Mr. G. R. Dutt. 
Mr. Fletcher. 
Mr. Ghosh. 
Mr. P. C. Sen. 
Mr. Fletcher. 
238 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SECOND ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 
Apart from the unsightly patches produced by the beetle on the 
fruits, I believe it spoils the taste of the fruit also to some extent, the 
flavour being lost. 
Boring in the stem and roots we get three weevils :— 
Odoiporus longicollis. 
Cosmopolites sordidus. 
Polytes mellerborgit. 
Odovporus longicollis is a serious pest of plantain in North-East India 
and Burma. We have examples of the typical form from Pusa, Munshi- 
eanj, Jorhat, and the Buxar Duars and of the form planipennis from 
Munshiganj, Buxar Duars, Halem (Assam) and Maymyo (Burma). 
The larve bore in the stem so that the whole plant dies off and the only 
satisfactory control is the prompt destruction of affected plants which 
will be destroyed when attacked in any case. 
The life-history has been worked out in the Pusa Insectary and a 
coloured plate of this species was issued last year. The actual life-cycle 
from egg to adult is comparatively short, a couple of months or so, but 
the adult beetles are extraordinarily long-lived and some lived in the 
Insectary for a period of two years. 
At Pusa Odoiporus longicollis is found practically all the year round. 
The grubs riddle the whole tree. The beetles take six to eight weeks 
for one cycle and the adults live for nearly two years. They generally 
remain under the sheathing leaves and feed there. As regards control, 
the beetles are not attracted to old stumps and are sluggish. Timely 
removal and destruction of affected trees checks its spread effectively. 
Odoiporus longicollis was found at Dacca Farm on one occasion, when 
the attack was bad. 
Cosmopolites sordidus bores low down in the stem and especially in 
the root-stock. It is described and figured in “South Indian Insects,” 
pp- 342-343, fig. 201, and I do not think we have much to add to the 
account given there. In India it occurs throughout Southern India 
and in Western India as far north as Poona, and is likely to be found in 
other districts, as it is very likely to be introduced in root-stocks. It 
has also been recorded from Ceylon, Burma and the Andamans. Out- 
side of India it has a wide distribution, being recorded from the 
Seychelles, Réunion, Java, Malacea, Saigon, China, Sunda Islands and 
Fiji, and has doubtless been introduced into many of these localities 
with its foodplant. In Fiji it has proved a serious pest, so much so that 
Mr. Jepson, the Entomologist in Fiji, went on special mission to Java 
in quest of the natural enemies of this weevil. An account of this is 
ciyen in Bulletin No. 7 of the Fiji Department of Agriculture, and I need 
