Show fly saves coconuts boulder colo down in the south seas a battle in the endless war between win and insects has been fought and won without anny report of it coining to northern cars prof T A D of the university ot colorado tells how a tiny fly coop co op crated with man to save he coconut trees from hie caterpillar to us for whom coconut means merely a confection or it we be n little more chemical minded oil for soaps and butter substitutes it Is hard to bring home the importance of coconuts for the brown people of he pacific to them the coconut tree means both food and shelter frequently ropes and clothing and in ad altton nowadays white mens trade goods the coconut has been called the most useful tree in the world at least certainly it la the most useful tree in the tropics so when the innumerable caterpillars of the moth called levu anna began to eat all the leaves off the coconut tree in najt and threatened to spread over alie whole south pacific area there was alie insect tind a host of natural enemies hut they did not seem to be able to mal e any impression on its att arming numbers then one day the tiny its of the family a species known as os brought oer from alie federation malay states and turned loose alie have a pleasant habit of laying their eggs in the eggs of other insects and the hungry grubs that hatch out of live in the world of natural omelet where they farst come to larva hood until they are ready to fly the natural result Is one more fewer caterpillar another member of tills sime family Is being tried out niort hopefully now in the in corn belt against the borer made short work of the coconut caterpillar within a few months the stripped trees were putting forth new green leai young planta alons are no longer pestered and the most prominent industry of the south seas nas safe agnan |