THE MONTHLY BULLt;TIN. 



387 



Diego, Santa Barbara and Sacramento counties and is said to be fairly 

 common in Santa Clara. While llie paivisite is by nature perhaps more 

 erratic than \^edalia, it at times becomes very abundant. We occa- 

 sionally find 90 per cent or more of the scale infested. For some 

 unknown reason it seems to be more abundant on acacias tlian on 

 citrus trees, at least so far as our observations have gone. There is no 

 doubt but that in some eases it has been a more important factor in 

 the control of the Icerya than has Vedalia, although this would by no 

 means be true taking the state as a whole. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE ADULT FLY. 



Small files witli a metallic dark blue luster; abdomen usually more shining and 

 with a sreonisli tiuge ; antenuip blackish; legs black with lighter colored tarsi; wings 

 broad hyaline ; length averages 1.5 mm. 



Head. Fi-ons broad ; center triangle shining ; orbital triangles opaque and some- 

 what variable in size; front punctured with numerous short coarse hairs. Eyes large 

 with miscroscopic black hairs. Antennae with tirst and second joints small ; third 

 joint large and with an obtuse point, sometimes having a weak angulation almost 

 imperceptible, usually with dense brown pubescence. 



Thmax. Mesonotum close hairy, without bristle. Scutellum large, triangular, 

 with a sharp edge and two apical bristles but slightly differentiated from the close- 

 set hairs. 



Legs. liegs black, the tarsi obscurely yellowish, and with a longitudinal series of 

 short black hairs ; no spurs or bristles. 



Wings. Wings short : first vein distinctly angulate ; auxiliary vein parallel with 

 first vein ; the costa twice broken ; second and third veins divergent ; second basal 

 fused with the discal cell ; anterior cross vein usually before end of first vein ; pos- 

 terior cross vein distinctly arcuate, the convexity toward the first posterior cell. 



OVIPOSITION AND HABITS OF ADULT. 



The adult flies are rather slow-moving and deliberate for Dipterous, 

 although when confined in glass vials they become nervous and violent. 



They frequently kill themselves by dashing 

 against the sides of the cage. The flies feed 

 to some extent upon sweetened water and in 

 this way we have succeeded in keeping them 

 alive for a period of ten days, although as a 

 rule they are not so long-lived in confinement. 

 When ready to oviposit the female crawls 

 slowly over the body of the scale insect, pre- 

 ferably about half grown, feeling the host 

 more or less with its antennae. The actual 

 act of oviposition is accomplished very 



Fig. 130. — Cottony cush- 

 ion scale showing tlie 

 exit holes of Lesto- 

 phonus. (Original.) 



quickly, the fly simply lowering 

 the tip of the abdomen, inserting 

 the short ovipositor and placing 

 the egg in the body cavity of the 

 host scale. A single female some- pj^ 131.— Lateral view of the last ab- 



times deposits several eggs in the dominal segment and extended ovi- 



, f; °° positor of Lestophonus. Greatly en- 



Same host. larged. (Original.) 



