GEEYBACK CANE BEETLE, LEPIDODEEMA ALBOHIETUM. 7 



year just the sauie. ]\Iany of the principal feediug-trees had been 

 removed subsequently, but JNlr. Paget did not consider that this was 

 responsible for the disappearance of the beetles in his section. He 

 considered the district free from the grub-pest in June, 1899. At the 

 same meeting, E. Swayne (31) said that it had been twenty-five years 

 since the grubs first appeared in ^lackay, and in 1891-2 their numbers 

 were so great that they threatened the stoppage of the industry. During 

 1895 the Agricultural Department voted £1,500 to assist in their destruc- 

 tion. From 1896 to 1899, 50:^ tons of beetles were collected at an expense 

 of £2,6-19 19s. 7d. Even as late as 1909 the Macl-aij Mercury (44) stated 

 that receivers had destroyed 22 tons of grubs in that district ; and in 

 1911 (47) they again collected 22 tons. They give the interesting figures 

 that a ton of beetles is equal to 560,000, since there are about 250 to the 

 pound. 



Moreover, the grubs had become troublesome in a numlier of other 

 sugar-growing districts, both north and south of ]Mackay. In January, 

 1891, Albert Koebele (1) found several species of grubs damaging the 

 •cane-roots in the Clarence and Tweed River districts of New South 

 Wales. He says : — 



''Of these a species of AnoplognatJius, commonly called 'Christmas 

 Beetle, ' was most numerous, and is often ploughed up both in the larva 

 and imago state. Two other species of large Scaraba?id larva were found 

 behind the plough, as well as a species of Hetcronyx, together Avitli larvae 

 and pupa?, no doubt of the same species." 



As a control measure Koebele recommended shaking the beetles from 

 the trees early in the morning, when they could easily be picked up and 

 destroyed. He also says : — 



"They ai-e readily attracted by lights, and may be collected with 

 traps consisting of a l)right light placed over a tin or other vessel about 

 a foot deep by two feet wide, with perpendicular sides and with about 

 two inches of water in the bottom. INIany such simple traps could be 

 placed over the fields in December and January, when the beetles are 

 on the wing. Dark nights are best for attracting insects. Without doubt 

 the presence of toads, if these were introduced, would have a remarkable 

 effect in diminishing the Jiumbers of these as well as many other injurious 

 insects.'' 



In June, 1892, Professor E. M. Shelton (4). of the Agricultural 

 Department, at the suggestion of some of the afflicted growers, wrote 

 Dr. C. V. Riley, Chief of the Division of Entomology, Washington. D.C., 

 as follows : — 



"It has lieen in my mind for some time to write to you concerning 

 an insect which interests Queensland planters in a very practical way 

 and about wliich I hope to interest you. Our plantations, particularly 

 those devoted to the growth of sugar-cane, are just now suffering from 

 the ravages of a dreadful scourge in the shape of a grub, very like the 

 larva of the Lachnosterna fusca of your country. This grub literally 

 swarms in nearly all the canefields the whole length of the Qiueensland 

 coast. I can give you many facts to show the extraordinary voracity of 

 this pest and the extent of its ravages. One planter assured me that 

 upon an estate of 1,000 acres he has 400 acres of cane. Another figures 

 his loss during the past at between £4.000 and £5.000 sterling. Cases of 

 this kind might be multiplied almost indefinitely. 



"I may say that the insect itself is known as Lepidiota squamulata. 

 So far planters are powerless in its presence. The only attempt at 



