Coccus affecting the Orange. 13 



fungus of some microscopic kind. Not only are they apt to 

 attack the scales themselves, but the stems of the plants are 

 generally covered with a black sooty covering, which consists 

 of Mycelia. Thus there is a double cause operating to injure 

 the plant by robbing it of its juices; or preventing those 

 changes in the sap which may be necessary to the full 

 development of the fruit. 



I am not acquainted with the male insect, this being the 

 female, and is not winged as the other is. It is probable, 

 I think, that a similar insect attacks the Orange elsewhere. 

 Some twenty years since, I remember seeing oranges grow 

 in India ; and was informed that, during the setting of the 

 fruit, the natives were accustomed to light small fires under 

 each tree at night, in order to drive away some insect which, 

 at that season, usually attacked the fruit. 



In the present case, supposing the attacks of this insect 

 are likely to extend, I should be inclined to try some such 

 plan ; or else water each tree with a mixtiu'e of sulphur and 

 water, and a small quantity of gum, in order to render it 

 adherent to the leaves, &c, for a short space of time. I see 

 by the late news that a paper on this very subject was read 

 in March or February last ; but no account or observations 

 on the subject have, as far as I know, yet reached the colony. 

 I can only suggest the following, as I have had no time for 

 working the subject up, and would gladly leave it to others : 

 That the young insect gradually develops into a small ova- 

 bearing one ; and that its remains then form a kind of tent 

 or shelter ; and that another insect either appropriates this 

 scale, and adds to it another beneath it, and larger in extent ; 

 or, there is some explanation of a similar kind to be sought 

 out relative to the structure of the external scales, which, in 

 some instances, appear to have resulted from three layers of 

 scales, each below the other, and increased in size, the upper- 

 most being empty when laid open. 



The exceeding transparency of the insect, its numbers, and 

 the ready way in which it can be obtained, all recommend 

 it as a highly interesting object for the student, be he young 

 or old ; and one which will well repay the time and attention 

 bestowed on the study of its structure. 



