d 



COCOA-DRYING IN CEYLON : A CORRECTION. 



Dr. Trimen, Director of the B,. Botanic Gardens, Ceylon, writes as follows : — 



" In the reprint of my description of a drying-house for Cacao in your "Bulletin" (No. 41) for 

 March lust, I notice a serious error, "R 120" for R 1,200. I do not know who is responsible for this 

 as the note has been through so many hands, but it would be well to call attention to it. It means £80 

 instead of £8 in sterling money. 



" Also the last paragraph (in inverted commas, like the other two) is none of mine but added by 

 some other hand, and, as far as Ceylon is concerned, not correct." 



These paragraphs were taken from the Af/ricultural Uecord of Trinidad for 1890, to which Dr. 

 Trimen referred in his first letter. The mistake in the Record is not a mere misprint, for Sir Wm. Robinson 

 in a later paragraph refers to the cost as being only £12. But there is a misprint in the Bulletin iu 

 quoting the last paragraph as from Dr. Trimen ; it is really part of Sir Wm, Robinson's lecture. 



NOTES FROM THE MUSEUM, INSTITUTE OF JAMAICA.— I. 



By C. H. TYLER TOWNSEND, Curator of the Museum. • 

 No. 38. — A Grtjb Injuking Strawberry Plants. 



On April 6, 1893, Mr. W. Harris, Superintendent of the Cinchona Plantations at Gordon Town, sent 

 to the Museum specimens of a grub, with the report that they were doing serious damage to strawberry 

 plants. Mr. Harris wrote that the grubs burrow in the soil, and eat up into the hearts of the plants, 

 causing them to become sickly and finally to wither up. Mr. Cockerell, in reply, stated that he sus- 

 pected them to be larvae of a species of Praepodes. They were placed in soil to breed, but without re- 

 sult. On July 5, I wrote to Mr. Harris for further specimens, which were obtained July 10, together 

 with specimens of beetles which Mr. Fawcett thought might be the adults of the grubs. His opinion, 

 I believe, is correct. One of the smaller grubs is a scarab or chafer larva, and may not be particularly 

 concerned in the injury, although it is root feeding in its habits. It may be known at once by the fact 

 of its having six well-developed legs. The other grubs all belong to a very diflferent group, the Rhyn- 

 cophora, or weevils, as indicated by the fact that they are absolutely footless The beetles are Prae- 

 podes amabilis Waterh., a large weevil from 21 to 26 mm. long, black, with three pale bluish green 

 stripes down the wing covers, the whole frequently thickly covered with a rosy or pink- golden or grey 

 metallic efflorescence of minute scales. In fact the green stripes are simply scales of this color. This 

 weevil is with little doubt the adult of the strawberry grubs above-mentioned as being footless. It will 

 however, be attempted to breed some of the latter, so as to prove or disprove this. The grubs sent are 

 from 13 to 25 mm. long. They are wholly whitish, except the head, which is pale yellowish brown, 

 and the mouth parts, which are blackish brown. They greatly resemble at a casual glance the " white 

 grubs," or chafer larvae, but are at once distinguishable by being footless. 



Mr. Harris writes, under date of July 10, that applications of fresh lime and kainit have seemed 

 to be partially successful, pointing out that the fresh lime should be dug in and well mixed with the 

 soil. As Mr. Harris suggests, however, the grubs may make their appearance sometimes when it is 

 not possible to put the lime in the ground, as when young crops are coming on, in which case it would 

 be necessary to use some other remedy. It is quite possible that kerosene emulsion could be used with 

 success in this instance. It would need to be of such a strength that it would not injure the growing 

 plants by soaking into the ground about their roots ; and yet be sufficiently strong to kill the grubs. 

 Actual experiments in the field are necessary to determine these points. A full paper on the subject of 

 this grub will be published in a future number of the Journal of the Institute. 



July 13th, 1893. 



[The attempt to breed these grubs at the Museum ended in failure, owing to the absence of growing 

 plants with which to mature them. Strawberry plants and larvae will be obtained from Cinchona the 

 coming season, when it is hoped that the beetles will be successfully reared. — C. H. T. T., Nov. 2, 1893.j 



No, 43. — An Enemy of Castjarina, 



In Mr. Cockerell's lecture on Agricultural Pests, it is stated that the Oasuarina tree furnishes an 

 example of a plant introduced without its enemies, no insects having been found up to that time to 

 depredate upon it in Jamaica. We have how, however, to record an insect enemy of this tree, in the 

 shape of a twig girdler, a beetle which gnaws awaj the bark and wood to a certain depth in the shape 

 of a ring around the smaller branches, causing the terminal portion to die and finally to break and fall 

 to the ground with heavy winds. This beetle is Oncideres pusttdata, a native species, which doubtless 

 attacks other trees as well, and has taken to the Oasuarina since its introduction into Jamaica from 

 Australia. It was identified by Dr. Riley in Washington from specimens received through Mr. Faw- 

 cett, from Mrs. Ruth Charley, of Little Loudon. 



Girdling beetles practise this peculiar habit of girdling branches, so that the terminal section, in 

 which they deposit their eggs afterwards, may become dead. This later falls to the ground, and the 

 beetle transforms therein, finally emerging from the dead stick. 



The remedy, therefore, consists in gathering and burning all the dead or girdled sticks, whether on 

 the tree or on the ground, The larvai can in this way bo very easily destroyed. The perfect beetles 

 seem to be quite common, and should be killed when found on the trees. 



August 7th, 1893. 



[This girdling beetle has since been recorded to attack the gun goo pea {Cajanus indicus). See Notes 

 from the Museum Aos. 52 and 54 for an account of this, which had been observed here in 1882. The 

 beetle is an addition to the Jamaican list of named species. — C. H. T. T., Nov. 2, 1893.] 



