THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 73 



The insect has a soft, unprotected body which is regulai'ly oval, 

 decidedly tiattened and with the surface slightly convex. The color 

 varies from pale yellow to amber or grayish-black. The surface is 

 smooth and shiny. The length of the mature forms averages about 

 2 mm. and the width about 1.5 mm. The accompanying photograph 

 (Fig. 31) will aid in distinguishing it. Only one other representative 

 of the same genus occurs in California, the pit-making oak scale {Aster- 

 olecaniuni variolosuin Eatzeburg), which is also an introduced species 

 occurring at Stockton and Palo Alto.- 



The soft bamboo scale has quite a wide foreign distribution, having 

 l)een reported from the following localities^ : Algeria, Grenada, Mauri- 

 tius, Ceylon, Brazil, "West Indies and Mexico. 



As it does not produce any considerable amount of honey dew, causes 

 little smutting and does not seem to injure the hosts to any marked 

 degree, it may be considered of very minor importance as an economic 

 insect. 



=Inj. and Ben. Ins. Cal. 2d edit., Cal. Hort. Com., p. 113, 1915. 

 ^Fernald. Mr.s. M. E., Catalogue Coccidaj, p. 49, 1903. 



