90 



THE COCO-NUT 



CHAP. 



is intermediate between Xylotrupes and Oryctes. It is 

 reported to damage young coco-nut palms in the same 

 manner as Xylotrupes. Chalcosoma atlas, L., is a huge 

 beetle, in appearance still more remarkable than Xylo- 

 trupes, which has been alleged to have larvae which 

 attack the trunk of coco-nut in the Philippines. Of 

 this I have no personal knowledge. 



Scapanes is another genus of huge beetles, each 

 with three great horns. S, australis, Boisd., and S. 

 grossepunctatus, Sternb., occur in New Guinea and 

 destroy young trees two or three years old ; adult trees 

 are not attacked. Barrett reports a species believed to 

 be S. australis in the Philippines. 



Other beetles reported as injurious to coco-nut in 

 New Guinea are Pimelopus (four species), Camelonotus 

 quadrituber, and Oryctoderes latitarsis. 



Froggatt further reports as a pest which does a 

 great deal of damage to young coco-nuts in the Solomon 

 Islands Eurytrachelus pilosipes, Waterhouse, which he 

 calls the " coco-nut stag beetle." The adult bores into 

 the stem under the shelter of the base of the leaf-stalk. 

 Froggatt anticipates that where the land as a whole 

 has been brought into cultivation, and there is no fallen 

 timber for these beetles to breed in, they will cease to 

 be a serious pest. Eurytrachelus intermedius has also 

 been mentioned as a pest of coco-nuts. Another stag 

 beetle, Passalus tridens, is reported to have done much 

 damage to coco-nuts in Demarara. 



Barrett, in a general resume of insect pests of the 

 coco-nut, writes with especial respect of Melitomma 

 insularis of the Seychelles and Madagascar region, 

 which he calls " perhaps the most insidious trunk- 

 infesting coco-nut pest in the world." " This insect 

 enters the stem at the base, among the roots, and, 

 partly by its own voracity, and, it is thought, by 

 reason of ' caustic liquid ' excreted by the larva, soon 

 kills the tree." 



Ambrosia beetles or Scolytidae are wood - boring 

 beetles. They are found in various places, and in Cuba 



