COCONUT PLANTER'S MANUAL. 4G 



Damage done by the Caterpillars- — If the first brood of caterpillars 

 has been a small one, it usually happens that only a few of the lowei 

 fronds on a few palms are slightly attacked and show small brown 

 patches. In such cases the damage may not be noticed, or if it is 

 noticed, the planter decides that no great harm has been done, and 

 hopes that the pest will disappear. It is true that the pest does some- 

 times die off without doing much damage, which may mean that the 

 caterpillars and cocoons have been destroyed by their natural enemies, 

 such as parasites. At other times, if these parasites are not suffi- 

 ciently numerous to check the caterpillars, it may happen that most 

 of the first brood of caterpillars will develop into moths. These 

 moths may spread over a wider area, and lay their eggs for a second 

 brood of caterpillars. This brood is usually much larger than the first, 

 and within a short time the planter finds that the attack has spread 

 over, perhaps, 4 or 5 acres, and that the lower leaves of the palms 

 originally attacked are beginning to turn a greyish-brown colour and 

 die off*. Unless control measures are taken at this stage, the pest will 

 be liable to increase very rapidly, and will attack thousands of trees 

 over large areas. All the lower fronds rapidly turn grey and dry up, 

 and are no longer of any use to the palms. The nuts .may also be 

 attacked, and young nuts may fall as the result of caterpillar injury. 

 Palms which have been weakened previously by coconut beetles, by 

 diseases, or by starvation and neglect, may die after a bad attack of 

 caterpillar, but palms which are usually kept healthy and well nour- 

 ished recover rapidly from a caterpillar attack. 



Food Plants. — Besides attacking the coconut palm, the cater- 

 pillars also feed on palmyra leaves, especially on the younger palms 

 sometimes found along the road-sides, on cultivated lands, and on 

 coconut areas. All infested leaves should be cut and burnt, otherwise 

 the pest will continue to breed on the palmyras after the coconut 

 palms have been treated, and will attack adjacent coconut palms later. 

 The coconut caterpillars are also found sometimes on ornamental 

 palms in bungalow gardens. If the attack is only a slight one and on 

 small palms, the caterpillars can be destroyed by rubbing off the webbed 

 galleries with a rough cloth. Badly attacked leaves should be cut and 

 burnt. 



Control Measures. 

 Cutting and Burning of Leaves. — As soon as the first signs of the 

 caterpillars are noticed on a coconut area, it is important that prompt 



