13 
the fish feed will in their turn disappear and th;- sea res jurces will one diy be more depleted 
than at present. The fate of coral islands like A,ldabra and others is their con7ersion into 
mere sandcays by erosion frorn tiie lagoon side. It would be iinpjrtint to exploit these 
islands when their natural resources are capable of yielding their maximum. 
CHAPTER XI. 
INSECT NOTES. 
51 species of insects belonging to 29 groups were sent this year to the Imperial Bureau 
of Entomology and in each case their identification was bo promptly made known to me that 
1 had hardly time to lose sight of them and double specimens of most of them were still on 
my woi’king table when the information as to their indentificatiou was received. The im¬ 
portance of the rapidity with which this sort of information is obtained cannot be too much 
I emphasised for a colony like Seychelles where Entomologycal work must be spasmodical as it 
has to be carried out by the officer in charge of Agricultural, Botanical, Chemical and Tech¬ 
nological work at the same time and without proper installation for each section. 
The new coccidse are the following :— 
Aspidiotus aldabricus sp. nov,') both on hois d’amande from Passe Hoarau, 
Aspidiotus longispinus. J Aldabra. 
Alenrodes sp. on bois dur (Securinga durissima) Passe Hoarau, Aldahra. 
Pulviraria pseudo-floceifera sp. nov. on Mapou (Pisonia macrophylla) Picard, Aldabra. 
Chiouaspis solani sp, nov. on tomato, Astove Island and Sida spinosa, Assumption. 
Antoina bambusse under leaf sheaths of bambou, Aldabra. 
Psendococeus virgatus on ficus sp. and cassia mimosoides, Aldabra. 
Lecanium hesperidum a dwarf form on Ficus sp. Assumption, on verveine Cosmoledo, 
on Bambara, Aldabra. 
During my investigations at Aldabra I was struck by the prevalence of scale insects, with 
its commensal the sooty mould, in spots which had never been visited before. To reach these 
spots, in search of guano deposits, twenty men had to work several days to open up a foot path 
about a mile long in dense scrub. This is mentioned here in reference to the statements made 
generally in Seychelles to the effect that the sooty mould is a newly introduced pest from 
Ceylon. It has probably existed, in Seychelles, for several centuries, if not for hmidreds of 
centuries. It is unfortunate that, the following scale insects have been lately introduced from 
' Mahe into these islands of the Aldahra group :— 
Aspidiotus dictyospermi—on coconut inflorescence at Aldabra and leaf stalks at Astove. 
Aspidiotus latanise—on coconut husk, Aldabra and Astove, on Castique (Phyllanthus, 
Aldabra). 
Chionaspis inday—on leaf stalks and fronds of coconut, Cosmoledo, on husk of coconut, 
Astove. 
These insects are rapidly propagating, especially at Cosmoledo where the leaves and nuts 
of the majority of the trees are white with chionaspis scales. On these islands, where the 
plantations are still far apart, it would he better to sacrifice a few crops and to flame the in¬ 
fested trees in order to get rid at once of these insects. At Aldabra, where the coconut plan¬ 
tations are over 25 years, the trees bear heavily but in addition to the harm done by the scale 
insects they are hegimiing to be handicapped, by the stem bleeding disease and the little leaf 
disease. 
Among the coleoptera identified this year, I have to record several of them foimd in 
coprah and poonac stored for some time. The manufacturers had to store these articles a 
longer time than usual, owing to the exportation, by Messageries Steamers, having been 
I stopped for over 6 months. Some coprah, more or less spoiled, had to he transformed into oil 
; and the cake residue (poonac) also kept for some time. In the coprah and poonac thus stored 
j in some factories, and also in rotten nuts a considerable number of insects were found to breed. 
Among others the following are mentioned :— 
Dermestes cadaverinus—in rotten nuts. 
Necrobia rufipes—in coprah, poonac. 
Silvanus surinamensis—in poonac. 
Carpophilus diminutus var contingens—in poonac. 
Dipterous and microlepidopterons larvse. 
Necrobia rufipes, locally called lindor, is the insect recorded everywhere as breeding in 
salt fish^more or less decomposed. It is supposed that it is only found accidentally in coprah 
stored for a long time in godovras where both articles in question are stored in the same rooms. 
It is however admitted by scientists that it is an insect which feeds on dipterous and microle¬ 
pidopterons larvae and is not injurious by itself. As a matter of fact many dipterous larvse 
were found in the coprah incriminated but the larvse and adults of Nicrobia were in all cases 
considerably in excess of the dipterous larvae. It is proposed to carry out investigations in 
order to determine whether this insect is purely predaceous, as it is supposed to he. It is not 
considered as a pest for the present and it is not known if it feeds on dipterous larvse only or 
; also on larvse of silvanus surinamensis which is to be found everywhere in poonac kept for a 
j little time. This latter insect is certainly injurious to poonac as it bores into it and reduces 
jits feeding value. It is a weevil which can be destroyed by using Carbon bisulphide under a 
j tarpaulin. 
