270 THfi CANADIAN ENtOMOLOGIST. 



one in Cape Colony. A brief account of its occurrence here may not be 

 uninteresting. 



Under various common names, this insect has been known about 

 Cape Town for at least twenty-five years. Owing to the slight attention 

 paid to fruit culture until within a comparatively short time, and also to 

 the lack of transportation facilities, it has not, however, become nearly so 

 widespread as would have been the case had such favourable conditions 

 as are found in the United States prevailed. And yet, despite of adverse 

 circumstances, it has become established at many of the principal 

 centres, both east and west, and in the country adjacent to the seaports. 

 One serious occurrence in the Transvaal has been reported to me, and 

 M. d'Emmerez de Charmoy, of the Museum at Port Louis, writes that it 

 is destructive in Mauritius. From Cape Town, it has spread inland for 

 about one hundred miles, and within this area I do not think there is any 

 orchard insect pest, with the exception of the Fruit Fly (Ceratitis 

 capitata), that gives greater trouble. 



The peach is pre-eminently the food-plant of Diaspis amygda/i, and 

 notwithstanding the vigorous growth it makes in this climate, this tree is 

 not infrequently killed to the ground ; more often, branch by branch dies, 

 and the tree becomes misshapen and unproductive. Reddish stains, 

 both in the rind and pulp, are produced on the fruit of some varieties ; 

 and if the attack begins when the fruit is very green, malformation 

 results. Many other food-plants are cited by Professor Webster, but the 

 list might be greatly lengthened. The China Tree ( Melia azedarach), 

 known here as Syringa, a tree adapted to the requirements of several of 

 our common scale pests, sometimes gets thoroughly coated with this one. 

 Many Solanaceous plants assist in passing the infection from orchard to 

 orchard ; chief among these are Solaimin sodoincBum, S. giganteujn and 

 S. aculeastrum (?) (Natal Thorn). Myoporiim instciare, chiefly grown 

 here as a hedge plant, is similarly responsible. Fortunately, the poma- 

 ceous fruits are nearly exempt from attack ; I have not seen it at all on 

 apple, and not on more than a dozen pears. 



Upwards of fifty per cent, of the insects are here destroyed by 

 parasites on many trees, and a further large percentage is devoured by 

 Coccinellids. But the loss might be ninety-five per cent., and still the 

 increase be a hundred fold in twelve months. Three to four generations 

 are passed in a year, and two hundred young from one female is not 

 exceptional. The multiplication may prove less rapid in the Northern 



