522 



KicHARDS (P. B.). The History and Present Position of White Ant 

 Treatment in Malaya. — Agric. Bull. Fed. Malay States, Kuala 

 Lumpur, v, no. 8-9. May-June 1917, pp. 338-348. [Received 

 24th September 1917.] 



This paper discusses the history of combating Coptotermes {Termes) 

 (/estroi in Malaya. The first record of injury by termites in the 

 Peninsula was made in 1895, when it was thought that these insects, 

 merely removed dead tissue from diseased trees, without causing any 

 active injury. The species thus referred to was probably not C. gestroi, 

 which could not at that time have attained much economic importance 

 or its habit of attacking living trees would have been observed. Many 

 efforts towards the prevention and cure of the attacks of C. gestroi 

 were subsequently made, but without the requisite knowledge of the 

 life-history of the species. In 1908 an important step was taken in 

 the discovery that C. gestroi attacks dead as well as living wood. 

 Trenching, digging, poisoning, fumigating, tracing the runways and 

 numerous other measures were tried and found incapable of eradicating 

 the pest. Fumigation was the best palliative and is still considered 

 an efficient accessory method of control, but in 1915 the author was. 

 driven to the conclusion that the only safe preventive and remedial 

 treatment was absolutely clean clearing. This method was tried on a 

 plantation suffering from a particularly heavy infestation. Surface 

 timber was destroyed, stumps were blasted and removed, while buried 

 logs were prospected for with probes, dug out and burnt. The result 

 was excellent, the termites that had previously caused a mortality 

 up to 75 per cent, among 18-month-Gld rubber being completely 

 eradicated. This method naturally involves considerable expenditure,, 

 which the author considers justified in view of the value of the crop. 

 Since the mode of attack of certain fungi emanating from decaying 

 timber upon the roots of rubber has been understood, the importance 

 of this treatment has been emphasised, and the practice is gradually 

 gaining ground. The same arguments for complete clearing apply to- 

 coconut cultivation, beetle-grub attacks in the rotting wood replacing 

 fungoid diseases. The solution of the problem of the best and 

 cheapest method of clearing land of undesired timber rests with the 

 practical planter. 



South (F. W.). Application of the Agricultural Pests Enactment. — 

 Agric. Bull. Fed. Malay States, Kuala Lumpur, v, no. 8-9, May- 

 June 1917, pp. 349-357. [Received 24th September 1917.] 



Since the passing of the Agricultural Pests Enactment in 1913, 

 prohibiting the introduction into the Federated Malay States of any 

 plant or animal or other matter lil^ely to harbour a pest [see this 

 Review, Ser. A, ii, pp. 391, 479], routine work such as is required by 

 the inspecting officers has been regularly and efficiently carried out. 

 Coconut inspection work has resulted in a great diminution of the 

 damage caused by the coconut beetle [Oryctes\ During 1915 there 

 were a few serious beetle outbreaks in certain localities ; in 1916 no 

 serious infestations were recorded and during the present year the 

 trees in previously infested districts have been free from beetles for 

 over a year and have much improved in consequence. The work of 



