10 PESTS OF COFFEE 



the sources of infection of any practical importance. By 

 the end of the first year (1913-14) the scale had been 

 detected in no less than sixty-eight estates. The pest 

 spread over the State with the same rapidity as it had 

 displayed in Ceylon where it took only four years to cover 

 the entire island. This phenomenal rapidity of spread 

 has been observed in other parts of the world where the 

 pest occurs. In less than three years from the first seri- 

 ous outbreak, the insect was to be found spread over the 

 entire coffee-growing area of the State, save a small por- 

 tion of Koppa Taluk in the North- Western corner.^ 



The Life History of Green Bug. 



The study of the pest was undertaken soon after the 

 outbreak was reported. No complete life history had been 

 published. Green published in 1886 a brief account of 

 the pest. Koningsberger and Zimmermann^ published 

 two much fuller accounts in 1897 and 1901. Lefroy^ 

 wrote a brief account in his Insect Pests of Coffee pub- 

 lished in 1903. Within the past few years the pest has 

 engaged the attention of a number of workers in Java, 

 among whom may be mentioned Keuchenius.^ These 

 various publications represent, for the most part, the 

 results of observations made under conditions of climate 

 and cultivation which differ considerably from those 

 obtaining in South India. It became necessary therefore 

 to make a thorough study of the pest under the conditions 

 existing in Mysore. 



Detailed Description of the Pefit. — The general ap- 

 pearance of the pest as seen with the naked eye has 

 already been described. Under a lens, the eyes are seen 

 as conspicuous black spots near the margin. The anus is 

 marked by two brown triangular plates with the longer 



^ During the present year (1917) the pest has put in its appear- 

 ance in this locality also, so that no section of the coffee area in 

 Mysore can now be considered free from the pest. 



■^ Koningsberger, De Dierlijke Vijanden der KoflQepultuur op 

 Java, Part I, 1897 pp. 8-15 ; Koningsberger and Zimmermann, Do. 

 Part II, 1901, pp. 7-30, Mededeelingen uit ' Slands Plantentuin,' 20 

 and 44. 



" Lefroy, Insect Pests of Coffee, Bulletin No. 2, Imperial Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, 1903. 



* Keuchenius, Enkele Beschouwingen over de Schildluizeu van 

 de Koffie, Med. van bet. Bescekisch Proefstation No. 16. 



