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THE " LANTANA BUG. " 



{Orthezla insignis, Douglas.) 

 By E. Ernest Green, Honorary Entomologist to the Government of 



Ceylon. 

 History of the Pest in Ceylon. 



It is now more than five years since this insect was first noticed in Ceylon. 

 In January, 1893) specimens were received from the late Dr. Trimen, then 

 Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya. Dr. Trimen, in for- 

 warding the insects, wrote : — " We are afflicted by an abominable pest now 

 in the Gardens, which I do not recollect to have seen before. It bids fair to 

 be the worst thing of the sort I have had here, and attacks especially 

 Acajithacece, which includes our showiest shrubs. I never saw any pest here 

 that increased so rapidly ; the Garden is quite disfigured by it." In the 

 following April Dr. Trimen wrote that after cutting down and burning all 

 the affected bushes they had seen nothing of the pest for some time ; but 

 that, at the time of writing, it had re-appeared and was rapidly increasing. 

 The next report from the Gardens was not until September 1894, when the 

 pest was said to be very bad and covering everything. About the same time 

 a very large brood of the male insects suddenly appeared in the Gardens ; 

 and in this same year it was observed that the pest had extended its range 

 outside the Gardens and had established itself firmly upon Lantana in the 

 neighbourhood. 



Thinking that the time had now come to Wt'rn the planting community of 

 the danger, an illustrated article on the insect was published in the '' Tropi- 

 cal Agriculturist " for January, 1895. 



Though the pest has been steadily increasing in strength and extending its 

 range, it does not appear to have attracted any general attention or created 

 any alarm until early in the present year, by which time it had spread within 

 a radius of about 20 miles around Kandy. The question then arose as to 

 whether the insect would attack any of our cultivated products. It has 

 since been observed, in one or two localities, upon tea plants growing in the 

 immediate neighbourhood of infested Lantana bushes. 



Present Range of the Pest in Cey'lon. 



Though at first confined to the Kandy district, the pest has now spread 

 to other parts. To the north-east it has been recorded from Rangalla. It 

 extends southwards throughout the Gampola and Nawalapitiya districts. 

 An outbreak has been observed in Pundalu-oya. The Director of the 

 Botanic Gardens reports the occurrence of the insect on the Badulla side of 

 the country. No doubt if careful observations were made all over the Island, 

 the pest would be found to have a still wider range. 



Distribution in other Countries, 



The original home of Orthezla hisignis is still rather doubtful. It has been 

 reported from various countries. The insect was first described from speci- 



