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Through the kindness of Prof. M. E. Peck, Iowa Falls, Iowa, we 

 have received some information relative to this same insect and its 

 injuriousness to palms in British Honduras. Under date of January 

 1, 1902, he writes that during several months' stay there he became 

 considerably interested in the cocoanut industiy, and especially in the 

 methods in use for meeting attacks of this palm weevil and other 

 beetles infesting the cocoanut. Numerous plantations were reported 

 to be seriously injured or wholly ruined by these insects, which are 

 considered the chief drawback to the industry in that region. One 

 grower, Mr. John T. Seay, of Manatee District, British Honduras, 

 succeeded to some extent in conquering these pests. Mr. Seay had a 

 plantation about 20 miles south of Belize and extending for 3 miles 

 along the coast. His trees were in nourishing condition, ranging in 

 age from two or three to fifteen years. Mr. Peck examined the larger 

 part of the adult trees and found that nearly half of those with trunks 

 over feet in height had been attacked by the weevils, but had been 

 successfully treated and the insects destroyed. Mr. Seay's method of 

 treatment was described as so easy and rapid that one man could attend 

 to many thousands of trees at Aery slight expense. He stated that if 

 these beetles were as destructive in our newly acquired tropical terri- 

 tory (according to present accounts they are not) as they are in Cen- 

 tral America, it would certainly be worth while for the Department 

 of Agriculture to inquire into the matter. 



Mr. Seay was written in regard to his experiences, and he answered 

 January 22, and later in 1902, giving much information concerning 

 this and other insects associated with injury to palms cultivated in 

 British Honduras. His acquaintance with this weevil dated back 

 about thirty years, and for half of that time he had been studying its 

 habits in order to be able to use his knowledge to advantage in the 

 application of remedies. 



ASSOCIATES OF THE PALM AVEEVIL. 



The associates of this weevil, specimens of which accompanied other 

 material, were a large shining black. Histerid beetle (Hololepta quad- 

 ridentata Say), a large dipterous larva or maggot, which proved on 

 rearing to belong to the tachina fly, Willistoniella pleuropiinctata 

 Loew, an Ortalid, Epiplatea erosa Wied., and two forms of mites 

 identified by Mr. N. Banks as belonging to the genera Uropoda and 

 Holostaspis. The latter mite was observed singly in the material fur- 

 nished us on both the weevil and the Histerid sheltering in clusters on 

 the hairy portions of the under surface of the weevil and more espe- 

 cially on the tibiae, although also clustered on the abdomen and pro- 

 sternum. There is no doubt that these mites are of some value in 

 destroying the weevils in their different stages, more particularly, 

 perhaps, when in the pupal stage, if they have opportunity to penetrate 



