SOME INJURIOUS INDIAN WEEVILS (cURCULIONIDAE)^ — II. 367 



Mr. C. F. C. Beeson, Imperial Forest Zoologist, Dehra Dun, from whom specimens 

 have also been received, states that this species defoliates various kinds of fruit trees, 

 such as, pears, peaches, cherries, etc. 



Mr. Fletcher states that the correspondent from whom he received his specimens 

 informed him that the weevils first appeared on an alder tree (Alnus nitida) in a 

 field adjoining his orchard. After completely defoliating the alder, they attacked 

 his peach trees, and then turned their attention to the apricots and pears, apples 

 being the last trees to be touched. The whole orchard was entirely defoliated. 



Coniatus indicus, sp. nov. 



Colour black, densely clothed with bright metallic green scaling, the vertex of the 

 head and almost the entire disk of the prothorax with pink scales, the pink area with 

 more or less blackish scaling laterally in the basal half ; the elytra with a common 

 broad anchor-shaped black patch near the base ; its arms extending indefinitely to 

 beyond the third stria and the shaft running along the first interval to the base ; 

 behind the middle another common V-shaped black marking, the arms of which 

 extend to the 6th or 7th stria and are crossed obliquely by a short black stripe lying 

 on intervals 4 and 5 ; the space between these two black markings and a large patch 

 on the declivity behind them covered with pink scales. 



Head with the forehead much broader than the diameter of the eye and broader 

 than the rostrum in its widest part. Rostrum gradually dilated from base to apex, 

 scarcely as long as the prothorax and only slightly curved ; colour testaceous, the 

 basal half rather coarsely punctate and covered with scaHng, the apical half more or 

 less bare and shining ; the scrobes continued in front of the antennae in the form of a 

 furrow, and above this a punctate longitudinal impression. Antennae inserted well 

 beyond the middle of the rostrum, testaceous, with sparse green scales ; the scape 

 not nearly reaching the eye, the funicle with joint 1 much broader than the rest and 

 nearly as long as the next three together, joint 2 longer than 3, the remainder subequal 

 and scarcely as long as broad. Prothorax as long as broad, subparallel-sided from the 

 base to beyond the middle, thence narrowing to the apex, the basal margin somewhat 

 oblique on each side so that there is a slight angle in the middle ; the upper surface 

 uniformly set with contiguous shallow punctures which are quite hidden by the scaling. 

 Elytra relatively broad, parallel-sided, the humeral prominence well developed, the 

 apical area not produced but broadly rounded, the apical declivity steep and the 

 posterior calli feeble. Legs black, with the tarsi and the base and apex of the tibae 

 red-brown, the whole densely clothed with green scaling, the tarsal claws black with 

 the tips red-brown, the tarsi unusually long and slender, especially the fourth joint. 



Length, 2^-3 J mm. ; width, IJ-lf mm. 



Bengal : Pusa. 



This pretty little weevil is interesting as being the first species of the genus recorded 

 from outside the Palaearctic Region. It is most nearly allied to C. splendididus, F., 

 from Siberia, with which it agrees in having the mesosternal process dilated at the 

 apex ; but in that species the apical portion of the elytra is distinctly more produced, 

 the posterior declivity slopes much more gradually and the posterior calli are more 

 prominent, while the 4th joint of all the tarsi is distinctly less elongate. The following 



