sively by bees including the genera Apis, and especially the little 



Trigoiias ( Kelulut ) . 



Corypha is a truly monocarpic palm. It takes many years to 

 gain its full growth, when it produces at the; summit of the stem 

 a great mass of inflorescence, after which the palm completely 

 dies. The Arengas and Caryotas also die after flowering. The 

 single stemmed ones Arenga saccharifer a, Caryota Cumingi, etc., 

 completely, while in the tufted species Arenga Wester hout i \ Caryo- 

 ta mitis, the stem that is fruiting alone dies. The flowering in 

 these palms when full grown commences near the top, every joint 

 producing an inflorescence, alternately male and female till the 

 flowers get near the base of the tree when it dies. In Sagus the 

 stems rising from a creeping rhizome on attaining their full deve- 

 lopment produce a great terminal mass of inflorescence after which 

 the leaves fall off and the stem dies to the base. 



Pests and Diseases. — Palms both in pots or tubs and also when 

 planted out are liable to the attacks of some insects. The cater- 

 pillar of the butterfly Erionota Thrax attacks the leaves especially 

 of Rattans, Livistona, and some other palms. The caterpillar is 

 about two inches long, pale sea green but entirely covered with a 

 white mealy powder. It rolls up the leaves and gradually devours 

 them. The same insect eats the leaves of Bananas {see Bulletin 

 old series, p. 259). It should be sought for and destroyed by hand. 

 The caterpillar of the large coconut butterfly (Amathusia phidippus) 

 attacks other palms than coconuts, biting away all the leaflet ex- 

 cept the midrib and giving the plant a ragged appearance. It seldom 

 gives trouble with pot or tub palms but attacks full grown palms. I 

 have however found one larva in a box of seedlings of Phoenix which 

 it was steadily eating up. It is a smooth bright green caterpillar 

 with a broad head and two long projecting spikes on its tail. It 

 should be removed by hand, in the case of small plants. With fully 

 grown trees it is much more difficult to deal with, but it is a 

 comparatively harmless insect except to small plan's. The Red 

 Palm Beetle Rhyncophorns ferruguiens, and the Rhinoceros 

 beetle Oryctes Rhinoceros, both attack many other palms than 

 the Coco-nut. It is not common for the former to attack plants in 

 pots or tubs, but I have met with larvae in comparatively small 

 plants in pots. The beetle is well known. A large black weevil with 

 bright red markings. The eggs are laid in the bud of the palm 

 and the large fleshy grub burrows in the soft parts of the bud, and 

 often its presence is first observed by the falling of the young cen- 

 tral leaf. In the case of single stemmed palms, the injury is usually 

 fatal, but in the case of Dates, {Phoenix) the plant usually recovers. 

 As a rule the beetle lays its eggs in number in proportion to the 

 size of the palm, eg., in small palms one grub only may be found, 

 while 12 or more may be taken from a badly infested tree. In the 

 case of a large palm attacked it may be saved by a free operation. 

 The leaves are carefully cut away, and the grubs extracted. So 

 long as the actual growing point is not destroyed the sheaths of 

 the young leaves may be cut down almost on to it. After all grubs 



