i86 



by a single female on one day was 32. The grub, like the grub 

 of the Rhinoceros beetle, shuns light and is easily killed by 

 exposure to the sun ; it likes much moisture so that the hack- 

 ing open of stems in which they have been growing and the 

 exposure of them, is a good preliminary operation whenever an at- 

 tacked palm has to be cleared away. They seek the softest tissues of 

 the palm and therefore the very heart, and if left undisturbed they kill 

 the tree w^ith a certainty v^^hich is foreign to the Rhinoceros beetle. 

 They do not need the tissue to be absolutely healthy, but finish their 

 growth in dying palm stems among most obvious decay. At maturity 

 they make a case twisting fibres from the stem round themselves 

 and to reach the fibres they have to approach the outside of the trunk 

 which they do close to some place from which they can emerge. The 

 twisting on the eve of pupation is only an exaggeration of the grubs 

 ordinary movements in progression. The pupa stage lasted, under 

 Ghosh's observations, about 25 days. 



The most rapid growth recorded by Ghosh was of one 

 insect which emerged as a perfect beetle, 48 days after the egg was 

 laid ; 54 and 56 days were quite common periods. 



The palm weevil feeds on other palms as freely as on coconut 

 palms. It is recorded as destroying Oreodoxa regia, — the Royal palm, 

 Borassus flabelliformis, Pha'nix sylvestris, and the writer has found it 

 in Arenga saccharifera and Elaeis guineensis. Such palms require 

 watching as do the coconuts for signs of the presence of the 

 grubs, because outbreaks may commence in them and spread to 

 the coconut palms. 



Blanford, in an interesting paper on the American Palm Weevil 

 (Kew Bulletin, 1893, p. 37), refers to a very reasonable belief that the 

 period when that insect became a most serious pest in British 

 Honduras began with the giving over to cultivation of ridges where 

 the Attalea palm grew. The Attaleas were felled and left to decay, 

 whereupon the weevils multiplied excessively, and flew when their 

 fo )d on the ridges existed no longer, to the near coconut plantations, 

 doing there very extensive injury. 



As in the case of the felling of the Atiaica palms in Honduras, 

 so now in Malaya during the current vogue of removing coconut 

 palms from among rubber, we have a menace to the coconut plan- 

 tations. A young coconut, such as is so often cut, affords to the palm 

 weevil a splendid breeding ground ; it is nutritious from top to bot- 

 tom, and the beetle is very prompt to take advantage of it. 



This is a fact worth remembrriiig ; and experience lately in 

 Singapore Island has shown that double vigilance in coconut tiee 

 inspection is required, while land owners, of small means and 

 small knowledge, or it may be wantin^4 in public spirit, continue the 

 felling of coconut palms on their properties. 



