54 



''Habitat. — Originally noticed on coffee (both Libernian and 

 Arabian), but now almost omnivorous. Some of the better 

 known plants upon which it occurs are : Cinchona succiruhra and 

 officinalis, Citrus (various species), Tea (occasionally), Psidium 

 guyava, ('guava'), Manihot scara, M. Para, ('para rubber'), M. 

 utilissima, ('tapioca'). Gardenia, Ixora, Pluniiera, and numerous 

 garden shrubs. Amongst indigenous plants, Antidesma hunius, 

 Hiptage madahlota, Callicarpa lanata, Mocsa indica, and several 

 species of Loranthus, may be mentioned. The insects, in all 

 stages, are crowded on — usually the under surface of — the leaves 

 and on the young shoots of the plants, more frequently along the 

 mid-rib and veins. 



" 'Green-bug' has proved such a scourge in Ceylon, being 

 practically responsible for the filial abandonment of coffee culti- 

 vation over the greater 'part of the planting districts,'^ that a short 

 account of its origin and ravages must be added to the bare de- 

 scription given above. 



'' Lecaniiim viride, popularly termed "Green-bug," first attracted 

 attention in Ceylon in the year 1882, when it was already doing 

 considerable damage to coffee in the Matale district. The pest 

 rapidly extended its area, and spread through all the districts of 

 the Central Province within three years. In 1886 it completed 

 its conquest by appearing in the BaduUa district of the Province 

 of Uva. 



"The bug attacks with indifference both vigorous and weakly 

 trees, but its effect is markedly different in the two cases ; for, 

 though leaves of robust trees become thickly infested by the in- 

 sects, and blackened by the consequent fungus, they do not fall 

 off, but the plant continues to make fresh growth and retains a 

 fairly healthy appearance. Weakly trees, on the contrary, are 

 almost completely denuded, none but the two or three terminal 

 leaves on each twig remaining. The shoots become dry and hide- 

 bound, and no fresh wood is formed. Naturally such a condi- 

 tion results in a total loss of crop. 



"Unfortunately, at the time of the invasion, our coffee had been 

 weakened by long-continued attacks of 'leaf disease' (Heniileia 

 vastatrix), Moreover, the prevailing system of cultivation re- 

 sulted in the loss of the surface soil, so essential to the health of 

 the coffee plant, in all but the most favored situations. The 



* The italics 



are mine. 



