Sept. 2, 1901.} 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
177 
THE i" SHOT-HOLE " BORER. 
ADVICE TO THE PUSSELLAWA PLANTERS. 
WHAT THE GOVERNMENT ENTOMOLOGIST THINKS OF 
THE PEST. 
At yesterday's meeting of the Pueaetlawa Planters 
Association, Mr. E, Ernest Green, the Government 
Entomologist, attended and gave the members some 
valuable information regarding the " shot-hole " 
borer, a beetle which does damage to tea plants. 
The Chaibman (Mr. G. C. Bliss) said Mr. Green 
bad been making extensive enquiries regarding the 
" shot-hole " borer, and his information would be 
valuable to planters. The pest was undoubtedly one 
of the most serious that attacked the tea plant, and 
he had ofiered Mr. Green opportunities of studying 
it on the Atgalla estate. 
Mr. Gbeen said the insect was a minute beetle 
known to scientists by the name of xijlehorus 
fornicatus, and belonged to the family of scolytidae. 
Jt was popularly known as the " shot-hole " borer. 
He had known the pest in question for about twelve 
years in the Nawilapitiya district and probably all 
those present were well acquainted with it. They 
would see from the specimens of tea trees that were 
on the table that the beetle bored holes in the wood, 
which very much resembled a single shot. It seemed 
to affect the tree from the top to the bottom practi- 
cally. Its modus operandi was to commence from the 
bas« and go on to one of the branches ; it almost 
went through the (branch, and tben took a spiral 
turn round which girdled the branch just above 
where it went in. It then went back and made 
another girdle below the original circle. The object 
of the beetle was to choke the flow of sap and enable 
it to go on breeding without having too much 
moisture. The way that it had affected whole fields 
showed that it had been going on for a very large 
Dumber of years. It was very difficult to do anything 
with it when it had got to that stage. If it was 
noticed in the beginning, the way to treat it was 
by cutting and burning the prunings. Where the 
beetle had affected the whole field, of course, to 
prune would not be worth while, as it would be neces- 
sary to practically hack the bush away ; he thought 
the best thing to be done under such circumstances 
was to leave as mnch bearing weight as possible and 
to stimulate the tree by manuring, producing more 
sap to counteract the effect of the beetle. In fieldi 
where the beetle had only just appeared it certainly 
should be possible to control it by cutting down below 
the place wherever the beetle had been, and carefully 
collecting and burning the clippings. It would be a 
great pity in young clearings to let the thing get a 
hold from the commencement. It was absolutely 
necessary to burn the clippings. Their Chairman had 
very kindly consented to undertake any experiments 
that he (Mr Green) might suggest ; it was, however, 
more or less working in the dark, excepting that they 
would have to try all sorts of things likely and un- 
likely. Probably they would have to try and find somy 
deterrent which would render the bushes more or less 
obnoxious if attacked after pruning, and he proposed 
Bxperimenting in that way. He would put the let^nH 
of what would be done in black and white for iha 
benefit of the planters, and he hoped to be able to 
himself find the time to supervise the experiments and 
see how they were going on. His main object at 
present was to point out the gravity of the pest. When 
it had got to the stage in which it was at present 
on many fields they never knew where it would stop. 
After pruning, they wouM find that a certain number 
of the branches did not throw out any shoots, or *t 
any rate they were very much retarded and might 
appear a month or six weeks after the main part of 
the bush. That wa"* because of the beetle, and they 
could easily see that there was no limit to its ravages. 
It had thoroughly infected the estates around Na- 
walapitiya and Gampola, and it had also appeared 
sporadically on one or two estates np-ooantry. Many 
people had an idea that it had got into the estates 
from the grevillea trees ; he (Mr Green) had examined 
those trees and came to the conclusion that it was 
much more probable that it had got into the grevillea 
trees from the tea. With the assistance their Chair- 
man had been good enough t" offer, he hoped to be 
able to do something. (Hear, hear.) 
Mr. Green produced specimens of the male and 
female beetles, which were examined with interest. 
The beetle was allied to the true weevil, but it had 
not the long snout. The weevils were very dangerous, 
but as a rule they preferred dead wood to any 
other. The shot-bole borer unfortunately, preferred 
the half-living wood, for, as soon as the branch was 
absolutely dead, it seemed to desert it, or at all 
events did not continue to breed in the dead wood. 
Mr. Christie enquired whether the beetle was able 
to fly and whether it did fly. 
Mr. Gbeen said the female insect flew about, bat 
the male insect had no wings. The male insect was 
very mch smaller than the female. 
Mr. Christie asked whether Mr. Green would 
recommend the prunings to be burned green, or 
would it be sufficient to burn them afterwards, as 
there was, of course, a difficulty in burning the green 
prunings. 
Mr. Green said it wa9 most important that the 
prunings should be burned as soon after being cut as 
pos?ible. It would be a great mistake to let the 
branches dry, and it the branches were only scorched 
when green and not entirely consumed, it might be 
enough. He had made experiments to try and at- 
tract the beetle by light and also with a preparation 
of alcohol, but the only result was the inebriation 
of ants. (Laughter.) It was a very bad night for the 
experiment, as there was a very bright moon and few 
insects were flying about, and as he did not consider 
it by any means conclusive, he meant trying again 
under more favourable circumstances. 
The Chairman thanked Mr Green for the informa- 
tion he had given the meeting. There was no doubt 
that the shot-hole borer was a very serious pest, he 
would say the most serious pest that they had. 
The best return they could make to Mr Green for 
his kin:jness in attending the meeting and giving 
them information as he had done was to thoroughly 
try every suggestion that he made, and thus co- 
operate in the attempt to exterminate the pest. — 
Local "Times," July 26. 
A BOOK ON MOSQUITOS. 
Dr. Howard, Chief Entomologist of the United 
States DeparLuient of Agriculture, has published 
a book on Mosquitos, in which the fly and the 
remedies to be used against the infection of 
malaria and yellow fever are fully treated. It is 
published by M'CIure, Phillips, and Co , New 
Yovk.-Glohe ■ 
Quinine-Injections. — M. Emery-Desbrousses 
reports that during the Madagascar expedition the 
military physicians fnund themselves frequently 
obliged to ad ninister quinine liypoderraically to 
sohlieis with fever Ic was found, however, that 
patients who had received tlie injections of qui- 
nine developed tetanus. The injections had been 
made in the limbs, and w^re then ordered to be 
made under antiseptic conditions in the abdomen 
and sides, with the result that no further case of 
tet i.nus was produced. The.se facts suggest that 
tetanas ni ly have a non-niiciobic origin, the 
cause I'cing probably aneuritis, due to irritation 
caused by thi quinine solution. — Chemist and 
Druggist, July 13. 
