274 LAURENCE D. CLEARE, JR. 



Coconuts " by the same author appeared in The Journal of the Board of Agriculture, 

 British Guiana, for July 1909. On both of these occasions the palms in Georgetown 

 were attacked. 



Between 1909 and the present attack Brassolis was of little importance ; in fact, 

 it was seldom seen. It would thus appear that this insect occurs in such numbers 

 as to cause considerable damage at intervals of about five years. 



Food-plants. 



The attacks of this pest are not confined to the coconut palm. The common Cabbage 

 Palm (Oreodoxa oleracea) is also attacked, and while these palms do not seem to die 

 so easily, they rarely recover in a satisfactory manner if badly stripped. 



Distribution. 



Little is known of the distribution of the coconut butterfly in British Guiana. 

 It has been reported, as previously mentioned, from Plantation Grove near Clonbrook, 

 the Mahaicony district, and Georgetown, in the county of Demerara ; and from 

 Onderneeming, on the Essequibo Coast. Mr. Bartlett, in 1905, said that the palms 

 in Berbice were also attacked, but remarked that the pest does not seem to occur 

 in the county of Essequibo. It is probable that Brassolis is found along the entire 

 coast-lands. 



Outside of the Colony, Brassolis was recorded from Dutch Guiana by Mme. Merian 

 as early as 1705 in her " Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium," and while 

 she gives Mullera inoniliformis, L., as the food-plant, adds, " Later on I found a 

 very large number on a high coconut tree ; .... on this tree these caterpillars had 

 made or rather had spun a bag." Thus, although she did not recognise the correct 

 food- plant, she gives a description of the characteristic " nests " of the larvae. 

 It is possible then that Brassolis occurred in this Colony at the same date. 



From the Island of Trinidad Kaye records it in his " Additions and Correction's 

 to my Catalogue of Lepidoptera Rhopalocera of Trinidad (1904) " * as being taken 

 in 1906, and gives the range as Guiana to South Brazil, while Mr. J. H. Hart, in the 

 " Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information, Trinidad," records its attack on the cabbajje 

 palm in 1908. 



Life-history and Habits. 



The eggs are laid in masses of 100-150 on the stem and underside of the leaves 

 of the coconut and other palms (PL x, fig. 2). They are smooth and shiny, pinkish 

 in colour, and cylindrical in shape. There is a small circular depression about the 

 centre of the top, which is also slightly reticulated, the lines running from the central 

 spot. These reticulations are more marked round the edges and tend to disappear 

 towards the central .spot. The egg measures about 1 mm. in diameter. The 

 embryos become visible as development proceeds, giving the apices a slate colour a 

 short time before the emergence of the young larvae. 



The larvae in most cases emerge from a mass simultaneously. They then eat off 

 the top half of the eggs, leaving only the lower parts adhering to the leaf. 



* Trans. Eiit. Soc. London, 1913, p. .547 (1914). 



