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fly is usually seen on fallen nuts lying under the trees. What 
I considered their eggs were found by thousands beneath the 
scales at the base of immature coconuts lying on the ground, 
that had fallen off accidentally by the wind, or had been par- 
tially eaten by the flying fox, which damages the young nuts 
on the trees a good deal. I also found very numerous small 
pink maggots feeding in the decaying husk of similar nuts 
lying on the ground, which I took to be the maggots of this 
fly. However, these conclusions are not to be given too much 
importance. Further observations are necessary to fully learn 
the life history and habits of the fly and its exact relations to 
coconuts. 
Termites. 
A species of termite that is very abundant in the forests of 
Samoa, builds large, black, rough-surfaced nests on the trunks 
of trees from one to ten feet or more from the ground. They 
feed in the trunks, also build narrow covered runs about on the 
surface of the tree trunk, often extending to a considerable 
elevation in the tree. Beneath these runs the termites feed on 
the bark. 
Coconut trunks frequently bear these termite nests. A favorite 
position for the nest being at one of the numerous notches that 
have been cut into the trunks by the natives to facilitate climb- 
ing the trees for the nuts. Besides providing a place for the 
entrance of termites to the trunk, these notches also present 
opportunities for decay to set in which diminishes the produc- 
tivity of the tree and shortens its life. This phase of it is prob- 
ably more detrimental than the injury by the termites, and it 
seems to me that this practice of notching the trees should be 
discouraged. 
BANANA PESTS. 
Cosmopolites sordidus (Germ.). 
The banana weevil was found in a number of places. Per- 
haps it has only lately become established and not yet generally 
spread. The larva of this beetle is a fat, white, legless grub 
which bores in the corm and base of banana stems. The adult 
is a black snout-beetle and may be found in the same places 
