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tiling I am certain of, and that is that they are identical with, the 

 creature that is destroying our rubber trees ... I feel certain 

 that I shall almost exterminate these insects on my estates." 



In the light of present knowledge it is obvious that to whatever 

 else species the queens belonged which were dug out of the mounds, 

 they were not Termes gestroi, and that not by this method was 

 there any hope of protecting the rubber trees. 



In November, 1901, Ridley, writing upon a recent visit to 

 Selangor, expressed his admiration of the splendid coffee and Para 

 rubber trees he saw, but " the drawback was the white ant pest, 

 and it was truly grievous to see fine four-year old Para rubber 

 trees killed by their attacks." Suspecting fungus disease in addition 

 to termites, several trees were pulled up and their roots examined. 

 On one a fungus was found and identified as Helicohasidium sp. 

 Ridley observed " I am aware I am on debatable ground as to 

 whether the particular tree I examined which had fungus at its roots 

 was killed by that fungus or by white ants or by both . . . My 

 own theory is that in this particular instance the fungus was the 

 cause." 



In a letter from Lanadron in December, 1901, Francis Pears 

 wrote : " The age of my trees is from 2|. years downwards and as yet 

 I have not had a single established plant destroyed by white ants, 

 although certain portions of the estate contain numerous ant heaps 

 such as Mr. Bailey describes ; on one ten-acre block as many as two 

 hundred. This, Sir, may slightly bear out your theory that a fungus 

 is principally instrumental in destroying the trees in Selangor." 



I believe I am correct in saying that Lanadron was clean cleared 

 of timber before planting. What an epoch making letter that would 

 have been if Pears had deduced the true reason of his freedom from 

 white ant attack, that the absence of timber precluded the possibility 

 of attack by Termes gestroi. 



E. Y. Carey in March, 1902, gave what should have been the 

 death blow to the system of desti^oying queens from mounds. He 

 described how, having in the pre-rubber days paid out considerable 

 sums in rewai-ds for queens because Termes gestroi was attacking 

 the coffee, he submitted some specimens to E. E. Grreen in Ceylon, 

 who, of course, told him that he was catching the wrong species. 

 Later, when Para, rambong, and coconut were attacked " roots 

 were bared and kept open to the air, painted with tar, washed 

 with Bordeaux mixture, solution of tuba root, sweet flag, Jeyes 

 disinfectant, etc.," without success. Then Bailey of Lowlands tried 

 another method which had met with such " unqualified success " 

 that Carey ascribed to him the credit " of having put us all on the 

 right track." The method was a thorough digging over of the whole 

 attacked area. Carey recommended a modification, contenting him- 

 self with digging from attacked trees, 2| to 3 feet deep for a distance 



