L58 



INJURIOUS WD BENEFICIAL INSECTS «>F CALIFORNIA. 



THE SCURFY SCALE 



Ghionaspis furfura (Fitch) 



i Ispidiotus l ti i funis Fitch) 



I Fig. 136) 



Description. -Tlie female scale is irregular and broadly pear-shaped. 

 Iroiu white to light gray in color and 1-9 to £ inch long. The exuvia 

 is yellowish. The male scale is white, very small, slender, tricarinated, 



with yellow exuvia and is 

 from 1-25 to 1-18 inch long. 

 The eggs are very small and 

 vary from wine-colored to 

 purple. This scale is often 

 confused with the oyster- 

 shell scale, but is broader, 

 flatter and much lighter in 

 color. The eggs are dark, 

 while those of the oyster- 

 shell scale are white. 



Life History. — The winter 

 is passed in the egg stage 

 under the old female scales. 

 The young hatch in the spring 

 and settle upon the limbs and 

 smaller twigs. There is but 

 one brood a year. 



Nature of Work. — When 

 abundant, the scale greatly 

 stunts the growth of the trees, 

 but seldom if ever causes 

 death. It produces reddish 

 discolorations on the fruit, 

 much as does the San Jose 

 scale. 



Distribution. — The scurfy 

 scale, though common in many 

 of the Central and Eastern states, is exceedingly rare in California, 

 having been reported only from the southern part. 90 



Food Plants. — The following food plants are recorded: white alder, 

 apple, Chinese flowering apple, crab apple, European mountain ash, 

 American mountain ash, prickly ash, white ash, large-toothed aspen, 

 buckthorn, chokecherry, wild black cherry, wild bird cherry, choke- 

 berry, black chokeberry, red chokeberry, red flowering currant, elm, 

 gooseberry, hawthorn, big .bud hickory, horse-chestnut, peach, pear, 

 plum, poplar, quince, Japanese quince, black cap raspberry, shad-bush, 

 sweet gum (IAquidambar) , black walnut and white willow. 



Control. — The remedies are the same as for the San Jose scale. 

 Natural Enemies,— The predaceous enemies attacking the scurfy 

 scale are the two-stabbed ladybird beetle (Chilocorus bivulnerus Muls.), 



rl k, I", s. Dept. Agric. p. 259, 1894. 



Clr. No. i-l. Bur. Ent. U. S. Dept. Agric., p. 8, lino. 



Fig. 136. — The scurfy scale. Chionaspis fur- 

 fura ( Fitch). Female scales at left and males 

 at right. (After Quaintance and Sasscer, U. S. 

 Dept. Agric.) 



