353 
Report on the “Brown Scale,” or Coccus,* so injurious to the 
COFFEE-PLANTS in Ceylon; in a letter Jrom the late GEORGE 
GARDNER, Esq., Director of the Botanic Garden at Peradenia, 
addressed to the Colonial Secretary, Colombo. (Communicated by 
the Right Hon. Earl Grey, Chief Secretary for the Colonies. 
With a Plate, Tas. XII.) 
SIR,—Agreeably to the instructions contained in your letter to me 
of the 12th ult., I have the honour to inform you that I have visited 
the Coffee districts therein mentioned, and collected such information 
as I have been able to gain regarding the nature, history, and effects of 
the ** Brown Scale,” or * Bug,” which for some years has been infest- 
ing the Coffee estates of the Central Province, and now beg to lay be- 
fore you, for the information of His Excellency the Governor, the fol- 
lowing report. 
As it would be impossible to understand thoroughly the effects 
* Being anxious, if possible, to publish the name of this insect, I applied to J. 
E. Gray, Esq., of the British Museum, to whom I sent the drawing. That gen- 
Üeman most kindly gave me the following iuformation :— s UA hee 
“ I believe that the Coccus of the Coffee-tree is as yet unnamed in the scientific - 
catalogues. Ledermiiller, in his * Nachlehre seiner mikroskopischen Gemüths und 
Augen-ergótzung,! 1762 (p. 16-20, t. 9, f. 1, 2), has described and figured an insect 
found on the Coffee-tree, which evidently belongs to the same family, but not to the 
Same genus, and is probably identical with the Coccus of the Orange-tree (C. esperi- — — 
dum). He observed that the Coffee-tree up to that time had been regarded as ‘ein _ 
remer und keischer Baum.’ } : 
* M. J. F. Charpentier (Cossigny, * Moyens d'Amélioration des Colonies,’ 8vo, 
1802, vol. ii. p. 144) observes:—‘ Les Arabes attachent aux pieds des cafiers une — 
petite bande de toile, large de deux ou trois doigts, imbibée d'une huile particuliére ; 
ont vraisemblablement l'intention d'éloigner les insectes par ce moyen. Dans les 
Africaines, nous avons vu périr plus d'une fois les cafiers, et méme d'autres - 
arbres, qui étoient couverts d'insectes blancs, qu'on nommoit Pour, et qui avoient un — — 
duvet trés-fin, assez semblable a celui de la cochinelle.” At vol. iii. p.371, he ob- — 
Serves :— L'auteur avance que la naissance et la multiplication des is blanes, — 
qui détruisent quelquefois les cafeiéres, sont dues à l'ététement des arbres: il ne for- i 
moit aucune preuve de cette assertion hasardée. Les arbres qui n'ont pas été étêtés 
nen sont pas plus exempts que les autres: d'ailleurs, il y a cinquante ans que ces 
Pucerons existérent à l'Ile de la Réunion: ils détruisérent alors la plus grande partie 
des cafiers de la Colonie: depuis cette époque, les habitants ont continué d'ététer les 
cafiers, et cette maladie n'a pas reparu,' &c. : 
“ Mr. Adam White informs me, that about three or four months ago, Professor — 
ir had this Coccus sent to him, and an account of it was probably read at 
one of the Edinburgh Societies." ide 
Mr. Westwood considers that two distinct species of Coccus are represented in — 
Mr. Gardner’s drawing, and refers me to ‘The Gardeners’ Chronicle’ of Oct. 7, 1848, 
_ for observations on the Coccus of the Coffee-plant; but there is nothing relating to d 
the particular species of Coccus, simply an extract from Mr. Gardner's Report, 
Which had then recently been received at the Colonial Office. i 
VOL. II. 22 
