62 CEYLON BRANCH — ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY. 



its eggs amongst decayed vegetation, it leaves them in a 

 place most favourable for their maturing for the nourishment 

 of the grubs. 



The native cultivators are of opinion, that the unusual 

 numbers of the Cooroominea observed this year, are entirely 

 owing to the application of manure, and to the plants being 

 kept quite freed from small jungle and weeds ; pointing, in 

 illustration, to their own gardens, which are left in an almost 

 wild state, and which certainly suffer but little from the 

 ravages of the insect. There may possibly be some truth in 

 this, for although fields not manured have been attacked in- 

 discriminately with others, still the various decomposed mat- 

 ters employed as manure, may attract the beetles to the 

 vicinity ; and as regards the clearing round the plants, the 

 writer has certainly seen a field where the small jungle was 

 allowed to grow to some height, situated next to a field of 

 well cleaned nuts — these latter were all attacked, but in 

 those under weeds not a Cooroominea was seen. Whether 

 it was that the unweeded nuts were not large enough to 

 attract the insects, or that the tall jungle prevented them 

 from flying amongst it, cannot well be decided as yet. 



Many and various have been the schemes devised for ward- 

 ing off the attacks of this insect, but all have apparently 

 failed. Strongly scented oil, paint, chunamb, and even 

 coal tar, have been successively applied, but all with equal 

 failure. Coir fibre has been tied round the tender and most 

 accessible parts in the hope of entangling the beetles amongst 

 it, but this too has failed, and we are still without any means 

 of defending the young plant from its destroyer. 



It is to be hoped, that these observations may cause en- 

 quiry, and lead to experiments by others which may prove of 

 more effect than those enumerated above, for unless the 

 beetle can be kept from the plants, it will be next to hope- 

 less to attempt to cultivate the tree, with a view to profit. 



