118 Indian Economic Entomology. [ Vol. !• 



" The colonies of L. nigrum are similarly placed, but "are seldom found in large 

 numbers upon coffee. 



" The eggs of L. viride are batched under the body, and during the life of the parent 

 insect, wbicb possibly produces several successive broods. 1 This may account for 

 the greater numbers and destructiveness of the species under notice. 



" The eggs of botb L. Coffece and L nigrum are not hatched until after the death 

 of the parent insect, whose body shrivels internally, while the external scale becomes 

 firmly attached to its support, and forms a protection to the eggs and young larvae. 



" In form and size, also, the three species differ considerably. The scaleof L. viride 

 is nearly twice as long as it is broad, while the greatest thickness is less than balf the 

 breadtb of the insect. 



"The scale of L. coffees is only sligbtly longer than it is broad, and the thickness is 

 equal to the breadth. L. nigrumh the largest insect of the three. The length of its 

 scale is nearly twice, and the thickness two thirds of, its breadth. 



" The habits of all three species are similar, in so far that they absorb the juices of 

 the tree, thereby diminishing its vitality. But there seems to be a general opinion 

 that the present form of the pest is very much more fatal and rapid in its effect upon 

 the coffee than was the ' black bug ' that chiefly attracted attention in former years. 



" Effect of the Green-scale Bug upon Coffee. — The Green Bug appears to attack with 

 indifference both healthy and unhealthy trees, but the latter show its effects the soonest. 

 It breaks out on individual trees, often in remote parts of an estate, probably where 

 some individual has been deposited by one of the many agencies that are concerned in 

 its distribution. Starting from these centres, the bug soon spreads over the surround- 

 ing coffee. 



" Well-grown and robust coffee trees, situated in sheltered hollows in deep, rich soil, 

 appear to be least affected by the attacks of the bug. Although the leaves become 

 infested with the insect, and blackened by the consequent fungus, they do not entirely 

 fall off, as is generally the case when poorer coffee is attacked. In this latter case, 

 not only are the trees entirely denuded of leaves, but the shoots become dry and hide- 

 bound, no fresh wood being formed. In favorable situations the trees continue to 

 put out fresh leaves, and, excepting the presence of the black fungus, retain a fairly 

 healthy appearance. This black fungus vegetates upon the ' honey-dew ' always 

 found upon leaves infested with bug or Aphides, and considered to be the excrement 

 of these insects. 



"After its period of growth is complete, the fungus peels off in large flakes, leaving 

 the leaf clean, and with its natural polished appearance, proving that the rootlets of 

 the fungus do not enter the tissue of the leaf. From the fact that the greater number 

 of the stomata, or breathing pores, are situated upon the under surfaces of th9 leaves 

 and that the fungus is confined to their upper surfaces, upon which the ' houey-dew ' 

 is deposited, it is probable that the injury received by the tree is due chiefly to the loss 

 of sap absorbed by the bug itself, and is not connected with the presence of the fungus, 

 unless, as suggested by Mr. Nietner, the decomposition of the carbonic acid of the 

 atmosphere is interrupted by the intervening membrane. 



" Results of manuring and liberal cultivation, — This new pest, coming at a time 

 when coffee is to a large extent being replaced by tea, has attracted less public atten- 

 tion than would otherwise have been paid to it. In the generality of cases the pre- 

 sence of the bug upon an estate has merely hastened the change of products. Many 

 proprietors and planters, alarmed at the rapid destruction caused by the pest, have 



Since writing the above, I have found immature eggs inside the body of the |pare:it insect after the 

 first brood has been hatched. 



