INSECTS INJURIOUS TO THE ORANGE. 



411 



Fig. 426. 



No. 263. — The Destructive Mealy-bug. 



Dactylopius destructor Comstock. 



The name destructor has been proposed for this species of 

 mealy-bug on account of the injury done by it to orange-trees 

 in Florida, where it is one of the most serious insect pests 

 with which the orange-grower has to 

 contend. The adult female, Avhich 

 is shown magnified in Fig. 426, is 

 about one-sixth of an inch long, 

 and half that in width, and has 

 seventeen lateral appendages on 

 each side, which are nearly uni- 

 form in length. There is a slight 

 powdery secretion distributed over 

 the body. The female begins lay- 

 ing her eggs in a cottony mass at 



the extremity of the abdomen before she attains full growth, 

 and the egg-mass increases with her growth, gradually forcing 

 the hinder portion of the body upwards, until finally she 

 appears as if almost standing on her head. 



The eggs are rather long, 

 and of a bright straw-color, Fig. 427. 



and, soon after hatching, 

 the young larvse, which are 

 rather brighter in color 

 than the egg, spread in all 

 directions, settling prefer- 

 ably along the midrib, on 

 the under side of the leaves, 

 or in the forks of the young 

 twigs, where they form large 

 colonies, closely packed to- 

 gether. The young are only slightly covered with white 

 powder. 



The male, which is represented highly magnified in Fig. 



