iVl 
time. Where the greater number vanish to during the day I 
am unable to discover. They are by no means universal m gar- 
dens, though widely distributed. On some gardens every bush 
is eaten by them, in others they are scanty or absent. Speci- 
mens sent to the British Museum were unknown to the entomo- 
logists there. 
Other destructive lamellicorn beetles we have here are the 
black coco-nut beetle Oryctes rhinoceros described in the J ournal 
of the Straits Branch of the Asia Society Vol. 20 and the big 
Xy lotrupes Gideon L. found damaging sugar cane in Province * 
Wellesley (Bulletin No. 7, 144) and stated to attack coco-nut 
in the same way as the black coco-nut beetle in India (Kew 
Bulletin March 1893) and Lachnosterna sp. the sugar chafer 
(Bulletin No. 7, p. 144). 
Bamboos cut for building purposes, etc., are very apt to be 
destroyed by several species of very minute beetles which soon 
reduce them to powder This is however very easily prevented 
by soaking the bamboos as soon as cut in a pond or tank for a 
fortnight putting weights on them to keep them down. When 
taken out and put to dry they exhale a very unpleasant odour 
for some days but this soon goes off and the beetles will no longer 
attack them. 
In the group of long-snouted beetles known as Weevils (Cur- 
culionidce) we have several very troublesome insects. The 
grain weevil Sitophilus oryzce , a very small black narrow 
vr eevii always found in rice and other grain when stored in the 
godown is as abundant here as it is nearly all over the world. 
Many plans have been suggested for its destruction. Among other 
plans for its prevention it was the custom in Brazil to store 
the grain (Indian corn) in cement tanks and cover it with a thick 
layer of sand which seemed to prevent the animals getting at 
the com from the outside or escaping if they were already in. 
Astychus chrysochloris Wied. — This green weevil was re- 
ported by Mr. Wray, Perak Museum Notes II, 1, 1897, as doing 
great damage to the coffee on Gapis estate, and what I take to be 
the same thing w T as sent me some years ago as defoliating nut- 
megs. It was found also in Perak eating Dadup ( Erythrina ) 
Durian, Guava, Hibiscus, Limes, Pumelos, Orange, Mango, Ba- 
chang (Mangifera foetida), and the wild Bombax and some other 
plants, Mr. Wray gives a full account of the life history of the 
beetle which is briefly that the egg is laid in the ground and the 
grub winch apparently feeds on decayed vegetable matter till 
it grows to about | inch long, forms a chamber in the earth, and 
pupates there about two inches below the surf a e, hatches out 
at night and feeds on the leaves; after about a month it breeds, 
the egg being laid over a month afterwards. As the beetle 
continues to eat the whole of the three months or more it exists, 
and does not leave a tree till it has eaten all the leaves it can, it 
is very destructive when abundant. It does not fly readily but 
can be shaken off the trees and w r as destroyed by hand-picking. 
The insect is easily known by its bright green colour covered 
