10 BEETLES DESTRUCTIVE TO COCO-NUT PALMS. 
cover, and is practically dead. In this case, it should be 
destroyed at once, and the top cut out in order to find the 
grubs before they escape as beetles. Cutting the grubs out 
has been tried by several planters, and spearing them through 
the stem would be equally effective, but the results seem 
hardly to be worth the trouble. The grub when detected is 
usually at least half grown, and then deep within the tree, 
so that the tree has to be very deeply cut imto to» getmanamne 
and probably this would set up internal decay. 
Summary.—lt is quite clear that, although it would be im- 
possible to absolutely exterminate every beetle in the place, it 
will be possible to so far reduce their numbers that the da- 
mage done by them is infinitesimal. The large planters may 
be trusted to keep their plantations clean of any rubbish in 
which the black beetle may be propagated, and to destroy all 
dead and decaying palms on the estate, but that will avail little 
if other persons are permitted to leave dead trees, and piles 
of tan bark, manure heaps, rotten sugar-cane, &c. in the 
vicinity of the coco-nut estates, where the elephant beetle 
may be bred in large numbers. The small cultivator, to whom 
the loss of a few coco-nut trees is of little importance, should 
not be permitted to let them get into such a state that they 
are a source of danger to those of others. 
It should be made compulsory upon every person owning 
coco-nut trees to cut down and burn all palm-trees that are 
dead upon the ground at once, nor should he be permitted to 
stack or store the stems in such manner that they can rot 
upon the ground, nor to use them for bridges or posts. 
It should also be prohibited to owners of tan-works, sugar- 
factories, or other persons in whose trade large masses of 
vegetable débrizs form a by-product, to permit this refuse to 
accumulate in such a manner that it threatens the safety of 
any estate of coco-nuts. As the beetles do not, as a rule, fly 
to any very great distance, there are spots in which such 
accumulations would be absolutely harmless, being too far 
distant from any coco-nuts to send beetles to them, and as in 
some professions the destruction of such waste might be 
found very expensive, and perhaps injurious to trade, it might 
