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Pomona College Journal of Entomology 



the mealy bug one of the most alarming of all orchard pests, and it is now 

 recognized as a most desperate infection with which to deal. Without pre- 

 dicting success for the Manila importations I may with propriety inform 

 the readers of "The Times" how the new insects behave. 



Figure 136. Larvae of the Ladybird Beetles predaceous ou llie Citrus Mealy Bug: 

 A, Cryptolaemus montrouzieri; B, Cryptogomus orbicnlus; r, Scymnus guttiilatus. 



Last February Compere left for the Orient with millions of mealy bugs 

 upon plants encased for returning to California after the mealy bugs became 

 infected. On his return he was met at Honolulu with a new supply upon 

 which to feed his insects the latter portion of their journey. With all this 

 supply the ladybirds devoured the material and hundreds of them had to be 

 turned out in mid-ocean to conserve the food for the remainder. Compere 

 arrived with about 1000 adults of the species known as Crytogomus orbicnlus, 

 the kind upon which some hope of success is based. This ladybug is somewhat 

 smaller than the Vedalia, equally prolific and voracious. In the insectary 

 at this writing may be seen the adults devouring full-grown mealy bugs 

 and the young burying themselves in the egg masses as did the Vedalia 

 twenty years ago with the white scale. 1 noted the time required by one 

 of the ladybugs to devour a half-grown mealy bug. F'ive niiiuites finished the 

 meal. On the bottom of a case of plants \\a.< a full ])int of the white cover- 

 ings so noticeable with the citrus mealy bug. All will depend upon the ability 

 of the new insects to adapt themselves to our climatic and orchard condi- 

 tions ; and there we may look for failure, with a possibility that the mealy 

 bug may meet the same fate as did the white scale, .^t any rate, thousands 



