. Agricultural news. Agriculture -- West Indies; Plant diseases -- West Indies. THE SWEET POTATO WEEVIL. Reference to the weevil {Cryj)ti>rlii/i)r/>us hoJutae) which attacks the sweet potato in the field have frequently been made in the Ac/rlcidturcU N^ews and the other publica- tions of the Imperial Department of Aj^ri- culture. This small insect, which is known in Barbados as the Scarabee, and in the Leeward Islands as the Jacobs, is shown four times the natural size at Figf. 26 : the larva, which is a small white grub, is represented, also magnified four times, at Fig. 27 ; and Fig. 2
. Agricultural news. Agriculture -- West Indies; Plant diseases -- West Indies. THE SWEET POTATO WEEVIL. Reference to the weevil {Cryj)ti>rlii/i)r/>us hoJutae) which attacks the sweet potato in the field have frequently been made in the Ac/rlcidturcU N^ews and the other publica- tions of the Imperial Department of Aj^ri- culture. This small insect, which is known in Barbados as the Scarabee, and in the Leeward Islands as the Jacobs, is shown four times the natural size at Figf. 26 : the larva, which is a small white grub, is represented, also magnified four times, at Fig. 27 ; and Fig. shows the pupa, enlarged to the same extent. Fi. 2(i. ?M. Vu:. ?2G. Si'AKABEE {(JryptorhyiichHS hatatae). (CUL'I;) OF THE Sc\K.\ Fk:. l'S. Piu'a (('IIUY; ^.^^ Vu:. 29. The attacks of this pest liave been very se- vere, in Barbados, for the past four or five years, according to the state- ments of planters the most severe they have ever known. Barbados Las had several years of short rainfall, and the extreme severity of the scarabee attacks is .said to be due to this, in large part at least. The life cycle of the weevil occupies about thirty days, as follows : from tlie laying of the egg to the time of hatching, five days; the larval jseriod of twenty days, during which the damage to the potato is caused, and during which also practically all the feeding and growing is done by the insect ; and the pupal stage of five days, during which the weevil transforms from the grub to the adult, winged insect. Tender favour- able conditions, the i)rocess of egg-laying jirobably begins very shortly after the emergence of the adults, but it is likely that the adults are capable of surviving long jjcrioils of time when the conditions are not favourable, and then laying their eggs. The usual practice in ]5arbados is to plant potatoes in rotation with cane, cotton or other crops, so that the first attack is by Ijeetles which conic from outside of the field. The eggs
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