Ill 



DISEASES AND PESTS 



75 



The method which has given most satisfaction is 

 trapping the insect in holes. 



For the making of a trap a hole is dug in the ground 

 from nine to twelve feet square, and about two and a half feet 

 deep. Eotten coco-nut stumps, plantain stems, and soil are 

 put into it ; and over the top large leaves, such as coco-nut 

 leaves, bread-fruit leaves, and plantain leaves, are placed, rising 

 perhaps a foot above the surface of the soil. Into these pits 

 the female beetles penetrate to lay eggs and the male beetles to 

 find the females. What beyond digging the traps is necessary 

 is that they should be opened at regular and at not too distant 

 periods, or that the beetles in them may be in some way killed. 



At distances of about one hundred yards along some of the 

 roads in Samoa these traps have been made in series, and on the 

 plantation of the Deutsche Handels- und Plantagen-Gesellschaft 

 there is one trap to every hundred standing trees. 



On the latter estate the traps are opened every six weeks 

 or two months. 



Burkill's paper contains a considerable amount of 

 information on this beetle in other countries, including 

 a review of a careful study at Pusa in India. He 

 believes that under favourable conditions six to seven 

 months are enough for the insect to pass from the egg 

 to maturity, and with this opinion I am in complete 

 agreement. The paper closes with an account of 

 Rhynchophorus, which is short and altogether to the 

 point. 



Ehynchophorus ferrugineus. — This pest is most 

 commonly known as the red beetle, the name used by 

 the planters of Ceylon and British Malaya. Banks 

 calls it the Asiatic Palm Weevil. Its native name in 

 Ceylon is " Kandapanuwa." In Annam it is called 

 "Con-Duon." The Tagalog of Luzon do not distinguish it 

 from " Uang," which is usually Oryctes. Some Visayans 

 of Samar call it " Dalipos," and those of Negros, 

 " Bagangan," but these names are also applied to 

 Oryctes. It is the most deadly insect of the coco-nut, 

 but, since it cannot attack sound trees, not the hardest 

 to combat. Its known range is from India to the 



