DISEASES AND PESTS 87 



head and snout, and deep reddish-brown body with a 

 black blotch behind the head, the thorax coarsely 

 punctured above, and the hard wings striate. Damage 

 is done by the larva, with regard to which the following 

 quotation is made by Froggatt from Doane : 



The larger larva usually works closer to the base of the 

 leaf, often killing the leaf by burrowing all through it. Some- 

 times the larva will keep close to the edge of the leaf or go 

 only as far as the centre, boring a tortuous chamber from half 

 to three-quarters of an inch in diameter. The burrow is 

 usually filled with the chaff and castings, and the larva is 

 usually found at the upper end of the burrow. Often from the 

 blackened portion of the infested leaf the resinous exudation 

 will be issuing in several places, making it appear that several 

 larvae are at work in the same leaf. This is sometimes the 

 case, but a single larva may bore along a leaf stem for 12 to 15 

 inches, causing the exudation to flow in abundance from several 

 openings, and making many large discoloured spots, beneath 

 which the tissue is soft and decayed. The older leaves are 

 usually attacked. After attaining its full growth the larva 

 bores close to the surface, and constructs a rude oval cocoon 

 out of the fibre that it has been eating, and transforms to the 

 pupa stage, from which it later issues as the adult beetle. 

 These cocoons may usually be found quite abundantly in the 

 chaff at the base of old leaves or on the old leaves. In some 

 instances the larva bores into the trunk of the tree for a short 

 distance where the broad leaf-base joins the tree. In one 

 instance I found the beetle quite abundant in and around the 

 growing tip of a young tree that was dying, whether as a result 

 of the work of the beetle or from some other cause I was 

 unable to determine. 



The beetles are trapped in some places where they are 

 especially destructive to cane sugar. 



American beetles closely related to those mentioned 

 are Metamasius hemipterus, L., M. cinnamominus, and 

 a species of Rhabdobaenus. These attack the trees under 

 the same conditions as Ehynchophorus palmarum and 

 can be guarded against in the same manner. Another 

 enemy of coco-nuts and other palms in the same part 

 of the world is the " bearded weevil," Rhina barbirostris. 

 This attacks mature trees but not the younger ones. 



