and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society. 



183 



there are three such bands, one along the 

 middle of its back, and two on either 

 side. The rest of its body is greenish yellow 

 in colour. On its back it has four black spots 

 arranged crosswise. When it is free, it brings 

 out its head, but when touched, the head is 

 drawn in. The band along its back, referred 

 to above, is not a continuous one, but broken 

 in the middle. Two clusters of hairs in front, 

 as well as its hind portion, are provided with 

 a sharp spiny protuberance in the centre. 

 These are the only descriptions I could give 

 from the insects in hand. 



" No cocoons are formed in the pupal or 

 chrysalis stage, but only rhells. These shells 

 are of a reddish-brown colour, oval in shape 

 more tapering to the opening, fiat at the 

 bottom and a little convex at the top. They 

 consist of thin and brittle scale-like materials. 

 When broken, probably the dust or particles 

 of decayed hairs falling on me, it gave intense 

 irritation to my hands and face for a number 

 of hours. They may not possess any poisonous 

 secretion. But the unpleasant and oven painful 

 effect may be due to the mechanical action of 

 the hairs upon the nerves. 



" On my enquiry at Narakkal, I was told that 

 the same kind of insects damaged some coconut 

 trees about thirty years ago in Malipuram 

 village and about two years hence the diseaso 

 was again noticed in Thengathara village also. 

 80, as was stated before, it is probable that 

 the insects might choose a fresh locality for 

 further destruction. Now to the 



METHOD ADOPTED BY THE VILLAGERS TO ARREST 

 THE SPREAD OF THE DISEASE. 



It was a very wise policy to have the 

 diseased leaf or leaflet, cut and burned. But 

 the process was anything but satisfactory. In 

 some places I saw the diseased leaf cut and 

 thrown into a bush where the insects passed 

 into their last stage, and in most cases the 

 leaves are not cut at all. If they have had taken 

 timely precaution and destroyed the insects, 

 there could have formed no shells at all on the 

 trees from which perfect insects have merged. 

 One can see innumerable shells eithor empty or 

 with dead moths inside. This goes to prove 

 that the destruction was incomplete. This gave 

 them opportunity for further procreation. There 

 should be co-operation among all gardeners in 

 destroying their pest. In Travancore the garde- 

 ners seem to have made no attempt at all to 

 stamp out the disease. There is no use of a few 



making a spasmodic attempt. All owners of 

 gardens should give strict instructions to their 

 watchmen to examine every tree, especially in 

 the morning, and when they notice any leaflet 

 of a tree is eaten it should be minutely examined 

 and if any insect is seen, cut the leaflet 

 or leaf if the damage is greater, and burn the 

 material and reduce it to ashes. If every gardener 

 takes this precaution and tries to destroy all or 

 most of the insects in their larval stage, there 

 will be little fear of their further multiplication 

 and damage. The gardeners are ignorant of the 

 life-history of these insects, and therefore only 

 they do not realise the importance of their 

 destruction in their early stage. To enlighten 

 them on this subject I am writing a short note 

 in Malayalam for publication in the village sheet. 

 Since this is a new pest to coconut palms, I do 

 know the use of any insecticide, unless the 

 experiment is first conducted by myself. For 



this purpose, I request that the Revenue 

 Officials of all the Taluks may be addressed to 

 give instructions to the village officials to com- 

 municate to me when this pest makes its 

 appearance again anywhere in the State. Fur- 

 ther, 1 request that the insects, though rotten, 

 and the shells may be sent to the Imperial 

 Entomologist, Agriculture Research Institute, 

 Pusa, for examination. 



The coconut palms attacked by these insects 

 look unhealthy and weak. They begin to send 

 off fresh shoots. These coconut trees should be 

 well manured now, not all in one dose, but little 

 by little, with rotten cowdung and ash, silt, fish 

 manure or oil-cakes. In applying a mixture of 



cattle manure and ashes, it may be supplemented 

 with some green leaves also if available, The silt 

 may be exposed for some time, whereas the 

 other manures may be applied and covered up 

 with earth." — Tutticorin Co., July '.M. 



MR. HERBERT WRIGHT ON 

 " VALLAMBROSA" 



Mr H M Darby kindly conducted me over 

 every part of this property. I had tho pleasure 

 of seeing the old tapped trees, the young ex- 

 tensive clearings which will soon be in bearing, 

 and the estate known as Bukit Kraiong recently 

 taken over and now being developed by that 

 company. It is remarkabi^ to see how well the 

 bark has been dealt with ; many of the trees 

 which have been regularly tapped still possess 



