13 



to be. Very often they settle oii the margin of the mother scale and force their 

 beaks right through her waxy covering. (See fig. 3A.) 



The young larvae are very small, mere dots, of an orange-yellow color, oval in 

 shape, with six legs, one pair of antennae, and two eyes. The most striking thing 

 about them is the character and position of the mouth parts. These consist of a long 

 thread or bristle-like sucking apparatus really composed of four very fine sharp 

 little bristles fitting closely together, and arising from underneath the body. They can 

 be seen in Fig. 6 as a little coiled thread. This beak is about three times as long 

 as the body, and in the case of the full-grown scale reaches deep into the bark. It 

 seems wonderful that such a delicate little structure can be forced through the 

 hard bark of an apple or plum tree. 



After settling down and inserting its sucking tube, the little insect begins to 

 assume a circular form, and at the end of about a day becomes covered all over 

 with delicate white wax, which is secreted through pores on its own hody. Soon 

 this becomes thicker, more compact and larger as the insect grows, and gradually 



Fig. 5. Winged male, much enlarged. 

 (Redrawn from Alwood.) 



Fig. 6. Young active larva, ventral view, 

 much enlarged; natural size is a mere 

 speck. Redrawn from Alwood.) 



the color changes until the black winter stage described on page 9 (see also Fig. 

 3Cbb) is reached. 



Up to this time the external appearance of both males and females has been 

 the same, but now they begin to differentiate, and in about two weeks more another 

 brood of adult winged males appear which fertilize any females that are sexually 

 mature. All the males do not of course emerge at the same time, nor are all the 

 females sexually mature at once, because, as said above, a single adult female con- 

 tinues ordinarily to give birth to living young for forty days or longer; hence 

 there will he a great overlapping and confusing of broods. From the time of birth 

 to its emergence as a winged adult the male, according to Marlatt,* requires from 

 24 to 26 days. Our observations would lead us to believe that this year in Ontario 

 30 days would be nearer the time. The hotter the climate the shorter the time 

 would naturally be, and Marlatt's figures are for Washington, D.C. He also states 

 that from the time of birth to the production of young by the female requires in 



♦See Bulletin 62, page 47, U. S. Bureau of Entomology. 



