THE SAN JOSE SCALE. 317 



peach scale being very widely distributed in those countries and the 

 San Jose scale also in northern China and portions of Japan. In this 

 country, on the other hand, the San Jose scale is practically its only 

 host insect, and in spite of the wide dissemination of the San Jose 

 scale, it still occurs after all in a very scattering way in orchards here 

 and there, with often twenty or thirty miles between places' of infesta- 

 tion. This imported insect can not, therefore, multiply and extend 

 itself as rapidly and naturally as would be the case if the San Jose 

 scale occurred more generally. For this reason it will be necessary 

 to distribute the imported beetle artificially for some time. In 

 Georgia, Alabama and other regions where there are general orchard 

 districts it will undoubtedly be able to take hold much better than it 

 will in regions where orchards are more scattering and of smaller area. 

 Ultimately it is hoped that it will become established in America and 

 have the same beneficial action which it now has in China and Japan. 

 It probably will not be a complete remedy for the San Jose scale for 

 the reasons already indicated, but if it will keep the San Jose scale in 

 check as much as it does in its native country it will be of very decided 

 service. One of its chief advantages will be the fact that it ultimately 

 will take hold of the scale in many small orchards and gardens, the 

 owners of which would be indifferent and would not undertake remedial 

 operations, and thus furnish centers for additional reinfestation. 



The importation of this insect can not work anything but good. 

 It feeds only on scale insects, and ultimately may feed on certain of 

 our native species as well as on the San Jose scale. It is a most voracious 

 feeder, and has been observed to eat as many as five or six scale insects 

 a minute, and even an average of but one a minute would give a total 

 of 1,440 scale insects destroyed per day. The appetite of the larva 

 seems never to he satisfied, and it is eating practically all the time. 

 The adults also feed actively on the scale. 



The chief drawback to this importation is the fact that several of 

 our native predaceous insects have at once acquired a rather decided 

 liking for the larvas of, the Chilocorus. A parasitic insect of our native 

 ladybirds has also been attacking it in considerable numbers. These 

 predaceous and parasitic insects may be sufficient to prevent this im- 

 ported ladybird from giving the benefits which it ought. They have 

 been especially in evidence in the Washington colony, but do not seem 

 to have done any considerable damage in the more southern colonies 

 referred to, and it mav he that the ladvbird will not suffer materiallv 

 from them. 



