Planting in Fiji 479 



by the unhealthy appearance of the coco-nut 

 palms on this island. The lower leaves lack 

 the rich green colour which one usually asso- 

 ciates with the palm, and are, instead, a dirty 

 brown colour, and, in many cases, resemble 

 dead leaves. Upon closer examination it will 

 be observed that there are numerous trans- 

 parent lines running parellel to one another in 

 a longitudinal direction from the base to the 

 apex of each leaflet. In many instances the 

 leaflets consist merely of a fine network sur- 

 rounding the midrib. These transparent lines 

 are caused by the removal of the epidermic 

 cells on the under surface of the leaflets. As 

 has been stated above, the larvae upon hatching 

 from the eggs, which have been deposited 

 upon the under surface, commence to feed, and 

 travelling in a straight line parallel to the 

 midrib remove a layer of epidermal tissue in 

 their progress. 



Strange to say, from the latter end of last 

 year a change commenced to take place in the 

 appearance of the coco-nuts in most parts of 

 Viti Levu. Many of the hitherto sickly look- 

 ing trees began to put out more and quite 

 healthy-looking leaves, some palms which 

 formerly bore but few nuts are showing more, 

 and others (some of them more than twenty 

 years old) which never set fruit before are now 

 producing nuts. 



The chance of combating the pest success- 

 fully seems to me now considerably increased. 



