vni DISEASES AND ENEMIES 283 



about one month, but it is not impossible that the life- 

 time is longer. 



From the outside the damage done to the fruits is 

 hardly perceptible ; only one or a few very small black 

 spots can sometimes be seen, these being the places 

 where the larvae left the fruit. But if the fruit be cut 

 through, the tunnels appear as brown or black lines 

 through the pulp and the fruit-wall. 



Not only cocoa, but also the fruits of the "rambutan" 

 (Nephelium lappaceum) and of other species of 

 Nephelium are attacked. The larvae of the cocoa-moth 

 have also been found in the fruits of a few other 

 Sapindaceae ( Erioglossum, Schleicheria, Xerospermum, 

 Irina glabra, Turpinia), and the kola (Sterculia kola) 

 is attacked. 



In the fight against the moth only one method has 

 been successful, the so-called " rampassing " method, 

 which consists in picking and destroying at a definite 

 time of the year all the fruits which are hanging on the 

 trees. The consequence is that for some two months 

 the moths, which are flying through the fields, can find 

 no fruits on which to lay their eggs, and in which the 

 larvae can develop. Very young fruits are not suitable 

 for this development, and it can only take place in fruits 

 of a certain age. Thus the moths which are flying 

 through the fields at the time of rampassing and shortly 

 afterwards, not finding a suitable place for laying their 

 eggs, finally die without leaving any progeny. 



The first picking, which begins some five months after 

 rampassing, yields fruits which are nearly all free from 

 moths. 1 Gradually, however, some more fruits are found 

 to be attacked and, generally speaking, each new picking 

 yields a larger percentage of diseased fruits. Finally it 

 amounts often to no less than 90 to 100 per cent. 



There is much discussion among planters as to the 

 best and most practical time for rampassing. Theo- 



1 Not infrequently, however, the very first pickings contain a certain number 

 of fruits attacked by moth. Probably these fruits were just old enough to be 

 good breeding-places when the very last living moths were flying through the 

 field. 



