MANUAL OF THE NILAQIRI DISTRICT. 507 



than itself, but it pushes forward, and fixes its body by the dorsal CH. XXVIII. 



abdominal tubercles and the rings generally. The tunnel is lengthened coffee 



by the action of the powerful gorge-like mandibles, and the wood-powder Cultivation. 



having passed through the intestine of the grub is, as already 



mentioned, excreted and firmly compacted behind it. The work of 



destruction is carried on by the larva for about or a little more than 



nine months, when, working its way towards the surface of the stem, 



it prepares a chamber immediately under or but a short distance from 



the bark, in which it goes to rest and becomes transformed into the 



pupa. In this state it continues for from thirty to fifty days, the time 



depending a good deal on the state of the weather. The entire 



existence of the insect from the deposition of the ova to the death 



of the beetle does not exceed twelve months, and in this it differs 



from other members ot the Ceramhjcidce, who are said to pass from 



two to three years in the larva state, although, it must be confessed, 



that we have but little accurate information concerning the obscurer 



points of their life-history. As regards the coffee borer there can be 



no doubt that the life of an individual in all its stages is comprised 



within twelve months, as instances have repeatedly come to my notice 



of the beetle existing in stems less than eighteen months old. The 



season at which the beetles appear differs slightly in different districts, 



but there is generally a numerous brood on the wing after the 



monsoon and again about the middle or end of the dry season The 



eggs are also of course deposited at these seasons, and the pupa are 



to be met with in greatest abundance in the month of September or 



about the beginning of October. A small percentage of the pupa are 



abortive or decay from water getting admission by old holes through 



which beetles have escaped, and it sometimes happens that the chamber 



in which the beetle appears is so far from the surface of the stem that 



it is never able to effect its escape." 



The ravages of this animal have been chiefly confined to Coorg —the coffee 

 and Ceylon, but during one year it threatened to prove a very rs,t(Golunda 

 serious foe to the planters in Wainad also. Driven, according to 

 all accounts, by the absence of its usual food — either the nilloo or 

 the bamboos, — the rat attacked the coSee trees in thousands, and 

 gnawed away the primaries, giving the coffee trees the appearance 

 of having been wantonly cut to pieces with pruning knives. 



This disease, which is unquestionably caused by excess of — leaf-rot. 

 moisture, comes in and departs with the monsoon, and has been 

 experienced to a greater or less extent since coffee was planted. 

 It causes the leaves and a percentage of the berries also to turn 

 black and drop off, and prevails most when the rain and mist are 

 heaviest and most continuous. Planters, whose plantations are 

 situated in unusually damp, misty climates, must he prepared to 

 suffer from this pest, but it may be mitigated to a certain extent 

 by keeping the plantation well weeded and pruned. 



We now come to the latest and most serious enemy of disease 

 the long-suff'ering coffee plant, which made its appearance (^«'"ei«a 



^^ vastatrix). 



