September, 1910.] 



221 



Plant Sanitation. 



these can be produced in quantities 

 sufficient to supply the markets. 



Since the conditions govern size, 

 quality, flavour, and even form, it is 

 not profitable to enter into the des- 



cription of any of these many varieties. 

 When some variety becomes prominent 

 enough to become a commercial pos- 

 sibility, it will the a be time to give a 

 full description. 



TIMBERS. 



LUMBER EXPORTED. 



(Prom the Mindanao Herald, June, 1910.) 



The Nordeutscher Lloyd steamer 

 " Tringganu " sailed for Singapore on the 

 8th instant carrying 98,000 board feet of 

 Mindanao hardwoods for London and 

 Rotterdam. The Lumber comes from 

 the Port Banga Lumber Company's mill 

 and is cut to dimensions, a large part of 

 it being 20-inch boards for the manu- 



facture of fine furniture, 79,000 feet are 

 consigned to London and 20,C00 feet to 

 Rotterdam. 200,000 board feet of hard- 

 woods were shipped by the Port Banga 

 mill on the Rigel and Brutus, consigned 

 to firms in the United States. 



This mill, for the past two years, has 

 been endeavouring to market its hard- 

 woods in Europe and America, and their 

 efforts are being crowned with success. 

 Orders are now in hand for other ship- 

 ments. 



PLANT SANITATION. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL NOTES. 



By E. Ernest Green, 

 Government Entomologist. 



The African Snail, Achatina Fulica. 



Since the publication of my last series 

 of notes, I have visited the scene of the 

 outbreak and found that its magnitude 

 had been by no means exaggerated. 

 The snails were there in their millions. 

 The weight of the individuals only had 

 been mis-stated, They were reported to 

 turn the scale at one pound and two 

 ounces. The largest specimens that I 

 could find scaled little more than four to 

 the pound. But the extraordinary part 

 of the affair is that, in spite of their 

 overwhelming numbers, the actual 

 damage that they are doing is compara- 

 tively small. They destroy a certain 

 amount of vegetable produce, but the 

 general aspect of the country is as green 

 and flourishing as ever. This may be 

 accounted for— to a large extent — by the 

 fact that the snails are principally occu- 

 pied in scavenging work. A detailed 

 report upon the outbreak has been sub- 

 mitted to the Government, and this 

 report is now being published as a 

 Departmental Circular for general infor- 

 mation. It will probably have been 

 issued before the appearance of this 

 note. 



A correspondent has sent me a speci- 

 men of the shell of this snail, received — 

 some seven or eight years ago— from 



Templestowe Estate, where the snails 

 are said to have been present in con- 

 siderable numbers. Other specimens, 

 liberated in a garden in Dpper Mas- 

 keliya, died — one by one— without repro- 

 ducing themselves. It appears, there- 

 fore, that the snails cannot exist above 

 an elevation of about 4,000 feet. 



Clerds Formicarius. 

 A first consignment of the long-ex- 

 pected Clerus Jormicarius arrived early 

 this month (August). But not a single 

 individual had survived the journey, 

 though they had been carefully packed 

 according to instructions. Other con- 

 signments are expected shortly. If 

 these are more successful, the insects 

 will be transferred to a cage enclosing a 

 tea bush infested with shot-hole-borer. 



Root-Borer op Para Rubber. 



The accompanying photograph (Fig. 1) 

 represents a longitudinal section of the 

 tap root of an Hevea tree. It has been 

 tunnelled by the larva of a large Longi- 

 corn beetle. The larva may be seen at 

 work at the upper part of its burrow. 

 The tree is said to have died, though the 

 actual cause of death is not quite appa- 

 rent. The injury— extensive though it 

 is— is confined to the comparatively 

 functionless heart-wood of the taproot. 

 The taproot of a tree of this size is 

 little more than an anchor for the sup- 

 port of the stem. The nourishment 

 should be supplied by the lateral roots. 

 In this case, nowever, the lateral roots 



