THE ENEMIES OF COFFEE :—WHITE GRUB, 235 
that where they were so numerous they might possibly 
feed on the coffee, I went out after dinner and examin- 
ed the coffee bushes, but could not find a single beetle. 
I then went up to a road lined with cinchona trees, 
and on looking at these saw the enemy quietly enjoying 
their tonic supper ; every tree had its share : some more 
and some less. Cortinuing my walk I went down to 
the site of an old set of lines where there are a few jack 
trees; and these were simply swarming with beetles. 
On holding up the lantern I carried they dropped down 
in great numbers, but none were attracted to the light : 
in fact fire does not draw them, for some large piles of 
timber, that were being burnt for the ashes, were in 
full blaze within 20 yards of this tree, and 50 yards of 
two others, and the beetles did not seem to notice it ; 
and the men watching the fires said that none had 
flown about near them. This I think should prevent 
any person trying floating lights ; for if a bonfire won’t 
attract them it is not likely that a little twinkling 
light will. Feeling convinced that there was no time 
to waste in trying to catch and destroy the beetles, 
I next day sent for 60 yards of cotton cloth: this I had 
made into sheets 15 feet square ; but, in order to admit 
of its having the tree in the centre when passed under 
it, the centre seam is left open for half the way down, 
the open ends are passed round the trunk of the tree 
till brought up by the fork; they are then tied with 
strings, already fixed, like those attached to a pillow- 
case, thus making a complete surface of sheet equi- 
distant all round the tree (if the spread of your trees 
is more than 15 feet, your sheets must be large, in fact 
to the full spread of the branches, as the beetles feed 
on the outer edges of the trees). Your sheets being 
spread, one cooly holds each of the four corners. A 
coolie gets in close to the stem, which he can do 
through the ties in the centre seam, and, if the tree is 
small, shakes ‘it, or if too large he mounts into the 
branches, and shakes each one separately; this will 
cause all the beetles in the tree to fall into the sheet, 
the corners of which if raised and shaken causes the 
beetles to fall towards the centre, when they can be 
taken up by the hand and put intoa bag. The sheet 
is then untied and taken to the next tree, where the 
same process is gone through; the whole process does 
not take more than five or six minutes. My first 
night’s catch with one sheet for about five hours was 
10,400 beetles, and the following night, on aneighbour’s 
estate where I went to illustrate the method, over 9,000 
were caught in two hours, and more the following 
night. This will give some idea of their numbers, IL 
have tried to explain my way of catching them, and 
