Diseases 2 1 9 



they can be driven off with fires and guns 

 should they become a serious nuisance. 



Squirrels and a ring-tailed civet cat are in 

 a minor degree responsible for some damage 

 to the young fruit, but they can be taken care 

 of by the staff working around the plantation 

 daily. 



Several varieties of large beetles are amongst 

 the most active of destructive agents in a 

 coco-nut plantation, and are fully discussed 

 further on. 



First and foremost amongst these is the 

 rhinoceros beetle (Oryctes rhinoceros], the 

 female of which likes to lay its eggs in the 

 decaying trunks of palm trees ; but as she 

 also lays them in decomposing cattle dung and 

 in compost heaps and tanks it is therefore not 

 safe to leave such things undisturbed for any 

 time without taking precautions to kill the 

 eggs, larvae, and any insect life found in the 

 compost, otherwise the nuisance will quickly 

 spread to the trees. Insecticides, or even 

 scalding water poured over the heaps, would 

 at least help in this direction. 



The rhinoceros beetle is omnivorous in the 

 matter of coco-nuts, it will attack the nuts 

 germinating in the seed-beds, in order to get 

 at the sweet contents contained in their heart, 

 and will bore into young trees or into the heart 

 of the grown ones. 



Fortunately the size of the hole it makes 

 enables one to discover its presence with 



