No. 2. ] Notes. 121 



given to understand that the smoke from it, when burned in a house, was sure death 

 to all kinds of insects. This gave me the idea of trying it in the open air. Some of 

 my paddy, rahar, and moongdall, having been attacked by blights, I gave it a fair trial, 

 which proved a success. I got a number of ordinary handies, and filled them three 

 quarters full with dry cowduug, and, after, firing filled up with Koonri oil-cake. The 

 handies were then distributed on the windward side of the affected fields. The wind 

 that day was nominal, and the smoke was very great, and I can certify that none 

 of the blights outlived the operation. The plants were in no way affected. The cost 

 of the oil-cake is R4 to R8 a maund, delivered at Howrah Station, exclusive of bags, and 

 it is only procurable at a certain time of the year.' 



" I have just now been favoured with the following account of a treatment which 

 is said to have been successful in destroying the bug upon an estate in Lindula : — 



" ' Fifteen per cent, carbolic lime (the mixture recommended by Schrotky as a cure 

 for leaf-disease) was used. The powder was forcibly thrown up under the leaves by hand, 

 when the trees were wet with dew. About three bushels were applied per acre. In 

 ten days after the application the bug is said to have turned white and died ; and now 

 after three months' time, the coffee is looking remarkably healthy. On another estate 

 where a weaker mixture was used, there was no result/ 



"Parasites of the Green Bug. — The Green Bug is preyed upon by a number of insect 

 parasites, the most important of which is a small mite ( Acarus). These minute ani- 

 mals may be seen on almost any leaf affected with the bug, and may be distinguished 

 from the young of that insect by their more rapid movements. Their Dumbers appear 

 to me to have increased considerably of late, and I have noticed large colonies of the 

 bug entirely destroyed by their means. 



" I have noticed four or five species of beetles, belonging to the ' Ladybird ' family, 

 that eagerly devour the bug, and from their numbers must do great execution. 



" Another useful ally is the larva of a ' Lace-wing ' fly, a neuropterous insect. This 

 larva, after sucking out all the juices of the bug, cements its empty shell, together with 

 those of former victims, into a covering, which it carries about on its back, and in which 

 it finally changes into a pupa, preparatory to its appearance as a perfect fly. 



" Besides these external parasites, the bug falls a prey to the attacks of numeious 

 minute ichneumon wasps, which pass their larval stage as small maggots, living inside 

 the body, and gradually devouring the substance of their host. 



"At certain seasons large numbers of the bug may be found dead and enveloped in 

 a white mould-like fungus. It is uncertain whether this fungus attacks and destroys 

 the living insects, or makes its appearance after the bug has been injured by one of its 

 animal parasites. It is possible that the disease may be analogous to those parasiti- 

 cal fungi which affect the common housefly, the larva of the cockchafer, and the silk- 

 worm. 



" Looking at the persistent increase of the bug, it may be thought that these para- 

 sites are of little or no use in checking it. But it must be remembered that this par- 

 ticular pest is a comparatively recent introduction, and that it would necessarily take 

 some time before its enemies could increase in such a manner as to restore the balance 

 of nature. The case appears to have been the same with the former ' Black Bug,' 

 which spread rapidly, and was very destructive for a certain period ; whereas now it 

 is scarcely ever found, except on single isolated trees. Similarly, the cockchafer grub 

 had its period for several years in various districts, and afterwards subsided as 

 suddenly as it came. 



" Origin of the Pest. — The Green Bug appears to have first attracted serious atten- 

 tion in 1882, when it was already doing considerable damage in Ma*tale. I have been 

 told by a planter of long experience that, in his opinion, it first came in with Liberian 

 coffee, on which also it seems to thrive more luxuriantly than upon the Arabian 



