May I, 1B91J 
THP TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
759 
nr 
COCONUT BEETLES. 
Mr. Hale ol Tampin sends the following notes 
to the Journal of the R. A. S. about the coconut 
beetles, which seem worth recording : — 
“The natives her 0 '(TampiD) have the following names j 
for this insect in the larval atngo iemJctoZi and Kele- I 
matah. The latter means “ that which tiottles the | 
eye (sight being understood), and tha former is I 
probably derived from it.” Kelemata, originally Gele- I 
mata, may, he thinks, be derived in the following way : 
— “Malay women are generally slightly hysterical, 
and seeing a lump of these larvas wriggling about in 
a vessel would make a Malay woman squirm (I can 
find no better word) and would give her a feeling 
of being tickled which she would so express. The 
large millipede I have known to cause the same 
sensation to Malay men who are particularly nervous.” 
This suggestion seems quite a possible one for the 
derivation. One may compare Forbes’s account of his 
throwing a woman into a state of lotah, by flicking 
a caterpillar upon her, and I have known a syce 
unable to look at a death’s head caterpillar which I 
was carrying without violent shuddering and horror.” 
Mr. Hale adds The larvse are very much relished 
by Malays, and I myself ate several of them and 
found them parfcicuHrly sweet and nice, having a flavour | 
like a fried filbert. The way to cook them is to put | 
them alive iuto a pan over a slow fire and fry them 
until they are crisp, In the process of cooking they 
exude a quantity of a clear sweet nutty-flavoured oil 
(100 larvre will yield about half a pint). This is be- 
lieved by Malay women to be a most excellent hair-oil, 
and is much used by them for that purpose to encour- 
age the growth of girl’s hair. The perfect insect is 
called Kumbang Jenti, Kumbang Kalapa aud Buang, 
but all of these names are applied indifferently to 
other large beetles.” 
Mri Ridley says, in the the same publication, 
"Towards the end of last year, on examining the'oon- 
tents of a pitcher of the common pitcher plant Aepew 
thes ampullaceOyShcV) which was growing in the jungles 
in the Botanic Gardens, I was surprised to find thn e 
larvse of one of the mosquitoes living andapparently thriv- 
ing in the water of the pitcher. Carefully cutting off 
the pitcher and keeping it in a bottle, I succeeded 
in two or three days, in rearing two of the larvte to 
maturity. The mosquito larvse are not very particular 
as to the water they live in is known to every one 
who has ever watched them, but it is certainly very 
remarkable to find them living and thriving in the 
Nepenthes, which is so speedily fatal to any other 
insect which chances to fall in.’— ;S.F.P j'C3s, March 11th. 
»■ 
MR. II. F. BLANFORD ON CEYLON. 
(From the Hills.) 
Mr. Blanford, in his “Elementary Geography 
India, Burma and Qeylon,” traces the Taprobane 
of the Macedonians, to “ copper water.’’ We have 
heard of the oopper-ooloured palms of Wijaya’s 
soldiers who fell to the earth on landing in our 
island, but the copper water is new to us. We 
have always felt a strong inclination to believe in 
the botanical origin of the name, from the Tamana 
tree, whence Tamankaduwa, the forest of Tamana 
trees. It is interesting to be reminded that the 
area of Csylon is three-fourths that of Ireland. 
In saying that all the Ceylon rivers save the Maha- 
weliganga are mere mountain torrents, Mr. Blanford 
is scarcely correct. The Walawe, the Kelani and 
the Mahaoya are good-sized rivers, the Kelani, indeed, 
being navigable for lirge-sizad boats for some thirty 
miles from the sea. The Mahaweliganga is described 
as rising under Pidurutalagala, the reference being 
to the Nanuoya, which with many other affluents 
forms the Kotmaleganga, and joins the Adam’s 
Peak btanoh at Pasbage, below Nawalapitiya. 
But tho Agraoya which rises under Kirigalpotta 
and the Dambagastalawa which flows down the 
Elk Plains from Totapala. andl whioh unite belo 
the Agras, are really the chief sources of ou 
greatest river, the Agraoya being the farthest 
from the sea. As a matter of fact the actual 
sources of the Mahaweliganga can be seen on 
the great table-land of Horton Plains, 7,000 feet 
above sea-level. Besides not knowing that our 
mountain railway has been now for some years 
extended from Nawalapitiya to Nanuoya and is being 
extended across our mountain system into Uva, 
Mr. Blanford was ignorant of the fact that Sir 
Arthur Gordon had added two further Provinces, 
those of Uva and Sabaragamuwa, to the seven 
enumerated in the geography. Kandy is not 
quite 1,700 feet above sea-level, instead of 2,000, 
although the mountains immediately surrounding 
the mountain capital rise to altitudes of over 
4,000 feet. In the case of Badulla the altitude 
is represented by the curious combination of four 
figures 2, or 2,222 feet above sea-level. Oinna- 
mon, no doubt, grows wild in our forests, but it 
is the cultivated spioe whioh has been for many 
years exclusively exported. The prioe has fallen so 
low that it would not now pay to collect “ Eorle 
cinnamon.” With the exceptions noticed tha 
brief account of our island is correct. Our climate, 
and especially that of our mountain sanatorium, 
Nuwara Eliya, is fully dealt with in the same 
author’s able and interesting work on the “ Cli- 
mates and Weather of India, Burma and Ceylon.” 
But with the one sanatorium of Ceylon, as yet 
(for the lofty and extensive table-land known as 
Horton Plains, 7,000 feet above sea-level, richer 
in soil than Nuwara Eliya, must surely be opened 
up and settled as the railway traffio begins 
daily to pass its base) — with our one moun- 
tain health resort and the thirteen scattered 
over India, from south to north, I must deal 
in a subsequent communication. 
^ 
INDIAN PLANTING NOTES. 
Dhudhur Alli, March 2. — Rainfall this week 1’42* 
total to date 2'25. Thermometer highest 75, lowest 
57 . Rain has changed the appearance of tha whole 
country ahout^here, and there is a perceptible change in 
the climate warning us of the hot weather’s approach. 
In the Garden. “Hoeing” aud “ Tipping ” are about 
the only works going on. 
Ohabali, March 3. — Weather seasonable. We have 
had several welcome showers of rain. Early pruned 
bushes almost ready for tipping. The D. M. R. wera 
inspected at Tezpore on the 25th ultimo when all 
the Bishnauth Division turned up except one man. 
The station officials don’t seem to take much interest 
in volunteering as everyone of them cleared out to the 
Mofussil. 
Naghakata, March 6. — We are having very season- 
able weather and the expected rain fell iu heavy 
showers cn the 6th instant. Rainfall up to date 1'04 
against 1-1,5 last year. 
Dar.teeing, March 7th. — Yesterday was a nasty cold 
day with J inch in rain. Clearer today. With sun, 
leaf should commence to come on strong. Cold 
weathir works finished on most gardens ; aud all 
manufacturing houses ready for the commencement 
of plucking. — Indian Planters' Gazette. 
TEA EXHIBITS AT THE AGRI-HORTI- 
CULTURAL SHOW AT MADRAS. 
We have been favoured by the Honorary Secretary 
of the Agri-Horticultural Gardens with a copy of the 
Calcutta Ton Broker’s Report on the teas exhibited 
at this show. 
WoODcOTE Estate —Valuation Is ,3d per lb. Leafy 
and small broken Pekoe, fair tip, brisk, rather lighi, 
jittle ffavory. 
