FAMILY SCARABAEIDAE 89 



sume the roots of seedling plants. Mr. C. B. Dawson, District Forest 

 Officer, Kistna, reports that the large grubs feed upon young casuarina 

 seedlings, being attracted to them owing to the moisture in the sand in 

 which they are planted. These young seedlings are watered whilst in the 

 nurseries, and thus the moist layer of sand filled with the young roots 

 would quickly attract grubs of this kind. It is not known whether the 

 beetles lay their eggs in the nurseries, but as the eggs are laid in the soil 

 as well as in the refuse-heaps in the palm topes it is not improbable. 



In some parts of the country the beetle appears as early as March,. 

 and may even leave the soil in the latter part of October. Larvae are also' 

 to be found at other times in Madras. 



Ranger P. V. Modiliar, in charge of the Coast Range, Nellore Division, 

 took a number of the grubs, some full-grown, others partly grown only. 

 They were feeding on the roots of young casuarina and Pithecolobiuni dulce 

 in the plantations. The grubs cut through the roots just below the surface 

 level, thus killing the young plants. 



The grubs are also present in older plantations. 



The beetle is a serious pest in palm topes. It bores into the soft 

 parenchyma of the top of the growing shoot of the trees, burrowing down- 

 wards through the folded leaves, which on opening out show tattered holes 

 w^here the beetle has pierced them in tunnelling. In this way the bud is 

 often killed and the palm dies. 



The following are remedies which have been already recommended 



for trial : — 

 Protection and it 1 u j. r n ^1 



Remedies. Lmploy boys or women to remove carefully the 



soil round seedlings which are seen to be wilting, and 



take out and kill the fat grubs found at the roots. This should be done 



when seedlings are seen to be dying off in any considerable number, even at 



the expense of killing adjacent young plants by thus disturbing their root 



system. The grubs move from one plant to another, and one grub may 



thus destroy a number of seedlings. 



2. If feasible, a simple and effective plan is to flood the plantation for 

 a few hours so as to drown all the grubs in the soil. Those that come up to 

 the surface should be collected and killed. 



3. Remove all diseased, dead, and decaying date and coco-nut palms in 

 the vicinity of nurseries and young plantations. Also — and this is an 

 important point — all refuse-heaps of rotting vegetation, etc. If, in the- 

 formation of the nursery, special soil-pits of manure, litter, and leaves are 

 prepared, they should be carefully inspected for these grubs, as the beetles 

 will be certain to lay in such places. A good instance of this kind of 

 danger was noticed in a Calcutta garden in June 1903. The heap of rich soil 

 and humus used for manuring the flower-beds contained numbers of the 

 larvae of this insect which were spreading from them into the beds of 

 young seedlings, whose roots they were devouring. There were palm-trees- 

 close by. 



