48 Indian Musetim Notes, [ Vol. Hi, 



Cotton weevil 

 Lahore. 



A Curcullonid beetle found upon Egyptian cotton, in the Agri- 

 horticultural Gardens in Lahore, was forwarded to 

 the Museum in July 1893 through the office of 

 the Director of Land Records and Agriculture, 

 Punjab. The insect proved to be unnamed in the Indian Museum 

 collection. It has since been examined by Mous, Desbrochers des Loges, 

 who identifies it as a new species of Mt/llocems. The material however 

 is insufficient to enable the species to be satisfactorily described. 



Icerya cegyptiacum. 



One of the most interesting accessions to the Museum collection 

 during the past year has been the Coccid Icerya 

 (Crossofosoma) cegypt'iacnm, Douglas, which has 

 acquired considerable notoriety in Egypt on account of the damage 

 done by it to fruit trees in that country. The species was first reported 

 from India in March 1893 by Mr. R. Newstead, Curator of the 

 (jirosvenor Museum, Chester, England, who forwarded to the Indian 

 Museum some specimens he had received from the Madras Presidency. 



Mr. Newstead found that tl>e Madras specimens were associated with 

 a minute Hymeuopterous insect which has been identified by the 

 United States Entomologist as a species of Tetrastichus. Mr. Newstead 

 has written an interesting paper upon the subject which appears on 

 pages 37 — 31 of these Notes. 



In view of the great damage occasioned in Egypt" by the Coccid and 

 its close relationship to the disastrous fluted scale [Icerya ptirchasi, 

 Maskell). the matter was thought of sufficient importance to make it the 

 subject of a letter of inquiry from the United States Entomologist 

 for whose examination the Tetrastichus had been submitted. In this 

 communication attention was specially drawn by Dr. Riley to the 

 desirability of ascertaining the primary host of the Tetrastichus, for as 

 the latter belongs to a genus the members of which have hitherSio proved 

 to be invariably parasitic upon Hymenoptera, the relationship to be ex. 

 pected between it and the Coccid is that of a secondary nature only. 



In the latter part of May 1893 the Coccid was recognized in Calcutta 

 on some ornamental bushes in the Indian Museum compound, and an 

 attempt was made to rear the insect in the Entomological Section. 



The form found was the wingless female, which itself is bright red in 

 colour but so covered with the white flakes of feathery wax which it 

 secretes as to appear like a little lump of cotton wool upon the leaf. 

 The insect was attended by numerous ants of the species CremastogaUer 



