Vol. xxix] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 75 



adult lady beetles are not allowed a moment's peace. By means of a 

 natural protection the Vedalia larvae are not molested by the ants, nor 

 are the stationary pupae, but the adults seem to lack this protective 

 quality and many of them are actually killed and devoured by the ants. 

 The extremely high temperatures accompanied by relatively high 

 humidity during the summer exerted a very depressing effect upon the 

 propagation of the ]\-dalia. They died off in millions so ... that they 

 could not entirely hold the scale in check. For about a month, from 

 mid-September to the middle of October, the weather was ideal for 

 their propagation and they did very nicely, then it turned much too 

 cool and for the past six weeks [to Nov. 27] they have done very 



little outdoors Very interesting results have been 



obtained through the very effective control of the Argentine ant 

 in and around the hothouse used for the propagation of the Vedal'm. 

 Until the ants were controlled no difficulties were encountered in 

 obtaining heavy infestations of the Icerya on three large Pittosporuni 

 bushes which were planted in the hothouse and caged for Vedalia 

 propagation. Since the control of the ant, however, the Icerya is not 

 doing nearly so well. The honeydew which was assiduously gathered 

 by the ants for food now remains attached to the scales and as it con- 

 tinues to be excreted it drops down forming threads which "candy" 

 in the dry atmosphere. So much of this honey-dew is in evidence that 

 the plants have taken on a snowy appearance. C. L. MARLATT in Re- 

 port No. 9, Emergency Ent. Service, U. S. Dept. Agr., Dec. 3, 1917. 



Maternal Care in Dinocoris tripterus Fab. (Hemiptera). 



Early in February, 1917. in conversation with Ralph Rallin, 

 a high school youth of this city, I learned that he had found on a 

 banana, and still had in his care, a mother bug and her brood. T 

 urged him to make what observations he could and later he presented 

 me with the mother and her fifteen offspring. The adults and 

 nymphs were identified by Mr. E. H. Gibson as Dinocoris triptcrnx 

 Fab. Mr. Gibson writes that, so far as he has been able to learn, 

 members of this genus occur only in Central and South America, and 

 that the nymphs are in the second instar. 



Since there was some doubt in the mind of Fabre as to the ac- 

 curacy of the observations on the maternal instinct in Hemiptera. 

 and as Kirkaldy has unearthed much evidence (Entomologist, 36: 

 113-120, 1903) to show the unfairness of Fabre, I quote the following 

 from a letter from Ralph Rallin in reply to certain questions, with 

 a figure made from a rough sketch by this youthful observer: 



"Early in February I found the group, mother, empty egg shells and 

 young, on part of the banana nearest the stalk: this was concealed 

 by other bananas. The young were already hatched when I found 



