34 Indian Museum Notes. [Vol. VI. 



on their basal portions than on the posterior declivity ; punctures on 

 the declivity clearly ocellate ; suture not prominent on the declivity. 

 Long. 2\ — 2>\ millim. 



Larva.— Pale canary yellow, opaque, curved, wrinkled, the tho- 

 racic segments swollen, the prothorax tapering sharply anteriorly^ to 

 head. Latter small, orange-brown with black mandibles. Three 

 ipairs of longish three-jointed legs on thoracic segments, the lowest 

 joints being clothed with scattered yellow bristly hairs anteriorly and 

 -ending in a claw. Body tapers posteriorly to a blunt rounded point. 

 Long. 3— 3f millim. 



Pupa.— Resembles that of pilifrons but is smaller. 



Distribution. — Bombay Presidency (Andrewes). Calcutta (mini) ; 

 "Burma — Carin Cheba, 900 to 1,100 metres; Teinzo in May, Bhamo in 

 August (L. Fea). Lesne states it to be cosmopolitan in tropical 

 ^regions. The commonest species of the genus and is at times found 

 iin ports and large town in temperate climates. 



Specimens present in— Coll. Ind. Mus. Calcutta (mihi) ; Coll. 

 JFor. Ent. ditto ; Coll. Steb. ditto and Ceylon (latter received from 

 British Museum). 



Life- Hi story.— -This insect has been so consistently confused 

 <with D. pilifrons in India that until recently it has been impossible to 

 «ay certainly what its life-history really was. It was known to infest 

 bamboos and to not improbably often accompany pilifrons. It was 

 not, however, present in the bamboos from the Siwaliks, from 

 -which I bred the latter in 1901. 1 It was said to be plentiful in houses 

 in the Bombay Presidency, where it flies slowly about from December 

 to January. It was also reported as boring into bamboo in Guada- 

 3oupe, in the dry roots of Smilax borbonica in the Island of 

 Reunion and in lianas from Brazil in which cotton had been 

 packed (Lesne). 



This year (1903) I have had an opportunity of properly studying 

 the life-history of this insect in Calcutta and have the following 

 observations to record. I first noticed the beetles becoming plentiful 

 towards the end of April, at which period they were egg laying. 

 Bamboos in Calcutta were full of the beetles, which were also attacking 

 bamboos brought from the Garhwal Forests in North-Western India. 

 These latter were being converted into telegraph posts. Careful 

 •watch was kept on some of these latter bamboos, selected at haphazard 

 -from the Government Telegraph workshops in Calcutta, and also on 

 other local ones. Notes have thus been recorded on the insect's life- 

 history from the latter part of April to the end of October. My ob- 

 servations have shown me that the eggs laid towards the end of April 

 ' — «i 



1 Puftr D:ep. .Not. Ins. eff; For. No. 2, p. 17 (1903^. 



