192 DEPAKTMENTAL EEPOETS. 



ing a fixture and doing the good service in our Western orange 

 districts which it now does in South Africa and in Italy. The history 

 of this importation was given in the report of last year. A recent 

 report from Mr. Alexander Craw, who is looking out for this experi- 

 ment, indicates that the parasite is breeding abundantly. With a 

 beginning of only two female insects, kept in captivity, he has sent 

 out to different localities up to July of this year (1902) twenty-five 

 colonies. 



A very important European parasite of the larger scale insects, 

 such as the Lecaniums and mealj^ bugs, has been imported during the 

 year. The larva of this insect [Erastria scitula) feeds on scale insects, 

 and it is hoj)ed that its introduction into our citrus districts especially 

 will be of great advantage, as it will prey upon certain of the larger 

 scale insects affecting citrus trees. The effort is being made to estab- 

 lish this f»redaceous insect in California, with the cooperation of Mr. 

 Craw, the horticultural quarantine officer, and Mr. Ehrhorn, of Santa 

 Clara. These insects have already been liberated in Santa Clara, Los 

 Angeles, and Niles, Cal., and the outcome of this effort at the intro- 

 duction of a useful insect will be watched with interest and the utmost 

 care will be taken to bring it to a successful issue. 



Another foreign insect j^romising great usefulness in a different 

 direction has been imported during the past year. This insect, the 

 European ladybird {Coccinella septempunctata), was sent from Hun- 

 gary, through the kindness of Professor Sa.jo. Some 40 beetles were 

 received in the autumn of 1901, more than half of which successfully 

 hibernated, and during the spring and summer of 1902 have multi- 

 plied in sufficient numbers to enable the Division by fall to send out 

 colonies to experiment stations and to individuals who will properly 

 care for them. These ladybirds feed on plant lice, and should be an 

 efficient aid in conti-olling the destructive insects of this class which 

 infest cotton, peas, melons, and other vegetables, and the fruits. 

 Some of these insects have been sent to Mr. Craw, in California, 

 where they give promise of becoming established. Another ladybird 

 {Leis conformis), a plant-louse feeder also, was imported from Italy 

 and liberated in California. A further importation of this species 

 may be necessary to effect its establishment here. 



This work, of an international character, has not been altogether 

 one-sided. In other words, while we have been importing foreign 

 insects and have been receiving a good deal of gratuitous assistance 

 from entomologists abroad in this work, we have paid our debts, to a 

 certain extent, by sending to foreign countries some of our beneficial 

 insects. The extraordinary success in preventing damage from the 

 white scale, once a great orange pest in California, by the introduc- 

 tion of the Australian ladybird, has been duplicated, as made evident 

 in former reports, in many foreign lands, notably South Africa, Por- 

 tugal, and Egypt. During the last year colonies were sent from Cal- 

 ifornia, at our request, to Dr. Antonio Berlese, Portici, Italy, where 

 this same white scale insect had established itself. Recent reports 

 indicate that this exportation has proven to be another of the series 

 of successes which has attended this insect wherever it has been sent 

 to work against its notable scale insect host. We have also had sent, 

 through the kindness of Mr. Craw, various beneficial ladybirds to the 

 Bermuda Islands to assist in keeping in check the noxious scale 

 insects occurring on these islands. 



