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and Sumatra, and recorded as coming from Africa. It undoubtedly 
thrives well wherever the coconut is grown. 
Dr. Kéningsberger, of Buitenzorg, Java, says: “The well-known coco- 
nut beetle O. rhinoceros L. is one of the most terrible enemies of coconut 
culture.” And if this be the case in Java, where cultural methods have 
been in vogue for so many years, it is probably much truer in the 
Philippines. 
Preventive and remedial measures.—The question of controlling the 
ravages of this insect is a difficult one. It would appear that trees 
growing to such a height as the coconut and having so few parts would 
not be seriously affected by a rank growth of weeds or underbrush or by a 
lack of cleanliness in their surroundings, but this is certainly not the 
case. It has already been stated that the larve of the coconut beetle grow 
in manure and rotting vegetable heaps and also thrive in rotten or 
rotting coconut trees, their abundance appearing to be in direct ratio to 
the degree of decay which the tree has attained. Mr. Schultze has taken 
as many as a hundred larve of all sizes from the decayed shell of a 
coconut trunk. I have invariably found them in great abundance in 
such situations. It is obvious that these sources of infection for healthy 
trees must be removed. © The first thing to do in coming into possession 
of a coconut grove or in planting a new one is thoroughly to clean the 
ground. All manure heaps, rubbish, rotting or fallen trees should be 
removed and destroyed at once. ‘The manure should be scattered where 
it will serve the best purpose as a fertilizer, and in such a manner as to 
make it impossible for the grubs to find lodgment in it. Rubbish heaps 
and decayed trunks, if fallen, should be burned; if standing, should be 
cut down and burned. The residue can easily be returned to the soil as 
fertilizer. 
Growers should not remove the dead leaves from their trees to such 
an extent as to leave the young and still tender petioles or leaf stems 
entirely exposed, thus inviting attack by the adult beetles. These leaf 
stems have a thorough natural protection by being wrapped in a woven 
fiber, the old stems remaining upon the tree until the new ones are fully 
grown. When the living leaf stems are cut off a foot or two from their 
union with the trunk, the sap running out offers an attraction to beetles 
which might otherwise not attack the tree. Blanford discusses this 
danger as follows :* 
“The trees should be left, as far as possible, in the natural state, and unnecessary 
trimming either of fronds or of the fiber avoided. It may be necessary to tie up 
the older fronds, and, if they must be removed, the stalk should be cut through 
sufficiently far from the stem to leave the sheathing base intact. It may be 
advisable to tar the cut stump if it is found to attract beetles. The value of 
leaving the trees alone is shown by a passage in Ferguson’s All about the Coco-nut 
Palm, which is also quoted by Ridley: ‘Scores of instances might be recorded 
* Kew Bulletin (1893), 73, 46. 
