interfere with the tapping cut, but they are easily knocked out 
if so, and if left are usually covered up eventually by the later 
growth of the trunk and soy disappear.— Editor. 
Astychus Chrysochloris attacking Para Rubber. 
The following letter from Mr. R. Pears was accompanied by a 
number of specimens of the pestilential beetle Astychus chryso- 
c hi oris. The life history of this insect was described by Mr. L. 
WRAY in Perak Museum, Notes 11 , I, 180/ (under the name of 
A. lateralis ), a very inaccessible publication, and a short resume 
was published in the Bulletin, First Series p. 27a The beetle eats 
leaves of almost any plant, and occasionally appears in large num- 
bers, though by no means always to be found. The grubs appear 
to live in the soil and feed on decaying vegetable matter, and as 
there is consequently an unlimited supply of food both for larva 
and adult it is only remarkable that it is not more abundant and 
destructive. The most curious thing about them is that the grubs 
appear to prefer clean weeded land, of loose texture and disappear 
when the ground is turfed or weedy, which is another argument 
against excessive weeding of estates. Hand picking seems to be 
the only remedy likely to be effectual, and this is easy enough as 
the beetles are very slow in their movements. The animal is thus 
fairly easy to deal with if it confines its attacks to young Para 
rubber trees but would be very difficult to get at in full grown trees. 
Flooding the ground to kill the grubs would doubtless also prove 
effective and would not injure the rubber trees. 
Mr. PEARS description of the beetle gives a fairly good idea of 
it for it is unmistakeable from its green colour and golden scales 
easily rubbed 6ff. Both sexes however, are alike, they are how- 
ever," hatched out without the scales, and nearly black in colour, 
soon putting on the golden green colour, and perhaps the dark 
females seen by Mr. PEARS were either young ones or old ones 
with the scales rubbed off. — Editor. 
La nad ron Estate, 
Muar ; via Singapore , 
Straits Settlements, 
21st Nov., 1903. 
Dear Mr. Ridley, 
I am sending you under separate cover some specimens of a 
beetle which 1 found vigorously devouring the leaves of some Para 
Rubber trees of about a year old. Both male and female are in- 
cluded amongst the specimens, the former being of a yellow, 
whilst the latter is of a greyish black colour. This yellowness on 
the back of the male seems to be analogous to the “ feathers” on a 
butterfly’s wing, for it is easily rubbed off with the lingers, leaving 
the male almost, if not quite identical in colour with the female. 
