1903 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



41 



by a minute scale insect which was at work in countless millions upon the underside of the 

 leaves (Fig. 8, c), sucking out the juices of the tree and excreting a sweet sticky fluid called 



U 



ii:^ 





Fig. 9. Cottony Maple Scale : Female and eg-g-masses. 



Fig. S. Cottony Majile Scale : a Ne\vly-hat('hed young : h Female from al)Ove ; c Side 

 view ; d Male ; e Same, natural size, on leaf and stem ; / Same, enlarged— all greatly 

 magnified except e. (From U. S. Dept. of ^^griculture.) 



*' honey-dew," which drips upon the leave? below, making their surface shine in the light, 

 and then down to the pavement or ground beneath. On this honey-dew grows often a minute 

 fungus, which gives it a dark colour and frequently forms black patches on the withering leaves. 

 At the same time there could be seen hanging from the twigs, and here and there upon the 



limbs, fluffy cottony tufts, pure white in 



.^.T=^»^ ,„^r7^^^^^^ colour ; these are the female scale insects 



"^^^'"'""^ -_-^-_- ^ which cover their masses of eggs with 



this waxy substance. (Fig. 9.) A single 



individual produces one or two thousand 



eggs ; when hatched the minute larvae 



swarm over the nearest twigs and leaves 



for a few days and then fix themselves 



permanently on the under side of the 



leaves, attaching themselves closely to the ribs ; a few may occasionally be found on the 



upper surface and on the twigs After a short time a waxy scale is formed, oval and convex 



in shape, completely covering the tiny insect. 



The insect is called the Cottony Maple Scale (Puhinaria innvmerabilis, Rathv.), but is 

 found upon a large number of other trees, and in London seemed to be more abundant upon 

 the basswood (linden) than upon the maple, judging from the extent of the stains beneath 

 the former trees and the drooping appearance of their leaves. Mrs. Fernald, in her recent 

 Catalogue of Coccidpe, mentions no leas than twenty-four food plants upon which it has been 

 found ; it is evidently then a general feeder and by no means particular in selecting an 

 object of attack. Sometimes it is called the "Grape-vine Bark-louse" from its prevalence 

 upon that plant. 



Towards the close of summer these creatures have become mature, and about the end of 

 August or early in September, the winged males, tiny little flies, appear ; the females do not 

 acquire wings but remain beneath their waxen scales. After mating, the males die and the 

 females, before the leaves fall, migrate to the twigs and there remain during the winter. At 



