FUNGUS ENEMIES 37 



bug, bub easily distinguishable from it by its faster move- 

 ments, is responsible for the destruction of a number 

 of nymphs while they remain beneath the mother (see 

 Plate IV, Fig. 2). These ticks are disturbed when the 

 mother bug is lifted off and can then be seen running 

 about. Their reproductive powers are great, but the num- 

 bers vary greatly with the locality and the season. 



The larva of a cecidomyid fly was once detected 

 amidst the young beneath a bug, but it has not been found 

 again. * 



Fungus Enemies of Geeen Bug. 



The most important checks to this pest belong to the 

 vegetable kingdom. They are two fungi which under 

 favourable weather conditions attack and kill off very large 

 numbers of the pest. These fungi are two in number, one 

 form giving a whitish appearance to the attacked bugs 

 and hence called the white fungus, the other form pro- 

 ducing a dark grey or almost a black appearance and 

 hence known as the black fungus. This latter name is 

 not a particularly fortunate one as it is likely to lead to 

 the confusion of this fungus with the black sooty moulds 

 which are found commonly on leaves attacked by scale in- 

 sects and which are not in any way injurious to the 

 insects themselves. The appearance of green bug when 

 attacked by the white and grey fungus is clearly shown 

 in plate I, Figs. 8 and 9. Frontispiece, Figs. 5 and 6, shows 

 the appearance of bugs attacked by these fungi on coffee 

 leaves. As these fungi are at present under study and 

 will be described fully in a separate publication, only a 

 short account of them will be given here. 



Tlie White Fungus (Cephalosporiufn lecanii, Zimm). — 

 This fungus usually makes its appearance in coffee estates 

 early in the South-West monsoon, and under normal con- 

 ditions of rainfall spreads rapidly, killing off more than 

 90 per cent of the bugs. The presence of the fungus in 

 a bug is to be made out first by its changing to a pale 

 yellow colour. Soon the fungus begins to break out as 

 fine white threads on the surface of the bug. These 

 threads gradually grow to form a matted white felt over 

 the whole surface and extending oat on to the surface of 

 the leaf (see Plate IV, Fig. 3). Minute spores are formed 

 on certain of these threads, and it is these spores which, 



