4 o8 FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE 



thence widened to apical fourth, and constricted sharply to apex, which is rounded ; finely 

 striate and punctate, the punctures hidden by the scaling, the intervals convex and with rows 

 of erect scale-like setae. Under-surface covered with a dense silvery-grey pubescence. Legs 

 with long femora thickened anteriorly, pubescent. Length, 5 mm. ; breadth, 2\ mm. 



Student A. M. Littlewood, whilst at the Imperial Forest School at 



Dehra Dun, took specimens of this weevil and some 



Life History. grubs from galleries and tunnels in the rotting bark of 



living Mallotits philippinensis trees at Karwapani in the 



Dun. The insects were taken towards the end of February 1902. 



BRACHYXYSTUS. 

 Brachyxystus subsignatus, Fst. 



Habitat. North-West Himalaya. Also reported from Darjeeling, East 

 Himalaya (C. G. Rogers). 



Trees Attacked. Silver Fir (Abies webbiana} ; Spruce (Picea morinda} ; 

 Deodar (Cedrus deodar a}. Jaunsar, Tehri Garhwal, Simla, Bashahr, Chamba. 



Beetle. Very small. Chestnut-brown, darker on head than thorax, the upper surface 

 covered with a short rather dense greyish pubescence. Head large, rostrum short, bent 



vertically downwards with the antennae near the upper end. Pro- 

 Description, thorax slightly broader than head, rather flat, sides rounded, disk 

 finely punctate. Elytra strongly striate-punctate, base straight, sides 



constricted behind humeral angles, thence inclining slightly outwards to upper fourth, whence 

 constricted, the apices conjointly rounded. Under-surface black, punctate. Length, 4.5 mm. 

 to 5.5 mm. Plate xxviii shows the male and female beetles. 



So far as present investigations have been carried, this little weevil 

 appears to be the commonest defoliating insect of the 



Life History. silver fir, the young spring needles and new shoots 

 suffering severely under its attacks. The insect is 



plentiful throughout the silver-fir forests of the North-West Himalaya, 

 and in my experience appears in numbers yearly. I first took the beetle on 

 i June IQOI in the forest between Baghi and Kotgarh in the Simla Division. 

 The beetles were pairing at the time. During that year for the first three 

 weeks of June the beetles were in millions on the silver fir, both in the 

 Simla district and the Bashahr State beyond. By the beginning of July 

 they had disappeared from the forest. The following year I found the 

 weevil again, as early as 24 May, this time in the silver-fir forests between 

 Deoban and Bodyar in Jaunsar. The beetles were pairing and were in large 

 numbers. The weevils were taken plentifully up to the third week of fune, 

 and more rarely till the end of the month, by which time the last had dis- 

 appeared from the forest. Throughout Jaunsar and in the parts of Tehri 

 Garhwal visited that year the attacks of the beetles were very visible on the 

 trees. In 1906 the beetle was noticed to be abundant on silver-fir trees 

 round Simla, and again in 1909 in the forests in Chamba State. 



The effect of the attack of this weevil on the tree is to cause the new 

 shoots of the year and their needles to wither up, turn yellow or bright 



