274 
SPICES 
CHAP. 
A destructive Coccus has also been seen in Borneo, 
as well as in the Straits Settlements, attacking the 
fruit spikes as the fruit commences to set. 
The insects are soft-bodied stout creatures covered 
with the white fluff so characteristic of this group of 
blight. When they attack the spike it speedily becomes 
black and withers up, and is often completely destroyed. 
The Coccids also frequently attack the leaves on the 
underside, the stem and other parts of the plant. 
The presence of Coccids on a plant in any abundance 
always must be taken to suggest that the plant is weak 
and in poor health, though this is not always the case. 
It is advisable to manure the plants if much affected, 
but at the same time steps must be taken to get rid of 
the pest. As a rule the ordinary insecticides fail with 
these animals, as they are too well protected by the 
white fluff which is of a waxy nature, and protects 
the insect from the action of any ordinary liquid. I 
have had some success in dealing with this class of 
pests by using a solution of phenyl, mixed with water, 
so as to have the appearance of rather poor milk. The 
phenyl dissolves the wax, and then acting on the skin 
of the insect destroys it. All the carbolic disinfectants 
must be used in a well diluted state, as they are other- 
wise apt to injure the plant, but many of them, if weak 
enough, will prove very effective against the waxy Cocci. 
Mr. Hewitt observes in Borneo that the Cocci are 
commonly attended by a small ant {Crematog aster 
Rogenhoferi), which feeds on the sugary excretions of 
the blight, and probably conveys the coccus from plant 
to plant, as ants constantly do in other cases. The 
presence of ants in quantities running over a plant in 
cultivation is often a sign to the watchful planter that 
blight has appeared on the vine. 
Mytilaspis. Scale Insects , — Attacks by these are 
reported by Mr. Barber as injuring the pepper vines in 
India. They are probably common elsewhere, as scale 
insects are extremely abundant in the tropics. He 
describes the attack as follows ; — ■ 
