100 



THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



may be but one or two broods during the entire year. The females are 

 quite prolific, producing from twenty to three or four hundred eggs or 

 young, and due to the hardiness of the species, very few of these fail to 

 mature unless preyed upon by some natural enemy. The development 

 of the young is very slow at first and during the summer months the 

 mealy bugs are usually little in evidence, which is partly due to their 

 small size and partly to the fact that they are hidden away in places 

 where they are not easily observed. The young male soon after hatching 



Fig. 22. — Body characters of Baker'.s mealy bug, Pseudococcus bakeri. 

 A, leg; j:5, antenna; C, posterior end or pygidium. (Author's illustra- 

 tion.) 



spins a small white, cottony cocoon, in which it transforms and reaches 

 the adult stage when the females are about one third grown. At this 

 time copulation takes place and the males soon die. The females begin 

 to mature along in July, August and September, when egg laying or 

 bringing forth young occurs. In general we may say that there is but 

 one uneven brood a year under out-door conditions, though in some 

 cases there may be two or even more. 



Most of the species live above ground upon the bark, fruit or foliage 

 of the host plants, while some live almost entirely underground upon 

 the roots of the plants. Others live both above and below ground. In 

 Los Angeles County it is claimed by many authorities that the citrus 

 mealy bug lives upon the roots of the plants as well as above ground. 

 This is one point in the life history of this species which has not been 

 well worked out and is of tremendous importance in formulating 



