found, is to employ people to
kill these worms, which are deposited by a small, scaly winged insect,
which gnaws the tree; as soon as it hears the approach of its
destroyers, it lets itself fall, and trusts to its wings for safety.

The color of this insect is a mixture of ash color and white. If
pressed, it emits a sound something similar to the noise of water
thrown on a very hot substance. It has two small horns on its head,
the points of which are directed upwards. It is so lively that, even
when the head is separated from the body, it is a long time in dying.
To deposit its progeny it makes small holes in the tree.

At the commencement of the winter, or rainy season, another worm makes
its appearance, which devours the leaves of the young cacao plant.
This species of worm is called _goaseme_, and they are in some years
so abundant, that all the people of the plantation are solely employed
in destroying them. This worm is four inches in length, and of the
thickness of a finger. It is sometimes called _angaripola_, or Indian,
on account of the vivacity of its colors. It is believed that these
worms are mediately produced by other large worms in the earth, from
which are engendered butterflies, who lay their eggs on the leaves of
the cacao. These eggs are full of small worms, which feed on the
leaves of the cacao, and appear in clusters of the size of a shilling.
They are sought and destroyed with great attention, as they occasion
considerable damage. Those which escape lodge themselves in the earth,
and in the succeeding year are changed into butterflies. At the time
when the worm makes its appearance, it is necessary to make fires,
which should not be so large as to injure the cacao, yet sufficient to
attract and burn the butterfly.

The plantations of cacao in the valley of Tuy, the quarters of Marrin,
Cuba, Sabana, Ocumare, San Francis, &c., are subject to another
species of worm called _rasquilla_. It multiplies in the dry seasons.

There are small insects, called by the Spaniards _accerredores_, of
the same figure with those which eat the bark of the cacao, but larger
and of a blackish colour. They feed on the branches of the tree; are
always found upon those branches which they have cut; and the evil can
only be obviated by killing them.

The worms called _vachacos_ occasion also much damage. They eat the
leaf and the flower. To destroy them it is necessary to seek them in
their nests in the earth. Water i