No. L] Further Notes. 45 



that sponging the bamboo over with kerosine, in sufficient quantity to 

 penetrate into their burrows, destroys the insects effectively and prevents 

 further damage. This treatment, however, is obviously only applicable 

 in a limited number of cases. 



11. THE MANGO WEEVIL. 



(Cryptorhpic/ius mangifera). 



Plate IV, jig. 1, a larva, b pupa, c imago {dorsal view), d imago, ventral view : all 



enlarged. 



An Extract. 1 



The mango weevil would be classified as follows : — Order Coleoptera ; 

 family Curculionidte ; genus Cryptorhynchus ; species mangifera (of 

 Fabrieius) . The specimen from which my slides were taken was a little 

 over | of an inch in length, and about \ of an inch in breadth ; and to 

 ensure identity, was taken by me fresh from the heart of the fruit. 

 Almost black when first removed from the mango, on being dried it 

 assumed a lighter, rusty-brown hue. The head of the weevil is produced 

 into a rostrum, with ten jointed antennae on its sides, which are elbowed 

 beyond the long scape, and terminate in a knob. 



The elytra are very convex, and extremely hard ; and, together with 

 the rostrum and feet, are covered with scales of a light yellowish colour ; 

 these scales are not brilliant. 



The larvse answer the general description of larvae in the weevil 

 family ; they were white, " thick, fleshy, footless grubs, with fleshy 

 tubercles instead of legs " (Packard, p. 484), and while there were three 

 or four of them together in one mango, I have not found more than one 

 pupa, or one perfect insect in any single fruit. The larval and pupa 

 stages are passed, and the imago form attained in the fruit itself; and 

 the period of pupation would seem to be short, seeing the larvse were 

 obtained from a ripe mango. 



The geographical range of the pest under consideration is extensive. 



It is found in the Isle of France and in Madagascar, and it would be 



interesting to learn something about its ravages, and to ascertain when 



it was first observed, how supposed to be introduced, &c, in the islands 



named. It does not yet affect all the mango-producing districts of 



India, but its march is progressive. Restricted apparently at one time 



to Dacca and the South-Eastern districts, Backergunge, Furridpore, &c, 



I learn it is working its way westward and northward, and throughout 



Bengal and the neighbouring districts. An article on the subject will 



be found at page 558 of Reis and Rayyet for 1885, in which we are told 



that this insect-pest has invaded the Presidency, and that in the season 



' Taken from a paper by Mr. W. J. Simmons in the Journal of the Agricultural and 

 Horticultural Society of India, Volume VIII, Part II, new series. 



