65 



cause a considerable amount of injury, a large proportion of 

 the canes being attacked, and many of these having almost 

 the whole of the interior eaten out. Young plant canes and 

 stumps left for ratooning are also subject to serious attack. 



The adult weevil (Fig. 66) is about 

 f-inch in length, dark-brown in colour, 

 with darker markings on the wing 

 covers and thorax. The snout, or beak, 

 is slender and strongly curved. The 

 larva (Fig. 67) is a footless grub which 

 makes its way through the tunnels in 

 the canes by means of the large ventral 

 hump of the abdomen. The grub, when 

 full-grown, measures from i-inch to 

 J -inch in length. 



The eggs (Fig. 68) of this insect are 



ova], about y^-inch in length, and almost 



_. , _ ., . transparent. They are laid singly, em- 



Fig. 67.^ Weevil borer. ^^ {q ^ ^ tQ ft depth f|. inch ; 



Enlarged? 1 (imperial generally in cut or broken canes and in 

 Dept. Agric.) the soft part of the cane above the hard 



joints. The beetle appears unable to 

 penetrate the hard rind of a mature joint of cane. The 

 larva is a small, white grub which tunnels in the cane, and 

 when larval growth is completed it makes a rough cocoon 



(Fig. 69) out of the fibres of the cane. 

 The pupal stage is passed in this cocoon, 

 from which the adult beetle emerges. 

 Generally, only one grub is found in 

 a joint of cane. Egg-laying begins soon 

 after the mating of the sexes, and is 

 continued for some time. The life- cycle 

 occupies a period of something over sixty 

 days, of which four are spent in the egg 

 stage, about fifty in the larval stage, and 

 about ten in the pupal stage. 



Control. All rotten or infested 

 canes should be destroyed as soon as 

 possible. Slumps intended for ratoon- 

 ing should be covered with mould, as 

 should also plant canes, when this 

 insect is known to be abundant, so 

 as to prevent the access of the weevils for the purpose < f 

 egg-laying. Cane stumps not intended for ratooning 

 should be dug up and burned as soon as possible. 



Fig 68. Eggs of 

 weevil borer in cane. 

 Enlarged. {Imperial 

 Dept. Agric.) 



