INJURIOUS AND BENEFICIAL INSECTS OF CALIFORNIA. 



133 



Life History.— Fully-matured females appear in May and June and 

 give birth to young, which settle upon the leaves and tender growth, 

 where they remain for 

 some months, gradually 

 working their way to 

 the leaf axils of the 

 harder growth during 

 the winter. They are 

 more in evidence during 

 the spring months, 

 when maturity is reached 

 and the bodies are cov- 

 ered with the cottony 

 material. 



Nature of Work.— 



When abundant the cot- 

 tony bamboo scale be- 

 comes quite injurious 

 and renders the host 

 unsightly and stunts 

 growth. It is more likely 

 to be found upon small 

 suckers than upon the 

 large hardy plants. 



Distribution. — This 

 insect has often been 

 taken in quarantine. It 

 now occurs in many 

 greenhouses and gardens 

 where bamboo is grown 

 and is confined to een- 



Fig. 112. — The cottony bamboo scale, Antonina 

 crawl Ckll. Mature females on bamboo. Enlarged 

 twice. (Author's illustration, Mo. Bui. Cal. Hort. Com.) 



tral and southern parts of the State. The writer collected large 

 quantities of it in a private garden in Ventura. 



Food Plant. — The bamboo is the only recorded host plant. 



Control.— Due to the thick cottony covering it is exceedingly diffi- 

 cult to kill the adults, but frequent spraying with oil emulsions or soap 

 solutions will eliminate the young as fast as they appear. The sprays 

 recommended for the citrus mealy bug may also be used with good 

 results. 



COCCIN.E (Subfamily) 



The members of this subfamily may be grouped as follows: those 

 having rather soft, naked, flat bodies and retaining the power of 

 locomotion throughout the entire life cycle, such as the soft brown 

 and the gray citruft scales; those having naked, nearly hemispherical 

 bodies in which the epidermis is hardened into a thick chitinous wall 

 and retaining the power of locomotion only in the younger stages, 

 such as the black and hemispherical scales; and those having the 

 bodies naked entirely or partially covered with a thick waxy or 

 cottony secretion and retaining the power of locomotion only in the 

 younger stages, as the cottony maple and the wax scales. 



