COLEOPTERA. 



339 



Status. -A very-minor pest, the plants being little injure 



when the larval tunnel extends a long way down the stem. 



Control ? 



Remarks. — At Palur the grubs of this beetle had apparently 

 been extracted by a bird which had ripped open the affected 

 twigs. 



PE.MPHERES AFFINIS, Fst. 



Pempheres qffinis, Faust, D.E.Z. (1898). 319. 



Phylaitis sp., Lefroy, Indian tnseel Pests, pp. 103 104, If. 120, 121, 

 Ind. Ins. Life, p. 389, t. 27, ff. 11 -16. 



<23sa 



1. Larva. 



Pupa, 



#% 



v*** 



nified. 1. Beetle, natural si/,-. 



Fir,. His. — Pempheres a/finis. (Original.) 



Distribution. — Only found hitherto in the Coimbatore District 

 all through season when cotton is in the ground. 



Lifehistory. Eggs are presumably laid in the tissue of the stem 

 at ground-level, where later are found the characteristic gall-like 

 swellings caused by the tunnellings of the whitish grub which 

 forms a spiral burrow within the stem, pupating therein when full- 

 led. Exact length of life-Cycle not yet known ; it is probably 

 quite short -three or four week 1 idult beetles are very 



active. 



Foodplants. Cotton (especiallj exotic varieties, such as Cambo- 

 dia and Tree-Cottons) and Gogu (Hibiscus cannabinus). 



Control. No satisfactory method has yet been found. 



Natural Enemies. None found hitherto. 



J2-A 



