106 THE BANANA 



BEES 



In Surinam small black bees visit the banana flowers as 

 they open, and in their attempt to obtain the honey 

 exuded by the flower they scar the young fruits. As the 

 fruits grow the scars enlarge, and the bunches are rejected 

 by the inspectors as unsaleable. One estate lost over 

 15,000 bunches from the effects of the bees in one year, and 

 had to spend a considerable amount of money to destroy 

 all the bees' nests in and around the cultivation. These 

 bees also attack plantains and cacao pods. 



GRASSHOPPERS 



A somewhat similar scarring of bananas in Jamaica, 

 affecting a large acreage of fruit, was found to be due to 

 attacks by young grasshoppers secreted in the young 

 bunches. The only remedy considered practicable was to 

 hunt for the insects in the bunches and destroy them. 



