5 
some,  it  could  doubtless  be  thinned  down  by  the  aid  'of  acetylene 
lamps  in  a pan  of  water,  which  would  attract  it  and  the  trees  could 
also  be  sprayed  with  tuba  water  to  kill  the  caterpillars. 
Ectatops  riibescens.. 
Samples  of  bark  of  Para  Rubber  bored  by  one  of  the  shot  boring 
beetles  was  sent  from  Sungei  Rengam  by  Mr.  Barnwell.  From 
the  state  of  the  bark  as  received  I should  imagine  that  the  injury 
was  postmortem  and  the  tree  had  died  from  some  other  cause, 
unfortunately  the  beetles  themselves  had  disappeared  when  I 
received  the  box.  With  them  however  were  sent  some  Hemiptera, 
a red  bug  resembling  the  Cotton  bug  Dysdercus  ciny^ulatus  and 
apparently  Ectatops  rubrescens  or  an  allied  species.  This  was 
stated  to  be  seen  attacking  the  larvae  of  the  shot  bores,  and  extrac- 
ting them  from  their  holes  with  its  long  beak.  1'he  bug  is  about 
half  an  inch  long,  the  males  being  smaller^  the  head  is  small  thorax 
triangular  with  the  base  raised  and  paler  color,  the  wing  cases  blunt 
all  bright  red  with  a small  black  spot  at  the  point  where  the  wings 
cross  and  a larger  one  on  the  clear  part  of  the  elytra.  Legs  long 
and  black  autumoe  slender,  base  red.  upper  joints  black  thoracic 
segments  beneath  black  edged  white,  abdomen  upper  half  black  tip 
red. 
As  most  of  this  set  of  bugs  are  plant  suckers  it  is  interesting  to 
find  one  which  is  carnivorous. 
LONG  DISTANCE  TRANSPORTATION  OP  SEEDS. 
In  a letter  to  the  Editor,  Mr.  J.  C.  Harvey  of  San  Juan  Evange- 
lista, \'Tra  Cruz,  ]\Iexico,  writes  as  follows : — 
“ By  the  way,  I have  just  completed  a most  interesting  experi- 
“ ment.  As  we  all  know  Castilloa  Elastica  seeds  quickly  lose  their 
vitality  under  ordinary  circumstances  and  the  transmission  of 
“ these  seeds  long  distances,  involving  say  as  many  as  45  to  70  days, 
“ has  become  a matter  of  some  importance.  Well,  on  May  i6th  of 
“ this  year  I packed,  in  6 oz.  and  8 oz.  tins,  the  fresh  seeds  dried 
“ and  cured  5 days  on  mats  in  a shady  place,  in  charcoal  which  was 
“ fairly  well  pulverized.  To  every  pint  measure  of  the  pulverized 
charcoal  was  added  one  table  spoonful  of  water,  mixing  the 
charcoal  thoroughly  by  shaking  through  a sieve.  The  seeds  were 
“ then  put  into  the  tins  little  by  little,  adding  charcoal  and  well 
*•  tapping  the  tins  so  that  the  interstices  between  the  seeds  were 
“ thoroughly  filled.  No  more,  no  less,  than  the  charcoal  was  heap- 
ed  up,  so  that  the  top  of  the  can  would  have  to  be  well  pressed 
“ down,  preventing  any  movement.  The  tins  were  sent  to  Cali- 
fornia  to  a friend  to  keep  till  September  ist  to  be  then  returned 
“ to  me.  They  arrived  here  September  loth.  On*  opening  the  tins 
“fully  75%  appeared  good.  They  were  immediately  sown  and 
“ to-day  we  have  60  % of  thrifty  young  seedlings  6 inches  high. 
“ I believe  at  60  days  the  percentage  would  have  been  80  % or 
QO  % of  seedlings.  I also  instructed  a friend  who  lives  in 
“ Foungoo.  Burma,  where  they  have  some  specially  fine  varieties 
