Eighth Report of the State Entomologist. 275 



are vulnerable to applications which, may reach them externally, 

 as tobacco solutions, alkaline washes, and l:.erosene, — the last- 

 named closing their breathing pores and producing suffocation 



Beneficial Insects should he Protected. — There are entire fami- 

 lies of insects which consist almost wholly of species that are of 

 direct benefit to the agriculturist, which should be known and 

 spared from indiscriminate destruction. Of these are the Coc- 

 cinelUdcc, or lady-bugs, which have as their mission, the preven- 

 tion of an overwhelming multiplication of plant-lice; the Ichneu- 

 monidce, or ichneumon flies, which deposit their eggs within or 

 upon the body of other insects, to hatch into larva^ which feed 

 upon and destroy their host; the Chalciddice or chalcid flies 

 which have the habits of the ichneumon flies; the Tach iiidw, 

 resembling our common house-flies, also of similar habits with 

 the last two named, and several other families which could be 

 mentioned. 



The importance of these parasitic insects wUl be conceded when 

 we state that it is highly probable that to parasitic attack we osva 

 the almost entire cessation of the ravages of the wheat-midge 

 in the United States, when all human means seemed hopeless. 

 At the present time, fruit culture in California, and more par- 

 ticularly the orange culture, is most seriously impaired, through 

 the operation of a scale insect, known scientifically as leery a Pur- 

 chasi Maskell, which was introduced in the year 1868 on an 

 acacia from Australia. It has continued to increase and spread and 

 feed on all the fruits and much other vegetation, until its arrest, by 

 any known application, seemed impossible. In this emergency, 

 two agents of the United States Department of Agriculture have 

 been dispatched to Australia, to collect the parasites that prey 

 ui>on the Icerya there and send them to Califoniia, that an attempt 

 may be made to colonize and multiply them. Consignments of 

 parasites have already been received, are being propagated with 

 care, and the present outlook is quite encouraging. 



Be Careful Observers of Insects. — You have opportunities for 

 their observation which are not accorded to those in other pursuits 

 of life. When you have become familiar with the appearance of 

 tliose which are your annual visitants, you will readily detect the 



