24-6 



THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



COUNTY COMMISSIONERS DEPARTMENT. 



THE MEDITERRANEAN FIG SCALE. 

 L&pidosQ phi s funs. 



By Fred P. Roullard, County Horticultural Commissioner, Fresno. California. 



A striking case of insect pest introduction by the importation of 

 plants from Europe, emphasizing clearly the necessity for the most 

 careful inspection, has been discovered in Fresno County, and investi- 

 gations and experiments with the view of eradicating it before it 

 becomes too widespread are already under way. 



Some eighteen or twenty consignments of fig cuttings were brought 

 to Fresno from Algeria, during 1904 and 1906. through the United 

 States Division of Seed and Plant Introduction. This being prior to 

 the establishment of the system of inspection of imported stock by the 

 Federal Horticultural Board, the stock received was not treated, and as 

 a result a scale pest has been introduced and has spread until it now 

 covers an area with a radius of about three-quarters of a mile. Within 

 this area there arc perhaps 75 to 100 trees badly infested, and about 

 400 trees slightly infested. One rather remarkable feature, which gives 

 encouragement, is the fact that only trees that have had the imported 

 grafts or scions grafted into them 

 show a bad infestation, thus show- 

 ing that the pest is not easily estab- 

 lished and spreads rather slowly. 



The scale closely resembles oyster 

 shell scale, which attacks such a 

 variety of deciduous trees. Speci- 

 mens have been sent to the Bureau 

 of Entomology, United States De- 

 partment of Agriculture, at, vari- 

 ous times, for examination, and Mr. 

 E. R. Sasscer. who is thoroughly 

 acquainted with both domestic and foreign scale insects, has determined 

 it as Lepidosaphes /tens, which is apparently a synonym of Lepidosa- 

 phes conchiformis. This scale was described in 1903 on Leaves of Fiat* 

 (fig) from Italy, also, earlier, on Ficus carica from Algeria, and on figs 

 in England. 



The life history of the scale, as observed by the writer for the past 

 two seasons, is as follows : 



The female lives beneath the scale during the winter, occupying 

 nearly the whole shell until about the middle of March, when opposi- 

 tion begins. The young emerge during the month of April. After 

 hatching they crawl about over the tree, establishing themselves upon 

 the trunk, limbs, branches, leaves and fruit, and by the first of June 

 specimens may be found infesting every part of the tree from the 

 ground up. 



The scale, when on the fruit and leaves, appears different than when 

 it is on the twigs and trunk, due to variation in different stages of its 

 development. The differences are so marked as to suggest the occurrence 

 of more than one species. 



Fig. 61. — The Mediterranean Fig Scale. 

 Lepidosaphes flats. Female scales 

 greatly enlarged. (Original.) 



