General Meeting, Feb. 1st, 1854. Ixxxix. 



The Secretary then read a paper on the Coffee Blight, the 

 Cotton Aphis, and some new varieties of Lac lately procured 

 in Ceylon. The paper was ordered to be printed. 



On the Coffee Blight, the Cotton Aphis, and some new species 

 of Lac. By J. Lamprey, M.B., Hony. Secretary to the 

 Ceylon Branch, R. A. S. 



I had the greater portion of this paper prepared for publi- 

 cation some months past, but waited for the result of an 

 experiment I had entrusted to a friend to make on his estate 

 before committing it to type, as the most important portion 

 of the information I wished to convey would not have been 

 forthcoming till the result of that experiment was known. 

 In the meantime, however, another person has made the ex- 

 periment I suggested to my friend some months back, and, 

 according to the statement lately published in the local prints, 

 with the best possible result; I am now, therefore, on this testi- 

 mony, able to complete that portion of the paper I was formerly 

 in doubt about, and lose no further time in laying before the 

 Society the account of my examination into the structure and 

 habits of the insect causing the Coffee Blight, together with 

 the fortunate discovery of a remedy for it I accidentally made 

 in December 1852. I shall also take the opportunity of 

 making a few remarks upon some allied species of insects, 

 which are equally interesting to the Ceylon Planter; such 

 as the White Bug, the Aphis of the Cotton plant, and some 

 varieties of Lac lately procured in Ceylon, all which are insects 

 belonging to the same class of Animals, and are perhaps, with- 

 out exception, the most interesting of the whole Animal King- 

 dom, whether viewed in a purely scientific light, as beings 

 which reveal the phenomena of life and the mysteries of 

 instinct under the most singular aspects, or as exhibiting the 

 fecundity, power, and resources of nature ; or considered in a 

 practical and utilitarian point of view, as beings capable of 

 performing so much good or evil 



