April J, 1899.] THE TEOPICaL AGRICULTURIST. 
673 
ducts of the island in cinuamon, coconuts, 
coffee and tea, not to mention cinchona, 
and probably a little of cacao and rubber. 
During his long tropical residence, Mr. 
Stephens has enjoyed splendid health, never 
having been once seriously ill during his 
58 years of connection with Ceylon — a fact 
which he attributes to his temperate habits, 
love of steady work, and regular hours, 
always making it a strict imle to have his 
meals at fixed times, no matter how pres- 
sing his occupation with cinnamon or coffee 
in crop time. Even now, in his 83rd year, 
our patriarchal friend takes his walks regu- 
larly when the weather is fine ; and he still 
reads and writes without the iise of glasses ; 
while "R.H.F.", during his Dolosbage visit, 
found the patriarch could still play a capital 
game of chess. JMr. Stephens' only complaint, 
so far, is that he cannot hear so well as 
formerly. What a magnificent advertise- 
ment have we in our Dolosbage patriarch 
for the climate of Ceylon, to send round to 
Life Insurance Offices ! Long may our worthy 
old friend (and his partner) continue to 
adorn the long-established Dolosbage home, 
and to show planters of the present gene- 
ration how they should live and work in 
order to earn the privilege of a good and 
healthy old age. Our hope is that in Mr. 
Stephens, we or a successor may yet hail 
the first centex^vrian among the Plant- 
ing Pioneers of this Crown Colony of 
Ceylon. So mote it be ! 
THE "LANTANA BUG." 
[Orthczia iiisignis, Douglas.) 
Circular from Koyal Botanic Gardens 
Ceylon : January 1899. 
HISTORY OF THE PEST IN CEYLON. 
It i"! now more than five years since this insec 
was first noticed in Ceylon. In January, 1793 
specimens were received from ihe late Dr. Trimen, 
then Director of the Koyal Botanic Gardens, Peia- 
deniya. Dr, Trimen, in forwarding the insects, 
wrote : — " We are afflicted by an abominable pest now 
in the gardens, which I do not recollect to have 
seen- before. It bids fair to be the worst thing of 
the sort I have had here, and attacks especially 
Acanthacae, which includes our showiest shrubs. I 
never saw any pest here that increased so rapidly ; 
the garden is quite disfigured by it." In the following 
April Dr. Trimen wrote that after cutting down and 
burning all the affected bushes they had seen nothing 
of the post for tome time; but that, at the time of 
writing, it had re-appeared and wis rapaidly 
increasing. The next report from the Gardens was 
not until September, 18',)1, when the pest was said 
to be very bad and coverii g everything. About the 
name time a very largo brood of the male insects 
suddenly nppoared in tlie Gardens ; and in this same 
year it was observed that the pest had extended its 
range outside the Gardens and had established itrelf 
firmly upon L/antana in the neighbourhood. 
Thinking that the time had now come to worn 
the plautiug comrauuity of the dau^'or, au ilUia- 
trased article on the insect was published in the 
" Tropical Agriculturist " for January, 1895. 
Though the pest has been steadily increasing in 
strength and extending its range, it does not appear 
to have attracted any general attention or created 
any alarm until early in the present year, by which 
time it hnd spread within a radius of about 20 miles 
around Kandy. The question then arose as to 
whether the insect would attack any of our cultivated 
products. It has since been observed, in one or two 
localities, upon tea plants growing in the immediate 
neighbourhood of infested Lantana bushes. 
PRESENT RANGE OF THE PEST IN CEYLON. 
Though at first confined to the Kandy District, 
the pest has now spread to other parts. To the north- 
east it has been recorded froin Rangalla. It ex- 
tends southwards throughout the Gampola and Na- 
walapitiya districts. An outbreak has been observed 
in Pandalu-oya. The Director of the Botanic Gardens 
reports the occurrence of the insect on the Badulla 
side of the country. No doubt if careful observations 
were made all over the Island, the pest would be 
found to have a still, wider range. 
DISTRIBUTION IN OTHER COUNTRIES, 
The original h >me of Orthczia insignis is still rather 
doubtful. It has baen re-ported from various countries. 
The insect was first described from specimens col- 
lected in the plant houses at the Royal Botanical 
Gardens, Kew, where it found a congenial home. 
It must have been received there from some other 
country. Dr. Mortis, late Assistant Director of the 
Gardens, considered that they owed its introduction 
to British Guiana. It occurs in the West Indies 
(Trinidad, Jamaica, and Antigua being specially 
mentioned) and in various districts of iUexico. In 
South America it has been recorded from British 
Guiana. In the United States it has become a 
common greenhouse pest. Quite recently Mr. C. P. 
Lounsbury has drawn attention to its appearance 
in South Africa (Cape Town, Natal, Port Elizabeth, 
and East London are mentioned as localities), where 
it is a troublesome pest both in greenhouses and 
gardens. It is said to have been known in Natal 
for the last five years; and specimens — supposed to 
date back ten years — exist in the South African 
Museum, labelled " Durban, Natal." 
DESCRIPTION OF THE PEST. 
As with most scale-insect pests, the resulting injury 
is more conspicuous than in the insect itself. In 
the present instance, though most travellers on our 
railway have observed the unhealthy appearance of 
the Lantana on the side of the track,— with its leaves 
blackened by the sooty fungus that accompanies the 
pest,— very few of them have any idea of the actual 
form and appearance of the bug that is responsible 
for this effect. A closer examination of the diseased 
bushes would show that ail the younger shoots and 
branches are thickly covered with what they would 
probably describe as a " mealy bug." This species, 
however, diliers from the ordinary "mealy bug," 
in the firm— almost shelly— nature of the waxy 
appendages, and in the fact that a large part of 
the back of the insect is exposed. 
It will be as well to describe first the adult female, 
as this is the mo^t conspicuous stage and the one 
in which the Orthezia may be most easily recognized. 
The insect itself is of a dull olive-green or olive- 
brown colour, with a fringe of short stout opaque- 
white waxy processes, and a double row of similar 
projections down the middle of the back. But the 
most striking feature is the long white cylindrical 
appendiige springing from the extremity of the body. 
This tlie ovisac, and contains the numerous eggs. 
When fully developed this ovisac is four times as 
long as the body of the insect. It tapers yery 
slightly, is fluted above and smooth below, and has 
an upward curve to the exlrenuty, where there is an 
opening for the exist of the young larv.x-. The legs 
and aiUonniu of tho insect are well developed and 
project beyond tho margins of tho body. Tho month 
parts consist of a conical tuborclo spciu^^iug frou) 
