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mixture and burying the decayed and diseased tissues with a quantity 
of lime I think one would apply the second best remedy. Whatever 
the method, it is of the utmost importance to destroy infected 
material and so prevent any possible transmission of the disease by 
insects. 
Root disease . — No root disease has been found in this country. 
Stockdale regarded root disease in Trinidad as the most serious 
of the three diseases he described — root disease, leaf disease and 
“ bud-rot.” Palms exhibiting a wilted appearance with their leaves 
turning yellow should be examined by an expert. This appearance 
is not uncommon but 1 have invariably found that the effect is due 
either to poor soil or in the cases of some young palms to some 
unexplained condition. 
Meliola palmarum . — A black fungus which causes the sooty 
appearance is found frequently on leaves. 
It has never been found necessary to adopt any remedial 
measures as the fungus does not permanently damage the palms. 
Insects Pests. 
Oryctes rhinoceros . — This insect is the common “ brown beetle ” 
of the Malay Peninsula or sometimes known as the black beetle. 
I need not give any description of the beetle or its mode of 
attack. Preventive measures are most important and they must 
take the form of collecting the larvas of the beetles and destroying 
possible breeding places. Debris of coconuts should not he allowed 
to lie about but should be collected and destroyed periodically. 
Traps have been used on some estates but not with any great success 
as usually the beetles have a vast number of potential breeding 
places to choose from. On a clean estate, scrupulously cleared of 
all coconut debris, traps of the kind used in Samoa, where the beetle 
was first discovered in 1910 and were supposed to have reached 
Upolu Island in a shipment of rubber stumps from Ceylon in 1909 
or 1910, may give good results and are worth a thorough trial. 
Copeland gives an account of Freidericli’s traps in his book “ The 
Coconut ” which is here quoted : “ For the making of a trap a hole 
is dug in the ground from 9-12 feet square, and about 2 i feet deep. 
Rotten coconut stumps, plantain stems and soil are put into it and 
over the top large leaves such as coconut leaves and plantain leaves 
are placed rising perhaps a foot above the surface of the soil. Into 
these pits the female beetles penetrate to lay eggs and the male 
beetles to find the females. What beyond digging the traps is 
necessary is that they should be opened at regular and not too 
distant periods (six weeks to two months), or that the beetles (and 
larvee) in them may be killed in some way.” 
The leaf beetle, Xylofowpes yideon, needs no description. Means 
of preventing attacks must take the form of collecting the beetles. 
