324 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 6 



the dry season. If this plan he thoroughly carried out, it is quite 

 probable that the relatively few young of the scale that now escape 

 at the end of the humid season may ])e practically wiped out so as 

 to prevent the increase that has heretofore taken place during the 

 dry months. 



The breeding work with native coccinellids should include at least 

 four plans of handling. One lot should be gathered during the first 

 week of August in the fields or taken from lots bred in the insectary, 

 after about two months of high activity of the species, and subjected 

 continuously in the insectary to artificial hot arid conditions for 

 two months through August and September and the first week of 

 October. This lot should then be distributed evenly through the 

 infested districts during the second week of October, the natural 

 relative humiditj^ at this season being sufficient to awaken them im- 

 mediately to activity. Under these conditions they should continue 

 active feeding and breeding in the open well into the dry season, 

 being incited thereto by their forced period of inactivity. 



A second lot should be gathered and carried like the preceding 

 till the middle of October, and then, instead of being put at once 

 in the field, they should be subjected to high humidity in the insectary 

 — higher than exists at the same season in the open, and bred in as 

 great numbers as possible for weekly distribution through November 

 and the succeeding dry months as long as they will last. 



A third lot should be gathered in the field at the beginning of the 

 humid season, the last week in May or the first week in June, and 

 subjected continuously like the preceding two lots to artificial hot 

 arid conditions until about the last of October, when they should 

 be partly liberated in the fields and partly ke])t for breeding purposes 

 in the insectary. These, having experienced a prolonged season of 

 inactivity, should continue active longer into the dry season in the 

 open than the first lot, providing that their vitality has not been les- 

 sened by their experience. 



A fourth lot should be reared continuously in the insectary from 

 June or gathered from the fields in August, and carried through in 

 the insectary from September to May or as long as they will last, 

 making distributions from the progeny as often as possible. 



If this breeding of native coccinellids does not give the desired 

 result, the Japanese Chilocorus similis and the Florida coccidivorous 

 fungi should be tried in the fields during the humid season, carrying 

 them ])oth artificially through the ensuing dr}^ season in the insectary 

 and putting them out again in the field the humid season following. 

 Should all of these measures, combined with such cultural control 

 measures as can be devised, fail to wipe out the plague, then search 



