January 2, 1882.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
■u touched a ej 
produce bl 
'el feeder; it 
or the soft heiul-pith. 
During tlie day the insects lie dormant, generally in 
oouples, shaded from the sun, stretehed out at full length 
under the rib of the eoeonut leaf, the male on the. hack 
of the female. The female is much larger than the male, 
she varies in colour, being sometimes a bright green, 
sometimes a reddish-brown ; the male invariably 1 have 
found to l)e of a reddish-brown colour. 
cra\ 
,lih 
ickly 
co to 
Th, 
lit 1 m " .xjopt to steady thsir flight dc.vnwa 
eggs are to he found in two rows, one on eacl 
intestines of the female. I have counted as 
twenty in one female in various stages of dev 
Ob examining the tail part of the female, I 
lie. 1 extending between the two tail points a 
skin ; OB lifting Ibis, and underneath at the 
.1 of 11, i 
,11 uill 
the 
and immediately below it a small flexible bag-like recept- 
acle protected by two pieces of skin or scales which 
inert but do not overlap : these the insect can open or 
shut at will. In this flexible bag you will invariably 
find an egg encased in a hard rough brown skin with 
a rap like point at one end, which comes off at a touch 
and discloses the egg ; you can, if you wish, without 
difficulty remove the whole of tins skin. The idea I 
formed is that the female retains the egg in this bag 
until ii hatches the young insect; upon this being done 
another egg drops down into this receptacle to be hatched, 
and so on ; the young insect is almost as fine as a hair. 
The it traction of a coconut tree by these insects is 
wonderfully rapid. Towards the end of last January six 
of mi trees first showed signs of being attacked; to- 
wards the end of May two were killed outright. The 
tree, (bat have been attacked by the insects are all 
young trees in their very prime, and before this insect 
plague appeared were all of them magnificently healthy 
Drees in lull bearing. 
The lower loaves are attacked first ; these are quickly 
Sign bare, nothing but the stalks and libs being left, 
gpUOh Boon drop off whilst still green; the other leaves 
rapidly follow, the nuts, failing to receive proper nourish- 
ment, drop off unripe, and the tree which three or four 
Weeks before was a line healthy tree, loaded with nuts 
in differ il stages, is now left with nothing but a central 
spike \.iMi three or four bare leaves hanging on to il. 
'.After a while the centre spike Bplitfl Into a leaf, but 
.the insects cat it bare at ouce ; the tree makes Boveral 
■(aggies to put oiit fresh leaves, but these are all oaten 
.directly they appear, mid very shortly the tree dies. 
«_1 huve mitnnilly vicwod the ravages of tliis insect 
tWilli coniidarable anxiety: I fully nuiliso the grove aeioSBi- 
ty of arresting, if p >ssthlo, the progress of such a pest 
At the outset ; I will, therefore, mention (he \urious 
remedies 1 huve tried. On a still day 1 selected a small 
runk from 12 feet to 15 feet in height) which I 
was covered with the insects ; immediately be- 
Ihc tree I caused 
and for an hour k 
, so dense that stt 
I then allowed i 
aund I searched dil 
id one. I looked i 
to be 
lose to it I could not 
:e to clear away. On 
>r the inserts ; I could 
tree ; there they were 
ntly none the worse, 
;y were crawling about 
roung trt 
ike 
only 
crawling about, not one 
tried the effect of burnir 
of sulphur into a tin, a 
months old, standing with its leaves about 12 
. lief ore doing anything I carefully counted 
ts upon the tree — seven couples in all. I then 
half an horn- kept the tree enveloped in dense 
it the end of that time 1 counted fourteen in- 
had separated and were 
een destroyed. I then 
mr. I put half a pound 
,ting it on lire, held it 
f insects, only 2 inches 
below them. After a while they crawled away together. 
I followed them with the burning sulphur, keeping it 
well under them, so that they should get the full benefit 
of the fumes. I kept this up for some time, but with 
no success, for it did not destroy the insects. 
I then adopted the plan of one man climbing the 
trees and knocking the insects off; there is no use in 
merely shaking the leaf, the insects cling too tenaciously ; 
but by striking the leaf suddenly half-a-dozen sharp 
blows with a short heavy stick the insects are taken 
by surprise and drop off. I commenced with first strik- 
lart 
aves, the 
tending thei 
however: I 
provement, but it was on! 
insects soon retiu - ned, wors 
have repeated the operatio 
trees, I cannot conquer tl 
I have thought of cuttin; 
3 leaves below them, and 
fallen on to th^ lowest 
ught them to the ground 
other men chopped them 
hey do not drop, but ex- 
inks of the nearest coconut 
, or rather ran with great 
last discovered an effectual 
trees showed signs of im- 
for a short while, for the 
than over, and although I 
of knocking them off the 
pest. 
down all the trees that have 
been severely attacked, but feel convinced this would do 
no good, for the insects, when they have eaten a tree 
perfectly bare, leave it until it puts out fresh leaves, 
when they return to it. 
I have tried the experiment of passing a lighted torch 
along under the midribs of the infested leaves, with the 
result that both insects and leaves are destroyed. The 
coconut leaf is very sensitive— a strong heat will wither 
it; but nearly the same damage is done by my method 
of striking the leaves, for it bruises the midrib, which 
soon breaks, one portion dropping to the ground, the 
other withering on the tree. A tree that has hem oper- 
ated upon in this manner presents a most forlorn ap- 
pearance, and its growth, of course, is materially cheeked. 
Towards the end of January two of my trees showed 
signs that they were attacked ; before the end of the 
same month four adjacent trees were in the same state ; 
witliin four weeks not a vestige of a ;rreen leaf was to 
bo scon upon these six trees, nud tho trees immediately 
adjoiuing showed that they also wore attacked. Tlioso 
who saw them nssured me that a good " blow " would 
free mo of tho pest ; when the hnmeaue months hnd 
passed I was told that the steady trade winds would 
have tho desired effect, and so on. I regret to state I 
have now 113 trees attacked, many of which I am much 
afraid will uot roeover. I do not think any of them 
