102 



THE COCO-NUT 



CHAP. 



and it need not be a cause of surprise if other scales 

 from time to time do sporadic mischief. 



Related to the scales is the coco-nut mealy wing, 

 Aleyrodicus. A. cocois was described long ago in the 

 West Indies, and of late years has been noticed as a 

 parasite of the coco-nut. It feeds on guava and other 

 trees. 



A. destructor has recently been reported by Macke 

 in the Philippine Agricultural Review for March 1912 

 as a very serious pest in a limited district in Oriental 

 Negros in the Philippines. It attacks trees six to eight 

 years old. It does not kill them, but weakens them 

 enough to prevent the production of fruit, and so 

 renders them at least for the time being of no value. 

 It is recommended that leaves which are infested be cut 

 off and burned. As this is a sucking insect, kerosene 

 emulsion is recommended if sprays are to be used. As 

 an indication of governmental alertness, it may be noted 

 that the governments of the Straits Settlements and 

 Ceylon have quarantined against the Philippines to pre- 

 vent the possibility of the introduction of this pest. It 

 shows no present indications of being likely to spread 

 at all, and no measures have been taken to confine it 

 to the limited region where it has so far appeared. 



Termites. — As is true of the locusts, the white ants 

 destroy whatever they find, without any predilection 

 for the coco-nut. They therefore demand no discussion 

 here. The nuts when planted are especially likely to be 

 consumed, and their protection, so far as it is practicable, 

 is taken up in the discussion of the seed beds. 



Even the lengthy list which has been given does 

 not include all of the insects which have been stated to 

 feed on the coco-nut. There are, for instance, several 

 which are known to feed upon the flowers or pollen. 

 None of these have done evident injury to the industry. 

 As our knowledge concerning a large majority of the 

 pests already mentioned has been obtained during the 

 last decade, it must be expected that the next few years 

 will show great additions to the list. 



