J. Hudson.— Ou tJtc Wattle-blight. 177 



commences to suck up the juices of the phxut. It grows 

 rapidly, and soon begins to secrete its characteristic cottony- 

 exudation : this is in reahty the ovisac, and in a fully-developed 

 female is found full of little red eggs to the number of two or 

 three hundred. The male is a winged insect, about ^in. long : 

 it may be frequently seen in wattles infested with the Icerya. 



There is one peculiarity which this creature shares with 

 many of the Hemiptcra — viz., the power of secreting honey- 

 dew. You may frequently observe a drop of this exuding 

 from its posterior extremity. Every one must have noticed the 

 1)lackened stems of trees affected with this blight : this is 

 indirectly caused by this honey-dew — in this way : the insect 

 scatters the honey-dew over the stems of the plant, and in 

 this honey-dew various species of black fungi grow, which give 

 to the plant-stems the black, sooty appearance. 



While at Launceston, in Tasmania, in the early part of 

 January of the present year, I took a walk along the banks of the 

 South Esk. I could not help observing the numerous wattles, 

 and how healthy and luxuriant they appeared ; and I at first 

 concluded that that district must be free from the Icerya. How- 

 ever, I soon observed one or two of the trunks having black 

 patches on them, and, knowing this to be indicative of blight, I 

 was induced to examine them more carefully. I soon found a 

 group of perfect specimens, stuck on by the proboscis in the 

 usual way ; and on tearing open the posterior cottony exu- 

 dation I found it full of the little red eggs of the insect, so the 

 identity was perfect. 



We have long known that ladybirds are great blight- 

 eaters, and when I saw that the IcerycB were there, and yet 

 that they did not do much damage, I at once looked for lady- 

 birds, and 1 soon found some, one of which I secured, and I 

 now show it to the society. You will observe that it is larger 

 than the ordinary New Zealand species ; further, it is covered 

 with rather large black spots symmetrically arranged on a red- 

 dish-orange ground. I did not see the ladybirds actually 

 eating the Iceryce, though I make no doubt they do so, but I 

 came across some larvae which were feeding on them most 

 voraciously. I saw one with his head buried in the cottony 

 exudation, no doubt feeding on the eggs inside. These larvaj 

 were short, hairy, nearly black in colour, with six legs, no 

 prolegs, and a divided spike-like projection posteriorly. I also 

 found a small group of about twenty or thirty eggs stuck on 

 to the bark of one of the wattles. These eggs were of peculiar 

 shape, elongated, with their long axes vertical to the tree. I 

 cut out the piece of bark with them on, intending to bring them 

 to Nelson ; but, alas ! it was in the full heat of an Australian 

 summer, and when I looked at them a few days later I found 

 they had all hatched ; but from what I could see of the little 

 12 



