December, "OS] JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 341 



ity of cleaning out the bodies of the insects in order to keep the water 

 pure. The wasp, of course, should be caught and killed to prevent 

 further introduction of bodies into the well. 



My desire to obtain the specimen if possible and know definitely 

 what kind of wasp was doing the work led to further correspondence, 

 which brought the information that unsuccessful attempts had been 

 made to capture a specimen because the insect was exceedingly wary, 

 although two wasps then frequented the well. They were mentioned 

 as being the largest black kind of solitary digger-wasp common to 

 the country. They flew very sAviftly and were seen to alight only 

 when they entered the well. Shortly after the receipt of this com- 

 munication the correspondent visited me and pointed out in a col- 

 lection of insects the wasp known as Proterosphex pennsylvanica L., 

 which he positively declared was the kind that came to the well. 



NOTES ON ASPIDIOTUS DESTRUCTOR (SIG.) AND ITS 

 CHALCID PARASITE IN TAHITI 



By R. W. DoAXE, Stanford University 



For many years the Transparent Cocoanut Scale, A. destructor 

 Sig., has been an important enemy of the cocoanut and other palms in 

 many parts of the tropics. During the last few years it has been do- 

 ing particular damage to the cocoanut trees in the Society Islands. 

 On some of these islands many of the trees have been killed and others 

 so badly affected that they bear no nuts. On some of the coral islands 

 the conditions are still so bad that practically no crop is gathered. 

 On Tahiti and some of the more important of the other islands, plan- 

 tations that a few years ago were yielding no nuts are now in full 

 bearing again and the trees are looking fine and thrifty. In the in- 

 terests of one of the planters I visited these islands last summer to 

 study the conditions that controlled the appearance and disappear- 

 ance of this pest. None of the planters has any idea of when the in- 

 sect was introduced there, but few of them, in fact, realize that it is 

 an insect that is causing the so-called "blight" on their trees. But as 

 it is now common on practically all of the South Sea islands it prob- 

 ably found its way into the Society Islands very early, as Tahiti is a 

 central point, from which ships come and go to all south Pacific ports. 

 A few years ago it must have begun increasing very rapidly. I was 

 told that in Tahiti the "blight" was so bad and spread so rapidly 

 from one part to another that it seemed that all the trees would be de- 

 stroyed. At one time so many of the plantations were affected, par- 



