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A NEW WEteVIL ATTAOKINfl PINE-APPLES IN JAMAICA. 



By Guy A. K. Marshall, D.Sc, 

 Director, Imj)erial Bureau of Entomology. 



Mr. A. H. Ritchie, Government Entomologist of Jamaica, has recently sent home 

 specimens of a large black weevil which he has found doing serious damage to pine- 

 apples in that island. The insect proves to be a new species of Metamasius, of the 

 sub-family Calandrinae, and I have much pleasure in naming it after its discoverer. 



Metamasius ritchiei, sp. nov. (fig. 1). 



Colour uniformly black, without any scaling, hairs or bloom ; the prothorax 

 rather shiny, the elytra duller, the metasternum and the middle of the venter very 

 shiny. 



k 



^ 



Fig. 1. Metamasius riicJiiei. Mshl.,sp. n., ^ ; rt, dorsal view; 

 b, side view of head; c, liind tibia. 



^. — Head shiny, with very small scattered punctures, its outline not continuous 

 with that of the rostrum (fig. 1, 6) ; the distance between the eyes above slightly 

 greater than usual, the space between them beneath with a very shallow triangular 

 impression. Rostrum stout, strongly curved, longer (across the curve) than the 

 front femur and shorter than the prothorax, thickened at the base, then very gradually 

 narrowing to near the apex and widening again slightly ; the whole surface rather 

 shiny and with small scattered punctures throughout, a small round fovea in the 

 middle of the extreme base and a short faint central stria between the antennae ; 

 the mentum convex and rather prominent, so that the rostrum is markedly deeper 

 at the apex. Antetmue with the funicle nearly as long as the scape, the two basal 

 joints equal, 4 to 6 subequal and about as long as broad ; the bare triangular portion 

 of the club (as seen from the broad side) with its lateral edge longer than the apical, 

 which is rounded, the pubescent terminal portion almost semicircular. Prothorax 



