102 



HALTICIN-33. 



skin of the berry very carefully in very thin slices. The egg is 

 ovoid in shape and measures 1*5 mm. in length; it has a pale 

 brownish colour. The larva is pale to cream-white in colour with 

 the head and prothorax dark; it is comparatively short and stout. 



The larva feeds on the contents of two or three berries for about 

 forty or fifty days, when it is full-fed. ]t then pupates by 

 dropping down and entering the soil to a depth of about two or 

 three inches. It builds an oval cocoon of soil. The pupa is pale 

 whitish in colour. In captivity the pupal stage lasts for ten days. 

 The adult beetle after emerging from the pupal ease remains in 

 the soil for a day or two before coming to the surface. The adult 

 feeds voraciously on the tender pepper leaves, biting numerous 

 little holes in them. There are at least two generations in the 

 year, one generation of beetles emerging in October and another 

 in January. At the beginning an infested berry shows a pale, 

 sickly yellowish colour and a minute hole through which excre- 

 ment may be seen thrown out. When the larva has almost eaten 

 away the contents of a berry, its presence is indicated externally 

 by a darkish colour instead of a healthy green. The presence of 

 a group of two to four dark-coloured berries in a spike of pepper 

 reveals the attack of the larva. 



Lvperomorplid weisei, Jne. 



In August 1900, Mr. W. H. P. Driver, of Purulia, sent to the 

 Indian Museum some Chrysomelid beetles which were reported 

 to be destroying all his mango-trees. The original locality from 

 which this species was first obtained is Eanchi (Indian Museum 

 Notes, vol. v, p. 125). 



Poclontia quatiiordecimpiinctata, L. 



This beetle occurs in India on Spondias mangifera in the 

 months of July and August, when the tree is in full foliage, but 

 disappears in October (Indian Museum Notes, vol. iv, p. 68). 



In the Federated Malay States it has been found on Spondias 

 didcis, and an account of the life-history of the insect appeared in 

 the 'Agricultural Bulletin of the Federated Malay States,' 1921, 

 vol. ix, no. 3, p. 192, under the names of Gr. H. Corbett and 

 Mohamed Yusope. The following is a synopsis of this account: — 



The damage done is very serious, the trees being almost entirely 

 defoliated. The eggs are laid from April to August, in batches 

 on the underside of the leaves, particularly near the tips. The 

 female builds up the cluster of egcs by arranging them in circular 

 series, in which each egg stands perpendicular to the surface of 

 the leaf and touches the next one ; another layer is placed on the 

 top of this (although the arrangement of the eggs may not be so 

 regular in this layer), and so on. The number of eggs in each 

 mass varies from 18 to 64. The eggs are oval in shape and 

 rounded at both ends, varying from 1*5 mm. to 2 mm. in length 

 and 0'7 mm. to 1 mm. in breadth ; at first they are bright yellow 



