ox SPECIES OF BAIiA-NINlIS OCOURUING IN BORNEO. 365 



24. On the Species of B(danimi,<i occurring in Borneo (C'oleo- 

 ptera, Gurculionidse). By Guy A. K. Marshall, 

 D.Sc, F.Z.S. 



[Received AngTist 13, 1919 : Read November 4, 1919.] 

 (Plates I. & II.*) 



Mr. G. E. Bryant having succeeded during a visit to Harawak 

 in securing a number of weevils of the genus Balaninus asked me 

 to work tbem out for him. On examining the literature up to 

 1914, and such publications since that date as are available in 

 this country, it came as a surprise to find that not a single species 

 of the genus had been described from Borneo. It is true that 

 Faust (Ann. Mus. Civ. Geneva, xxxiv. 1894, p. 234) has recorded 

 the occurrence in both Boi-neo and Burma of Balaninus inier- 

 rupius Kirsch (1875), but there seems to be some reason for 

 doubting the accui-acy of his identification, at least so far as his 

 single Bornean $ was concerned. 



Kirsch's insect was described from Malacca, and luifortunately 

 his type is not available (being in Dresden), nor have I been able 

 to find any species from the Malay Peninsula that can be attri- 

 buted to it. On the other hand, his description applies adequately 

 to one Indinn and two Bornean forms, which represent three 

 undoubtedly distinct species. It is more probable that B. inter- 

 rU'ptiijS will be the same as the continental species, though it 

 would not be surprising if the Malacca insect should proA^e to be 

 yet a fourth species of the group. In the circumstances it has 

 seemed wiser to treat the Bornean species as distinct, and they 

 are described below as ^. analis and B. imitator, spp. n. 



In all, Mr. Bryant took 32 different species of Balaninus, of 

 which 3 were represented by single specimens in too poor con- 

 dition for description. Among the Curculionidpe sent from 

 Kuching by the late Mr. R. 8helford to the Oxford and Cambridge 

 Museums, which I have been able to examine thi'ough the kind- 

 ness of Prof. E. B. Poulton and Dr. Hugh Scott respectively, 

 there were only 7 species, 3 of which were not met with by 

 Mr. Bryant. Although Dr. A. R. Wallace paid special attention 

 to the collection of Coleoptera during more than a year's stay in 

 Sarawak, on examining his material at the British Museum, I 

 could find only a single specimen of the genus {B. unifasciatus, 

 sp. n.). 



The species of Balaninus are certain to prove far more 

 numerous in the tropics than would appear at present ; for they 

 would be met with only occasionally, unless specially searched for, 

 owing to the fact that the}^ breed in arboreal fruits and nuts, 

 and probably therefore they will be found mainly at the tops of 

 the forest trees. Mr. Bryant informs nie that he obtained a large 

 proportion of his specimens from the flowers of a single felled 

 forest tree {Vernonia arhorea) on Mt. Matang. 



* For explanation of the Plates see p. 397. 



