•202 



THE AGKICULTURAL NEWS. 



June 30, 1906. 



INSECT NOTES. 



The Cacao Beetle. 



Fig. 9 shows tlie cacao beetle (i:i,irastoiiia depressuin) 

 and its grub. The latter makes tunnels through the 

 wood of the caean tree. A full description of this insect 

 and its habits was given in an early issue of the 

 Aqricultural News (Vol I, p. 9), and more recently in the 

 West Indian Bulletin (Vol. VI, pp. 94-5), where Mr. H. A. 

 Ballou deals as follows with the remedies to be adoiited : — 

 'The larvae and pupae may be dug out of the 

 tree when their presence is know^i, or they may be 

 killed by probing the tunnels with a stout wire. When 

 ^ any wounds are made in the tree, 



1 r<f^'\^ i however, they should be promptly 



'-^^^ >V— J tarred over to preventthe entrance 



of fungi. The adult beetles are 

 active by night, and may be 

 found resting on the trunks and 

 larger branches of the cacao tree 

 in tlie early morning. At this 

 time they may be collected and, 

 if thrown into tins of water, to 

 which a little kerosene has been 

 added, they will be quickly killed. 

 In Surinam it is the common 

 practice to tie large pieces of the 

 bark of the silk cotton tree on 

 the trunks of the cacao to furnish 

 a hiding-place for the beetles. 

 They may be collected from these 

 places during the day. It would 

 stn|is of burlap (bagging), tied round 

 the same effect and furnish 



Fk;. 



9. Cacao 

 AND Grub 



Beetle 



(Both natural size.) 



seem likely that 



the trunks, would have 



convenient places for collecting these beetles.' 



ilr. G. F. Branch, Agricultural Instructor at Grenada, 

 states, in a recent report, that he found a large number of 

 these beetles at work on a bread-nut tree (JJrosimutn 

 Alicastrum) which had been previously felled. Mr. Branch 

 suggests that this tree, in addition to those already 

 known, such as the silk cotton, might be utilized as 

 traps and then destroyed by fire. 



The Cane-fly. 



The cane-fly (DeljJia.f saccharivora) has frequently been 

 mentioned in the publications of the Inqierial Department of 

 Agriculture, and in a recent number of the A;/ricultural A'eics 

 (Vol. IV', p. 314) a brief account of this insect was given. 



The cane-fly is a small insect of the Hemiptera-Homop- 

 tei'a. The mouth parts are adapted for piercing and sucking. 

 The eggs are laid within the tissue of the cane leaf. The 

 female is provided with a saw-like ovipositor by means of 

 which the epidermis of the leaf is cut and the eggs embedded 

 in the leaf. They are covered with a white, flocculent, wa.\y 

 substance, which is plainly to be seen in the accompanying 

 illustration (fig. 10), which is from a photograph taken in 

 Barbados during the past season. 



The young cane-flies are wingless and are to be found 

 i>n the under side of the cane leaf. The adults are winged 

 and when disturbed quickly take flight. 



Fig. 10. Sugar-cane attacked by the Cane-fly. 



An attack of this pest is usually accompanied by black 

 blight, which is frequently the first intimation the planter 

 has of the presence of the cane-fly. 



Weevil on Camphor Trees. 



The Bulletin of the Bepartuient of Ac/riciUture, 

 Jamaica, for May, contains the following letter received 

 by the Director of Public Gardens and Phmtations 

 from Dr. L. O. Howard, Chief of the Bureau of 

 Entomology, of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, in 

 regard to a weevil which was killing the camphor trees 

 at Cinchona, but has not been noticed on any other 

 trees : — 



I have received yours of the ~th. instant, with specimens 

 of larva and beetle found attacking young camphor trees 

 at the Botanic Garden at Cinchona. 



Mr. Schwarz reports that the weevil is Ndijjus i-hyans, 

 Guerin, of the family Curculionidae. There are several 

 hundred species of this tropical or sub-tropical genus known 

 from Central and South America, including a few species from 

 the AVest Indies. Your species is not a native of the West 

 Indies, but has been manifestly imported during recent 

 times from some part of Central America, where the insect 

 is said to be quite abundant. 



Nothing is known of the habits of any of the species, 

 liut, since the genus Hilipus is closely allied to our northern 

 pine weevils, it may be inferred that they live under the bark 

 of various deciduous trees. I am not able to give you any 

 remedial measures, but any camphor tree that shows the least 

 sign of being affected by the weevil should by all means be 

 uprooted and burned. 



IMr. Fawcett suggests that, if, as supposed by 

 Dr. Howard, this insect pest has been imported in some 

 way from Central America, it is an additional proof 

 of the necessity of stringent precautions against such 

 importations b_v means of careful fumigation, as is now 

 being practised in most of the West India Islands. 



