428 FAMILY CURCULIONIDAE 



grubs on hatching had eaten out long irregular longitudinal galleries in 

 the bast and sapwood, the tunnels grooving the latter somewhat deeply. 

 On becoming full-fed the larvae penetrated into the wood to pupate. The 

 stem of the tree contained numbers of the pupal chambers at distances 

 varying from a half to one and a half inches down in the sapwood. The 

 beetles would probably issue some time early in May, and there are 

 perhaps two generations in the year, or one and a half generations, resulting 

 in the over-lapping of the life-cycles. 



Mecistocerus ? sp. 



REFERENCE. Stebbing, Injur. Ins. Ind. For. p. 61 (1899). 



Habitat. -Eastern Himalaya. 



Tree Attacked. Kadam (Anthocephalus cadamba, Miq.). Tista Valley 

 Sikkim ; elevation about 1,000 ft. 



Beetle. Unknown. May be identical with above. 



Cocoon. The gtub pupates in a loose semi-elliptical cocoon made of chips of wood and 

 bark. (See fig. 49 in pi. ix in Injurious Insects of Indian Forests.} 



Pupa. The pupa is elongate, narrow, yellowish white, and has the shape of a 

 Mecistocerns beetle. 



I took numerous specimens of the pupa and cocoons of this weevil in 



the Tista Valley in April 1896. The pupal cases were 



Life History. situated between the bark and wood, the larva having 



eaten out an elliptical-shaped depression, of which half 



was in the sapwood, whilst the other half was situated in the inner bark. 

 The grub itself eats out irregularly winding longitudinal galleries in the 

 bast and sapwood. The tree in which the pupae were found was still 

 alive, but was dying, the greater portion of the cambium layer in the lower 

 part of the trunk having been removed. I have not been able to procure 

 mature specimens of the insect for identification. 



CRYPTORHYNCHUS. 



A very important forest genus of weevils whose grubs eat out galleries in 

 the bast and sapwood, often causing the death of trees. 



Cryptorhynchus brandisi, Stebbing. 

 (The Chir Pine Weevil.} 



REFERENCES. Stebbing, Ind. For. Mem. For. Zool. Ser. vol. ii, pt. ii, p. 73 ; id. Depart. Notes 



(Cryptorhynchus sp.), i, 41 (1902). 



Habitat. North-West Himalaya; Shillong, Assam; Maymyo, Upper 

 Burma. 



Trees Attacked. Chir Pine (Finns longifolia) : Kumaun (K. C. Milward 

 et inihi), Jaunsar, Tehri Garhwal, Chamba (juilii} ; Finns khasya : 

 Maymyo (G. R. Long, D. A. Allan, ct inihi}, Shillong (mihi). 



