THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



THE MEALY BUGS OF CALIFORNIA. 



By E. O. EssiG, Secretary State Commission of Horticulture, Sacramento, California. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Under the heading of "The :\Iealy Bugs of California" the writer 

 hopes to bring together all of the information known at present relative 

 to these often troublesome pests. Particular attention will be given to 

 the economic forms, though a mention of the non-economic species will 

 be made in order that the reader may have a comprehensive idea of 

 the whole group. It is aimed to present the material in as simple a 

 way as possible and to avoid the technical expressions which would 

 naturally creep into such an article as this. 



Relative to the economic forms, practically all of the material has 

 been segregated by the writer, who has been working upon the group 

 for some four years, but much of the material relative to the handling 

 of the non-economic species has been collected from original descrip- 

 tions published in numerous periodicals throughout the country. 



This paper is written at the special request of the fruit growers 

 assembled at an emergency convention held at Ontario, Cal., January 

 30, 1914, where the ravages of the mealy bugs were given considerable 

 attention. It was the desire of the growers that tlie material presented 

 at that time be written up by the secretary of the convention and dis- 

 tributed through the channels of the periodicals issued from the office 

 of the State Commission of Horticulture. Many valuable papers were 

 read at the convention by practical fruit growers and county horti- 

 cultural commissioners, among Avhom were the following: A. J. Cook, 

 State Commissioner of Horticulture, Sacramento, Cal.; J. A. Prizer, 

 Entomologist San Diego Fruit Company. Chula Vista. Cal. ; H. A. 

 Weinland. County Horticultural Commissioner. San Diego County, 

 San Diego, Cal.; Wm. Wood, Horticultural Commissioner, Los Angeles 

 County, Los Angeles, Cal. ; A. G. Smith. Horticultural Inspector, Los 

 Angeles County, Pasadena, Cal. ; P. E. Edourt, Horticultural Inspector, 

 Los Angeles County, Los Angeles. Cal.. and R. S. Yaile, Horticultural 

 Commissioner, Ventura County. Santa Paula, Cal. Practically all of 

 these papers dealt directly with experimentation and control of the 

 citrus mealy bug (Pseudococcus citri) and in the discussion of this 

 insect the writer intends to quote freely from these papers. 



CLASSIFICATION. 



The mealy bugs belong to an order of insects knowTi as Homoptera 

 (to which order also belong such sucking insects as plant lice, cicadas, 

 leaf -hoppers, lantern flies, spittle bugs, etc.). to the family Coccidce 

 (which includes all of the scale insects) and to the subfamily Dacty- 

 lopiince. The members of this subfamily do not have a shell or armor 

 protection, as do the red and purple scales, neither do they have a hard 

 chitinous outer skin like the black and soft brown scales, but the body 

 is usually covered with a fine white powdery or cottony wax, or with a 



