"Some Enemies of our Cane-fields." 107 



ants, the Ichneumon fly, inse6l-eating birds, &c., &c. 

 As however disaster has so often followed man's attempts 

 to interfere with the distribution of nature, such means 

 have to be advocated with caution. Caterpillars of 

 two or three varieties I have known to appear annually 

 about May for the last 15 years. These are the larvae 

 of Diatroea saccharalts, which feeds when possible on 

 the young cane leaves, Duphax saccharic common on 

 saman and clammy cherry trees, and no doubt some 

 others. These almost invariably deposit their eggs first 

 on the grasses of the dams, or on grassy dam-beds, or 

 drains in the fields. When the caterpillars appear the 

 grass is soon eaten off, and they attack the canes, (young 

 ones by preference). In Berbice however I remember 

 several acres of canes quite nine months old being 

 entirely denuded of leaves. 



Up to last May I had never seen any consider- 

 able damage done by caterpillars, but then they appeared 

 in thousands, first on the dams, and later in the fields. 

 They began operations in some six or eight fields in the 

 centre of the estate and rapidly spread north and south, 

 crossing the sidelines on any grass there was or on the 

 bodies of those who attempted the crossing first. Every- 

 thing possible was done to confine them to the fields 

 they started in, but in spite of all efforts some 90 acres 

 of canes were completely eaten off. Many of the young 

 centre shoots were eaten so close off, that they withered 

 and died either from that cause or on account of the 

 roots alone not being able to sustain life in the plant, 

 through the heavy weather which followed. In no case 

 was the yield from the fields over half a ton per acre, 

 and in many much less. 



02 



