648 MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS 



fourteen hours, whilst a pair made 264 punctures in two 

 leaves of Acalypha hispida in twenty-four hours. " Cocoa 

 mosquito " may attack young herbaceous shoots, destroy- 

 ing these, and it may attack the pods. Young pods may 

 be destroyed, though the larger ones may pull through, 

 provided brown pod disease (Diplodia cacaoicola) and the 

 grey moth borer of pods (Chamcoma stictigrapta) do not 

 also attack. This Helopeltis breeds on red guava 

 (Psidium pomiferum) and its white variety, and on 

 capsicum, both of which are widely distributed through- 

 out the colony. The range of food plants is a wide one, 

 and embraces Psidium cattleyanum, Aralia Guilfoylei, 

 Panax fruticosum and vars. dissectum and Victoria?, 

 Solatium Wendlandii, S. seajorthianum and 6\ melangena, 

 Physalis peruviana and P. minima, Datura Metel, 

 Spondias lutea, Mangifera indica, Punica granatum, 

 Artocarpus incisa and A. integrifolia, Acalypha hispida 

 and A. Wilkesiana, Musa Cavendishi, Eriodendron 

 anfractuosum, Pipernigrum and P. Cubeba, Bixa orellana, 

 Sterculia Barteri, Ipomoea Batatas, Ilex Paraguay ensis. 

 Camellia Thea, Paullinia pinnata, Thespesia populnea, 

 Dioscorea sp., Per sea gratissima, Terminalia Catappa r 

 Michelia Champaca, Euphorbia sp., and Lcea sp. 



Both Sahlbergella and Helopeltis would yield doubtless 

 to treatment, such as spraying with kerosene emulsion, 

 but there are reasons why such a method of control has 

 made no headway since the discovery of these pests in 

 1909 by Messrs. Dudgeon and Evans. Among these 

 must be mentioned (i) the pessimistic attitude of the 

 native as shown in " Sankonuabe," which means some- 

 what like " Let the land go back into oil palms," it being 

 difficult to grow cocoa according to his ideas; (2) the 

 great labour involved in spraying with ordinary knapsack 

 sprayers when the operator has to pump and direct the 

 liquid at one and the same time; (3) the labour of bring- 

 ing water from a distance; and (4) the cost of kerosene 

 and the absence of any suitable local oil. 



" Sankonuabe " alone appears to be responsible for a 

 loss of 25 per cent, of the possible output of cocoa, whilst 

 it is not yet possible to estimate the damage done by 

 Helopeltis, which at the present time is stated to be 



