Vol. XV. No. 3.59. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



43 



Not only are ripening plants of corn and cane attacked, 

 but also young plant.s, and, in particular, newly planted 

 canes are severely injured before they become established, 

 and often many are killed outright, necessitating repeated 

 supplyings in order to get a complete stand. 



Up to the present time there is no record of parasitism 

 of this insect in Antigua, nor of the occurrence of the 

 parasitic wasp Tiphia jmraltela in that island. 



CROPS AND PLANT.S ATTACKED. In St. Kitts, sugar-cane 

 is the only crop reported as being attacked by hard back 

 grubs. In Antigua, the hard back grubs attack sugar-cane, 

 Indian corn, onions, sweet potato, and yams. 



RELATED INSECTS IN OTHER ISLANDS. In Bai'bados, the 

 brown hard back (Pltytalus smitki) occurs at times in such 

 numbers as to be considered a pest. Generally, however, 

 and in most localities, it is well contrf)lled by its parasite, 

 Tiphia parallela. 



In Mauritiu.s, where Pltytalus siuithi is a most serious 

 pest, large sums of money have been e.xpended for hand 

 collecting of the grubs and beetles, and attempts have been 

 made to introduce the Tiphia parasite from Barbados. 



In St. Croix, a very large beetle, Strategus titanus, some- 

 times injures canes, occasionally becoming a .serious pest. This 

 insect has been controlled by the use of a poisoned bait, 

 consisting of megass ICO lb., Paris green 3 B). (Pamphlet 

 No. 7.3, p. 23.) 



In Porto Rico, Strategus titanus occurs as a sugar-cane 

 pest, and in that island also a specie? of Lachnosterna is 

 known to attack that crop. 



APPEARANCE OF HARD BACKS AND THEIR GRUB-S. The 



most common hard back in the West Indies is the black 

 hard back, Liiiyius tuniulosus. This in.sect occurs through- 

 out the West Indies, and in many localities is very abundant. 

 It is a scavenger in its habit of feeding, being found in great 

 numbers in the larval stage in decaying vegetable matter, such 

 as manure, megass, trash, etc It is not known to attack any 

 crop or to feed on living plant tissue. It would perhaps be 

 too much to say that Ligyrus twmidosus would never feed 

 on living tissue, since other members of ihe same group, the 

 Dynastides, have this habit. For instance, Ligyrns riigiceps 

 is a pest of sugar-cane and maize in the Southern States; 

 Strategus titanus a pest of sugar-cane in Porto Rico and 

 St. Croi.x; Strategus anachoretus attacks coco-nuts and sugar- 

 cane in Trinidad; Dycinetus harhntus is believed to attack 

 crops in Barbuda. These all belong to the group Dynastides, 

 the normal feeding habit of which group is that of eating 

 dead and decaying vegetable tissue. 



The adult Ligyrus tuniulosus should be well known in 

 the West Indies. Its appearance is well represented by 

 figure 1, and its larva is shown at figure 2. 



The larva of this insect grows to be about lA inches in 

 length and some -| to -j^ inch in diameter. The general 

 body colour is whitish, the hinder portion .showing dark or 

 almost black from the intestinal contents. The head is dark 

 reddish-brown in colour, the mandibles being tipped with 

 black. 



The larva of the Antigua brown hard back is easily 

 distinguished from that of Ligyrus. It is smaller, more 

 .slender in general build, and when straightened, is seen to be 

 narrower just before the middle than at the head and anal 

 ends. This narrowing in the middle is much more noticeable 

 in all the brown hard backs than in Ligyrus. The legs of the 

 brown hard back grub are longer and more slender, and this 

 is true also of the antennae. The scattered hairs on the body 

 are lighter in the case of the brown hard back grub, and the 

 head is also lighter, and directed more to the front; the 

 mandibles are longer and more slender, and have a suffused 



black border rather than being black. Once these differences 

 have been noted there should be no difficulty in distinguish- 

 ing between these two grubs. 



The St. Kitts brown hard back grub is even smaller than 

 the Antigua one, and shows the same lighter colouration in 

 the head and hairs on the bo<ly. 



The general appearance of the brown hard Ijack beetles 

 is shown in Fig. 5, which is an illustration of Phytalus 

 siaithi. Other brown hard backs resemble this insect much 

 more than they do Ligyrus tuniulosus. 



The general appearance of the Dynastid larva is shown 

 in the accompanying figui-es, 2 and 3, which show the 

 larvae of Strategus titanus and Ligyrus iumulosus, while the 

 appearance of the brown hard back larvae, which lielong to 

 the ilelolonthides, is shown at figure L Figure -t also shows 

 the appearance of the parasite, the grub of Tiphia i^arallela, 

 attacking a brown hard back grub, Phytalus smithi. 



REMEDIES. Aside from the degree of control exercised over 

 hard back grubs by natural enemies, of which Tiphia para'lela 

 is perhaps the most important, and the use of a poison bait as in 

 the case of Strategus titanus in St. Croix, the control of these 

 insects would seem to depend on collecting the insects, either 

 as adults or grubs, and purely agricultural methods which 

 include rotation of crops, reduction of the numbers of ratoon 

 crops in many cases, the use of trap crops and thorough 

 tillage, with, in some instances, a free use of lime. 



It will be remembered that the term hard back as used 

 here does not apply to any of tho.se beetles having the 

 head prolonged into a snout, which are known as weevils. 



The problems presented by the occurrence of hard back 

 grubs in the soil are not confined to sugar-cane growing 

 districts, since many similar insects, i.e., Melolonthid beetles, 

 occur in all agricultural districts, and attack a great variety of 

 crops. 



H.A.B. 



Anthrax in Elephants and Goats. — It wmM 



appear, according to the report of the Civil Veterinary Depart- 

 ment, As.sam, for 1914-l.j, that anthrax has been very prevalent 

 in certain areas of that Province. The disease was reported 

 from eight districts and caused 2,056 deaths among living 

 stock alone. In the previous year 1,992 deaths were reported, 

 and from the same number of districts. Diagnosis was 

 confirmed by a microscopical examination in all districts 

 except one. It is of interest to note that an outbreak of 

 anthrax occurred amongst elephants belonging to a certain 

 estate. Two elephants died before inoculation. Diagnosis 

 was confirmed by microscopical examination. Necessary 

 preventive measures were taken and eighteen elephants were 

 inoculated and no further deaths were reported. 



In connexion with the above, a case of anthrax in a goat 

 reported in the Veterinary Record for October 23, may be of 

 interest. The case is described (from a German source) as 

 follows: 'At 10 a.m. the goat in question was still bright 

 and was feeding, and the milk yield was also normal. At 

 midday she was found moribund, and death followed very 

 speedily. At the post mortem examination the body was 

 tympanitic, much reddish foam was escaping from both 

 nostrils, and sanguineous serum was flowing in drops from 

 both ears. About half a litre ( = about -|-pint) of fluid was 

 found in the abdominal cavity. The mucous membrane of 

 the duodenum (one of the intestines) showed hemorraghic 

 inflammation, and was covered with sanguineous intestinal 

 contents. The thoracic cavity contained an -J-litre of fluid. 

 Bacteriological examination revealed fairly numerous anthrax 

 bacilli with distinct capsules.' 



