84 INJURIOUS AND BENEFICIAL INSECTS OP CALIFORNIA. 



THE BAMBOO PLANT LOUSE 



Myzocalli& arundicolens (Clarke) 



(CalHpteru8 arundicolens Clarke) 



(Fig. 67) 



Description.— The adult plant louse is about 1-10 inch long and 

 pale yellow in color. Microscopic examination reveals the facts that the 



antennae, the sides of the thorax, two 

 rows of tubercles on the abdomen; 

 the wing veins and feet are light 

 brown or dusky. The young forms 

 show little or no markings. Apterous 

 females have not been observed. 



Distribution.— This pest is usu- 

 ally found wherever the bamboo is 

 grown. It has been collected at 

 Berkeley, Santa Barbara, San Fran- 

 cisco and Sacramento and probably 

 MJScamf^run^ofenF^cx^: occurs very generally over the cen- 

 winged female. Greatly enlarged, tral and southern parts of the State. 



(Authors illustration, Mo. Bui. Cal. ^ 



Hort. com.) Food Plant.— The lice feed upon 



the undersides of the leaves or blades of bamboo, often collecting in large 

 colonies and doing much damage by weakening the plants and causing a 

 smutting of the foliage. 



THE MEALY PLUM PLANT LOUSE 



Hyalopterus arundinis (Fabrieius) 



(Aphis arundinis Fabrieius) 



(Aphis prunifolicc Fitch) 



(Fig. 68) 



Description.— The wingless plant lice are light green with three 

 darker green, longitudinal stripes on the dorsum, which may be lacking 

 in some individuals. The body is long and quite narrow and entirely 

 covered with a fine white, powdery wax, giving it a mealy or frosted 

 appearance and accounting for the common name. The honey-tubes 

 are pale, short and slightly constricted at the base; the eyes are dark. 

 The winged form has a dark thorax and transverse bands on the abdo- 

 men. The eggs are oblong and shining black. 



Life History.— The eggs are laid upon the fruit trees in the fall 

 by true sexual females. They hatch into the stem-mothers in the early 

 spring as the buds are beginning to open. The first generation soon 

 appears and settles upon the undersides of the leaves. There seem to be 

 no winged forms in this first brood, but later they appear in great num- 

 bers and migrate to other plants, where new colonies are started. 

 During the summer many of the winged forms leave the trees and go 

 to other plants and do not return to the trees until late in the fall, 

 when the sexual forms are born and later the over-wintering eggs are 

 laid. In Colorado Prof. C. P. Gillette has found the common reed 

 (Phragmites vulgaris (communis)) 55 to be the alternate summer host. 



65 Bul. 133, Col. Agrcl. Exp. Sta. p. 40. 1908. 



