ed, the scales will
be found to have become much more numerous, and with them appear a
multitude of white specks, which are the young scales in a more or less
forward state. The clusters of berries now assume a black sooty look,
and a great number of them fall off before coming to maturity; the
general health of the tree also begins to fail, and it acquires a
blighted appearance. A loss of crop is this year sustained, but to no
great extent.

The third year brings about a more serious change, the whole plant
acquires a black hue, appearing as if soot had been thrown over it in
great quantities; this is caused by the growth of a parasitic fungus[1]
over the shoots and the upper surface of the leaves, forming a fibrous
coating, somewhat resembling velvet or felt. This never makes its
appearance till the insect has been a considerable time on the bush, and
probably owes its existence there to an unhealthy condition of the
juices of the leaf, consequent on the irritation produced by the coccus,
since it never visits the upper surface of the leaf until the latter has
fully established itself on the lower. At this period the young shoots
have an exceedingly disgusting look from the dense mass of yellow
pustular bodies forming on them, the leaves get shrivelled, and the
infected trees become conspicuous in the row. The black ants are
assiduous in their visits to them. Two-thirds of the crop is lost, and
on many trees not a single berry forms.

[Footnote 1: _Racodium?_ Species of this genus are not confined to the
coffee plant alone in Ceylon, but follow the "bugs" in their attacks on
other bushes. It appears like a dense interlaced mesh of fibres, each
made up of a single series of minute oblong vesicles applied end to
end.]

This _Lecanium_, or a very closely allied species, has been observed in
the Botanic Garden at Peradenia, on the _Citrus acida, Psidium
pomiferum, Myrtus Zeylanica, Rosa Indica, Careya arborea, Vitex
Negundo_, and other plants. The coffee coccus has generally been first
observed in moist, hollow places sheltered from the wind; and thence it
has spread itself even over the driest and most exposed parts of the
island. On some estates, after attaining a maximum, it has generally
declined, but has shown a liability to reappear, especially in low
sheltered situations, and it is believed to prevail most extensively in
wet seasons. While in its earlier stages, it is easily transmitted from
one estate to anoth