The Bulletin. 9 



When the tree has become badly stunted the growth of each year may 

 be only a few inches, and we have found three-year wood, badly infested, 

 within a foot of the end of a twig. 



The tendency to become destructively abundant on certain individual 

 trees, or on certain parts of the tree, is shown in the following quota- 

 tions : 



•Whitehead, N. C. (Alleghany County), March, 1913. 



The first I ever saw was about ten years ago, — it was out in an old field 

 away from any other trees. It seems to affect trees worst out by themselves. 

 I only know of one tree that has died from this scale, but others are almost 

 hopeless, — I have one injured considerably. It is found more thickly on 

 large limbs, — it is also found under scales of bark on the body of the tree 

 where it would not be seen unless you look closely. 



C. G. Fender. 



Swannanoa, N. C, April 14, 1913. 



I have two cases in mind (one here, and one at my home at An- 

 drews, Cherokee County), where the trunk of large trees have been almost 

 completely encrusted for years with no infestation of the branches. 



We have one tree seriously infested in our orchard at Blantyre, but no gen- 

 eral spread of the insect has taken place, notwithstanding the trees were 

 planted on new land. It has been my observation that when trees are put 

 on new cut-over land the Oyster-shell Scale will find them all in* a year or 

 two. 



I once found a Swamp dogwood tree badly infested five miles at least from 

 human habitation and in a very inaccessible place. This would lead me 

 to suspect that the forest is quite generally infested. 



R. W. Collett. 



The last observation by Mr. Collett is very suggestive. The idea that 

 the San Jose Scale is "all through the woods" is generally incorrect and 

 misleading — but in the case of the Oyster-shell Scale it is nearer the 

 truth, for this species has been in the country so long, and thrives read- 

 ily on so many forest trees that orchards might easily and doubtless often 

 do, receive their first infestation from trees in the surrounding forest. 



Let us now consider a few cases actually observed in which injury by 

 the Oyster-shell Scale has been severe. 



The orchard of F. B. McCargo, at Mount Airy, Surry County, was- 

 visited by Mr. Z. P. Metcalf, Assistant Entomologist, in 1911, and was 

 found to be very badly infested. The Oyster-shell Scale was abundant 

 on many trees throughout the orchard, some trees had been killed, some 

 fatally injured, and in other cases individual branches or twigs had been 

 killed by it. The illustration on the front cover of this Bulletin is 

 from a photograph of a tree in this orchard. 



At Morrisville, Wake County, the small family orchard of Mr. Mal- 

 phus Sears was visited by the writer in April, 1913, and it was found 

 that one or two trees from six to ten years of age had been completely 

 encrusted, injured beyond hope, and had been cut down and piled as 

 "brush" to be burned. 



In 1904 Mr. R. W. Collett inspected the apple orchard on the grounds 

 of the orphanage at Thomasville, Davidson County, and reported that 

 the injury by the Oyster-shell Scale constituted as bad a case of de- 



