MANUAL OF TIIK KILAOIRI DTSTRIf'T. 503 



disappeared, except on a few spots here and there, at any rate CH. XXVIII. 

 temporarily. The only remedial measures found effectual are Coffee 

 constant weeding, pruning and handling; in fact, allowing the Cultivation. 

 sun and air to have free access to the trees. Dr. Bidie thus 

 describes the bug in his Report on the Ravages of the Borer : — 



"As the male and female, when mature, are very different in 

 appearance, they will require to be described separately. 



'^ Male. — Head sub-globular ; eyes black ; antennae eleven-jointed, 

 and with tufts of hair at the tips ; thorax somewhat heart-shaped ; 

 wings two, horizontal, delicate, membranous and two-nerved ; abdomen 

 with two lateral and one long central appendage. Of pinkish 

 brown color, but not often seen on the bushes. 



" Female. — Apterous, capable of walking about until nearly full- 

 grown, when, being impregnated, she becomes fixed to a young shoot 

 or the margin of the under-surface of a leaf. She is then a conical- 

 like scale of a brown color, which., to the naked eye, looks smooth, but 

 under the microscope has a strong resemblance to the back of a 

 tortoise. This scale contains several hundred eggs, which are smooth, 

 oblong, and of a pale flesh color, and are hatched within it. When the 

 young ones come out, there is but little difference in appearance 

 between the sexes ; but in a little while the males betake themselves 

 to the underside of the leaves and the females to the young shoots. 



" The male does not derive any nourishment from the tree, but the 

 female has a proboscis with which she incises the bark and drinks 

 the sap of the tree. The eggs being very minute, are easily trans- 

 ported from one place to another by adhering to clothing, birds, or 

 animals, and this may account for the apparently mj^sterious way in 

 which the pest often makes its appearance on an estate. Daring the 

 first year of invasion it does not do much harm, but in the second 

 year, owing to the increase in the number of scales, a good deal of 

 the foliage is destroyed and a portion of the crop turns black and 

 falls ofi". About this time, too, a saccharine substance called the 

 honey-dew is secreted, apparently by the bugs, and shortly the plant 

 acquires a dark, warty, and sordid appearance. A careful examination 

 will now discover the presence of a fungus which gradually covers 

 the branches and leaves. In the third year the plant will probably 

 be completely devoid of leaves, and of course bear no crop. The 

 fungus, which spreads over the plant in a dense, black, felt-like cover- 

 ing, was termed the Triposforium Gardneri by Berkeley and Syiicla- 

 dium Nietneri by Rabenhorst. The bug seems to appear first in 

 sheltered damp hollows and ravines, but when once fairly established 

 spreads over every part of an estate. It generally disappears in a 

 few seasons, but leaves the trees in a weak and exhausted state, and is 

 very apt to return. It seems to be prevalent in wet seasons. No 

 effectvial remedy has been discovered for it, and Dr. Gardner 

 thought that the ravages of the insect were entirely beyond human 

 control. Mr. Neitner says hand-rubbing will destroy an immense 

 quantity of the bug, but is afraid the permanent good effect is 



