16 



Upon examination this proved to be Bruchus sallaei Sharp 

 (Biologia Centrali Americana, Coleoptera 5:475, 1885^ pre- 

 vionsh' known from Texas, Mexico and Central America. It 

 is the nearest Xorth American ally of Bruchus prosopis and 

 would run to that species in my table of Hawaiian Brnchidae 

 (Proc. Ilawn. Ent. Soc. 3:466-468, 1918). It may be distin- 

 guished by the mnch shorter scntellum and by the transverse 

 glabrous impunctate area above the eyes. In B. prosopis the 

 scutellum is longer than broad while in B. sallaei it is broader 

 than long. 



While closely allied to B. prosopis and like that species pos- 

 sessing an elongate ovipositor in the female, its egg-laying hab- 

 its are uunrkedly diiferent. Cushman in his admirable ''Notes 

 on the Host Plants and Parasites of Xorth American Brnchi- 

 dae," (Jour. Econ. Ent. 4:489-510, 1911) has described the egg 

 and recorded as breeding from Acacia faniesiana. Acacia amen- 

 tacea, and Gleditsia t) iacaiiflios in Texas and recorded it as the 

 host of a large number of parasites. He records it as oviposit- 

 ing on the pods and I have secured oviposition also upon the 

 seeds. The eggs resemble those of Caryohorus gonagra. but are 

 smaller, and narrower and tend to be laid in groups of 2-5 

 partly overlapping. Each larva feeds at the expense of a single 

 seed and practically destroys the seed in its development. It 

 pupates within the seed without making any apparent cocoon 

 and the adult emerges by gnawing away a circular disc of the 

 seed coat. Adults placed in coniinement with the pods of 

 Prosopis juUflora fed upon the sweec substance of the puli> 

 and oviposited though not very freely upon the pods. From 

 these eggs developed in due time small adults. Whether the 

 species will utilize algaroba pods for breeding in the open un- 

 der natural conditions remains to be seen. 



If Uscana semifumipennis is an American insect it is not 

 improbable that it reached the Islands wath this species since 

 its eggs are parasitized by it. 



This Bruchid has so far only been found on the slopes of 



