334 



THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



The Purple Scale. 



The purple scale attacks the leaves, branches and fruit of the citrus 

 tree, causing the branches to die and the leaves to drop. The female 

 scales are long and oyster shaped, and vary from one sixteenth to one 

 eighth of an inch in length. The covering of the scale varies from a 

 reddish brown to purple. Fumigate with full Schedule No. 1, consist- 

 i2ig of one and one half ounces of potassium cyanide to every 100 feet 

 of cubic space, or three fourths of this dosage for sodium cyanide, this 

 being done when the black scale is in the right stage to be destroyed. 



Fig. 89. — The Citrus mealy bug. Pseudococcus citri Risso., 

 on lemon, twice enlarged. (After Essig. ) 



Citrus Mealy Bug. 



The citrus mealy bug is a soft bodied mealy coated sucking insect 

 about one fourth of an inch in length in the adult stage. The female 

 deposits large numbers of eggs in a cottony mass. It is distributed 

 over the entire State, but is a pest in only a few localities, notably 

 Ventura and San Diego. The mealy-bugs attack all parts of the tree, 

 particularly the fruit. They may cluster on the fruits and even will 

 be found in the navel ends of the oranges. The mealy-bugs give off 

 large quantities of honeydevv which furnish a medium for the black 

 smut fungus and render it necessary for the fruit to be washed. Some 

 of the fruit is lost through decay, as a result of the vigorous washing 

 and cleaning which it must go through after having been covered with 

 the honeydew. The insects are most abundant during the spring and 



