General Meeting, Feb. 1st, 1854. xcviL 



are effectually destroyed en masse. If the carcase of a small 

 animal, such as a bird, a rat, or if their skin or entrails be laid 

 on a tree or underneath it where the Red Ant abounds, it will 

 soon be covered by them in considerable quantity, as they are 

 very partial to animal food, when they can be destroyed by 

 pouring hot water over them. 



There are also several other insects which appear to be 

 equally destructive to the Bug, though perhaps none of them 

 could be so easily applied as the Red Ant, viz. there is a 

 beautiful variety of the Coccinella, called the gold fly, to be 

 met with in great abundance on the low bushes about Co- 

 lombo, also a larger variety of the same insect, of a beautiful 

 green colour spotted with black, which is equally destructive 

 to Aphides ; and I have the opportunity of laying before you 

 a Lady-bird I caught flying in my verandah yesterday morn- 

 ing, which appears to be identical in size, form, and colour 

 with the same insect which is so highly respected by the Hop 

 growers of England for the benefit it confers upon the Hop 

 gardens. 



There is another variety of Coccinella more active and more 

 industrious in his habits than the others, which I have recently 

 observed to be very abundant in the Hill country. It is a 

 very small insect, about one-third of the size of the common 

 Lady bird ; its colour is black with a white margin extending 

 around the outer edges of the elytra. 



The application of any solution to destroy the Coffee Bug, 

 must, I fear, judging from the structure of the insect, be al- 

 together futile, unless they be of such a strongly corrosive 

 nature as to prove destructive to the tree as well. 



There is one remedy, however, of this class which appears 

 to be less objectionable than the others, and that is the appli- 

 cation of some of the essential oils. I mention it on the 

 authority of Davis, who states that the Chinese use an essen- 

 tial oil to destroy a Bug which affects the Tea plant. 



The best preventative to the occurrence of the Bug, 

 judging from the analogy which the Animal Kingdom affords, 



