357 



of the insect and the damage which it does by gnawing the bean pods, 

 The beetles not only destroy the bean i)ods, but feed also npon the 

 leaves, and the larvje do the same. The remedy to be used is Paris 

 green or London i^urple in watery solution. The beetles of this genus 

 Epilachna are anomalous in the vegetable-feeding habit, since all other 

 ladybirds are, in the larval state at least, predaceous. The eastern 

 species, Epilachna horeaUH^ is treated by Mr. S. H. Scudder in a short 

 article in the Twenty-third Annual Jieport of the Entomological Society 

 of Ontario, published at Toronto the present spring. 



THE PALM WEEVIL IN BRITISH HONDURAS. 



We have published one or two short notes in the pages of Insect 

 Life on the subject of the ravages of Bhyncliophorus 2^almarum on the 

 Cocoanut Palm in Central America and the West Indies, and are 

 greatly pleased to notice that Mr. W. F. H. Blandford, in the February- 

 March number of the Kew Bulletin, has published an elaborate paper 

 upon this injurious insect. The article was called forth by a govern- 

 ment investigation which was started in British Honduras, the commis- 

 sioners having forwarded specimens to England and solicited informa- 

 tion from the experts at the Kew Gardens. A closely allied species, 

 Rliynclwphorus cruentatus, feeds normally ui)on the Palmetto {Sabal 

 serrulata) in the Gulf States, and with the growth of the cocoanut 

 palm industry in x^arts of Florida it is not unlikely that damage from 

 R. palmarum will occur. Some attention is paid in Mr. Blandford's 

 article to the other insects affecting the Palm, but only incidentally. 

 No new points in the life-history have been brought out, but a careful 

 consideration is given to the question of remedies; and the author's 

 main article is followed by a short bibliography, together with careful 

 descrii^tions of the different stages of the Palm Weevil, and the whole 

 article is illustrated by two excellent lithographic plates, the one show- 

 ing the larva, i^upa, pux)a-cell, and adult of B. palmarum and the other 

 figuring Ehlna harhirostris Fab., Bhina nigra Dr., Megasoma elephas 

 Fabr., and (Ecodoma mexicana Smith. 



Under the head of methods of treatment, Mr. Blandford recom- 

 mends care in the choice of sites for new plantations, thorough drain- 

 age, wide planting, and the destruction of felled trees and stumps. In 

 the choice of a site, undue proximity to a cohoon ridge should be 

 avoided. The trees should be left as far as possible in their natural 

 state and unnecessary trimming avoided. All wounds should at once 

 be dressed with tar mixed with fine sand. Holes should be probed 

 with a hooked wire and thenx)lugged with a tuft of fiber dipped in tar. 

 The parts selected for egg-laying may be plastered with lime wash, to 

 which may be added a small quantity of Paris green. Capture of the 

 adult weevils seems to be practicable. They are attracted in great 

 numbers to the fermenting sap of felled palms or to the split Cabbage 

 Palm, and may then be caught by hand and killed with boiling water. 



