110 On the Cnffer-horer 



prove interesting to the planter as well as to the ento- 

 mologist. 



In my description of the cotfee-beetle^ I should have 

 added a few more characteristic traits of the destructive 

 operations of the Borer, and a few touches on the organ- 

 ization and habits of the beetle. 



On examining since a number of destroyed coffee- trees, 

 green and dry and of various ages, in company with some 

 planters, we elucidated these facts, and the accompanying- 

 sections of stems afford the proof. 



Sections 6 and 7 are of a one-year old tree from an 

 originally large plant, the diameter at the botom is one 

 inch. The Borer penetrated just above the root, worked 

 horizontally all round, leaving only a few fibres of wood 

 near the centre and the bark all round, and then ascended 

 sideways and upwards through the heart-wood for eight 

 inches, when I discovered the Borer and stopped its 

 progress. A slight shake was sufficient to break off* 

 the tree. On a young estate of one yearns growth near 

 Mercara, thousands of trees have thus been attacked and 

 killed. 



Sections 4 and 5 belong to a tree of four years' growth, 

 and two and a half inches in diameter. The saw-cut is 

 made just under the first pair of primary roots, and it 

 shows a perpendicular burrow which reaches still further 

 into the cut-off" taproot. There are side passages open- 

 ing outside the bark, and one cuts clear of the primary 

 root. In this stem the Borer had not ascended beyond 

 two inches above ground, the wood above is intact, but 

 still the tree could not live. A pull and a wrench snap- 

 ped it off' above the root. 



Section 8, of a tree two and a half inches in diameter, 

 and four years old, shows the horizontal windings and 

 the cross cutting power of the Borer. The cut is nine 

 inches above the ground, but the lower part down to the 

 root is eaten through. There is only three-eighths of an 

 inch of wood left on one side holding the severed stem 

 together, and a slight shake knocked the tree over. 



Sections 1, 2, and 3 belong to five-year old trees, 

 and clearly exhibit the fantastical intricate confusion of 

 tunnelling by a multitude of Borers, which, however 

 closely approaching, keep their burrows distinctly sepa- 

 rate from each other. In all the above sections the 

 interior passages, except the portion near the orifice, are 

 closely packed with the woody excrements of the Borer. 

 On the bark we observe numerous round open holes of 



