94 



THE COCO-NUT 



CHAP. 



In the Philippines this pest is largely controlled by 

 its natural enemies. Jones found two hymenopterous 

 parasites, one on the egg and the other on the larva 

 and pupa, which together, in a hundred leaflets ex- 

 amined by Jones, were killing about half of the pests. 

 The infested leaflets are readily recognized, and may be 

 easily removed and burned ; or the adults may be picked 

 off by hand, and the leaflets infested by other forms 

 removed and burned. 



P. antiqua is reported as so serious a pest in New 

 Guinea that trees over considerable areas are made 

 entirely unproductive for a year or more. It attacks 

 even the oldest and tallest trees. It has a dark brown 

 head and hard wings (elytra), which are three-fifths 

 orange and two-fifths dark blue. P. opicicollis has black 

 elytra each with a yellow spot. In New Guinea trees 

 standing in alang-alang (cogon) grass are especially 

 subject to attack and the beetles seem to disappear when 

 the grass is eradicated. 



Oxycephala froggatti, mentioned by Preuss, may be 

 identical with Bronthispa froggatti. 



Lepidoptera. — A number of moths and butterflies 

 attack the coco-nut, but are up to this time known only 

 as local enemies. Koningsberger has published in the 

 Bulletin of the Department of Agriculture of the Dutch 

 Indies, 1908, an account of two of these. Brachartona 

 catoxantha is a small moth, measuring only 14 or 15 

 mm. with its wings expanded. It is uniformly brown 

 above. Beneath, the thorax, abdomen, and legs are 

 yellow ; the fore wings brown with yellow patches at 

 base and apex of costa ; and hind wings brown, with 

 the costal area yellow and the veins on it black. The 

 caterpillar is about 10 mm. long. The head and thorax 

 are yellowish brown ; the body greyish brown with a 

 black dorsal streak bordered by white and finely hairy. 

 The caterpillars are found on the upper side of the 

 leaves. They eat through to the nether epidermis, 

 but leave the latter, thus making brown spots, which 

 are 1 to 2 mm. wide and up to 30 mm. long. When 



