292 p. A. BUXTON. 



This pest attacks all varieties of date palm, but it was particularly harmful to 

 the Khustawi in Baghdad and Ba'qubah, and the Sair (Ista'mran) and Halawi 

 in the Basra neighbourhood. The age of the tree appeared to make no difference 

 to the severity of the attack, but it was an invariable rule that a heavy loss was 

 sustained by owners of gardens far from the river, and by those who failed to keep 

 the ground beneath the trees clear of weeds. Palms growing in rather salt ground, 

 and those irrigated by the rise and fall of the actual sea at Fao were not particularly 

 attacked by this insect. It will be understood that only a few sorts of palm will 

 live under these conditions, but those that lived did not appear to be any less healthy 

 than individuals of the same sort irrigated by fresh water. I have already said 

 that the pest was never very serious in gardens in which green vegetables were 

 cultivated beneath the trees ; I believe that this was due to the breaking up of the 

 soil, and consequent damage to pupae, but we cannot regard this as proved until 

 we know more of the biology of the insect. It was suggested that the very heavy 

 incidence of this pest in the year 1918 was due to the fact that many of the cul- 

 tivators had taken work in the Labour Corps, with the result that the gardens 

 were less dug and ploughed than usual. 



Until the life-history of this very serious pest is known, one cannot do better 

 than impress on land-owners and cultivators the need to dig the ground beneath 

 the trees in winter ; but if it is found that the female moth oviposits on the flowers 

 of the female palm, or on the young fruit soon after it is formed, it might be worth 

 while to protect the whole inflorescence with a muslin bag. Popenoe figures such, 

 bags in use to defend the ripening dates from wasps and birds. 



It is impossible to estimate the loss due to this larva in 1918 ; I found evidence 

 of its ravages in every garden I visited from Baghdad to Fao, and from Nasiriyeh 

 on the Lower Euphrates to Khaniqin on the Kurdish border. Its predilection 

 for the Sair dates of Basra is serious, as this is the most widely grown of all sorts 

 and its fruit is exported to India in immense quantities. The more costly sorts 

 suffer least, because no man owns more than a few trees, and these are always well- 

 watered and carefully cultivated ; I refer to such sorts as Barhe, Braim, Maktum, 

 and Mirhaji. I made a rough estimate that the following percentages of the crop 

 of all varieties were lost, between the time when the fruit set and the harvest ; 

 at Ba'qubah 50-70 per cent., at Qurnah 40-50 per cent., at Basra 30-40 per cent. 

 The Basra date forest is the largest in the world, and contains about 7,000,000 

 palms. One may assume that the average yield of a palm is 60 lb. of fruit, and 

 it will be realized that the loss of about a third of the crop is an extremely serious 

 matter. This is the pest which I wrongly referred to in my report (1918) as a 

 Pyralid. The attacked dates are called " hashaf " in Arabic. 



COLEOPTERA. 

 Family DyNASTIDAE. 



Oryctes elegans, Prell. 



In Mesopotamia this species, for the identification of which I am indebted to 

 Mr. G. J. Arrow, is common throughout the date-growing area : I have seen speci- 

 mens from Baghdad, Ba'qubah, Balad Ruz, Mendali, Amara, Basra and Fao. 



