62 SCALE PESTS OF COFFEE 



THE GEEEN MEALY SCALE OR MEALY BUG. 



PULVINARIA PSIDII (MASKELL). 



E. E. Green, Eemarks on Indian Scale Insects. Mem. Dep. Agri. 

 1908, Vol. II, No. 2, p. 32. Coccidte of Ceylon, 1898-1903, p. 264. 



H. M. Lefroy, Insect Pests of Coffee, pp. 3-9. Bull. No. 2, 1903, 

 Dep. Agri., India. 



This scale insect, popularly called mealy bug or the 

 green mealy scale, is nearly as familiar and has practically 

 as wide a distribution as brown bug. Mrs. Fernald records 

 it from New Zealand, Hawaii, Formosa, Ceylon, China, 

 Japan and California. Since then it has been found in 

 Australia, Samoa, Seychelles, Philippine Islands and a 

 number of other countries in or near the tropics. The in- 

 sect is as omnivorous as it is cosmopolitan. Besides several 

 garden plants as guava, mango, and citrus trees, it occurs 

 on coffee, tea, cinchona, cardamom, species of ficus, can- 

 thium, teak, sandal, eugenia, garcinia and duranta. 



The insect occurs throughout Southern India and 

 must have been in existence many years before its record by 

 Lefroy in 1903 from Mysore. Reference has already been 

 made to the outbreak of this insect at Santaveri (Kadur 

 District), which was mistaken for that of green bug (Coc- 

 cus viridis). It is not possible to ascertain how severe this 

 was. It seems probable, however, that the attention it 

 attracted was due to the mistaken identity rather than the 

 severity of the attack. In any case, no serious outbreak has 

 come within the knowledge or observation of this Depart- 

 ment since this record, although the bug is found through- 

 out the State, in the plains as well as in the coffee-growing 

 tracts. The characteristic appearance of the bug has 

 already been described. The following is Green's more 

 detailed description : — 



PULVINARIA PSIDII (MASKELL). 



Pulvinaria psidii. Mask. N.Z. Trans., Vol. XXV, p. 223 (1892.) 



Adult female at first ovoid ; moderately convex above : afterwards 

 much shrivelled and contracted ; elevated behind by the mass of eggs 



