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  AUSTRALASIAN 
  HISPIDAE 
  OF 
  THE 
  GENERA 
  BRONTHISPA 
  AND 
  

   PROMECOTHECA 
  WHICH 
  DESTROY 
  COCONUT 
  PALM 
  FRONDS. 
  

  

  By 
  Walter 
  W. 
  Froggatt, 
  F.L.S., 
  

  

  Government 
  Entomologist, 
  New 
  South 
  Wales. 
  

  

  With 
  the 
  increasing 
  demand 
  for 
  copra 
  all 
  over 
  the 
  world 
  for 
  the 
  production 
  of 
  

   coconut 
  oil, 
  the 
  cultivation 
  of 
  coconut 
  palms 
  has 
  increased 
  enormously 
  during 
  the 
  

   last 
  ten 
  years 
  in 
  the 
  Solomon 
  Islands, 
  New 
  Britain, 
  Papua, 
  Samoa, 
  and 
  the 
  New 
  

   Hebrides, 
  and 
  large 
  areas 
  of 
  virgin 
  forest 
  have 
  been 
  cleared 
  and 
  planted 
  on 
  regular 
  

   scientific 
  principles. 
  In 
  olden 
  times 
  most 
  of 
  the 
  nuts 
  were 
  collected 
  from 
  the 
  native 
  

   plantations, 
  where 
  the 
  palms 
  were 
  grown 
  under 
  almost 
  wild 
  forest 
  conditions, 
  and 
  were 
  

   then 
  more 
  hardy 
  and 
  did 
  not 
  suffer 
  to 
  the 
  same 
  extent 
  from 
  insect 
  pests 
  as 
  do 
  the 
  

   palms 
  planted 
  under 
  modern 
  conditions. 
  It 
  is 
  probable 
  that 
  the 
  increased 
  food 
  

   supply, 
  represented 
  in 
  the 
  fronds 
  6f 
  the 
  thousands 
  of 
  young 
  coconut 
  palms 
  planted 
  

   out, 
  has 
  been 
  responsible 
  for 
  the 
  enormous 
  increase 
  of 
  a 
  number 
  of 
  indigenous 
  leaf* 
  

   eating 
  beetles, 
  which, 
  under 
  the 
  conditions 
  previously 
  prevailing, 
  lived 
  upon 
  the 
  wild 
  

   coconut 
  and 
  other 
  species 
  of 
  palms 
  growing 
  in 
  the 
  jungle. 
  In 
  addition 
  t6 
  many 
  

   insect 
  pests 
  allied 
  to 
  or 
  identical 
  with 
  those 
  known 
  in 
  Qeylon, 
  India, 
  and 
  the 
  Malay 
  

   States, 
  we 
  have 
  in 
  these 
  Eastern 
  islands 
  a 
  number 
  of 
  leaf-destroyers 
  in 
  the 
  small 
  

   flattened 
  beetles 
  belonging 
  to 
  the 
  family 
  Hispidae. 
  The 
  larvae 
  of 
  these 
  beetles 
  

   feed 
  either 
  on 
  the 
  upper 
  surface, 
  or 
  in 
  the 
  tissue 
  of 
  the 
  leaf 
  under 
  the 
  protection. 
  of 
  

   which 
  they 
  finally 
  pupate, 
  so 
  that 
  one 
  can 
  sometimes 
  obtain 
  the 
  whole 
  Jife-history 
  

   from 
  the 
  egg 
  to 
  the 
  perfect 
  insect 
  in 
  a 
  single 
  palm 
  frond. 
  The 
  majority 
  of 
  these 
  

   leaf 
  beetles, 
  which 
  are 
  causing 
  so 
  much 
  damage 
  in 
  the 
  coconut 
  plantations, 
  belong 
  

   to 
  the 
  genus 
  Promecotheca, 
  Blanchard, 
  and 
  from 
  what 
  we 
  know 
  of 
  the 
  life-history 
  of 
  

   several 
  species 
  that 
  have 
  become 
  serious 
  pests, 
  it 
  is 
  fairly 
  safe 
  to 
  assume 
  that 
  the 
  

   habits 
  of 
  all 
  the 
  species 
  are 
  similar. 
  

  

  The 
  described 
  species 
  given 
  by 
  Weise 
  in 
  the 
  " 
  Genera 
  Insectorum 
  " 
  (1911) 
  number 
  

   15, 
  and 
  range 
  from 
  China 
  to 
  the 
  New 
  Hebrides. 
  The 
  following 
  ones 
  occur 
  in 
  the 
  

   area 
  under 
  survey, 
  and 
  notes 
  are 
  given 
  upon 
  those 
  that 
  have 
  been 
  recorded 
  as 
  pests 
  

   of 
  coconut 
  palms. 
  The 
  life- 
  histories 
  of 
  the 
  different 
  species 
  of 
  this 
  genus 
  are 
  so 
  similar 
  

   that 
  it 
  is 
  here 
  only 
  necessary 
  to 
  give 
  that 
  of 
  a 
  typical 
  one, 
  and 
  I 
  have 
  selected 
  for 
  this 
  

   purpose 
  the 
  species 
  in 
  the 
  New 
  Hebrides, 
  which 
  has 
  done 
  such 
  an 
  enormous 
  amount 
  

   of 
  harm 
  during 
  the 
  last 
  few 
  years 
  to 
  the 
  coconut 
  plantations. 
  

  

  The 
  New 
  Hebrides 
  Coconut 
  Hispid 
  {Promecotheca 
  opacicollis). 
  

  

  This 
  insect 
  is 
  known 
  among 
  the 
  planters 
  as 
  " 
  the 
  Blight," 
  " 
  the 
  ^Fly," 
  or 
  " 
  the 
  

   Beetle 
  Pest" 
  of 
  the 
  coconut 
  palm, 
  and 
  is 
  said 
  to 
  have 
  been 
  noticed 
  by 
  some 
  of 
  the 
  

   settlers 
  in 
  the 
  islands 
  over 
  50 
  years 
  ago. 
  About 
  1905 
  they 
  were 
  first 
  recorded 
  in 
  the 
  

   Northern 
  Islands 
  of 
  the 
  group, 
  damaging 
  palms 
  in 
  the 
  cultivated 
  plantations, 
  and 
  three 
  

   years 
  ago 
  there 
  was 
  a 
  regular 
  plague 
  of 
  them 
  all 
  over 
  the 
  islands, 
  from 
  Sandwich 
  to 
  

   Santo. 
  At 
  the 
  request 
  of 
  a 
  number 
  of 
  planters 
  interested, 
  I 
  paid 
  a 
  visit 
  to 
  the 
  New 
  

   Hebrides 
  in 
  June 
  1913, 
  and 
  spent 
  over 
  a 
  month 
  among 
  the 
  coconut 
  plantations 
  

   studying 
  the 
  insect 
  pests, 
  and 
  this 
  beetle 
  in 
  particular. 
  

  

  The 
  damage 
  done 
  is 
  twofold 
  ; 
  first, 
  that 
  caused 
  by 
  the 
  larvae 
  ; 
  and 
  secondly, 
  

   that 
  caused 
  by 
  the 
  adult 
  beetles. 
  The 
  beetles 
  lay 
  their 
  eggs 
  in 
  little 
  clusters 
  of 
  five 
  

  

  