84 



THE COCO-NUT 



CHAP. 



Rhynchophorus — not of Oryctes — has steadily decreased, 

 a fact which seems to prove conclusively the value of a 

 systematic collection of the insects." 



2. The use of bait and traps. This method has 

 found considerable favour in the American tropics, 

 where R. palmarum, called the palm weevil, is a 

 dangerous pest. Some palm of less value than the 

 coco-nut, which the weevil is known to attack, is felled 

 and cut into convenient lengths, say 1 metre, and 

 some of these are split. The open pieces are exposed 

 until the soft heart becomes sour, which is likely to be 

 in one day. They are then watched, and beetles are 

 killed as they are attracted by the sour smell. A test 

 of this method is reported in the Trinidad Bulletin of 

 Miscellaneous Information, April 1905. The tree was 

 cut February 2, and the first beetles came to it forty- 

 eight hours later. They were collected mornings and 

 evenings, the numbers being : 



February 4 ... 23 



The trunk was opened February 18 and a number 

 of larvae were found. The pieces of the tree sacrificed 

 for bait should of course be burned before any insects 

 can possibly mature in them. 



Mr. J. T. Seay of British Honduras has perfected 

 this method by furnishing a place for the insects to hide 

 after laying their eggs. This can be done by putting a 

 little pile of rubbish close to the bait. But a better 

 way is to use the top of a palm and to have some holes 

 in this in which the insect will hide. Mr. Seay uses 

 the " salt-water pimento," which he cuts off just above 

 the cabbage ; he then cuts a hole into the latter. The 

 beetles hide in this hole and in the cavities within the 

 leaf-bases. Such a trap lasts for a week or two and is 

 then destroyed. Mr. Seay states "that 3 or 4 miles 

 is no distance for the insects to fly in search of a sickly 

 tree or one that is beginning to bear fruit, because then 



