SV) 
The Small Banana Weevil (Coleoptera). 
BY J. F. ILLINGWORTH. 
(Presented at the meeting of March 1, 1923.) 
Polytus mellerborgi (Boheman). 
Sitophilus mellerborgii Boh., Schoenherr, Genera et Species Curculio- 
nidum, vol. 4, p. 976, 1837. Hab., Java. 
Calandra remota Sharp, Memoirs on the Coleoptera of the Hawaiian 
Islands. Sci. Trans. Roy. Dublin Soc., vol. 3 (Ser. 2), p. 254, 1885. 
Hab., Oahu. (?) Immigrant. 
Polytus n. gen. for mellerborgi Boh., Faust, J., Curculionidae von 
Birma. Ann. Mus. Genova, Ser. 2, vol. XIV (XXXIV) 1894. 
Hab., Rangoon. 
I first took specimens of this small weevil in Fiji, 1913, 
commonly in stems of growing banana, closely associated with 
the ordinary banana borer, Cosmopolites sordidus (Germ.). In 
fact, so closely were they associated with the larger weevil that 
for a time I considered them starved specimens of sordidus. 
Returning to Hawaii, I sent specimens with other material 
to both the U. S. National Museum and to the British Museum 
for identification. Mr. Schwarz of the former institution deter- 
mined them as Calandra remota Sharp. Just recently, in going 
over this material, I discovered that the specimens returned 
from the British Museum labeled “Polytus mellerborgi Boh.” 
were the same species. 
Looking up the original description of mellerborgi, it was 
evident that Calandra remota must be a synonym for this small 
banana borer. I wrote Dr. Guy Marshall of the British Museum 
for further confirmation, stating that we have exotic specimens 
in Honolulu collections from Borneo, Java, Amboina, Malay 
Peninsula, China and Fiji. In his reply of December 16, 1922, 
he states Calandra remota Sharp, is undoubtedly a synonym of 
Polytus mellerborgi (Boh.), which is widely distributed through- 
out tropical Asia. 
I was interested in reviewing the literature to find that Faust 
says, “Einem Zwerg von Cosmopolites sordidus,” which de- 

Proce. Haw. Ent. Soc., V, No. 3, December, 1924. 
