first discovered this weevil in June 1902. On the 24th of the month 

 I took a few couples in coitu upon deodar branches. 



Life History. At this period the beetles feed upon the young new 



shoots. A couple were kept under observation in a 

 breeding-box for nearly a week. In this period they destroyed two new 

 green deodar shoots. The modus operandi of the beetle is first to bite off 

 the needles at the top of the shoot, and then eat down the top of the stem 

 for some distance. When the shoot becomes too thick for this operation, 

 the insect peels off the epidermis, first biting off the needles to leave the 

 former free. In this way most of the needles are destroyed and then the 

 epidermis is removed. 



I have not as yet taken this insect numerously in the deodar areas. 

 Its method of attack, however, would be very serious in the event of its 

 appearing in numbers in young plantations. 



Apoderus. 



An important genus of weevils who defoliate trees to provide a store 

 of food for their larvae. 



Apoderus incana, Stebbing. 



Reference. — Stebbing, Depai-i. Xotes, i, 189 (1903). 



Habitat. — North-West Himalaya. 



Trees Attacked. — Ban Oak {Qucrcus incana) ; Moru Oak {Qucrcus dilatata). 

 F. Gleadow, V. Subramarian, and others, in Jaunsar : throughout oak areas 

 in North-West Himalaya. 



Beetle.— $ The beetle is small, shining, dark yellow-brown with black markings on the 



elytra. Rostrum brown, short, broad, and armed at end with a pair of large mandibles. 



Antennae inserted near base, the scape short and inverted-cone 



Description. shaped ; funiculus fairly long, first joint small, second and third 



longer and of equal length and with the following ones increasing in 



breadth upwards to the elongated cone-shaped club, which is dark brown, the rest of antenna 



being yellow. Head short, semi-elliptical in shape, narrowing to a point posteriorly, dark 



