64 BEETLE PEST ON THE GAPIS ESTATE. 



eaten by some insect. Personally I did not see any of the coffee 

 ][^eetles on the " dadap," but I was informed by Sir Graeme 

 Elphiustone, and by Mr. Martin, that they had seen numbers 

 on that tree. 



In the clear land, in one place, as many as six grubs were 

 found within an area of less than one square yard, but on an 

 average there are not more than one or two per square yard. 

 Of course the younger ones being very small undoubtedly escape 

 observation when turning over the soil. At one per square yard 

 we get 4,840 per acre, Avhich is a sufficiently large total to account 

 for a very extensive destruction of foliage. 



They are all found near the surface, never, as far as I saw, 

 at a greater depth than six inches. The chrysalids were f oimd 

 from one and a half to two inches beneath the ground, in an 

 egg-shaped chamber with smooth walls. The chamber has its 

 greatest diameter in a vertical position, and the head of the 

 insect is towards the surface of the soil and the cast skin of the 

 grub at the bottom of the hole. The chamber is about three 

 quarters of an inch high by half an inch in diameter. When 

 mature the beetle excavates a tunnel, starting from the top of 

 the chamber in a diagonal direction to the surface of the 

 ground. The tunnel is nearly round and just large enough 

 for the beetle to pass freely up it. 



There are some wild plants and trees of which the beetles 

 seem especially fond, and which they much prefer to the coffee. 

 The wild silk cotton {Bomhax insicj7ie) being one. These plants, 

 when growing out in the clearings, are almost always denuded of 

 leaves, but it is a very noticeable fact that when the same plants 

 occur in grass or scrub land their leaves are almost untouched. 

 It would therefore appear that on coming out of the ground the 

 beetle does not fly far in search of food, and that also when the 

 female wants to lay her eggs she lays them on the nearest piece 

 of open groimd to her food. They would seem to be of very 

 weak flight, and to only fly on rare occasions. The collectors 

 informed me that they never see them flying about, and that 

 when a tree is shaken any that are on it fall off on to the ground 

 and seldom fly away beyond a yard or two. The above confirms 

 the evidence obtained by digging, and makes it certain that coffee 

 beetles do not breed in scrub land. 



The beetle feeds on a number of trees and shrubs, and 

 is by no means restricted to a limited diet like many other 

 pests. Amongst other plants the following may be men- 

 tioned as its food : — Coffee, Coffea liberica ; Dadap, Erythrina- 



