HETEBONYCHUS AEATOB. 9 



of this Lamellicorn Division may usually be known at 

 a glance. 



During some correspondence with coffee-planters in 

 Ceylon relatively to prevention of Chafer-attack, I was 

 informed that the nature of the soil (as mentioned above 

 with regard to the S. African Corn Chafer) made a great 

 deal of difference in the amount of attack, and the 

 custom of filling little pits with manure to act as traps 

 was also mentioned. 



Looking at the point that the beetles appear to go 

 down or creep in the surface by day, and come up at 

 night, it would seem that some dressing, such as paraffin 

 and sand, or ashes or dry earth, might be worth trying. 

 A mixture of a quart of paraffin to a bushel of the dry 

 material has been found not to do the slightest harm to 

 tender Hop-shoots sprouting through it, and to prevent 

 Aphides coming up. The smell might be expected to be 

 a great preventive of attack. 



Information is needed as to where the grubs live, 

 whether they are found at the roots of the corn or in 

 manure or decayed vegetable-matter, and specimens also 

 are needed. 



Any information as to whether beetle-attack is worst 

 near woods would be useful, and any notes of experi- 

 ments which may have been tried of result of appli- 

 cation of chemical manures, such as lime, gas-lime, 

 nitrate of soda, sulphate of potash, or sulphate of 

 ammonia, in case these are procurable. 



The same kind of information is also much needed 

 regarding the two following " Corn Chafer " attacks, 

 namely, those of the Pentodon nireus and P. contractus, 

 and it may be remarked in passing, that it would be an 

 immense help to all concerned to have information as to 

 what generally intelligible name might be adopted for 

 the crop-pests, such as has been given in the case of the 

 " Keever Beetle." 



