I06 TiMEHRI. 



into the heart of the young shoots and quickly kills them. 

 They also attack canes of mature age, easily piercing the 

 silicious outer rind of the cane with their powerful 

 mandibles and the sharp lance-like cutting instruments 

 with which their mouths are armed. The soft pulpy 

 mass of the inside is pierced and eaten in all dire6lions, 

 the cane gets red in the heart and the juice becomes ex- 

 posed to the air, ferments, and is rendered useless for 

 sugar making. A great deal of damage has been done 

 on the West Bank and the West Coast this Spring ; 

 borers occupying the young stools and killing the shoots 

 almost as they appear. When the work of the grub is 

 over and before the formation of the chrysalis, they spin 

 themselves into a cocoon made of the fibres of the cane, 

 and these may easily be found when borers have been 

 prevalent in a rotten cane, or top, or heap of trash on the 

 banks. The larger beetles of the Rhyncophorus species 

 very often make their presence unpleasantly known bv 

 fiying against one's face, which they strike with no small 

 force. 



Of rust, fungus and other diseases all more or less 

 produced by inse6\ life, and of which complaints come 

 from time to time from different countries, we are 

 happily free. 



The means advocated for checking the ravages of 

 these inse6\ pests have been many and varied. When 

 they have been plentiful on an estate, the trash is gene- 

 rally burnt off as soon as canes are removed. If the 

 tops are required for planting they may be first soaked 

 in lime water or some antiseptic. I have seen the 

 teaches used for this in Barbados. Other means are the 

 encouragement and cultivation of their enemies, such as 



