On a new Species of }ftloh)nt1dd Beetle. 4r>5 



Family Tenthredinidae. 



S u b f a m i 1 y L opnmiDiyji. 



AncYLONEURA, Cam. 



31. Ancylonevra m'gripes. Smith. 



Ciyptocampus nigripes, Smith, Joiirn. Proc. Linn. Soc, Zool. v. p. 136 

 (1861). 



1 ? , ^limika River ; August 1910. 

 Described from New Guinea. 



32. Ancyloneiira sp. 

 1 ? , Twaka River; February 1911. 



XLVrr. — On a new Species of Melolontkid Beetle (Pliytalua 

 smitlii) destructive to Sugar-cane. By Gilbert J. 

 Arrow. 



(Published b\' permission of the Trustees of the British Museum.) 



The beetle here described has recently appeared in enormous 

 numbers in Mauritius, where its presence was discovered for 

 ihe first time by the very serious damage to the roots of the 

 cane-crops caused by its subterranean larvie. The first 

 account of it was given by M. d'Emmerez de Oharmoy in an 

 official Report issued by the Government of the Colony and 

 dated 7th Aug., 1911. The insect was provisionally attri- 

 buted to Schizonycha, of which two species have been cata- 

 logued as natives of the Madagascan region ; but specimens 

 referred to me for accurate determination showed it to belong 

 not to that Old-World genus, but to the American Phytalus. 

 T eventually found tiiree specimens labelled '"Trinidad" in 

 the British Museum, which, although of small size and in 

 bad preservation, undoubtedly belong to the same species. 

 I failed, however, lo find any record of such an insect being 

 known to West-Indian entomologists, and as Mr. Guy 

 Marshall, of the Entomological Research Committee, was 

 visiting the islands, he kindly undertook to make an effort 

 to find it, taking specimens sent to me from Mauritius for 

 comparison. In this he was quite successful, discovering the 

 beetle and larva at the roots of cane-stumps in Barbados, the 



