8 AUSTEALIAN SUGARCANE BEETLES AND THEfR ALLIES. 



circumventing it is made hy liand-i)icking. Tn the Sonth Sea Islands a 

 boy^ follows every plow with a four-quart tin pail, and very frequently 

 he is able to fill this pail in going across a small field. The travelling 

 inspector of the Colonial Sugar Kefining Company tells me that upon 

 one of their plantations they have during the past season pii-ked of these 

 grubs no less than 700 pounds weight from a single acre. You do things 

 in a large way in America, but can you beat this!? 



"I have recommended the planters to try kainit, which I see referred 

 to in Insect Life as having been useful in the case of cutworms and other 

 underground larva, but so far the kaiiiit has not the slightest infiuence 

 in checking the ravages of this grub. Can you suggest anything in the 

 way of a remedy? If you can only give us a hint in this direction that 

 is at all workable I can promise you that your reputation in Australia, 

 great as it now is, would be made so far as we could make it. I notice 

 in one of the American papers a statement to the effect that a FreuL-h 

 company is sending out hermetically sealed vials containing a fungus 

 which is said to be most destructive to larva? like the one under considera- 

 tion. Do you know anything about it?" 



In reply Dr. Riley wrote : — 



''The insect which you report as so seriously aff'ecting sugar-cane 

 plantations on the Queensland coast is, from the very nature of the case. 

 as you will readily see, a most difficult one to counteract. The oci-urrence 

 of this insect and its work have never been brought to my attention and 

 its habits in the imago state are altogether unknown to me, though I 

 doubt not similar to various American Lachnosternas. Tn this country, 

 particularly here in AVashington, we have very successfully treated lawns 

 infested with white grub hy soaking the ground with kerosene emulsion, 

 as descril)ed in the first volume of Insect Life on ])age 48, and I believe 

 that this will perhaps prove to be tlie only practical remedy against your 

 insect. The emulsion of kerosene could be distributed by means of some 

 of the injecting devices manufactured in France for use in disinfecting 

 vineyards of the Phylloxera with bisulphide of carbon, and this latter 

 substance, too, would be an effective remedy against the grub were it not 

 for the expense of applying it on so large a scale. The expense of the 

 application would also be a great obstacle to the use of kerosene emulsion, 

 though this last would be much cheaper than the bisulphide. At this 

 distance and in entire ignorance of the habits of the adult insect, I can 

 give you no further advice as to the best remedies. It is possible 

 that the food-habits of the adult insect will furnish a more easy and 

 practical, not to say cheaper, method of controlling it. Tliis would be 

 the case if the beetle is known to feed on any plant which could be sprayed 

 with Paris green or London purple. I should be glad to get specimens 

 of the insect in all stages, and also, if you can furnish it, a full account 

 of its habits in other than the larva state. 



"With regard to the White Grub fungus which the French firms are 

 advertising. I have no confidence whatever in it. I have experimented 

 with it and believe that the results have been generally overstated and 

 that the fungus is being pushed merely as a speculation." 



During the Agricultural Conference held at Alackay on the 23rd 

 and 24th September, 1892, Mr. R. E. Turner (6) delivered a most 

 instructive address on the subject of "Insect Pests," dealing primaril.v 



■■ Obviously there is a mistake here, and what is probably meant is that ' ' a South 

 Sea Island boy follows the plow" in Queensland. 



