COCCiD/E, or SCALE INSECTS. 



Of all the insects there is no group that is of greater interest 

 to the horticulturist than the family which includes the forms 

 popularly known as scale bugs, mealy bugs, and bark lice, 

 a family classed by entomologists under the family name 

 Coccidae. 



Insects are divided into orders, then suborders, families, 

 subfamilies, genera, and species, classifications being based 

 upon structure and life-histories. A species is a single in- 

 dividual or group of individuals with essential characteris- 

 tics similar; a genus is a group of different species having 

 many fundamental characteristics in common; a family 

 is a collection of allied genera; a suborder embraces 

 closely related families, and an order includes kindred sub- 

 orders. 



The insects of the order Hemiptera, to which these scale 

 pests belong, are distinguished by their mouth-parts or 

 beaks, and manner in which they mature. All Hemiptera 

 take their food in a liquid form through a tube or bea,k fit- 

 ted for piercing and sucking, and become adults without 

 passing through the four stages — egg, larva, pupa, adult — 

 known as complete metamorphosis. They have, with few 

 exceptions, an incomplete metamorphosis — grow through a 

 series of molts from the egg state to maturity, maintaining 

 all the while much the same form. 



The Hemiptera contains three suborders, the Heterop- 

 tera, Parasita, and Homoptera. The Heteroptera are in- 

 sects that have wings of unequal thickness, the base being 

 heaver than outer extremity of wing. To such belong the 

 chinch-bug, squash-bug, and box-elder bug. The Parasita 

 include certain parasites upon mammals commonly known 

 as lice. The Homoptera have wings of equal thickness 

 throughout. The cicadas, frequently called locusts and well 



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