PHOCEEDINGS OF THE THIKD ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 925 



The larval period may thus be put roughly to be from two to four 

 mouths. Pupatiou has not been observed in nature ; probably it is in 

 the soil or some other place outside the stem because all the grubs reared 

 in captivity- came out of the stem when they were full-grown and pupated 

 outside. 



Pupa. This is of the typical Lamiad type. It is yellow in colour 

 and 20-25 mm. long. The appendages of the head and the thorax are 

 folded together on the ventral side inside the exceedingly thin and trans- 

 parent pupal skin. A day or two after pupation the eyes get dark. The 

 colour of the pupa changes gradually from yellow to brown and after 

 a week the pupal skin is cast off and the adult emerges. 



Xo. Pupated cm Emerged oil Pupal jieiiod 



1 7th July 1917. . Uth July 1917 



2 6th August 1917 . . Uth August 1917 



3 1 3rd October 1917 . .' 13th October 1917 



4 7th October 1917 . . l.jth October 1917 



Days 



On emerging from the pupal skin the beetle is dull and t^oft to the touch. 

 In a day or two the body gets hard and the beetle begins to move about 

 and feed on the bark of the moringa stem. 



These observations were made by me at the Insectary of the Agri- 

 cultuial College. Coimbatore. under the guidance of M. R. Ry. T. V. 

 Eamakrishna Ayyar Avargal, the Acting • Government Entomologist 

 of Madras, and I take this opportunity of tendering him my heart-felt 

 thanks for the valuable suggestions he gave me during my investigations. 



The habit of emergence from the stem to pujjiate ehsewherc, at the Mr. Fletcher, 

 conclusion of the larval period, is most unusual in a Lamiad beetle. 

 Further observations on this. point, under natural conditions, appear 

 desirable. 



C7.— NOTES ON THE LIFE-HISTORY OF THE POLLU FLEA- 

 BEETLE {LONGITARSUS NIGRIPENNIS, MOTS.) OF PEPPER. 



Bij T. Y. Ramakrlshna Ayyar, B.A., F.E.S., F.Z.S., Actimj Govenunent 

 Entomologist, Madras. 

 The subject of this paper is a flea-beetle which is found causing 

 some damage to cultivated black pepper (Piper nigrum) in the pejiper- 

 growing tracts of North Malabar. 



