Mr. Ramakrishna 
Ayyar. 
Mr. Fletcher. 
Mr. Ramakrishna 
Ayyar. 
Mr. Fletcher. 
260 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SECOND ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 
provide a suitable breeding-place for the grubs; and in such cireums- 
tances it is also possible that the spores of the ae may be carried 
to healthy trees by beetles which have flown from diseased trees either 
after ovipositing there or on first emergence from the pupal state. In 
some places, such as Samoa, where Oryctes is a pest, small enclosures 
are built up of coral rock in the coconut plantations and these enclosures 
are filled with decaying coconut husks and similar material to act as 
traps for the grubs ; this material may then be infected with a culture 
fatal to the grubs cr may simply be turned out regularly and the grubs 
destroyed. But there is a danger that, if this destruction is not done 
regularly and systematically, such enclosures would simply form 
breeding-centres for the beetles. In districts where pigs are kept, 
these animals will also keep down the grubs if allowed to rout about 
in the piles of decaying vegetable matter. The beetles themselves 
may be extracted from their burrows in the trees by means of a barbed 
wire. In some districts a mixture of salt and sand is placed in the 
crowns of the trees and this is said to be effective, as is also the fermented 
liquor method as described in my book. 
Aularches miliaris [‘‘ South Indian Insects,” p. 526, fig. 418] occa- 
sionally occurs on coconut but is not a pest as a rule. 
Stephanitis sp. occurs in small numbers on coconut leaves. I have 
seen it at Coimbatore but never in any numbers. The species has not 
been identified. It may be S. typicus. 
I have once seen it at Coimbatore but it was not doing much damage. 
Aspidiotus destructor [“ South Indian Insects,” p. 518, fig. 408] 
occurs throughout the Plains of Southern India and probably through- 
out our limits. It is often found in very large numbers, literally covering 
the leaves, when the vitality of the tree is obviously lowered. 
At Coimbatore Aspidiotus destructor sometimes occurs on coconut 
in destructive numbers. 
Control is difficult. It is not possible to cut and burn all the branches 
of a tree and, short of that, little can be done in the case of a really bad 
attack. Spraying is rather outside practical politics in the case of 
coconut palms. 
Vinsonia stellifera is a very widely distributed Scale-insect, recorded 
from the West Indies, Central and South America, California and Ceylon, 
and found on orchids, ferns, guava, mango, nutmeg, etc. It is found 
at times on coconut, sometimes in numbers, but is hardly a serious pest 
as a rule, 
