CUCUJIDAE, EROTYLIDAE, AND COCCINELLIDAE 121 



covered with a furry coating, this pubescence being at times quite long. 

 The leaves are often entirely covered on their lower surfaces with these galls. 

 Later on the upper surface of the leaf turns black and decays and the leaf 

 drops. The damage done therefore amounts to partial or complete defolia- 

 tion. 



The life history of the insect causing these galls is still incompletely 

 known. 



From galls containing partially grown larvae taken in the Damoh forests- 

 of the Central Provinces in the middle of August I bred out this insect 

 in Dehra Dun on the i8th of the following September. The mature beetles 

 therefore issue from the galls towards the end of the monsoon season and 

 before the leaf drops from the tree. 



On several occasions Mr. G. Ryan has sent me 

 specimens of teak leaves attacked by this insect from 

 Thana and elsewhere in the Bombay Presidency. 



Family EROTYLIDAE. 



Elongate beetles, often brightly coloured, the an- 

 tennae with a club of three or four joints and an 



apparentlv four-jointed tarsus. The elytra of some 

 r J . J J P IG. 84. Languria 



forms found in the forest are brilliantly coloured, and zyatiea. Hope, 

 often metallic. The insect figured here, Languria 



zyanea, as an example of the family, is not uncommon in the \Vestern 

 Himalaya in July. The larvae feed in the stems of plants, tunnelling up- 

 the centre. No forest species have been observed to act in this manner,. 

 but little is known about the familv in the forest. 



Family COCCINELLIDAE. 



(Ladybird Beetles.) 



The ladybird beetles are for the most part easy of recognition, owing 

 to their rounded or oval shape and to the apparently three-jointed tarsus 

 of the feet ; the antennae are short and not clubbed. The beetles are often 

 brightly coloured, or have patches, stripes, or spots of brilliant colour on a 

 duller-coloured ground. The colouring is the common red or brown, 

 yellow or black. 



The beetle is usually of small size, having perhaps sonic resemblai 



to the chrysomelid beetle, but can be distinguished 



Beetle. from the latter by the three-jointed tarsus instead ot 



four). The prothorax is small, almost covering the 



head, and with the elytra forms a perfect curve on the outside. The dorsal 

 surface is usually convex, the ventral flat. The antennae are not very long. 

 the legs short. Length, up to a little over one-fourth of an inch. 



