124 COFFEE I ITS CULTIVATION AND PROFIT. 



when once they get a footing in a plantation. 1843 

 is said to have been the date of their first appear- 

 ance in Ceylon. All that the planter can do to 

 check their ravages is to dust each tree, on the 

 first appearance of the blight, with a mixture of 

 pounded saltpetre and quicklime in equal parts ; 

 or he may set intelligent coolies to brush over them 

 with a mixture of equal parts soft-soap, tar, tobacco, 

 and spirits of turpentine. This may do some good. 

 Then we have the borer (Xylotrechus quadrupes), 

 a pretty and interesting beetle to the entomologist, 

 but a thing of dread to Coffee owners. It is a 

 longicorn beetle of the family of Clytidce represented 

 in England by the active wasp-beetles often seen 

 on sandy banks and warm palings. In colour the 

 Indian specimens are black or very dark brown, 

 with light yellow or white bands running trans- 

 versely across their elytra, making when the wings 

 are closed V-shaped marks. The four posterior 

 femora are of a pink colour. This beetle, which 

 destroyed hundreds of acres of Coffee in Coorg 

 during 1865 and 1866, and has been ever since more 

 or less destructive, lays its eggs on the stem of 

 Coffee shrubs usually in weedy and neglected 

 plantations a few inches above the ground. When 

 these have been hatched the young " caterpillar " 

 works its way into the stem of the plant and 

 drives a burrow up through the pith, thereby 

 effectually killing the plant. C. P. Hull's statement 

 that the beetle eats a way into the plant and 



