FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE 429 



Beetle.-- Klon.i^ate-ovale. Head and rostrum Ijlack ; elytra reddish brow 11, with a sparse 

 greyish pubescence, most prominent hiterally. Head tincly jjunctate, the rostrum a little 

 more than a quarter the length of the insect, not very thick, and 

 Description. tapering slightly to apex, curved, punctate, and medianly carinate ; 



the scrobes commence a little above middle of rostrum, slightly 

 obli(.|ue, directed upwards to where the bases of antennae take off; antennae fairly stout, 

 inserted slightly above middle, scape swollen into a knob at point of junction with funiculus, 

 latter ends in an oblicpie oval knob ; eyes strongly facetted. Prothorax triangular, tapering 

 anteriorly, sides rounded, transversely channelled just below anterior edge ; a narrow, median, 

 longitudinal, keel-shaped carina starting from anterior third and not reaching base ; rest 

 of surface very coarsely rugose-punctate and reticulate. Scutellum round. Elytra widest 

 basally, humeral angles truncate, sides rounded and constricted, apices separately rounded ; 

 a small white blotch about their centre and a larger one towards the posterior extremity ; 

 broadly striate and finely punctate, the striae interrupted by some large deep punctures placed 

 at intervals. Under-surface dark red-brown, punctate, with a short, sparse, yellow pubescence. 

 Legs pul)escent and punctate ; femora thickened anteriorly, the posterior ones not reaching 

 to end of the abdt)men. Length, 6.6 mm. to 8.5 mm. PI. xxxvi, fig. ir, shows a dorsal and 

 side view of the beetle. 



1 have here revised and added to the description of this insect gi\en in Indian Forest 

 Me))i(nys, ii, 73 (191 1). 



Larva.— A fat yellowish-white rather curved grub. Head well marked, dark yellow. 

 Prothoracic segments swollen and corrugated with a horny plate dorsally. liody corrugated, 

 the segments constricted posteriorly to a blunt point. Length, J in. Y'x'g. i. 



Pupa.— Yellowish white, thick and blunt-ended. Somewhat ovate. Wings and legs are 

 pressed against the cheek. Also antennae. Fig. \b. 



Cocoon.— Blunt-elliptical with rounded curved sides. It is made of shredded bark and wood 

 strips loosely bound together so as to fit fairly tightly into the elliptical-shaped hole gnawtd 

 out of the sapwood and bark for its reception. Fig. \a. 



This weevil pest has a somewhat wide distribution in the forests of 



India, stretching from the western portion of the 



Life History. Himalaya to Maym)'0 in Upper Burma so far as is at 



present known. The fact that the weevil known to 



infest the Pxnus khasya in Assam and Upper Burma is identical with the 



pest o( the Pinns longifolia of the Western Himalaya, a point definitively set 



at rest by Mr. Marshall, is a fact of considerable importance and significance 



to the well-being of the forests in these regions. 



The female beetle crawls into the deep crevices in the bark of the tree, 

 and lays her eggs, probably singly, in the smaller crevices 

 Life History in the o^ the thin lower layers of bark, or pierces down to the 

 North West Himalaya, cambium layer and places them there. The young larvae 

 on hatching out remain in the thinnest portion of the 

 cambium layer, at first eating out a small gallery in an irregular f^ishion. 

 As it increases in size the grub eats out a deeper gallery in the thick 

 cambium and bark, the gallery also grooving the sapwood. This gallery 

 has always a very irregular shape, and gradually increases in diameter as the 

 o'rub grows larger. The gallery may be very irregular and winding, pro- 

 ceeding round the circumference of the tree, or it may proceed up or down 

 the tree in a more or less winding vertical manner, the gallery having small 

 horizontal bends in it at intervals, due to the fact that the larva has for a 



