INSECTS INFESTING THE APPLE TREE fH 



under the name of crude yetroleum; these were recommended 

 by those who had used them as excellent insecticides. 

 However, in a few months it was discovered that these solu- 

 tions contained pernicious properties which were destructive 

 to plant-life, consequently a large number of trees were de- 

 stroyed or killed. This dangerous insect has been intro- 

 duced into many fruit growing districts on nursery stock, and 

 is found in over twenty counties at the present time (August, 

 1883). Great progress has been made in perfecting remedies 

 for the extermination of this pest, so that if the work is thor- 

 oughly done the orchardist need not fear this most dangerous 

 of the asjjidiotus scale insects. 



The A. permciosus infests all the deciduous fruit trees, except- 

 ing, perhaps, the Black Tartarian Cherry ; it has also been 

 found on the currant bush, and on tomatoes grown in the 

 vicinity of infested trees. It also infests the poplar, osage 

 orange, wild cherry, eucalyptus and other ornamental trees 

 and shrubs. 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



The females of the family coccidai, to which the genus asp't- 

 dlotus belongs, are described by Westwood as follows : "That 

 without referring to their singular habits we find some of them 

 on arriving at their last state are not only wingless, but also 

 footless and antennseless, and in which all appearance of 

 annulose structure is lost — the creature, in fact, becoming an 

 inert mass of animal matter — a slender seta arising from the 

 breast and thrust into the stem, or leaf, or fruit on which the 

 animal is fixed, being the only external 'appendage of the 

 body." 



Prof. Comstock, in speaking of the metamorphosis of the sub- 

 family diaspinx, to which- the genus aspidiotas belongs, says 

 that " members undergo a remarkable change at the time of 

 the first molt, losing their legs and antenme, and thus becom- 

 ing apparently less highly organized than in the larval state." 



DESCRIPTION. 



The scale of the female is circular, and in color blackish 

 gray, excepting the exuviae in the center, which is of a deep 



