4 io FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE 



LARINUS. 



Larinus ? sp. 

 (The Palds-tree Gall Weevil.} 



Habitat. Central Provinces. 



Tree Attacked. -Palas (Butea frondosa). Damoh Forests, Jubbulpore, 

 Seoni, Central Provinces. 



Beetle. I have not seen this beetle. 



Larva. White, curved, corrugated, and legless, with a smallish brown head. The grubs 

 taken were 7mm. in length. 



Gall. Elongate, thick, having the shape of a "Smyrna fig"; brownish or yellowish 

 green ; i in. in length by | in. or more across greatest width (fig. 278). 



In the rains of 1901 (August), during a tour in the Central Provinces, I 

 noticed a curious gall on the branches of the palas-trees 



Life History. which in shape is exactly like a Smyrna fig (cf. fig. 278). 

 The gall is usually, if not invariably, borne on the leaf- 

 bearing branches and twigs, and is obviously a stem-gall. Occasionally it 

 is almost sessile on the branch, with the leaf petioles growing out of the 

 top ; or it is sessile with the twig growing out of the top and terminated at 

 varying lengths by the three leaf-bearing petioles ; or, finally, the gall occurs 

 some way up the twig, and is borne on a stalk, so to speak, the three 

 petioles bearing the leaves growing out of the top of the gall. The outer 

 surface of the gall bears longitudinal ridges down it. The gall is so charac- 

 teristic, and occasionally so common it was so in 1901 that it is easily 

 recognizable. 



I observed this curious growth only on small trees, saplings and small 

 poles. The local people informed me that it was restricted to young growth 

 and saplings, and did not occur on old trees. I have been unable to verify 

 this statement, however. 



A longitudinal section of the gall shows that it is traversed inside from 

 a point near the top to the bottom by a longitudinal chamber having a 

 circular section in which the grub of this weevil lives, the walls of the 

 gall being of considerable thickness. The grub in its feeding operations 

 sets up an irritation in the cells of the twig which causes the curious 

 outgrowth. 



The weevil evidently lays the egg on the stem or twig either on the 

 bark or in an incision. The grub on hatching tunnels into the soft-wood 

 structure and commences feeding in the centre, the walls of the twig 

 swelling up. 



The grubs feed during the monsoon months, the gall being formed at 

 this period. I have no data as to when the beetles appear or when the eggs 

 are laid. 



