EK. THYSANOPTERA. 
XV. Notes on Selenothrips rubrocinctus Giard, taken by 
C. O. Farquharson on a Forest Tree at Agege, near 
Lagos. By R.8. Baenatt, F.R.S.E., F.L.S 
Selenothrips rubrocinetus Giard. 
Physopus rubrocincta Giard, 1901. 
Heliothrips rubrocinctus Franklin, 1908. 
This species is a great pest of Cacao in the West Indies 
and is also known from Ceylon. It was described fully by 
Franklin in 1908. Its specific name is due to the broad 
band of bright red (almost crimson) hypodermal pigmenta- 
tion running across the base of the abdomen in the larva. 
At a later date Karny wrote upon his conception of the 
divisions of the genus Heliothrips (Revision der Gattung 
Heliothrips Haliday in Entom. Rundschau, Jahrb. 28, 
No. 23, pp. 179-182) and diagnosed the subgenus Seleno- 
thrips for the reception of rubrocinctus, and a new and 
closely allied form, S. decolor Karny, found on Cacao in 
New Guinea. 
The presence of S. rubrocinctus on the W. Coast of Africa 
is particularly interesting in view of the fact that I have 
only recently received a ‘supply of the other species, S. de- 
color, from the Gold Coast, where it is injurious to Cacao. 
S. decolor is most readily separated from rubrocinctus by 
the absence of the red hypodermal pigmentation at the base 
of the larval abdomen. There are also minute structural 
differences in the antennae. 
[The specimens on which Mr. Bagnall’s note was written 
were preserved in spirit. The following note accompanied 
them: “ Rather large Thrips from bush tree at Agege. 
Immature forms run about with drop of dark liquid at 
posterior end.—Oct., 1917.”—E.B.P.] 
iS 
TRANS, ENT. SOC. LOND. 1921.—PARTS III, IV. (JAN, ’2% 
