40 SCIENCE BULLETIN, No. 19. 



Icerya parchasi, Maskell. 

 Trans. New Zealand Institute, vol. xi, p. 221, 1878, and reference in 1884-6-7. 

 Comstock, U.S. Dep. Agriculture, 1880, p. 47. 



This fine mealy bug has been described and figured so often that it hardly 

 needs much notice. It was described by Maskell from specimens destroying 

 a hedge near Auckland, New Zealand, from where it spread all over the 

 orchards, and did an immense amount of damage; introduced into Cali- 

 fornia, it there became one of the most serious pests that the citrus growers 

 had to fight. 



It is probably a native of Australia, where it is found upon wattles, and 

 sometimes in the gardens ; infests roses and creepers ; occasionally it finds 

 its way on to orange trees, but cannot be considered a citrus pest in Australia. 



In Mrs. Fernald's catalogue there are about sixty references to this insect, 

 and it is now found in South Africa, California, Florida, Fiji, Hawaii, Mexico, 

 Portugal, and Trinidad. 



The adult female coccid is dull red, with antennae and legs black; head 

 and thoracic portion flattened like a shield, the upper surface of the abdomen 

 covered with a thick coat of white wool, which forms a rounded mass, 

 extending beyond the tip of the abdomen, the whole of this wool regularly 

 corrugated with parallel ridges, from which it takes its popular name of the 

 Cottony Cushion, or Fluted Scale. 



The male is a delicate two-winged creature of a general orange red tint, 

 with smoky wings, and the abdomen forked at the tip, and tufted with long 

 filaments. 



59. Icerya purchasi. Cat. Coccidse, p. 25. 



