CiiAr. VL] THE COFFEE BUG. 247 



to maturity ; the general health of the tree also begins to fail, 

 and it acquires a blighted appearance. A loss of crop is this 

 year sustained, but to no great extent. 



The third year brings about a more serious change, the whole 

 plant acquires a black hue, appearing as if soot had been thro\vn 

 over it in great quantities ; this is caused by the growth of a 

 parasitic fungus ^ over the shoots and the upper surface of the 

 leaves, forming a fibrous coating, somewhat resembling velvet 

 or felt. This never makes its appearance till the insect has been 

 a long time on the bush, and it j)robably owes its existence 

 there to an unhealthy condition of the juices of the leaf, con- 

 sequent on the irritation produced by the coccus, since it 

 never visits the upper surface of the leaf until it has fully 

 established itself on the lower. At this period the young 

 shoots have an exceedingly disgusting look from the dense mass 

 of yellow pustular bodies forming on them, the leaves get 

 shrivelled, and the trees become conspicuous in the row. The 

 black ants are assiduous in their visits to them. Two-thirds 

 of the crop is lost, and on many trees not a single berry forms. 



As far as it is possible to ascertain, the coffee bushes were 

 not affected before 1843, when Captain Robertson first observed 

 the pest on his estate at Lapalla Galla, whence it spread east- 

 Avard through other estates, and finally reached all the other 

 estates in the island. It or a very closely allied species has been 

 observed in the Botanic Garden at Peradenia, on the Citrus 

 acida, Fsidium 'pomiferum,, Myrtus Zeylanica, Rosa Indica, 

 Careya arborea, Vitex Negiindo, and other plants. The coffee 

 coccus has generally been first observed in moist hollow jjlaces 

 sheltered from the wind ; and thence it has spread itself even over 

 the driest and most exposed parts of the island, and in some 

 estates, after attaining a maximum, it has gradually declined, 

 but has shown a liability to reappear, especially in low sheltered 

 situations, and it is believed to prevail most extensively in wet 

 seasons. It is easily transmitted from one estate to another, 

 while in its earlier stages, on the clothes of human beings, and 

 in various other ways, which will readily suggest themselves. 

 Dr. Gardner, after careful consideration and minute examination 

 of estates, arrived at the conclusion, that all remedies suggested 



^ Racodium f Species of this genus ! bushes. It appears like a dense in- 

 are not confined to the coffee plant I terlaced mesh of fibres, each made 

 alone in Ceylon, but follow the up of a single series of minute oblong 

 "bugs" in their attacks on other ! vesicles applied end to end. 



R 4 



