Chap. XII.] 
THE COFFEE-BUG. 
439 
colour, and at length is permanently fixed to the surface 
of the plant, by means of a cottony substance interposed 
between it and the vegetable cuticle to which it adheres. 
The scale, when full grown, exactly resembles in minia- 
ture the hat of a Cornish miner *, there being a narrow 
rim at the base, which gives increased surface of attach- 
ment. It is about inch in diameter, by about y 1 ^- 
deep, and it appears perfectly smooth to the naked eye ; 
but it is in reality studded over with a multitude 
of very minute warts, giving it a dotted appearance. 
Except the margin, which is ciliated, it is entirely des- 
titute of hairs. The number of eggs contained in one 
of the scales is enormous, amounting in a single one to 
691. The eggs are of an oblong shape, of a pale flesh 
colour, and perfectly smooth. 2 In some of the scales, 
the eggs when laid on the field of the microscope re- 
semble those masses of life sometimes seen in decayed 
cheese. 3 A few small yellowish maggots are sometimes 
found with them, and these are the larvse 4 of insects, 
the eggs of which have been deposited in the female 
while the scale was soft. They escape when mature by 
cutting a small round hole in the dorsum of the scale. 
It is not till after this pest has been on an estate for 
two or three years that it shows itself to an alarming 
extent. During the first year a few only of the ripe 
scales are seen scattered over the bushes, generally on 
the younger shoots ; but that year's crop does not suffer 
much, and the appearance of the tree is little altered. 
1 Fig. 8. soft Coccus, viz. : Encystus, Cocco- 
3 Fig. 9. phagus, Pteromalus, Mesosela, 
3 Figs. 10, 11. Agonioneurus ; besides Aphidius, a 
4 Of the parasitic Chalcididise, minutely sized genus of Ichneu- 
many genera of which are well monidae. Most, if not all, of these 
known to deposit their eggs in the genera are Singhalese. 
F F 4 
