FAMILY CUKCULIONIDAE 439 



Plantatiorio The beetles were in the tree from nine inches to a foot beneath 

 the soil. The galleries of the grubs were in the bast and sapwood of the 

 roots, the weevils taken being in the pupal chambers made between the 

 bark and wood. The beetles appeared to be fully mature and ready to 

 leave the tree when found in the third week in May. 



Cryptorhynchus sp. 

 Habitat. — Darrang, Assam. 



Tree Attacked. — India-rubber (Ficus elastic.i). Charduar Rubber Plan- 

 tation, Darrang. 



Beetle.— Elongate, blackish, shining. Prothorax fairly smooth, shining. Elytra coarsely 

 punctured and occasionally slightly reddish apically. The male is either equal in size or 

 larger than the female. Length, 7 mm. to 9 mm. 



During the first fortnight of April igo6 some investigations were made 

 of pests infesting the Charduar Rubber plantations in 

 Life History. the Darrang Division of Assam. The blocks where 

 the tapping of the trees for rubber was in progress 

 were visited. The trees are tapped by making horizontal incisions round 

 the stem every eighteen inches to two feet up the trunk and on all branches 

 over two feet girth. The cuts go from half to two-thirds round the trunk 

 or branch. The milky-white fluid rubber flows out immediately the incision 

 is made, and is caught on mats placed on the ground or against the tree- 

 trunk beneath the cuts. This is called '' mat " rubber. It only flows for 

 about three to five minutes. The cuts are left for three days and then 

 each is visited and the strip of rubber which has slowly oozed from the 

 tree and congealed in the incision is pulled out. The red portion of the 

 strip is A-class and the white B-class rubber. I inspected numerous 

 trees during my visit, and found this cryptorhynchid weevil very plen- 

 tiful, feeding at the rubber congealing in the cut. Even at cuts made 

 but twenty-four hours previously the insect was in numbers. Many of the 

 beetles were coupled, the curious fact being seen that the male was often 

 larger in size than the female he paired with, which is unusual so far as 

 my experience goes. The weevil possesses a certain power of boring, as 

 species kept in cork-topped glass tubes gnawed a very considerable portion 

 of the corks. The weevils paired together several times during the thirty- 

 six to forty-eight hours they were kept in the tubes. 



Bakis. 

 Baris sp. 



Referen'CE. — Ind. Mus. Notes, v, 3, p. no. 



Habitat. — Dehra Dun, North India. 



Tree Attacked. — Tcrniinalia bdcrica. Dehra Dun (F. Gleadow). 



Beetle. — I have not seen this beetle. 



