The Zoologist — July, 1874. < 4083 



burnt tliem straight off. I said before that only three insects were found 

 at large on the whole plantation by our people ; of these two were in copula 

 on a primary branch of a coffee-tree, the bark of which had been eaten 

 away. This at once suggested to me whether the female before depositing 

 her eggs may not decorticate a small portion of the trunk for the purpose of 

 depositing? T did not see a single specimen on the wing, and in many 

 cases I found the elytra so hard to open that they seemed soldered ; nor 

 could I by exposure to the sun or any other means ever induce the perfect 

 insects to take wing; they always crawled. 



" So far I have dealt with the insects ; I may now add, in reply to some 

 remarks communicated by you in your minutes, that Mr. Keit, the Botanical 

 Curator of our Gardens here, recommended by Dr. Hooker, says that he 

 sees no cause whatever to believe the trees die from any want of vitality, 

 nor do they seem specially affected in any way, yielding good crops and 

 looking well till the borer has very often emerged, after which they languish 

 and die rapidly. I hear from other managers, on strong soils, that very 

 often on one aspect, N. and N.E., they find the developed grub as much as 

 90 per cent., but that, in the same valley, the opposite slope, S.W. and 

 S.E. (our cold slopes), the insect is not present above 5 per cent, although 

 the mortality of the trees is about the same. From this I gather either 

 that the insect is a secondary cause, or that the cold aspect is not favorable 

 to the development of the insect beyond the stage when they have damaged 

 the bark, and so more or less killed the tree. In slopes it is noticeable that 

 the lowest side of the tree is that attacked, where by washing from rains 

 the more tender bark is exposed, and very likely the draught cracks a little. 

 My proposed remedies and modus operandi for the prevention of this evil 

 are as follows ; — 



" 1. To remove all trees which are visibly affected before the insect 

 matures. This, through non-comprehension of the cause of disease, was 

 not done, and our estate and the adjoining one have suffered by the 

 presence of so many centres of evil left to take effect upon the surrounding 

 coffee. 



" 2. About the time the egg or young insect is still in or under the bark, 

 to keep a staff of men rubbing the trees round the roots with iron gloves, 

 or sticks, with sand, so as to crush the insect in its larva-state. 



" 3. About the time the insect emerges, to keep boys hunting for and 

 picking off the beetle as it adheres to the tree. 



"4. To let the same boys search for newly-made holes of emergence, and 

 pass wires, &c., down them, so as to destroy the insects therein, in case the 

 beetle should have the habit of re-entering tlie hole as a cache during 

 the day. 



"Your member's suggestion as to the non-destruction of insectivorous 

 birds is a very good one ; but I am afraid they are too few, or rather the 



