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widely distributed bud-rot, which according to Macrae is chiefly 

 spread in Madras by palm climbers and to a less extent by palm weevils 

 and rhinoceros beetles, and occasionally by the wind and by birds. 

 The destruction of coconut beetles is one of the methods of restricting 

 the spread of the disease ; the ruthless burning of all infected trees 

 appears to be the only satisfactory remedy. 



Orijctes rhinoceros, which is one of the most serious coconut pests, 

 ranges from India to the Dutch Indies and the Philippines and is 

 represented in Africa by a number of related species having the same 

 habits. 0. atigias, 01., 0. colonmis, Coq., 0. insularis, Coq., 0. pyrrhus, 

 Biirm., O. ranavalo, Coq., and 0. sinnar, Coq., occur in Madagascar; 

 0. boas, ¥., 0. monoceros, 01., and 0. cristatus, Snell., in East Africa ; 

 and 0. prcussi, Kolbe, in New Guinea. The rhinoceros beetle has na 

 immediate relative dangerous to the coconut in the American tropics, 

 although ail American species of Orycfes attacks another palm. 

 ,0. rhinoceros attacks several other palms as well as the coconut, 

 including Elaeis (oil palm), Borassus (Palmyra palm), Roystonia (royal 

 palm), Nifa, Corypha, and perhaps Areca (betel palm). Systematic 

 catching of these beetles has been practised for miiny years in the 

 Federated Malay States and in Ceylon, and the Straits Ordinance 

 No. IV. of 1890 on the subject is given in extenso. 



The red weevil, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus, 01., and its larva is 

 described and figured. It is stated that the palms become susceptible 

 to attack when mechanically injured or burned by man, when previously 

 attacked by other insects, or when damaged by storms. The cuttin^^ 

 away of all dead matter from the crown and all -hanging leaves, which 

 was formerly practised, is now recognised to have been a costly mistake, 

 as the resulting wounds provide further opportunities of oviposition 

 for the beetles. Orycfes can enter a soand tree, while Rhynchojihorus 

 cannot, hence injury by the former assists attack by the latter and 

 therefore the destruction of Oryctes is an excellent preventive measure 

 against Rhynchophorus. The method of scorching for bud-rot, as 

 practised in Cuba, is regarded as likely to favour the increase of 

 R. palmarum, L. Grass fires in the plantations in the Philippines 

 have been observed to be followed by an increase of these weevils, and 

 in one plantation every tree scorched by the fire was dying at the end 

 of eight months from beetle attack. Destruction of attacked trees 

 is strongly recommended, as they only serve as centres of infection if 

 left standing ; burying is unsafe against Oryctes, and submergence, 

 though preventing oviposition, will not always prevent the escape of 

 mature beetles. Traps of infested wood from which the beetles have 

 been removed, or freshly cut and split pieces of palm wood, are used 

 with success as traps in tropical America. In British Honduras, 

 according to Leay, the " salt water pimento " is used as a trap ; this 

 is cut off just above the cabbage and a hole is cut in the latter into 

 which the beetles creep ; such a trap will last a week or two and should 

 then be destroyed. Examples of R. palmarum are said to fly three or 

 four miles in search of a sickly tree or one just beginning to bear, 

 though this is on the whole a less serious pest than R. ferrugineus. 



Among minor pests are the following weevils. In the Phihppines a 

 species of Cercidocems [erroneously identified by C. S. Banks as a 

 Cyrtotrachelus (Phil. Jl. Sci. i, pt. 1, 1906, p. 161)], a common enemy of 

 the betel-nut palm, sometimes attacks sound or at least apparently 



