200 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



Station at New Haven a sum of money for this purpose. The 

 work naturally falls into two divisions — that of experiment 

 and study in order to acquire new facts about the structure 

 and habits of insects and the effect of treatment under Con- 

 necticut conditions, and, through published matter, corre- 

 spondence, and lectures, to place this information within 

 reach of the farmers, gardeners, and fruit growers of the State. 



By aid of the stereopticon we will now consider in detail 

 a few of the species which are found in Connecticut. 



The San Jose Scale (Aspidiotiis pcniiciosiis, Comst.). 



This is the worst pest in Connecticut fruit orchards. It 

 was brought into the Eastern states about thirteen years ago 

 upon nursery stock from California. It was first discovered 

 at Charlottesburg, V^a., in 1893. Soon after this it was found 

 in Florida, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jer- 

 sey. In 1895 it was found in Connecticut, Massachusetts, 

 and New York. It is now probably present in nearly every 

 State of the Union, except, perhaps, some of the extreme 

 northern ones. It was first discovered in Connecticut at New 

 London in June, 1895, by Dr. W. C. Sturgis, then botanist 

 of the State Experiment Station. At that time it had already 

 killed several peach trees which had been planted for four or 

 five years. It was probably introduced on nursery stock from 

 New Jersey in 1890 or 1891. Since then it has been discov- 

 ered in many different localities in the State and has been 

 found in many of the large orchards and nurseries. 



This insect does not lay eggs like most of the scale in- 

 sects, but the female brings forth living young. There are 

 three broods each year, with a possible fourth brood, if the 

 cold weather holds off well into the fall. The trees are in- 

 jured by being covered over with this minute scale insect 

 which sucks the sap from them, not only on the twigs, but it 

 gets on the leaves and the fruit as well. 



It is very small, scarcely ever reaching a diameter of one- 

 eighth of an inch when full grown. It is circular in outline 

 with a raised portion or nipple in the center, with a few rather 

 indistinct concentric markings between this and the outside. 



At birth the young insect crawls about for twenty-seven 

 or twenty-eight hours upon the bark, or until it finds a suit- 

 able place to establish itself. It then begins to suck the sap 

 of the tree through its proboscis, which it inserts into the 

 tissues, and does not travel afterwards. 



