183 



in a cell composed of frass and minute particles of tobacco, eleven 

 days being passed in the pupal stage. The adult beetles are small 

 and active, especially in the afternoon and at night, and are 

 attracted by lights. The insect does not feed during the adult stage, 

 the perforations in cigars being made by the emerging adults. 



The fluctuation in the numbers from year to year seems to be 

 influenced by the amount of rain during the growing season. When 

 this has been wet, the leaves are thin and silky and a considerable 

 percentage of their natural resins have been washed away. After a 

 very dry season the crop is rich in natural resins, the stickiness of the 

 leaves being more pronounced, and this acts as a mild repellent. 



Since the beetle attacks the leaf soon after it has been harvested, it 

 is present in the tobacco before it is baled, and, being baled with it, is 

 widely distributed, each factory receiving a new infestation with every 

 bale received. The damage done depends entirely on the length of 

 time that elapses before the baled tobacco is used. Theoretically it 

 should be possible to control the pest either in the baled tobacco, or in 

 the finished cigar, but in practice the former method is impossible, as 

 the beetles are constantly flying and breeding in the factories, which 

 are so constructed as to render their extermination impracticable. 



It is known that the beetle cannot enter boxed cigars as prepared for 

 the market, hence it can be controlled with certainty by treating the 

 finished cigars. The method successfully employed consists in 

 fumigating the cigars when packed in boxes, with carbon bisulphide in 

 a vacuum. The container, which can hold 40,000 cigars at once, is 

 partly exhausted, causing the distension of the beetles in whatever 

 stage they may be. On opening the generator the gas rushes in, 

 penetrating to the smallest interstices of the cigars and permeating 

 the organism, whether egg, larva, j)^ipa or adult. Exposure for one 

 horn" to the gas at the rate of one pound carbon bisulphide per 150 

 cubic feet has been found sufficient for all purposes, the gas being 

 pumped out and the chamber filled with air before removing the 

 cigars. In the case of baled tobacco it is better to allow the gas to 

 remain instead of pumping it out. 



Damage to baled tobacco might also be greatly reduced by packing 

 up the bales in coarse cotton cloth, on which the beetles find it difficult 

 to walk, instead of in the usual loose banana plait. 



Wester (P. J ). A Possible Factor in Coconut-beetle Control. — 



Philippine Agric. Revieiv, Manila, x, no. 3, 1917, pp. 299-300. 

 [Received 2nd March 1918.] 



A natural enemy of the coconut beetle [Oryctes] in the Philippines 

 has been found by Mr. F. Warner in the island of Bohol. This is a 

 flying lemur, Galeopithecus sp., which has been domesticated by the 

 FiHpinos, and bred, partly for the value of its skin, which is used for 

 the making of hats, and partly for catching coconut beetles. This 

 small animal is insectivorous and harmless, the only vegetation eaten 

 by it being the leaves of the jak, Artocarpus mtegrifolia. Nothing is 

 known of its breeding habits. Its flesh is said to be poisonous, which 

 renders it unlikely to have many natural enemies, so that if it can 

 be multiplied rapidly and if, as reported, it is of a non-roving 

 disposition, it should prove of value in the control of the beetle. 



