Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 July 2009
For a number of years reports have been received from the banana-growing districts of Central and northern South America of a large white grub occasionally discovered in extensive borings in the base of banana pseudostems. While in the Santa Marta region of Colombia, the writer readily succeeded in rearing the adult, which turned out to be the Castniid moth, Castniomera humboldti (Boisduval), and was able to devote a short time to the study of the insect, discovering not only that it is far more abundant than has been supposed, but also that its presence has a very serious effect on the production of bananas.