200 Lecaniina. 



3.25 mm. Breadth 1.50 to 2 mm. Male unknown in any stage. The species 

 appears to be reproduced, in this country, by an asexual process (partheno- 

 genesis) alone : though it is quite possible that, in its native country, sexual 

 reproduction may be normal. 



The insect is ovoviviparous, the eggs being hatched at the time of, or im- 

 mediately after exclusion. Under an adult female, a mass of empty egg-skins 

 will be found, with usually some half dozen or more active larvje. Occasionally 

 one or two pale green eggs are found, but this is the exception rather than 

 the rule. A constant succession of larvze is produced during the life of the 

 insect. 



The newly hatched larva {fig. 9) is very pale green, of normal form, rather 

 broadly oval and very flat : posterior extremity broadly cleft, the sides of the 

 cleft occupied by the triangular anal scales, between which projects a pencil of 

 white waxy matter supported by the hairs of the anal ring. The caudal setae 

 spring from the tips of the anal scales and are nearly half the length of the 

 body of the insect. Antennae six-jointed. Feet with four knobbed hairs (digi- 

 tules) ; the tarsals longest, and one of these much stouter than the other. 

 Marginal hairs of body simple. Eyes conspicuous, black. Length o'35 mm. 



Female of second stage {fig. 8) similar to adult, but smaller and flatter, and 

 without the conspicuous black loop noticeable on the back of the adult. 



Habitat. — Originally noticed on coffee (both Liberian and Arabian), but 

 now almost omnivorous. Some of the better known plants upon which it 

 occurs are— Cinchona succirubra and officinalis., Citrus (various species). Tea 

 (occasionally), Psidiiiin guyava ('guava')j Maniliot ceara, iif. para, ('Para 

 rubber '), M. utilissima (' tapioca '), Gardenia, Ixora, Plumiera, and numerous 

 garden shrubs. Amongst indigenous plants, Aniidesma bunius, Hiptage 

 madablota, Callicarpa lanata, Moesa indica, and several species of Loranthics, 

 may be mentioned. The insects, in all stages, are crowded on — usually the 

 under surface of— the leaves and on the young shoots of the plants, more fre- 

 quently along the midrib and veins. 



' Green Bug ' has proved such a scourge in Ceylon, being practically 

 responsible for the final abandonment of coffee cultivation over the greater 

 part of the planting districts, that a short account of its origin and ravages 

 must be added to the bare description given above. 



Lecanium viride, popularly termed ' Green Bug,' first attracted attention in 

 Ceylon in the year 1882, when it was already doing considerable damage to 

 coffee in the Matale district. The pest rapidly extended its area, and spread 

 through all the districts of the Central Province within three years. In 1886 it 

 completed its conquest by appearing in the BaduUa district of the Province 

 of Uva. 



The bug attacks with indifference both vigorous and weakly trees, but its 

 effect is markedly different in the two cases ; for, though leaves of robust trees 

 become thickly infested by the insects, and blackened by the consequent 

 fungus, they do not fall off, but the plant continues to make fresh growth and 

 retains a fairly healthy appearance. Weakly trees, on the contrary, are almost 

 completely denuded, none but the two or three terminal leaves on each twig 

 remaining. The shoots become dry and hide-bound, and no fresh wood is 

 formed. Naturally such a condition results in a total loss of crop. 



