Its 



CALIFORNIA STATE HORTICULTURAL COMMISSION. 



vicinity will be old by the time this reaches you, but I am in hopes that you may be 

 able to get material from the south of the State that will take a generation of the 

 parasite. Owing to the probable presence of secondary parasites, it is, of course, 

 inadvisable to send the original material to any orchardist down there." 



From this sending, seventeen perfect insects developed, of which four were females. 

 When placed in a breeding case, a small spider that was hidden in a rolled-up leaf 

 seized and killed one of the females, leaving us but three from which to colonize the 

 State. 



On December 26, 1901, I examined a full-grown black scale from the tree in the 

 breeding case, and found a small maggot of the Scutellista cyanca, about twice the 

 size of a black scale egg. This convinced me that they were breeding, so no further 

 examination was made. On February 7, 1902, the parasites began to issue from the 

 scales. During the warm summer months we found that the Scutellista passed 

 through all its metamorphoses in forty-seven days. 



Colonies have been sent to all the counties of the State where black scale has been 

 troublesome. From personal examination and from material sent in, it is evident 

 that the parasites have obtained a good start, and the coming season will, we hope, 

 see them thoroughly disseminated. 



Description: In the female, the antenna; are reddish-brown, with 

 the ring joints and hips dark and more spreading than in the male. 

 The antennas of the male are black from the ring joints to and including 



FIG. 10. Tomocera californica, male, greatly 

 enlarged. 



PIG. 11. Tomoci'ta californica, female, greatly 

 enlarged. 



the clubs, with the scape reddish-brown ; the legs in both sexes are black, 

 tarsi reddish-brown, and claws black; the scutellum in both male and 

 female is very large. As the flies are small and very active, it is diffi- 

 cult to detect them on the tree upon which they may be placed, and the 

 best way to determine if they are established, is to remove and examine 

 the inside of the full-grown scales about forty to forty-five days after 

 liberating the parasites. The larva is maggot-shaped and white, this 

 soon changing to tbe pupa, which is black just before changing to the 

 perfect fly. 



Tomocera (Dilophogaster) californica, Howard. (Figs. 10, 11). This 

 is one of our native internal parasites. In has been one of the most 

 effective checks of the black scale in the State, but was not able to keep 



