332 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 12 



most easily be conducted by traveling in an automobile. This belief 

 was entirely justified. The creosote bush area was traversed twice, 

 from California to NeW Mexico, and it is improbable that any very 

 considerable area in which the scale insect might be found was 

 overlooked. The adventures of an almost totally inexperienced 

 driver in piloting an antiquated specimen of our most popular type of 

 automobile over some hundreds of miles of desert roads that in large 

 part consist of but a pair of wheel tracks through the brush were 

 interesting in themselves but are not properly a part of this recital and 

 may be left to the imagination. 



Owing to the conspicuous appearance of the insect, its discovery, 

 when it is present in any significant numbers, is a simple matter. 

 Fairly accurate observations can in fact be made from a moving car. 

 The lac occurs as a more or less solid incrustation on the twigs of the 

 host plant, which is a verj^ open shrub. The insects are extraordinarily 

 gregarious and are almost never found singly, the colonies being from 

 a quarter of an inch to a foot long. It appears that ordinarily the 

 "crawlers" merely move out toward the tip of the twig, thus increasing 

 the length of the colony. 



The lac evidently remains upon the branches for a year and probably 

 much longer for dead bushes were observed to which it was still cling- 

 ing. Because of this it would seem reasonable to assume that occa- 

 sionally plants would be found entirely covered by the insect. As a 

 matter of fact nothing of the sort was ever seen, even in those local- 

 ities where the insect is most abundant. In no case was a bush 

 observed to have been killed by the scale and in but a few cases 

 were more than two or three of the entire total of many feet of 

 branches on a bush infested. It is this occurrence in closely massed 

 colonies that causes an entirely fictitious appearance of abundance 

 in museum specimens. Five inches of heavily incrusted twig in a 

 bottle will call up pleasing visions of acres of bush thus infested — but 

 this may have been the site of the only colony in an acre of creosote 

 bush. 



The insect was not encountered in New Mexico and I am informed 

 by Professor Cockerell, who is more familiar with the scale insect 

 fauna of New Mexico than is any one else, that he has never seen it 

 there. Elsewhere it was found throughout the entire area traversed. 

 It was first encountered near Palm Springs, California, and was present 

 constantly along the road from Mecca to Glythe, thence to Yuma 

 and from Yuma to Tucson by way of Ajo. It was not seen east of 

 Tuscon but in returning it was encountered again at Rice, Arizona, 

 and then from Phoenix to Parker it was relatively abundant. It was 

 also present along the road from Parker to Needles and from Needles 



