The Hawaiian gazette., 1903-04-28

way of a bait for the adult fly. Per-
sonally I have my doubts but an opin
ion will not be given on this point UNI
til tests of its feasibility have been
made.
THE CANE BORER.
During my first trip to Maui l made
collections of the cane borer, the larva
of a beetle, sphenophorus obscurus. and
had no difficulty in finding specimens
of the insect in all stages of develop
ment from the egg to the adult.
The eggs were found beneath the
epdermis of the stalk, having been
placed singly in small cavities by the
female she having first made, prob
ably with her proboscis, a hole for the
purpose The specimens were taken
from the Yellow Caledonian variety.
The bOrer is known to work more On
tensively in the softer varieties.
The larvae on Matching from the egg
bore on into the stalk of the cane, COM
pletely honeycombing the interior with
tunnels running lenFthwise. The evil
dence of their work Is not always in
dicated by the outward appearance of
the stalk. Many times a stalk SEEM
ingly in a normal condition is found on
examination to be entirely destroyed
rendered of no value since analysis does
not show that the bodies of the larvae
contain any high per cent of sugar.
The larvae when ready to pupate
form about themselves, in the tunnels
they have made in feeding, a cocoon
from the fibre of the stalk. In this
cocoon the cane borer transforms to
the adult beetle. The adult or image on
issuing from the cocoon bores its way
through the side OF the stalk to the ex-
terror. The beetles are night flying and
hide during the day down in the inner
side of the lower leaves.
Cane in succulent condition, that Is,
cane which has received an abundant
supply of water by irrigation or where
the rainfall Is plentiful, suffers most
from the work of the borer. Growers
have noticed that the beetle Is not so
much in evidence during n dry season.
The borers occur in the largest num-
bers in the young cane and the suckers
are infested to a much greater degree
than the stalks. The borer always oc-
ours in the largest numbers in the
vicinity of the track used to haul the
cane to the mill. This Is no doubt &C
countabe in a great measure for the
spread of the borer from one field TO
anOther Wnefe the cane Is hauled any
distance to the mill The larvae works
in the lower portion of the stalk and
1t IS probable that often the stumps left
in the field after cutting are infested
with the borer
Hon II. Il. Baldwin states that to his I,
knowledge the beetle was in |
the Islands in the vicinity of Lahaina |
as early as 1865. 1t was not described |
until 1888 when in August specimens of /
cane We're forwarded to the |
of Entomology at Washing
ton. The article appears in Insect Life
Vol. I, No. 6, page 1856, under the title
"A Sandwich Island Sugar-Cane Bor-
err" The borer was introduced, prob
ably from Tahiti, in sugar cane or the
stems of banana plants. Aside from
cane 1t infests the banana plant and
has been taken from the cocoanut palm
and the wine palm (Caryota urens).
It's varied list of food plants insures its
ability to exist and multiply even
though one or more of its food plants
are not present.
The burning Of the trash after the
cutting of the cane seems to be the
most effectual method of keeping the