26 MONTHLY NOTES ON GRUBS AND OTHER CANE PESTS. 
them. They bear clusters of nuts on the ends of the outermost branches ; 
and these spherical fruits form an important food of the cassowary. 
The tall, straight, light-coloured trunk and broad leaves make the plant 
easy to identify. Other synonyms are Tar-kal and Nappalla. 
As is well known, the leaves of all the species of figs are eaten, and 
I found that the cluster-fig was a favourite, the trees being almost 
defoliated within a week after the first emergence of the beetles. 
As mentioned above, the leaves of the coconut palms were riddled, 
and | found that bananas suffered as badly where the beetles were 
plentiful. Mandarin and orange trees are also attractive, though I 
found no beetles on the rough lemons. 
At one place along the border of the cane I found a clump of white, 
or silver, wattle, with many feeding beetles. These trees are evidently 
very attractive from the fact that I found no beetles on a large figtree 
close by. 
I will be able to add several to this list when I secure names for the 
other feeding-plants that I observed. 
WIREWORMS. 
There is evidence that this pest is doing some damage at Mossman. 
Incidentally, it may be mentioned that this pest is also a native of the 
virgin grass land, and favours low-lying fields. The adult is the common 
snap-beetle, which flips up when placed upon its back. 
I found the cane, in places, covered with a small, dark-coloured 
species, many of them in the act of mating. They were so thick that 
often a dozen could be taken together on a leaf. 
The damage from this pest is principally the destruction of the eyes 
on young sets, resulting in numerous misses. Their work is easy to 
recognise if the injured set is examined carefully. Usually the wire- 
worms eat into the pith at the ends of the set while waiting for the eyes 
to expand. The insects also feed upon the young roots. 
Control measures are most difficult, since the wireworms seem to be 
immune to even the most violent poisons. In practice, cultural methods 
offer the only relief, and even then we must know the life-history of the 
particular species with which we are dealing, so as to plant at a time to 
avoid the larvee. 
It has been found that these insects cannot be starved out, even by 
keeping the ground fallow for a year, and they pay little attention to 
deterrents. They are certainly a pest that will require careful investi- 
gation before we can hope to do much against them. 
I had a brief experience with this pest In Fiji, and I soon saw that 
ordinary control measures were of no avail. Looking up the literature 
on the subject I found that other experimenters had come to the same 
conclusion. 
