262 FAMILY CHRYSOMELIDAE 



This beetle appears on the wing at the beginning of August, and possibly 

 during the latter part of July. 



Life History. It feeds upon the leaves of Boswellia serrata. These 



leaves are compound ones, and it apparently attacks the 



upper leaflets first, feeding downwards until about two-thirds of the com- 

 pound leaf (from top downwards) has been more or less eaten away. At 

 other times all the leaflets disappear entirely. The beetle begins by eating 

 the leaflet irregularly round the edge, patches being gnawed out, or it com- 

 mences on the inner part and eats out holes in the leaf tissue. The effect 

 of this defoliation is to cause the leaflets to shrivel up, turn brown, and 

 fall off. 



At the beginning of August, when these beetles were observed at work, 

 the insects were pairing; the male, the smaller insect of the two, being 

 carried about on the back of the female. This chrysomelid is a powerful 

 jumper, and even when coupled the $ will often take a long leap. Like 

 many Chrysomelidae the beetles are extremely wary, and take to flight 

 at the slightest motion which alarms them. If too late to fly, they drop 

 off the food-plant like a stone and sham death on the ground, where owing 

 to a similitude in colouring they are extremely difficult to see. When 

 coupled, they appear to lose some of their extreme wariness. 



I have described above the manner of feeding of this chrysomelid. 

 There can be no doubt that when in any numbers it is 

 ' capable of doing a large amount of defoliating damage. 



We do not yet know where its larval stage is passed or 

 upon what the grub feeds. 



CLITEA. 



Clitea picta, Baly. 



REFERENCE. Baly. Trans. Ent. Soc. p. 287 (1877). 



Habitat. Bengal, North India. 



Tree Attacked. Bael (Aegle marmelos). Bengal (Lefroy) ; North India 



{jnih i ) . 



Beetle. Small, oval in shape ; black and brown in colour. 



Larva. Soft, whitish, with a few very short hairs; the head brown, the tiny round 

 spiracles on the dorso-lateral line. Behind the head is a distinct prothoracic shield, and over 

 the anus is a flat black plate with short hairs round ; this plate is at an angle to the long axis 

 of the body, facing dorsally and posteriorly, and may be for the purpose of enabling the larva 

 to exert pressure by placing this against the wall of the tunnel. (Description after Lefroy.) 



This is a common small chrysomelid found on the bael-tree (Aegle 



marmelos,}, whose leaves the beetle defoliates by eating 



Life History. patches out of them. The beetle jumps actively when 



disturbed. I have not taken the larva myself. Lefroy, 



in Indian Insect Life, has the following account of its habits: "The 

 larva is found boring in the shoots of this plant' (i.e., the bael), "the 

 slender twigs being tunnelled down the centre, but little harm being done." 



