magnificent cocoons, is stated to be much less destructive than the other 

 two borers, and is considered to follow them, Mr. Everard Im-Thurra, the 

 Curator of the Britisli Guiana Museum, George Town, writes me, "The 

 moth and the small weevil attack the canes first ; the former the young 

 canes, the latter the older canes ; and if I am not mistaken it is only after 

 these two have weakened the canes that the C.2)almarum enters, and finally 

 destroys the whole inside of the stem." 



Other " borers" may exist, but these are the chief ones, and have been 

 causing serious damage, their especial presence in this season conjecturally 

 arising from, or being ascribed to, the use of strong chemical manures, and 

 the long droughts and hot weather which have, as one of their effects, in 

 great part driven from the fields the enormous multitudes of ants which 

 are in ordinary seasons attracted by the dew in the hollow between the 

 cane-leaf and its stem, and carry off the eggs and young larvte of the 

 borers. It has been well suggested by one of the .chief planters in 

 Demerara that as drought appears to be the cause of the trouble it would 

 be well to join together and arrange the methods of irrigation, so as to keep 

 the canals and small drains supplied, and thus guard against the natural 

 enemies of the borers being driven away. Experiments were also being 

 tried as to the efficacy of steeping suspected cane-cuttings in water for 

 forty-eight hours. This, it was considered by the manager of the plantation 

 on which it was being tried, killed the larva without injuring the cane, and 

 the obvious remedies of destroying cane-rub'bish, and the larvfe, as far as 

 they could be reached, were also being practised. A circular has also been 

 addressed to the planters requesting information, the points required being 

 carefully specified, and also giving these suggestions. 



On being applied to by the Colonial Company, and by Mr. Walker, 

 late Assistant Secretary and Lieutenant-Governor of the Colony, on 

 the subject, I suggested — instead of using water as a steep, which 

 possibly would only temporarily stupify the grubs — that the mixture 

 mentioned at p. 13 of the ' Second Annual Report of the Queensland 

 Board' might be found serviceable. This consists of common carbolic 

 acid and water (the proper strength not yet decided, but 1 ft. of acid to 

 100 gallons of water recommended). This mixture, under the name of 

 "phfenique," is used (the proportion not given) in the Mauritius, the canes 

 being steeped in it for ten to twelve hours, and it is stated to be an 

 infallible remedy for the " Poa blane" of that island; in Queensland 

 Dr. Bancroft mentions steeping the canes for twenty-four hours without 

 injury to the plant. Looking to the apparent attraction by scent, and also 

 to the fact that the young canes were a special subject of attack, and to the 

 known powers of spirit of tar as a deterrent, 1 suggested that this might be 

 mixed with earth or ashes and used as a dressing, or "soluble phenyle" — 

 which I have been experimenting very much with and found very useful 



