364 
COLEOPTERA. 
One species, His fa cenescens , By., is a serious major pest, and 
another Leptispa pygmcea , By., occasionally rivals it. Others are minor 
pests or live in uncultivated plants. 
Hymenopterous parasites are the 
only known check on the increase 
of these insects. H. Donckier de 
DonceePs Catalogue (Ann. Soc. 
Ent. France, 1889, LXVIII, p. 540), 
enumerates 111 Indian species, 
chiefly of the following genera :— 
Callispa 14, Anisodera 12, Gonophora 
9, Downesia 10, Platypria 7, Hispa 42. 
A few, including plains species, 
have been described since. Gestroi’s 
papers (Ann. Mus. Civ. Genova), 
Baly’s catalogue of Hispidce , and 
Weise’s recent papers (Deutsche 
Entomologische Zeitschrift) describe Fig. 240.— Leptispa pygm^a. 
t - (I- M. N.) 
the majority ol our species. 
Leptispa pygmcea, Baly., is a narrow steel-blue species destructive to 
rice in Malabar and occasionally found elsewhere in the plains. Its life- 
history is unknown. Amblispa laevigata , Guer., is a spineless black insect 
found on the leaves of the high grass in Canara and the Himalayas. 
Gonophora bengalensis, We., is a pretty yellow-brown species with 
black spots found abundantly during the rains in submontane local¬ 
ities. 
Platypria includes P. Andrewesi, We., described from specimens 
reared from ber (Zizyphus jujuba) and common in widely spread local¬ 
ities in the plains. The larva does not remain in one mine but moves 
about, eating into the leaf, eating out a kind of pocket and then emerg¬ 
ing to commence a fresh pocket. The larva (fig. 241) is flat, the head 
large and hard, with short antennae and a lateral cluster of ocelli; the 
prothorax bears a dorsal and a ventral shield ; the segments are pro¬ 
duced laterally and bear a terminal backwardly-curved process ; the 
spiracles are on the dorsum ; the legs are well developed and the larva 
runs actively; the abdomen terminates in a flat chitinous plate with 
