INSECT PESTS OF OHIO SHADE AND FOREST TREES 303 



Distribution. — The magnolia scale has been observed by the 

 writer in various sections of Ohio, It has been reported by others 

 from New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and Louisiana. 



Natural enemies. — The larvae and adults of the lady-beetle, 

 Hyperaspis signata binotata, were observed September 20 and 

 October 3, 1914, feeding voraciously upon the young of this scale. 

 Entire areas of the scale infestation had been destroyed by the 

 beetle and its young, so it would seem that it may be considered a 

 valuable natural control. 



Control. — Carefully made applications of the lime-sulphur 

 wash, failed utterly in the writer's experience to control this species. 

 However, scalecide, applied at the rate of 1 part to 15 parts of water 

 in the early spring, yielded perfect results and may be considered 

 a safe and certain measure to employ. If but a few magnolia shrubs 

 are affected, hand picking the large, white, conspicuous scales in 

 July before the young appear is at once effective, practicable and 

 inexpensive. 



THE EUROPEAN ELM SCALE 



(Gossyparia idmi Linnaeus) 



Description. — The European elm scale is so unusual in appear- 

 ance that a glance at the illustration of the adult female (Plate 

 LIV, Fig. 1) almost renders a description unnecessary. The body 

 of the adult female is reddish brown in color, plump and from one- 

 fourth to three-eighths of an inch long. It rests on a mass of 

 white, waxy material, the edges of which extend up on the sides 

 of the body, somewhat like a fringe, that reminds one in a measure 

 of a bird sitting on her nest. The insects are found in greatest 

 abundance in the crevices of the bark of the host and upon the 

 underside of the limbs. The eggs are oblong in shape and pale 

 yellow in color. The newly-hatched young are pale-yellow, six- 

 legged creatures, later becoming gray and woolly. The males are 

 fragile, reddish, two-winged insects, which issue abdomen first, or 

 in other words, back out of snow-white, elongate cocoons. 



Life history and habits. — The European elm bark louse passes 

 the winter as a partially developed larva. (See Plate LIV, Fig. 2.) 

 The following spring the sexes mature, mating occurs and the 

 females begin ovipositing. The young appear in late June. The 

 young first establish themselves upon the foliage, favoring above 

 all other positions the axils on the underside of the leaf formed by 

 the junction of the midrib and veins. Here they remain for a time, 

 later migrating to the trunk and limbs for hibernation. There is 

 but one brood annually. 



