338 SOME SOITH INDIAN INSECTS, ETC. 



. . . bubo, Fab.. Syst. El., II. 474- 



Alcides bubo, Lefroy, Ind. Ins. Life, p. 388. 



Distribution. — Coimbatore, Bellary (Hadagalli), Madras (Saida- 

 pet), South Arcot (Palur), Trichinopoly, Madura, Tinnevelly. 



Lifehistory. — The pale yellowish egg is laid in small holes in 

 the stem of the foodplant excavated by the mother-weevil. After 

 about five days it hatches into a pale whitish legless grub which 

 burrows into the stem and grows until it reaches a length of 6—7 

 mm. (i inch). The larval tunnel is bored, not up and down the 

 stem, but immediately around the point of entry, so that a distinct 

 swelling or gall is often formed around the seat of injury. The 

 insect pupates within the larval burrow, the beetle emerging a 

 week after pupation. 



Foodplants. — Agathi and Daincha (Sesbania), Indigo (lndigofera 

 arrecta) and Cluster-bean (Cyamopsis psoralioides). 



Status.— A major pest of considerable importance in betel- 

 growing districts. 



Control. ? 



ALCIDES LEOPARDUS. Ol. 

 . . . leopardus, Olivier, Ent., V, 83, p. 190, t. 22, f. 296. 

 Alcides leopardus, Lefroy, Ind. Ins. Life, p. 388, f. 261, c. 



Fig. l l >7. — Alcides leopardus. The small figure shows the natural 

 (1 ii i| inal.) 



Distribution- Coimbatore. Saidapet, South Arcot (Palur). Prob- 

 ablj throughout the year. 



Lifehistory. The beetle gnaws separate chambers in the leaf- 

 stalk and deposits a single pale-yellow egg which seems always 

 to be placed in only the second of the chambers excavated. The 

 whitish grub, on emergence from the egg, bores down into the 

 stalk and stem until lull-grown, when it is nearly an inch long, 

 Stout, pale-white, with a dark head and prothoracic shield ; pupation 

 in a chamber at the lower end of larval gallery. Pupa stout, 

 pale-whitish, of general form of the beetle but with wings, legs 

 and snout adpressed ventrally. Length of lifehistory not known. 



Foodplant. — Cotton and Hibiscus. 



