433 



The recent appearaiicG of tliis disease in iMalaya should not he 

 viewed with ahirni, as in all prohability it has l)een prevalent lor 

 some time, but until now has not l)een identified as F'uriic lii/po- 

 brtinneu." 



It would appear that the symjitoms are caused hy even more 

 than the two tuniii mentioned,* Foria liijpobruniied and Fames 

 pH'udofeireus, althoujih the present record is not from a Para 

 rubber tree, l)ut from anotlier tree, exotic in iMalaya, but not a 

 native of the continent which has furnished the Para rubber tree to 

 Malaya. 



T. r. Chipp. 



THE MELON FLY, BACTROCERA CUCURBITAE. 



The melon fly, Badivcera cucurbitae, found its way into the 

 Hawaiian islands in 3895 and there did euch serious damage, that 

 Melon growing became impossible. To convhat it, the Board of 

 Agriculture and Forestry for Hawaii, sent their Entomologist Mr. 

 David T. Fullaway, to the East in 191? to seek for insects that ])rey 

 upon the fly. In the course of his tour he visited Singapore, and 

 soon located Bactrocera near the town in a Chinese vegetable 

 garden; and by breeding out the insects he obtained three in- 

 dividuals of a parasite of the genus Opius. This was a first step 

 0]) tlie road: l)ut he got no more though he reared in captivity (300(1 

 of the flies. Proceeding to Java he found the same Opius on the 

 inelon fly, and in slightly larger numl)ers: later on reaching India 

 he got it again about Bangalore. This parasite, Opius fetclieri, 

 he conveyed to the Hawaiian islands and turned loose in the ]ieigh- 

 bourhood oF Honolulu. It hai done its work to such an extent 

 that in the ''Hawaiian Forester and Agriculturist " for April 1920. 

 Mr. Fullaway Teports it to destroy 50% of the melon flies, and that 

 " it is again possible to grow melons succe.-sfully." 



It is very prol)al)le that the melon fly is the limiting factor to 

 Melon cultivation in the Straits Settlements: and the occasional 

 successes with melons that reward emterprising people are in thai 

 case chiefly due to the Melons being grown out of reach of tlie fly. 

 Its connection with wild gourds has not been studied. 



I. H. BURKILL. 



THE COHUNE NUT. 



The recent fruiting of the C'ohune palm. l)elieved to lie its 

 first in the Malay Peninsula, calls for more than a bald record. 



With this object in view the following notes have been prepared 

 and give (1) a short description of the plant, (2) its native 

 habitat (3) its uses, so far known, (4) the results of analysis of the 



■> *Cf. Belgrave, A wet of rot Fara Rubber Roots, in Department of Agri- 

 culture, P. M. S., Bulletin No. 28. 



