of Southern India. 107 



tlie genus Cucnjus: The species itself may perhaps be 

 termed Gucujus coffeopluKjus. The full-grown beetle is 

 about three-quarters of an inch long, and has an elon- 

 gated cylindrical body. The head is small and depressed : 

 the eyes are large and prominent, with a small whitish 

 indentation near the root of the antennae, which are fili- 

 form, eleven-jointed, and pointed at the tip, the first 

 joint being thicker and the second shorter than the rest. 

 The antennEe just reach over the prothorax. The man- 

 dibles are short, strong, and horny. The prothorax is 

 slightly oval, nearly as broad as long, and marked by 

 three black roundish spots, the middle one being four 

 times larger than those on the sides. The remaining 

 surface of the prothorax and part of the head are covered 

 Avith short grayish hairs, that under the microscope pre- 

 sent the appearance of a seal-skin in miniature. The 

 upper wings are thin but horny, long, narrow and black, 

 with three symmetrically curved greenish streaks or 

 bands, and a perpendicular one at the top, forming on 

 the left wing with the first curve the letter Y, The 

 abdomen has six rings of a similar colour, and terminates 

 in a horny sting-like appendix. The hind-legs are par- 

 ticularly long, and indicate, by their strong light-brown 

 femora, considerable walking and jumping powers. The 

 other joints are black, and the tarsi are armed with two 

 cleft claws. 



It does not seem that the beetle continues the 

 devastation of the larva. I discovered in one tree larva, 

 pupa, and beetle together; the larva boring upwards, 

 the pupa lying inactive in a burrow opening outside 

 and large enough for the passage of th^ perfect beetle, 

 which I found with its head towards thlLopening of the 

 hole. In some cases, as many as twent^four larvfe have 

 been extracted from a single tree, and one planter 

 assured me that he saw the beetles swarming. Another 

 observed some beetles seated on the stem of a tree, in 

 the act, apparently, of depositing their eggs. It is 

 under the bark, and, in most instances, directly above 

 the root, that the larva9 begin their burrowing, winding 

 half round the stem, and then working upwards and 

 inwards in every direction ; and when arrived at matu- 

 rity, the larvae seem to open a passage for the exodus of 

 the future beetle, since the pupas do not burrow. 



Another more innocent Borer was known for some 

 years — the red Borer. It was generally found in new 

 wood, but though the top or a branch of a tree may have 



