182 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



COCONUT PALM DISEASE IN COCHIN. 



The following " Note " on Coconut Palm 

 Disease, prepared by the Superintendent of 

 Agriculture, Cochin, should prove of interest to 

 coconut planters in Ceylon : — 



" 1 visited the Methala village in Crangauore 

 on the 14th instant and examined the coconut 

 palms affected in the " Panikan Thuruthu." On 

 the loth another garden belonging to one 

 Muhammadan in the Azhikode village was also 

 examined. These are the only two places affected 

 so far in the Cochin State. The leaves of about 

 half-a-dozen trees are almost completely eaten 

 away in the Methala village and about the same 

 number of palms are slightly damaged in the 

 Azhikode village. It is probable that a few 

 leaflets here and there might have been eaten 

 away in some more trees. On the whole there 

 is no serious damage yet occurred in the 

 Cochin territory. But the case is quite different 

 in the Travancore Territory bordering the 

 affected area in Cochin. There a good number 

 of trees is completely devoid of any leaflet, the 

 absence of which seriously tells upon the health 

 and growth of the trees. 



" It is to be noted that the trees so affected 

 are some of those standing along the boundary 

 of the garden, facing the affected area in 

 Travancore, separated only by a river and 

 practically no trees are attacked in the interior 

 of the garden. I happened to see about seventeen 

 coconut palms so affected in the British terri- 

 tory, about a mile north of Cranganore. Those 

 trees, also standing in a line on a bund bordor. 

 ing a river, are facing the affected area in 

 Travancore at a considerable distance. These 

 facts go to prove the few moths or butter- 

 flies, leaving their company which stopped 

 in Cheria Thuruthu and in its neighbourhood 

 in the Travancore territory, proceeded to the 

 north and perched on the trees that they met 

 first. These laid their eggs on them and died, 

 causing another cycle of their existence. The 

 so-called insects which brought about so much 

 damage to the coconut leaves have altogether 

 disappeared now, and the people are under the 

 impression that their destruction, rather I may 

 say their temporary 



CESSATION OF DESTRUCTIVE TOWER, WAS DDE TO 

 CERTAIN ENCHANTMENTS 



resorted to by a certain Muhammedan priest. 

 This is a new pest to the coconut palms and it is 

 difficult to give out the true life-history of this 



pest unless closely watched and studied. But 

 to avoid the misconception of the people, 1 

 would give the life history of the insects of 

 this class in a general way : — 



" The female moth or butterfly after laying its 

 eggs dies away, as has been previously said. 

 These eggs open after a while. The insect un- 

 dergoes a series of changes. The larva popu- 

 larly known as caterpillar eats the leavesalmost 

 incessantly, laying up in the interior a store of 

 fat in which it may sustain its existence during 

 its pupal stage. (Those insects found destruc- 

 tive to coconut leaves were in their larval stage.) 

 The skin of the insect cannot keep pace with 

 the growth and therefore splits as soon as its 

 expanding properties are exhausted, permitting 

 the caterpillar to crawl, when it resumes eat- 

 ing with great vigour. After some time 

 the creature passes the caterpillar or larval 

 stage and becomes a pupa or chrysalid 

 and remains in that state for a variable time 

 without taking food and almost inactive. The 



locality chosen by this creature during this 

 strange period of growth is also variable. In 

 this particular case I saw their shells, so to 

 speak, in clusters horizontally adhering either 

 to the' trunk, leaf stalk, leaflet, spathe or any 

 other part of the tree, in which it awaits its 

 last stage. At the proper time the pupa skin 

 splits and permits the perfect insect to emerge 

 as butterfly or moth from its prison. The in- 

 sects under reference now reached this stage 

 and disappeared. They might have laid their 

 eggs either there alone, or they might have left 

 the place in search of a fresh locality. At any 

 rate, I believe that they would make their ap- 

 pearance again somewhere to commence the 

 cycle again. 



" I received some specimens of these insects 

 collected and sent by the Diwan Peishkar, in 

 their larval stage. But they are rotten and 

 decayed except one as they were not properly 

 preserved. From what I could see in them, I 

 am giving the following description : — It is 

 about an inch in length and about J of an inch 

 in diameter, with four lines of hairs greenish 

 yellow in colour. These lines of hairs are 

 longitudinally arranged, one on either side in 

 contact with the surface on which it crawls or 

 rests, and two on either side of its back. These 

 hairs are seen in clusters free from each other. 

 These lines of hairs are divided from each 

 other by a band of greenish blue. Thus 



