315 



P. fuscala lays its eggs in rows ; generally only two rows are laid and 

 these almost always on the midrib of the leaf. No long cuts are made 

 in the epidermis as in the case of Lawana, but one puncture for each. 

 egg, which is closed in much the same way by an overgrowth of the 

 plant tissue. Larvae were difficult to find, but like those of the other 

 species, are covered with a white waxy material. The differences 

 between the larvae of the two species are described and care is required 

 to distinguish between them. From one specimen of Laivana a parasitic 

 hymenopteron was reared, and in one case the Pyrrhocorid bug, 

 Dindymus rubiginosus, F., was observed sucking a full-grown Lawana. 

 Neither species appears to have any insect enemy of importance, but 

 the numbers of L. Candida are largely reduced by a fungus of the family 

 Entomophthoraceae which thrives under the moist conditions afforded 

 by the west monsoon ; the fungus spreads so rapidly that the insects 

 are killed in situ, and their bodies completely covered by it ; it is 

 suggested that the planters should cultivate the fungus and maintain 

 a supply of it, so that as soon as the pests appear they may be infected. 

 No fungus disease or parasites of Pochazia were discovered. The 

 ■damage done results in a diminution of the coft'ee crops and is, according 

 to the planters, serious, but young plants seem to be able to bear a 

 heavy attack by Laivana without suffering greatly, and the author 

 failed to connect the precise statements of loss made to him with the 

 insects. He states that, in his opinion, miUions may attack a plantation 

 without doing much harm, because, so far as his information and the 

 results of experiments go, the period from newly hatched larva to 

 perfect insect is at least 6 weeks, and possibly double this time, and 

 this slow development carries with it the inference that the quantity 

 of sap required for nourishment is very small, and it is hardly probable 

 that the saliva injected into the minute wounds made can have any 

 injurious effect on the trees. 



Keuchenius (P. E.). Een Nieuwe Klapperplaag. [A New Coconut 

 Pest.]— Mef/ec/. Besoekisch Proefst., [Djember], no. 13, 1914, 

 pp. 11-20, 1 pi. [Received 3rd March 1915.] 



In the course of 1913, complaints were received of a pest which was 

 doing serious damage in coconut plantations by causing the flower 

 buds to abort. When an attacked bud was opened a number of insects 

 were often found in it, but a caterpillar appeared to be the real cause 

 of the damage. An attack by caterpillars of this kind being entirely 

 new to the planters, the matter was investigated, and the pest fomid 

 to be especially active on two adjacent estates between 500 and 700 

 feet above sea-level. The caterpillars were bred out and found to be 

 those of a Pyralid, Melissoblaptes nifovenalis, Snellen. The sexes, which 

 differ both in form and colour, are described. The pupa is contained 

 in a cocoon of brown silk, intermixed with excrement and fragments 

 of flowers, and is difficult to distinguish from its surroundings. As soon 

 as the flower sheath opens the young caterpillars become visible. They 

 bore into both the male and female flowers and eat out the stamens 

 and ovary ; the hard scaly leaves are left, and when one flower has 

 been destroyed they travel to others and repeat the operation. It is 

 obvious from the nature of the attack that the effect of the pest on 

 the yield of copra is most serious. In some cases very young nuts were 



