64 THE REPORT OF THE IQo. 36 



tory conditions and as a comparatively large number of eggs are laid in each cocoon, 

 it should be possible to breed this parasite in large numbers. This work is still 

 in progress but I have a number of drawings of the parasite in different stages which 

 may be of interest, and I think that one of the most important functions of these 

 meetings is to report and discuss work that is being carried on, as sucli discussion is 

 frequently of the greatest value to the investigator. 



(Specimens and drawings were passed round.) 



THE COCCID^g]] OF CANADA. 

 Prof. T. D. Jarvis, 0. A. C, Guelph. 



Like a great many other families of minute insects the Coccidas have been 

 comparatively little studied in America, but to the fruit grower, forester, florist and 

 others, the scale insects are of very great economic importance. Most of the species 

 found in Canada have been introduced from other countries, only a few species being 

 native to Canada. It is the imported species tliat give most trouble to agricul- 

 turists. It almost invariably occurs that when the balance of nature is disturbed, 

 as is the case of introducing new form of life into a new country hitherto free from 

 that form, unusual increase in numbers immediately follows. The habits of the 

 Coccids are interesting and varied, and they are one of the most cosmopolitan insects 

 known. They are found in the north as far as the 60th degree and equally as 

 far south. In the tropics they are most at home, but when exported abroad they 

 readily adapt themselves to nearly all conditions of temperature and climate. In 

 some irstances the spread is gradual, as in the San Jose; spreading northward the 

 covering of the scale must undergo a thickening to protect it from the severer 

 weather. Sometimes the spread is limited by the lack of suitable host plants, but 

 in many cases, such as New York Plum Scale (Eulecanium cerasijex) the insect 

 readily adapts itself to almost any kind of plant food, scarcely a tree, shrub or vine 

 being immune. The writer has found many different species of herbs under 

 badly infested trees literally covered with this pest. 



A study of the habits of the Coccidge furnish some very interesting phenomena 

 of anim.al life. In Australia some species produce galls of all shapes and sizes on 

 the eucalyptus trees. In Africa a large species found underground (Margarodes) 

 are collected by the natives to make necklaces, bracelets, and other ornaments. An- 

 other species (Tachardia lacca) forms a useful product known as lac. The cochi- 

 neal insect is noted for its commercial value as a dye, and numerous other scales are 

 important from a commercial standpoint. 



Gall-Makers. 



Perhaps there is no more interesting species than those belonging to the genus 

 Brachyscdes, which are found in the land of anomalies, Australia. Mr. Claud 

 Fuller, has published a bulletin on Gall-making Coccids in which he describes the 

 galls as follows : — 



"Galls of the Male. Coccid. — These are invariably short cylindrical tubes, two to 

 six inches in length, generally growing upon the leaves ; they are mostly of a purple 

 claret colour, but often brown or green. Some are simple tubes with a notched rim 

 at the summit, others have the rim dilated forming a saucer-like top. The male 



