37° POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



Portugal by Mr. A. Le Cocq, director of agriculture, and by Mr. L. 0. 

 Howard, director of the Bureau of Entomology, of Washington. With 

 the assistance of the material thus obtained it was possible to make at 

 the entomological laboratory, at Portici, a methodical rearing of the 

 beetles. Different methods were employed and on June 8 the first 

 distribution of Novius, of both sexes, was made in the garden which 

 had been the center of infection, the Icerya having made rapid prog- 

 ress and the garden being again infested by legions of Icerya. 



June 28 other similar distributions were made in the other neigh- 

 boring gardens. 



The insects prospered marvelously, rapidly seeking the Iceryas 

 wherever they could find them. It should be remarked that Novius, 

 once acclimatized in a region, knows very well how to find trees at- 

 tacked by Iceryas, even when they are some distance away. Therefore 

 it is not absolutely necessary to distribute them to all points. In July 

 the results were already evident. One could hardly find patches of 

 Icerya which did not show the work of Novius, and at the end of the 

 month it was difficult to find adult Iceryas with which to continue its 

 breeding in the laboratory to afford food for Novius. By the end of 

 autumn there was only here and there a rare individual that had es- 

 caped the massacre. In 1902 the intensity of the invasion was entirely 

 minimized, but under the influence of the winds the area of dispersion 

 extended to about a kilometer. Very fortunately the Novius, which 

 had become very rare, reappeared. According to information very 

 obligingly sent to me by Mr. Leonardi, of the laboratory at Portici, 

 they still continue to-day to fill in a marvelous way the role which 

 devolves upon them, and their naturalization can be considered an 

 accomplished fact. This single fact alone indicates, without any need 

 of further evidence, that they have not exterminated the Iceryas. 



If they have reduced the multiplication of the scale insect to the 

 point of rendering it practically negligible, it is none the less true that 

 the original infestation persists, and that the area of distribution of 

 the scale insect is slowly enlarging. 



The Icerya is met with to-day not only at Portici, but in all the 

 little towns around Vesuvius, and all the gardens of Naples have it in 

 greater or less quantity. It is probable that the area will always 

 exist about the first locality. If the beneficent ladybird did not exist 

 by the side of the scale insect, the culture of oranges and l.emons would 

 be seriously interrupted, and in a few years throughout the whole Medi- 

 terranean region. 



(To he concluded.) 



