Viewing page 11 of 64

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

16   St. Lucia 16.
At 3 o'clock, in spite of the intermittent showers, I rode out to Box's lab to use the microscope for counting specimens. Among these were the bugs taken from the fungus, as on page 5. [[underlined]] Station 205, [[/underlined]] in fungus, 4 Staphs (red Aleocharinae - 2, black Aleocharinae - 2), 3 Hemiptera, 20 tiny red ants, 1 termite, and a dozen or more other miscellaneous things. Managed to get home without getting wet. It has been showering all day, and blowing hard.
The Lady Hawkins was in all day, and left in the evening. The two men who came here with us from Barbados, left on it for Dominica.
After dinner, to pass the time, I started making a set of 1" x 2" slips to use in making the index to these journals. They will help make the volume indices as well as the one for all the volumes at the end of the trip.
My stomach has been annoying me some lately. I occasionally have a stomach-ache before a meal, lasting till afterward, but more often have an uncomfortable feeling a few hours after eating, just before going to bed, and when I wake in the morning.
IV-5-36  Had a talk with Box this morning after breakfast. He talked mostly of Fennah and what he is doing. He says Fennah suggested that the first thing to do on this project
[[end page]]

[[start page]]
17
was to obtain identification of the weevil-pest. Box has been working on this problem of the control of the [[underlined]] Diaprepes [[/underlined]] on citrus for some time and has a large collection of the genus from all the islands. His specimens have been named by Marshall (G. A. K.) who is the recognized authority on weevils at the British Museum. Fennah has already suggested spraying the trees with lead arsenate, as a repellant, but according to Box the leaf-injury caused by the weevil is insignificant compared to its damage to the roots. Box says Fennah was ignorant of the fact that this weevil occurs in Trinidad and So. America. It is not a pest there, and must be controlled by natural enemies. Therefore, the method to be recommended for its control here, involves the study of the weevil in Trinidad to find a parasite which can be introduced. Spraying is absolutely not feasible under the conditions found here, even if effective. There are as many as two dozen alternative native hosts, ranging from the Immortelle trees of the forest down to small shrubs. Fennah has had little or no experience, and Box feels he has gotten a little over-important because of being called here. He expects it to turn out to the detriment of both, as well as of the planters.