RHYNCHOTA. 



489 



antennae, and looking not unlike a slender ant. This sucks the 

 juice of the foodplant and grows, without altering greatly in form, 

 until the final stage when it- wings are full-sized and it attains the 

 adult colour of rod, black and white. [Green.] 



Foodplants. M ' Persian Nim (Melia azedarach), Tea, 



^.Cinchona. Annatto (Bixa orellana). 



Status. Sometimes a serious pest in the Mills. 



Control. Catching adults in hand-nets and spraying the young 

 individuals. 



DISPHINI 1 1 > POL] ITS. Wlk. 



Monaionion politus, Wlk.. Cat. llet., VI, 103 (1873). 



Disphinctus formosus, Kirk.. B.J., XIV, 205, t. A.. I. [o, t. C, I. 2 

 (1902) ; Green, Entom. (1901), 114 115. tigs. 



Disphinctus politus, Distant. Faun. fnd. Rhyn., II. 444 445. 



1 and Adult insect. I he outline fi 



1 shoot into which it has shows the natural 



'"in. tnal.) 



175. Disphinctus politus. 



Distribution. Kurnul. Probably throughout the Plains of South- 

 ern India. 



Egg pale creamy-white, elongate, curved, thrust into 



a shoot of the t' Iplant, its position being then marked only by a 



pair of diverj sy, horn-like pnu.^s.s projecting from the 



plant. The nymphs are small, reddish, ant-like creatures, found 

 ■ leaves which thej puncture together with tin- 

 adults, iter are active and look like small Hymenoptera ; 

 they are readily disturbed and take t.> wing. 



Foodplants. Betel (Piper betle). 



Status.- A minor pest as .1 rule, occasionally locally and spo- 

 radically doing serious damage to Betel Vii 



