288 



SOME SOUTH INDIAN INSECTS, ETC. 



Lifehistory. — The comparatively-large white egg is probably laid 

 in the soil in which the grubs live, feeding on roots of various 

 plants. The full-grown grub is about 40 mm. long, dirty whitish 

 with yellow head and legs and the abdomen incurved beneath. 

 The pale-yellowish pupa is partly enveloped in the old larval skin 

 which forms a kind offal e-co oon for it. The life-cycle is about 

 6—9 months. 



FoodplantS. — The grubs are bad pests on all garden plants, such 



.iv creepers, etc. 



In Coimbatore flights ot this chafer generally occur when the 

 North-East Monsoon breaks. 



Control. No satisfactory method of dealing with the grubs can 



as yet be recommended for use on a field-scale. The beetles, when 

 abundant, may be collected by hand, by hand-nets, and at light. 



MTIDULIDjE. 

 CARPOPHILUS DIMIDIATUS, Kb. 

 Nitidula ditnidiata, Fab., Ent. Syst., I. 1. 26] (1792). 

 Carpophilus dimidiatus, Lefroy, Ind. [ns. Life, p. 297. 



Fig. 128. Carpophilus dimidiatus. The small figure shows the 

 natural size. (< •riginal.) 



Distribution, rhroughout Southern India all the year round. 



Lifehistory and Food. Nol fully worked out. The larva probably 

 feeds in rotting vegetable matter, pupating in the ground. The 

 beetles are found in rotting vegetable matter (rotten fruit, etc.) and 

 some species of this group occur in (lowers. 



Status. Not known to be .1 pest hut may prove to be so by 

 carrying fungal and other diseases from attacked trees, etc., and >o 

 infecting health} ones. 



Remarks. The insects oi this group, though numerous in India, 

 are small and inconspicuous. In their habits the} are very varied 



