102 DESTRUCTIVE INSECTS OF VICTORIA: 



stmdxve a nature, and owing to the close proximity oi 



¥i ent worth to Mildura and other of our Murray districts. 

 the pest is not unlikely to cross the river into our State. 



■ report oi the late Mr. Ollitf. who was sent by Ins 

 Department on a special mission to the infested districts, 

 at which places he collected some most important facts 

 connected with the life history of the insect under notice, 

 is interesting. 



He says : — " The scale insect here figured has recently 



been found doing an immense amount of damage to the 



various kinds of saltbushes. particularly to the plants 



known as Khagodia hastata and Atrip! ex mnn miliaria at 



Wentworth. in the western district of Xew South Wales. 



Immense numbers of these valuable fodder plants have 



: : some time been dying in this locality. An investigation 



that I made during the past month proved that the trouble 



- due to the presence of a large scale insect, which on 



>equent examination was found to be a new species of 



Ptd •/.//'-.'. a genus of Coccidae, in which the adult females 



construct a conspicuous cottony covering for their eg^rs. 



nicalry called an overs . at the period of gestation. 



"' This insect was first observed and forwarded to Sydney 

 by Mr. D. A. Morgan. Inspector of Stock at AVentworth. 

 and at the time of my visit the oversacs. each containing 

 thousands of minute brownish-red eggs, were found in 

 vast numbers on almost every saltbush. over large areas 

 of country. Many of the bushes were literally covered 

 with the scale, and appeared when viewed from a distance 

 as if they had in some unaccountable way burst in masses 

 : intense white flowers. On one small plant alone I 

 ;nted more than sixteen thousand of these oversacs, 

 a number that must indicate an almost incalculable 

 quantity of eggs. 



'" The fully-grown female is an active naked insect. 

 measuring less than a quarter of an inch in length, and it 

 is not until the insect fixes itself firmlv to a twigr of its food 



