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Hawawii are: a mealy-bug ( Pseudococcus bromeliae ), a fruit beetle 
{Carpophilus kumeralis ), vinegar flies ( Drosophila ampelophila and 
others), and a grasshopper ( Xyphidium varipeme). It may be of 
interest to note that a similar mealy-bug ( Pseudococcus sp.) is of 
common occurrence in Antigua on pine-apples: more rarely a scale 
insect, probably a species of Diaspis, is found, while different species 
of mites are numerous; vinegar flies and various grasshoppers are 
common in the islands generally. 
The preventive measures suggested by Larsen are:— 
(1) Cutting the fruit with long stems in place of the usual short 
ones. 
(2) Cutting the fruit bracts at some distance from the stem 
instead of pulling them off. 
(3) The use of straw for packing material, in preference to 
excelsior (wood wool). 
(4) Wrapping the fruit in paper. 
(5) Fumigating with formaldehyde gas.’ 
It has not yet been determined if the use of this last reagent on 
a commercial scale will be practicable, as recent work by Flora 
W. Patterson, of the United States Department of Agriculture referred 
to in the last article, has shown that a concentration of the gas 
sufficient to kill the spores of the fungus and to prevent rot, produced 
a slight change in colour and loss of turgidity in the fruit. 
Base Rot of Cuttings : This is another disease due to the 
fungus Thielaviopsis paradox a. According to the information given 
in the Bulletin mentioned above, it was found in some instances that 
many cuttings were killed when newly planted out in the field, and 
that death was due to a rot which had spread through the heart and 
the underground portion. A gentle pull would remove the diseased 
plants from the soil, and would often separate the leafy top from 
the base. Occasionally, plants were found to have recovered from a 
slight attack of the rot. These showed indentations near the base, 
where the tissues had been destroyed. The disease also occurred on 
crowns or suckers left in bags, or in piles in the fields and on cuttings 
during shipment. 
Infection appears to occur principally in two ways, either 
directly from the fungus present on the surface of the cutting at the 
time of planting, or by means of the mycelium or spores present in 
the soil. It was found that the disease was much more prevalent 
when the weather was dry after planting than when it was wet; it 
may be noted that the harm done to cane cuttings by the same 
fungus is much more noticeable in dry weather than in wet. 
The remedies suggested by Larsen consist of drying the cuttings 
by placing butt end upwards in the sun for a week; this should be 
combined with low stripping, that is the removal of as few as 
