450 Coco-nuts The Consols of the East 



very carefully after it had been placed in the 

 boxes. For months the result was very unsatis- 

 factory, only few of the exposed larvae being- 

 attacked. When Professor Doane, of the 

 Leland Stanford University, was here, he also 

 carried on a series of experiments with this 

 fungus, and his best results also were far from 

 satisfactory ; probably, by continually feeding- 

 larvae to this fungus, it has now become so 

 voracious that when placed in a box containing 

 the larvae it will attack and eat almost every 

 one of them. It has therefore been introduced 

 into artificial breeding-nests made in the open 

 for the mother beetles, and is destroying the 

 larvae as fast as they appear. Planters are now 

 building nests, spaced about one to each acre, 

 all over their coco-nut plantations, and beyond 

 them on every side, and great relief is expected. 

 The administration of Samoa is also putting 

 in these nests in many places, spaced about 120 

 paces apart. Of course, it is necessary to clear 

 up the adjacent country so that there will be 

 no natural breeding-places for the beetles to 

 discover. 



The nests made in Samoa, and recommended 

 by Dr. Friederichs, consist of a low frail stone 

 walled-in space about 1 5 in. high and about 6 ft. 

 across the top from side to side. The well- 

 like opening is to be filled with rotting husks, 

 old coco-nut wood, other rotting wood and, if 

 possible, three or more bags of .cacao husks 

 fresh from the breaking. The whole is 



