vm, D. 2 Jones: Coconut Leaf-miner Beetle 129 



into a pupa. During development, the larva feeds upon the 

 parenchyma of the coconut leaf, and, except when molting, it can 

 be found at the extremity of the chamber opposite the egg. The 

 larva eats in one direction, leaving the old eggshell at the starting 

 point. When molting and when changing into a pupa, it recedes 

 to the center of its chamber. A characteristic habit of the larva 

 is the deposition of its excrement in two rows (Plate I, fig. 13), 

 one on each side of the excavated chamber. 



In studying the insect, adults were placed in gauze bags which 

 were tied over the leaflets of the palm. The insects were re- 

 moved daily to fresh leaves, and the leaflets containing the eggs 

 were tagged, but still kept in the gauze sacks to exclude possible 

 parasites. Daily observations were made on the eggs for hatch- 

 ing, and the larvae were examined every two days for molts. 



After the larval chamber had been opened, the leaf curled 

 and dried and the larva soon died; therefore, it was necessary 

 to take 4 larvae of the same age each day for observation. In 

 no case were more than two molts observed. The exact number 

 of molts has not been definitely established, owing to the diffi- 

 culties of observing the insect. 



Pupa. — After the larva is full-grown it retires, as stated above, 

 to the center of the chamber, where without forming any pupal 

 cell it changes into pupa and adult. The average time occupied 

 in the pupal stage is 7.3 days, of which the maximum was twelve 

 and the minimum five days. The pupa (Plate I, figs. 4 and 5) is 

 orange chrome or burnt sienna, and is covered with hairs; the 

 head is smaller than the thorax, the eyes are black, the mandi- 

 bles are brown, and the anterior tarsi are in a vertical position 

 opposite each other as shovni in Plate I, fig. 4. There are 2 

 rows of transverse black spines on each segment, the anterior 

 of which consists of 6 spines. The pupae average about 1.62 

 millimeters in width and 8.11 millimeters in length. 



Adult. — The beetles (Plate I, fig. 6) vary from 7.5 to 10 milli- 

 meters in length, and are from 1.6 to 2 millimeters in width. 

 The thorax is much narrower than the slender abdomen. The 

 general color is brown ocher, the head is small, the eyes and 

 mandibles are black, and the elytra are finely punctate in parallel 

 furrows. The antennae are 11-jointed. The tarsi are broad and 

 flat. There is 1 spine on the inner side of each femur with a 

 corresponding depression on the tibia. The body is pilose. 



The beetles are sluggish and do not fly readily upon being dis- 

 turbed. They rest by clinging slightly to the underside of the 

 leaf, antennae extended forward flat against the leaf. They 

 crawl about promiscuously on the leaves of young coconuts, and 



