August i, 1893.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
tha leaf-atalks nor upon the Itaf-spike, when their 
hard Bilicious surface is unbrnkeu ; and the lajinii{ of 
eggs on the stem is limited below by its matarity, 
aud the ooiiEequent presence under the riud of hard 
wood, for the grub is not a hard-wood feeder, but 
devours the pithy interior of the stem, and, as before 
stated, the beetle will not lay its eggs where the 
young larva cannot get its proper food. 
The vu'nerable point lies, therefore, about the upper 
part of Ihe stem, below the attachments of the leaves, 
»nd above the woody portion. In young trees, where 
the wood h .s hardly begun to firna, and the stem is 
only from one or thren feet long, any point above 
groutsd ia open to attack, and even, according to Mr. 
Bellamy, below it. But fuller evidence is required 
in support of this state meut, which may rest oa the 
erroneous intprpretati )n of obierved facts. 
Ia the Oommipsioners' rfport, the practice of trim- 
ming the Uavea is conc'emued, but a reason is not 
given, and cannot be inferred from the statements 
there made about egg-laying. But in India this tact 
has been more genera'ly recognued. Mr. Eidley writes 
about the wpevil, "ii finds its way to the base of the 
leaf-stalk of the palm, and pushes the egg as deeply 
into the body of the tree as it can. Some persons 
af&rm that the beetle lays its eggs in the base of 
the trde, and that the grubs then burrow upwards. 
I have seen no case of this I have oerf a'cly 
seen burrows made by some insect in the old stems 
of the cocoa palm, but I do not believe that they 
were the work of this animal, but probably of some 
Lo gioorn beetle." 
All observers agree in condemning the practice of 
stripping off the old fronds, which by their leaf- 
shea'hs so thoroughly protect the tenderest part of 
the stem. The simplest plan of dealing with them 
is to bend them down wi'hout breaking them, or 
even to tie thi m up. It is doub'.ful waether it is 
eufldcieut to cut; off the fronds at some distauoe from 
the s'em. If the stalks are not dry the exudatici 
ot sap from the cut ends probably attracts the beetles. 
The female is also ready to take advantage of 
any wounds on the surface or cracks in the bark 
ol the tree in which to lay her eggs. Such wounds 
may be made by other ic sects, tor example ia 
India by the Khinoceros or Elephant beetle {Oryctes 
rhinoceros, Liun,), in the burrow.s of which into 
the head of the palm the weevils take shelter; 
they may also be caused by unskilful trimming of 
the leaves and fibrous sheaths, and thus afford another 
reason for giving up this practice. The cracking of the 
rind is to a large extent due to the same act which 
prematurely exposes it. 
From the egg of the grub, at first minute, hatches and 
be};ins to bore into the pith of the tree. An observer 
should be able to recognise the grub, and distinguish 
it, even when small, from other larvre to ba found 
in the palm, those of loogioorn beetles and of other 
weevils especially. In several accounts of grubs being 
found in trees in various stages of decay, thereis nothing 
to show that they did not belong to some other species 
of insect. The larva, or gi u grv, worm is, when fully 
crown, about two to three inches long, and of a yellow- 
ieh-wliite or brownish-yellow colour. Its body is 
slightly bent and is very stout io proportioQ to its 
length, so that the skin when stripped off is nearly 
oiroular. The head is large and horny, ami the mou'h 
is at its lower and anterior part ; the jaw-i, whicii 
woik, as in all insects, sid'jways, are short, stout ai d 
rather blunt. Its colour ia a deep pitchy brown and 
the i»w8 are the d-irkest parts. It is set with a 
small number of bristles, and there are also a few 
on the hind segment, while the rest of the surface is 
hairless. The skin ot the body is loose and wrinkled, 
and, if the underside be looked at, is seen to be 
thrown into 11 foldp, eo na to divide the body into 12 
lings of segments. These foMs are continued round to 
the upper xide, where there between most of them an 
additional transverfe fold. The body is stoutest at the 
seventh or eighth segment aLd tapers sharply from the 
nil th t ) the tail. 
