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while at night or in the early part of the evening they may be seen 

 hovering over the canes. The life cycle is completed within forty-eight 

 to fifty-six days, this time being divided as follows : 



Days. 



Egg 8 to 9 



Larva _ _ _ 82 to 35 



Pupa _ _ 8 to 12 



To be added to this, however, are the few days (five to ten) which 

 the moths spend in mating and laying their eggs. 



Canes attacked by this insect may be recognized from a tendency of 

 the leaves to become '^Dunchy" at the apex of the stalk; on account of 

 the shortening of the joints, the leaves and shoots often have a fan-like 

 appearance. These very conspicuous canes should be cut out both as a 

 remedial measure against the pest and because the sugar content of the 

 affected canes is greatly reduced by the strain of producing an abnormal 

 number of sucker-like shoots. These tops can be fed to cattle and in 

 this way there is little or no loss to the fields. 



These moths are attracted to strong lights and may be destroyed in 

 large numbers by the same method as that recommended for trapping 

 the root beetle. 



Leaf louse {Oregma lanigera. Aphidae). — This insect, although of 

 general distribution, is of comparatively little importance as a cane 

 pest in the Philippines. Cane leaves attacked by this louse have the 

 appearance of being covered with a white cottony substance. It would 

 seem that only weak plants are attacked by this pest though it might, 

 under favorable conditions, spread extensively and cause considerable 

 damage. Canes infested with this insect sooner or later turn yellow, 

 and of course, do not contain the normal amount of sugar. A large 

 species of Coccinellidae feeds upon these insects and it is not uncommon 

 to find a large percentage of a colony destroyed by this beetle. 



Cane fly {Phenice moesta Westw. Fulgoridae). — These small black- 

 and-white insects are not flies, but belong to the family of bugs and are 

 related to the famous lantern-flies of tropical America and to the leaf- 

 hopper which does such extensive damage in Hawaii. In the Philip- 

 pines they seem to be of local distribution and of little economic im- 

 portance. However, large colonies are sometimes found on single plants 

 or over a limited area of a plantation. 



If present in large enough numbers to warrant, a weak spray of 

 kerosene emulsion would probably sufiice to exterminate the pest. 



It is not improbable that there are other pests than those above men- 

 tioned which attack sugar cane in the Philippines, yet if such are present 

 they are of minor importance as evidenced by the fact that during the 

 past decade this Bureau has not had its attention called thereto. 



