68 Indian Museum Notes. |Vol. IV. 



The specimens comprised, as follows : — 



{a) *' Poti-gaung," reported as destructive to sugarcane roots, 

 consisted of larvae of a Melolonthine beetle (cock-chaSer), the exam- 

 ples being insufficient for identification. 



{b) Caterpillars, reported as injurious to Sessamum plants, 

 peas and beans, proved to be the larvae of an unknown moth. 



(7) In March 1895, the same officer forwarded, through the 

 Director, Department of Land Records and Agriculture, Burma, 

 specimens of a dark brown caterpillar said to be very common in 

 the month of January in the alluvial lands of Mandalay district, on 

 the banks of the Irrawaddy River. They were reported to be very 

 destructive, by ripping the roots and lower stems of the following 

 plants,— maize, tobacco, onions, chillies, peas, and beans of kinds, 

 coriander, brinjal, roselle and cabbages, etc. 



The specimens proved to be insufficient for precise identification, 

 but they appeared to be the larvae of a moth probably belonging to 

 the family Noctuidae or Leucaniidae, which mainly consist of pest to 

 agriculture. 



III.— INSECTS INFESTING FRUIT TREES. 

 1. THE HOG-PLUM BEETLE. 



Podontia Id.— punctata, Linn. 



Plate VI, Fig. I — a, larva ,• b, pupa ; c, imago / d, earthen pupa cell. 



Linn. Syst. Nat. ed. XII, p. 599. — Fab. spec. Ins. I, p. 117.— 

 Oliv. Ent. V, p. 539, t. 4, /. 42. — Baly., Journ. of Ent. I, 1862, 



P-45I- 



In the early part of October 1895 specimens of this chrysomelid 

 beetle in all its stages of development were received m the Indian 

 Museum through Mr. C. O. Bateman, with the statement that they 

 were devouring the leaves of a Hog-plum tree {Spondias mangifera) 

 growing in the compound of his house in Calcutta, 



According to the information gathered, the beetles make their 

 appearance on the tree, almost every year, about the time when the 

 Liee is in full foliage, in the months of July and August, and dis- 

 appear in the latter part of October. The injury done is only con- 

 fined to the leaves on which they feed, and a tree that has been 



