6 



found that several apeciraena of a small and elongate light coloured longioorn beetle had issued from, 

 them. These beetles on bein^ sent to Dr Rilev, in Washington, were pronounced to be Cyrtomerm 

 pilicornift Fab. The species is new to the Jamaican lists. 



As the pimento or allspice (Pimcnta vulgaris) is considerably cultivated in Jamaica, this borer 

 may prove a serious pest. The sticks sent to the Museum show rather wide, more or less sinuate or 

 irregular, shallow channels in the hard wood immediately beneath the thin bark. The channels are 

 very solidly packed in places with a fine and hard frass. Their general direction is lengthwise of the 

 branch, but they sometimes wind around it, or rarelv turn backward at an acute angle. At intervals, 

 in the sticks are seen small deep holes penetrating obliquely downward or upward into the hard wood 

 towards the heart of the branch. These are narrower than the outer superficial feeding tunnels, 

 but are still flnttened, and doubtless are the cells where the borers undergo the pupal change to the 

 adult state. The bark being removed shows the tunnels to extensively cover the outer surface of the 

 sticks, indicating that these borers are active ones and capable of doing much injury. 



The only remedy for such borers in living trees is to search for infested branches, detect the 

 tunnels before they become extensive, and kill the grubs by using a pi'obo of wire or other material. 

 Probing is simple in this case because the borers work just beneath the bark until ready to pupate. 



September 22nd, 1898. 



No. 57. — Erinose Growths due to Mitks. 



Phytoptus, a genus of mites, produces a peculiar fungus-like errowth on various plants, the 

 growth varying in its form and structure according to the species of Phytoptus producing it, and to a 

 certain extent dependinpf upon the plant infested. In as much as these mites are very small and 

 usually well concealed, the growths wich they cause were for a long time classed by mycologists as 

 fungi under the generic term JErineum. 



As recorded in the August number of the Journal of the Institute, Mr. Campbell sent from 

 Castleton Gardens last July a leaf of Calophyllum calaha, which was covered on its under surface 

 with numerous small and compact brownish growths, formed of fine and short closely packed setae, 

 presenting much the structure of the pile of velvet. This was sent to Mr. Ellis, and by him determin- 

 ed as the form originally called Erineiim calabae by Kunze, who described it from the island of Porto 

 Rico. Mr. Fawcett has recently written me that specimens from Castleton Gardens were also forward- 

 ed to Kev?', and pronounced to be an erinose growth due to an insect. 



When troublesome, the phytoptid mites may be destroyed with sulphur or Kerosene emulsion. 

 Recent experiments with the latter seem to prove its efficiency for the pear Phytoptus in the U.S. 

 The orange Phi/toptus producing the rust is destroyed in Florida by using sulphur mixed with lime 

 in the process of slacking, and applied in a watery solution. A soft soap and sulphur wash is used 

 in England for the Currant Phytoptus. 



October 9th, 1893. 



No. 60.— Grubs Injuring Roots of Orange Trees. 

 There have been found in a jar in the Museum several grubs of a beetle, which, according to the 

 label, were found eating roots of an orange tree, and sent by Mr. Fawcett on the 28th of May, 1887. 

 They are rhynchoohorous or weevil grubs, and quite similar in appearance to those found by Mr. 

 Fawcett and Mr. Harris, from April to July of the present year, injuring roots of strawberry plants 

 at Cinchona, and which are mentioned in Notes from the Museum No. 38. Like them, they doubtless 

 belong to the genus Praepodes. 



This observation should not be lost sight of. Grubs attacking the roots of trees and plants are 

 more easily overlooked than those which work above ground, since their depredatioQs are concealed 

 and usually not suspected until the ruin of the tree is imminent. In the U.S. the grubs of certain 

 scarabaeid and prionid (longicorn) beetles attack the roots of plants and trees, the former beino- 

 usually confined to certain crops and grass, and the latter to trees. The grubs of these prionid beetles 

 are often of great size, some of the beetles being very largo. It is noteworthy, however, that in the 

 tropics, at least in Jamaica, the grubs of certain large weevils seem to take the place in part of those 

 above mentioned in the U.S. The cocoanut or palm weevil, which bore-s the root of the cocoa palm in 

 the West Indies, is the gigantic grub of Rkymhophorus palmarum. Then we have these larva) of 

 Praepodes injuring the roots of the strawberry, orange, and without doubt other plants. It is very 

 probable, as Mr. Cockerell has suggested, that the grub reported to injure cheroots of cacao in Jamaica 

 is the larva of Praepodes. Then we have a coffee borer, which may or may not turn out to be the 

 same thing. These weevil larvae, as pointed out in the notes ab)ve referred to, are at once distinu-uish- 

 ed from all other larvae of beetles by being footless. 



There are some large prionid beetles native in Jamaica, whose grubs doubtless injure the roots 

 of trees, and quite possibly those of the orange. The Curator will be glad to receive any specimens 

 of root-borers, with notes upon them. 



October 14th, 1893. 



CURING LEMONS^ AND LIMES. 



The export of Lemons would probably prove to be most remunerative, if they were properly cured 

 and packed. 



The following information is taken from the Handbook of Orange Culture, by the Rev. T. W. 

 Moore, 



"Comparatively little attention has been given in Florida to the cultivation of the lemon and the 

 lime ; and yet these are among the most valuable of the citrus family, whether wo consider their mone- 

 tary value or their heolthf ulness. This neglect has arisen from several causes. 



" The lemon is a more vigorous grower than the orange, and when planted on strong or fresh land 

 the fruit grows to a much larger size and with a thicker skin than in Europe. The rind, also, when 



