neio Insect Pest at Madeira. 335 



In the Instance to which I am alluding It is the various 

 species of banana which have been permanently attacked ; 

 and although it may seem at first sight that no great loss 

 would accrue were the banana to be ultimately swept away, 

 yet those who know Madeira best will at once acknowledge that 

 a very serious item of profit would be taken from the poorer 

 inhabitants should the plant (under its numerous modifications 

 ahd varieties) ever become extinct. 



It is a beetle of the llhynchophorous department (in other 

 words, a weevil) which has found its way during the last few 

 years into the banana-grounds of Madeira ; and my attention 

 Avas first directed to it during the spring of 1876 by Senhor 

 J. M. Moniz, who had taken several examples in the de- 

 cayed roots of an old Masa sapientum in his garden in Funchal. 

 After the information which I had thus received from Senhor 

 Moniz, I lost no opportunity of examining the rotten banana 

 stems ■whenever they chanced to come in my way, and ob- 

 tained the insect both in the Fazenda of the Quinta d'Ornellas 

 and in that of Dr. Grabham at the Val ; but it is to Captain 

 Kemp that we are Indebted for our principal knowledge of its 

 economy and devastations. Happening to possess a large 

 number of banana plants, some of them proceeding from roots 

 of a considerable age. Captain Kemp took the trouble to exa- 

 mine closely many of the stems, which had all the appearance 

 of being in an unhealthy condition ; and the result was, that 

 he not only detected the larva far away in the Interior, but 

 likewise many of the grooves channelled-out by the perfect 

 insect in eating its way to the surface. As for the perfect 

 insects themselves. Captain Kemp obtained them In fabulous 

 numbers, — though principally adhering to the undersides of 

 the moist and putrid trunks which had been either blown 

 or cut down on the immediate spot ; and 1 may add that, 

 directed by him, I myself picked up more than fifty of them 

 in the course of a few minutes. Here, then, we can have no 

 doubt that a very vigorous enemy has shown Itself, which, 

 unless kept in check, may (and probably will) in the course 

 of a few years affect the banana crops In Madeira most unmis- 

 takably. Considering with what extreme care the Funchal 

 district was explored, from about twenty to thirty years ago, 

 by Mr. Leacock, Senhor Moniz, the late Mr. Bewicke, the 

 Rev. R. T. Lowe, myself, and others, I think it is not too 

 much to assert that so large and conspicuous a beetle as the 

 one which we are now discussing could not have escaped our 

 united researches ; and I have no hesitation therefore In ex- 

 pressing my belief that its introduction Into tlic island must 

 have taken place since (probably long since) that period. 



