241 



Ser. A, vii, p. 21]. There are two forms of HeiUpns, so distinct that 

 it seems best to use distinctive names for them, though it is probable 

 that intermediate forms will be discovered in avocado seed from other 

 tropical American localities that will reduce the new form to the 

 rank of a subspecies. In the meantime they are differentiated under 

 the names, H. laiiri, Boh., and H. pittieri, sp. n., the characteristics 

 of" each being described ; the former occurs in avocado seed from 

 Mexico and the latter in seeds of Per sea pittieri from Costa Rica. 



A species of Conotrachelus that has been commonly found in imported 

 a,vocado seed remained unidentified until after its close relationship 

 with Florida specimens of C. serpentinus, Boh., was noticed. Although 

 the females of the two species are frequently indistinguishable, the 

 characters of the males are so different that the second is described 

 as C. perseae, sp. n. The larval galleries of this species are about 

 4 mm. in diameter in the seed and are packed with frass. When the 

 larvae are numerous the seed may be badly riddled, but the germ 

 often remains uninjured. Occasionally the larvae pupate in rotten 

 seeds, but generally leave the seed and transform in the ground. 

 The pupal period lasts about two weeks. It is supposed that eggs 

 are laid in the young fruit. The author considers that C. ventralis, 

 Lee, must be treated as a synonym of C. serpentimis. 



Another weevil, Rhyncolus lauri, Gyll, was described about eighty 

 years ago from seeds of avocado from Mexico, and since that time 

 no one seems to have been able to identify this species. It appears 

 to be closely allied to Cmdophilus latinasns, Say, which was described 

 about the same time. A small Scolytid from avocado seed from 

 Panama has not yet been described, but it is believed to represent 

 a new genus related to Spermaiojdex. Another Scolytid that occurs 

 from Chili to Mexico, in Cuba, and has been recorded from Florida 

 boring in seeds of Persea horhonia, Anona glabra and A. cherimoUa, 

 and in maize, is probably Pagiocerus rimosus, Eich. 



Trioza magnoliae, Ashm. , has been recorded as living upon Magnolia, 

 glauca, but it is thought that this was an error and that the true 

 food-plant is Persea horhonia. T. magnoliae is very similar to T. koe- 

 belei, Kirk., which has been described as very destructive in Mexico 

 in galls on Persea gratissima. Whether or no these two prove to be 

 synottymous, it is evident that the Florida Psyllid may adapt itself 

 to and become destructive to cultivated avocado. 



Other insects that have been recorded as avocado pests include 

 Cryptorrhynchus ferratus, infesting branches of Persea carolinensis in 

 Florida, and the Scolytids, Xyleborus immaturus, Hypothenemus 

 eruditus (?) and Crossotarsus externedenlatus, the last two boring 

 into large avocado trunks in Hawaii. Many Coccids, an undetermined 

 species of the Lepidopterous genus Ste7ioma, and a few miscellaneous 

 insects have also been reported as injurious to this plant. 



Bezzi (M.). New Ethiopian Fruit-flies of the Genera Tridacus and 



Dacus (Dipt.). — Bull. Entom. Research, London, ix, no. 3, March 



1919, pp. 177-182, 3 figs. 



This paper deals with further new African fruit-flies [see this Review, 



Ser. A, V, p. 502]. The new species described are : Tridacus stylifer 



from British East Africa, Dacus trigonus, from S. Nigeria and Dacus 



macer from Uganda. 



