COFFEE. 



45 



very minute (very mucli smaller than the female ; only about a 

 quarter line long), and resembles certain small Epbemeridae or May 

 flies. 



Female : Apterous, oval, brownish-purple, covered with a white 

 mealy powder which forms a stiff fringe at the margin (one tooth or 

 tuft to each segment on either side), and at the extremity of the 

 abdomen two setae. The back is laid out in three longitudinal and a 

 number of transverse corrugations, the latter corresponding with the 

 number of segments, upon each of the three longitudinal corrugations 

 the mealy secretion forms a sort of ridge cap. The feelers, legs, and 

 promuscis, are of light-brown colour and slightly hairy. The former 

 are setaceous, eight-jointed (the last joint being the longest), nearly as 

 long as the legs and porrected. The promuscis is situated between 

 the anterior pair of legs, having a few hairs, but no sucking bristles 

 at the tip. 



The larvae and pupae of the female resemble the perfect insect, but 

 are on a smaller and less perfect scale. In the male pupa wings and 

 anal setae are rudimental, in the male larvge absent. These imperfect 

 males rather resemble young Psoci or Aphides, but they carry the 

 antennae turned backwards, along the sides of the body. The larvae 

 and pupae are active — move about. 



The insects, in all stages of development, are found all the year 

 round, the propagation being continuous. It appears to me, however, 

 that the males are most plentiful about June and January than at any 

 other season. They affect dry, hot localities, and are found as well on 

 the branches as on the roots of the trees, to about one foot under 

 ground. The eggs are actually laid and enveloped in a white cottony 

 substance ; they are oval and of yellow colour. I am not sure that 

 there are not two species in the island, as I find some communities 

 rather flatter and more densely covered with meal. However, these 

 may be local varieties. The white bug of the Ceylon coffee tree seems 

 to be identical with the species which is naturalized in the conser- 

 vatories of Europe, and is, perhaps, a cosmopolite. It is closely 

 allied to the cochineal insect. There are several insects in the 

 island, resembling the white bug, but of the size of a sixpenny, and 

 even shilling-piece, these belong to the genus Dorthesia, and I have 

 generally found the up-country species upon the stem of a laurel — 

 Tetranthera Gardneri, Thw. 



The white bug is preyed upon by the larva of Scymnus rotundatus. 

 — This is a minute beetle of the lady-bird tribe, as big as a 

 pin's head, black and pubescent. The larva greatly resembles the 

 white bug and might easily be mistaken for it. It is, however, 

 longer, narrower, flatter, and of a yellow colour, but covered thickly 

 with stiff white hair of the same cottony substance as those of 

 the bug. This covering is occasionally renewed, and is especially 

 thick when the metamorphosis is at hand. This latter the larva 

 undergoes in a thin oval cocoon, to which the white covering of the 

 larva remains externally attached. This larva is very active and 

 attaches itself to the under side of the bug. Westwood, Introd., vol. 

 i. 398, mentions the larva of a Scymnus feeding upon Aphides, and 

 vol. ii. 443, feeding upon Aleurodes. The larva of the Scymnus is 



