Ill 



SOME INSECTS INJURIOUS TO CACAO PLANTS 

 IN THE BELGIAN CONGO. 



M. Raymond Mayne, the Government Entomologist in the Belgian Congo, has 

 recently made a special study of the insects that live on cacao in that country, and 

 the Belgian Ministry of Agriculture is shortly publishing his report on the subject. 

 The material collected by him comprises a number of species new to science, some of 

 which are described below by various specialists. 



All the species dealt with were taken in the Mayumbe district, a region of dense 

 tropical forest, not very far from the coast and lying due north of Boma. 



Order COLEOPTERA. 

 Family Melolonthidae. 

 By Gilbert J. Arrow. 

 Aserica variegata, sp. nov. 



Ferruginea, subopaca, fronte, pronoti macula magna tripartita elytrorumque 

 plagis tessellatis viridinigris ; sat longe ovalis, corpore supra et subtus irregulariter 

 albo-setoso, scutelli lateribus elytrorumque basi densius setosis, partibus obscuribus 

 fere nudis, hie et illic'dorso squamis nonnullis majoribus ornato ; clypeo grosse et 

 rugose punctato, antice leviter emarginato, fronte et pronoto parce punctatis, hujus 

 lateribus leviter arcuatis, angulis anticis acutis, posticis rectis, elytris profunde 

 striatis, intervallis convexis ; pygidio parce punctato et setoso, Jinea mediana laevi ; 

 pedibus haud brevibus, tibiis anticis fortiter bidentatis, posticis mo dice latis. 



(J, oculis magnis, clava antennali ad stipitem longitudine aequali. 



Long., 6 mm. ; lat. max., 3 mm. 



This insect, according to M. Mayne, devours the young and tender leaves of the 

 cacao. I have seen only a single pair. It is one of the group of species called 

 Lepiserica by Brenske, but included in Autoserica by Peringuey, who has pointed 

 out that no practical means of separating them has been devised. The latter name is 

 also redundant, being synonymous with Aserica. 



A. variegata is rather elongate in form and decorated like the species of Euphoresia, 

 but without a sternal process. The elytra are deeply striated and the alternate 

 intervals are decorated with greenish-black patches, almost bare of the setae with 

 which the remaining surface is sprinkled. The posterior part of the head and the 

 middle of the pronotum are also greenish-black, the latter dark area trilobed behind. 

 In addition to the minute setae there are also broad scales upon the scutellum, in the 

 intervals longitudinally dividing the dark patches upon the elytra, and a small cluster 

 on each side of the middle of the pronotum. 



Pseudotrochalus concolor, Kolbe. 



This is undoubtedly the insect so-called by Brenske, but the original description 

 is quite inadequate for its certain identification. Its typical form has been well 

 described by Gyllenhal (Schonherr's Synonymia Insectorum) under the incorrect 

 name of Melolontha versicolor, F. It 13 remarkably variable in coloration, but 

 normally red-brown, with narrow black margins and five vague black spots upon the 



