4 BEETLES DESTRUCTIVE TO COCO-NUT PALMS. 
in so deeply, that, not rarely, it bites through the growing 
point in the cabbage, or bud of the palm. More often, the at- 
tack is repeated till the rain getting into the burrows sets up 
decay, which rots the palm through. In either case the tree 
speedily dies. A tree once attacked seems to be very popu- 
lar, and I have known palms from which two or three beetles 
a day could be taken regularly, in spite of all attempts to drive 
them away by the aid of carbolic acid, salt and other substan- 
ces. 
The following species of palm, besides the coco-nut, have 
been attacked, and some destroyed, in the Botanic Gardens :— 
Cocos plumosa, Martinezia caryotcefolia, Corypha gebanga, 
Phoenix dactylifera, Livistona chinensis, Verschaffeltia splen- 
dida, Areca rubia, Hyophorbe amaricaulis, Eloeis guineensis 
Sabalum braculifera, Borassus flabelliformis, and several others; 
but the Betel nut (Areca catechu), the Gomuti (Arenga sac- 
charifera), the Sago palm (Sagus Rumphii), and the slender- 
stemmed palms seem never to be attacked. I once founda 
beetle in the act of gnawing through the leaf stalk of a spe- 
cies of Cycad, mistaking it evidently fora palm-tree. It ap- 
pears that the object of the beetle in thus attacking the 
trees is to drink the sweet sap in the bud of the palm. 
It is very easy to distinguish trees that have been attacked 
by this beetle by the peculiar ragged appearance of the leaves. 
The beetle in burrowing into the bud, often bites straight 
through the folded leaf in the cabbage, so that when it is un- 
folded the top is found to be bitten symmetrically off, or each 
leaflet is perforated regularly. By these appearances, it is 
easy to tell whether a tree has been attacked or not, and so 
to judge of the state of the plantation. 
I observe that the trees most liable to attack are those in 
the neighbourhoods of towns. Small isolated patches round the 
Malay villages in the interior of the island are usually quite 
free from the attacks, even though the plantations are near 
mangrove swamps. It has been said that in this position the 
trees always suffer, and that the grubs are bred in mangrove 
mud. This is erroneous. I have seen many plantations near 
mangrove swamps without any trace of damage from beetles, 
