INJURIOUS AND BENEFICIAL INSECTS OF CALIFORNIA. 



109 



like hairs at the posterior end. The males are small two-winged red- 

 bodied insects with long antennas and white anal appendages. 



Life History.— The large cottony masses are the egg-sacs of the 

 females, and may contain from four hundred to a thousand eggs. 

 The males soon after hatching secrete themselves in a white cocoon 

 for transformation, which requires nearly one month. The females 

 are matured in from three to four months. There are several broods 

 during the summer, when the scale increases enormously, and may 

 even yet occasionally do great damage. 



Fig. 88. — The cottony cushion or fluted scale, Icerya purchasi 

 Mask., on Australian blackwood. Natural size. (Original) 



Nature of Work. — This scale reproduces so rapidly that unless 

 checked all of the branches and foliage often become so thickly in- 

 fested that the tree or plant may be greatly weakened or completely 

 killed. 



Distribution.— The cottony cushion scale is well known throughout 

 the citrus growing sections of the entire State, but due to its natural 



