3*7 



through the bean and escaped by a round hole usually at one end 

 but sometimes through the side. This beetle is Aroeocetus fasci- 

 culatiis. It is about £ of an inch long brown, somewhat mottled 

 and covered with fine short yellowish hair. Its head is bent down- 

 wards rather small, the antennae with a large basal joint followed 

 by a slender portion of very small joints and ending in three 

 broader obconic joints. The thorax is broad rounded and narrowed 

 a little towards the head. The elytra oblong dotted finely in 

 lines but covered with the yellow hair, so that the punctation does 

 not show unless it is rubbed off. The elytra do not quite cover 

 the abdomen which projects behind. The legs are short and stout. 

 This beetle is very active on the wing and flies very briskly. A good 

 account of this insect is to be found in the India Museum Notes 

 IV. p. 125 plate XI. It has long been known to attack coffee 

 beans, as well as ginger figs, betelnuts and all manner of other 

 seeds, and has contrived to get carried all over the world probably 

 in infected seeds o! some kinds. The insect is in fact really a go- 

 down pest. It does not attack coffee in the field, but haunts houses 

 and stores where seed of different kinds are stored and must be 

 attacked there. Seeds or coffee beans infected with this pest must 

 be rigorously excluded from the store, or it will soon be infected, 

 old refuse coffee, or other such stuff likely to contain the beetle 

 should be destroyed by burning, or taken far away and buried. If 

 the store has got infected, it should be thoroughly cleaned out, and 

 whitewashed and all rubbish removed. If sufficient care be taken 

 to avoid danger from explosion, the rooms infected by these and 

 other warehouse pests can be disinfected by the use of Carbon 

 bisulphide. An account of the use of this is published by W. E. 

 Hinds as follows : 



A large room belonging to a tobacco establishment was infected 

 with the beetle, Lasioderma serricome, a cigar beetle. About 145 

 pounds of Carbon bisulphide were exposed in fifty or more pans 3 

 feet long by 1 foot wide and 1 inch deep. The pans were dis- 

 tributed through the room as high up as could be conveniently 

 placed. The building was carefully locked up and left for^22 hours 

 and then opened for ventilation. Nearly all the beetles were des- 

 troyed. Special caution is necessary in preventing fire coming in 

 contact with the gas, as it is exceedingly inflammable. 



H. N. R. 



IMPORTS OF COFFEE, COPRA AND KAPOK 

 IN HOLLAND IN 1901. 



The English Consul at Amsterdam (Consular report for 1 901) 

 states that the total importation of Coffee in Holland in 190 1 

 amounted to 1,697,500 bags, a decrease of 134,104 bags on the 

 previous year. Of this 1,200,000 bags came from Santos, 55,700 

 bags from Africa and 440,000 from the Dutch East Indies. Under 

 the influence of two successive heavy crops in the Brazils the trade 

 during the first half of the year dragged with falling prices only 



