60 PARA RUBBER. 



stage that a particular insect is most destructive. It will, how- 

 ever, be readily recognised that where a butterfly, moth, or 

 beetle is known to be the parent of a troublesome grub every 

 possible means should be employed to destroy it. In the same 

 way by studying the life-history of a destructive insect it is 

 sometimes possible to check its ravages by destroying its eggs. 

 Night-flying moths and beetles may be trapped by placing 

 vessels containing thick sweetened matter such as molasses near 

 lights. Many boring beetles may be trapped in this way. 



Termites " White ants" ( Termes gestroi, Wasm.). Although 

 termites have proved destructive to Hevea in the Malay 

 Peninsula and in India, it is reported that they have never been 

 known to attack this tree in Ceylon unless it had been previously 

 debilitated by a fungus or some other factor. 



The manager of the Government rubber plantation, Mergui, 

 reports that he had three trees, i to 2 feet in girth, dug up, 

 on which the termites had just begun operations. The roots 

 and trunks appeared perfectly sound, but the bark at the base 

 and on about \\ foot of the portion underground was perforated 

 by the ants. In one tree attacked by white ants, having a 

 circumference of 3 feet 6 inches, measured 3 feet from the ground, 

 he collected 6 Ibs. of rubber, apparently the result of the ants' 

 attacks. The trunk of this tree was hollowed out to a height of 

 7 feet. The same observer states : " Termes gestroi seldom 

 attack a Hevea under four years of age and I have never seen a 

 tree under two years of age attacked." 



White ants can be effectively exterminated by inserting 

 carbon disulphide into their underground nests. This chemical 

 is exceedingly volatile, and the fumes which it gives off are of a 

 highly inflammable nature. Many shipping companies object to 

 handle it, and consequently it is very expensive. An illustra- 

 tion of an apparatus which is reported to have given general 

 satisfaction in the extermination of white ants in South Africa 

 is given (Fig. 5). It is placed on the market by Messrs P. 

 Henwood, Son, Soutter, & Co., Durban, under the name of 

 the " Universal Ant Destroyer." It consists of an air-pump 

 connected by a length of rubber hose with a small furnace. 

 Glowing charcoal is placed in the latter, and a spoonful or so 

 of the mixture (stated by Green to consist of white arsenic 85 

 per cent, and sulphur 1 5 per cent.) supplied with the apparatus, 



