507 



and as the beetle cannot breed in unripe berries its reproduction is 

 interrupted for several months. This procedure is usually supple- 

 mented by the collection of all the over-ripe berries that have fallen 

 to the ground. In this case such fallen berries were not worth col- 

 lection, and they were rendered harmless by slightly digging over the 

 whole ground, a procedure that buried and soon rotted them. As the 

 soil under the bushes could not be dug, it was covered with a layer of 

 €arth. Beetles from these buried berries, however, emerged and did 

 much injury by boring into the young berries or the bases of their 

 stems, thus causing considerable damage to the new crop, though the 

 beetle could not breed in them. 



A fungus, Botrytis sp., was noticed in September 1921, and spread 

 to such an extent" that in mid-November large numbers of dead beetles, 

 covered with the white fungus, were seen on the bushes. By the end 

 of the year the plantation was free from infestation. Whereas at the 

 end of the harvest in September about 85 per cent, of the berries were 

 infested, in mid- January 1922 only 0-2 per cent, contained living 

 beetles. Neighbouring estates that had not adopted these measures 

 remained severely infested. For this reason the author believes that 

 while the fungus epidemic was quite a natural one, its extraordinary 

 increase and spread were favoured by the " rampassen " method, and 

 by the burying in the soil of the fallen, blackened coffee berries. The 

 fungus was also favoured by the prevalent rains and by the fact that 

 the coffee plantation was a very shady one. The infection extended 

 to adjoining estates only to a slight extent. 



[N.B.— In this and the following abstracts of papers by Dr. 

 Friederichs use has been made of some MS. notes on these papers re- 

 ceived direct from the author, which contain some information that is 

 not found in the Dutch originals — Ed.\ 



Friederichs (K.). Verslag van den Entomoloog over het Tijdvak 1 

 Augustus 1921 t/m 31 December 1921. [Entomologist's Report 

 from 1st August 1921 to 31st December XmX^^—Meded. van h. 

 Koffiehessenhoeboek-Fonds, Soerahaya, no. 2, June 1922, pp. 21-26. 



Siephanoderes hampei, Ferr., is not affected by stomach poisons 

 because it bores into the berry without feechng ; and its body is well 

 protected against contact poisons. Van Davelaar and Hallauer have 

 recommended a mixture [of 6 parts axle grease and 1 part petroleum] 

 as an asphyxiating compound to be brushed thinly on the berries. If 

 this mixture comes in contact with the berry stems, the berries die and 

 fall off, but this does not occur with a careful application of a coat 

 not thick enough to run. The author believes that this method may be 

 valuable if applied to all young berries during the rainy season, between 

 two harvests, and on all the bushes in a plantation. It is, of course, 

 necessary that all the ripe berries must have been harvested and 

 all blackened berries on the ground must have been removed. The 

 plantation will thus become uninhabitable for 5. hampei. 



Much attention has been given to a fungus infesting this beetle ; 

 the results will be published later. This fungus attacks other insects 

 also. Metarrhizium anisopUae has also proved virulent to 5. hampei. 

 The fungus under investigation seems more common on hybrids and on 

 varieties of Liberia coffee. This and other observations seem to indicate 

 that 5. hampei is less injurious to Liberia coffee than to Coffea robusta. 

 Varieties of coffee that have berries with hard envelopes are stated to 

 be less liable to injury. 



