vin DISEASES AND ENEMIES 285 



is also inferior. To give an example : whereas 45 

 healthy fruits yielded 1 kilogram of marketable product 

 of first quality, 45 fruits attacked by moth yielded 

 0*3 kilogram of marketable product of second quality. 



BIRDS AND MAMMALS 



Birds. Different species of birds do a certain 

 amount of damage by making holes in the fruits when 

 ripe or nearly ripe, and eating the seeds. This kind of 

 damage, however, does not seem to be serious in any 

 cocoa-growing country. 



Rats and Squirrels. There is probably no country 

 where the cocoa is not attacked by some rodent or other. 

 Different kinds of rats are the worst ; the damage done 

 here and there by squirrels and mice being of less 

 importance. 



These rodents climb into the trees, make holes in 

 the fruits, and extract the seeds, sometimes eating only 

 some of them, and scattering the rest all over the ground. 

 These scattered seeds are sometimes so numerous as to 

 be worth gathering (e.g. in San Thome and Ceylon) ; 

 they yield a product of inferior quality, known as 

 " black cocoa." 



In San Thome the loss caused by rats is very serious 

 every year, and has been estimated to amount to no 

 less than about one-fifth of the whole crop. In Samoa 

 the pest was at one time very troublesome, but now 

 seems to be less serious than before. On the Gold 

 Coast squirrels and rats are responsible for the loss of 

 large quantities of cocoa annually, but the damage is 

 chiefly confined to plantations in a neglected condition. 

 In Ceylon squirrels often do considerable damage. In 

 Java squirrels are also to be found as enemies of the 

 cocoa, but only in certain places ; in this country rats 

 are some years troublesome here and there, while in 

 other years no damage of importance is done. 



The fight against rats is not so difficult on planta- 

 tions as in towns or near the dwelling-houses, where 



