273 

 A BUTTERFLY INJURIOUS TO COCONUT PALMS IN BRITISH GUIANA. 



By Laurence D. Cleare, Jr., F.E.S., 

 Biologiml Division, Department of Science and Agriculture, British Guiana. 



(Plates VIII-X.) 



During the past year (1914) the coconut palms in the city of Georgetown have 

 been rather severely attacked by the larvae of the Coconut Butterfly, Brassolis 

 ■sophorae, L. 



While this pest has apparently been known in the Colony for some time, it received 

 but little attention until about five years ago, when it made its appearance in the 

 Mahaicony district in very large numbers, causing considerable damage. Mr. F. A. 

 Stockdale, then Assistant Director of Agriculture, investigated the attack ai:d 

 reported upon it. 



From that time until the early part of last year Brassolis was known to most 

 people only bj' name. In a few months, however, it forced itself upon the attention 

 of the inhabitants, and by June of the same year the result of its ravages was perhaps 

 the most noticeable feature in Georgetown. 



It was then decided that a census of the coconut palms in the town should be 

 taken and a plan showing the affected areas prepared. The task of preparing this 

 census and plan fell to the writer and it is here proposed to give some description 

 of the work together with notes on the pest. 



When the work was started there existed no Plant Protection Ordinance in the 

 Colony, though such an ordinance came into force shortly afterwards. 



Owing to the area of this city of some 60,000 inhabitants, it was decided that it 

 would be impossible to enter all the premises, as this would take some months, 

 and neither would the pest remain, nor w^ould the time at our disposal allow 

 of it. Nor was it necessary, for the palms were usually of such a height that they 

 could, in most cases, be easily seen from the street. On account of the small size 

 of the plan, each affected tree could not be marked, so if but a single palm was 

 attacked in a block the entire block was marked as an affected area. The plan 

 (PI. viii) was made in June 1914, when the attack was probably at its worst. 



History. 



The first appearance of Brassolis sophorae as a pest in this Colony probably dates 

 many years back. Schomburgk in his " Fauna und Flora von British Guiana " ( 1848) 

 records it as being found on the coast-lands but gives no food-plant. Within recent 

 years it has been reported in 1905 from Plantation Grove, near Clonbrook, " when 

 large areas of coconuts were considerably damaged," and it was in September of 

 that year that Mr. A. W. Bartlett, then Government Botanist, bred the adult insect 

 and reported upon it. His report was published in the Official Gazette of 28th 

 October 1905. 



The next appearance of this pest seems to have been in 1909, in the Mahaicony 

 district, when Mr. Stockdale reported upon it. His report was published in the 

 Official Gazette of 28th July 1909, and an article entitled " A Caterpillar Pest of 