Ttie boring of the grubs is said to be upwards, a 
statement that Mr, Kidley contea's. They fte'l ou the 
sjftpith that fills the inside of the stem up to the 
growing point, and can be found in any part of it* 
The tree is killed by their feeding at the base of the 
cabbage and irjnring the growing p< int, whereas 
damage done to the pith m the lower p rt of the stem 
does not resessarily prove fatal. There is some con- 
fusion as to their feeding in the head of the tree or 
not, due partly to the lirvae of other insects being 
mistaken for them, partly to a loose use of the term 
" cabbage," the limits of which are not taken to te 
the sarre by different obeervers. It is the pith im- 
mediately below the true cabbage that appears to form 
their favourite source ot food. The grub in boring 
makes a tunnel corresponding to the diameter of its 
body and becoming larger as the latter iccreaaes in 
size. It does not make holes on the outside of the 
trunk which can serve as a conspicuous sign of its 
presence. When approaching maturity it returns to 
the outside of the tree, according to Dr. Qabb by en- 
larging the channel along which it has come, a process 
that must necessitate its turning round in its tunnel. 
Arriving near the outside, it eats away the inner rind 
60 as to leave a thin shell, ' of the " thickness of 
foolscap paper," between it and the outer air, through 
which shell the beetle can easily break. It then 
retreats a little way and coaatruota a close oval cocoon 
of the fibres surrounding the pith, that is, of the 
fibro-vascular bundles running to the fronds. This 
cocoon is three or more inches long and about one 
and a halt in diameter, and consist of a dense mass of 
interlacing fibres, mostly arranged circularly and sug- 
gesting a bird's nest. No gum or silk is employed in 
the cocoon, within which the grub oasts Its skin for 
the last time, and appears &a pupa. 
The pupa, perfectly harmless — lor i*; takes no food 
and cannot quit the coooon — has a general likeness 
to tae beetle to which it changes. It is light-coloured 
with a thin delicate skin j the snout, antenuEe, legs 
and wings are n'atly and symmetricaly folded on the 
underside, the snout extending along the middle of 
the body, the two anterior pairs of legs 
doubled up and covering the wing-cases and 
wings. These ore shorter than in the mature 
insect and lie over the hind legs, the wings 
projecting beyoud the wing cafe.". The upper side of 
ihe abdomen is exposed and ita spiracles are now con- 
spicuous. 
Under the investing skin of the pupa the beetle 
alowy develops ita organ", and at last splita it and 
emerges. Soft a:)d pale, it does not leave the tree at 
once,but waits until its integuments have haidened and 
have acquired their fall colour. Then it breaks through 
the rind which shelters it and corns out as an adult 
weevil. A certain number are unable to escape from 
different causes and perish in the tree, 
The holes made by the exit of beetles are cons- 
picuous, aud may afford the careless observer the first 
clear sign of the mischief that is going on. They 
occur anywhere in the soft part of the palm stem, aud 
most frequently just below the head. Cocoons are not 
to be found in the cabbage, but only close to the out- 
side in the neighbourhood of the fibre from which they 
are made. 
The length of lite of the perfeot weevil and the time 
passed in the early stages have not been ascertained, 
nor have the periods at which egg-liying is performed. 
These points are less important in tropical than in 
temperate couutriss, where the lite-periods of an 
insect are closely related to seaaonal change. But in 
the tropics the dry and wet seasons, at least, influ- 
ence the stages of ii sect life, and an effort should 
be made to olt in accurate knowledge of matters 
which are of so gie^t importance. Prevention of egg- 
laying for I sample ii likely to be more aucoessful if 
carried out in reference to the seasons of oviposition 
should any Such exi^t. 
The Palmetto Weevil of the Gulf States of North 
Amer'ca (a feeder on Sahal I'almfito) is S;iid by Sum- 
mers (13) to emerge as a perfect insect in September 
ai,d October, to live through the winter an. I lay eggs 
in the early summer, the grubs lei'ig f'onnd in the 
latter part of June aud July. Adult wecrils are usually 
long-lived, and it is possible that the I'alm Weevil 
lives nearly a year as a perfect insect. 
