222 



work the Agriculture Department reported in 1905 that Codhn 

 Moth, which had been detected in seven gardens in Perth in 

 1903, had been completely stamped out. The chief diseases 

 or parasites from which the fruit industry suñers are various 

 scale diseases and the Fruit Fly. In 1902 extraordinary measures 

 were taken to deal with these pests in the appointment, in 

 conjunction with the CaHfornian Department of Agriculture, 

 of Mr. George Compere, a Californian entomologist, to seek out 

 parasites inimical to the pests which were productive of disease 

 in the fruit. 



Mr. Conipeycs Work. 



Mr. Compere has visited many parts of the world in the 

 prosecution of his mission. His first task was to secure in New 

 South Wales and Queensland the internal parasites of the Black 

 Scale and Cabbage Aphis, and the ladybird which preys on the 

 Mealy Bugs, which had already saved from ruin the coffee- 

 planters and orange-growers of Honolulu, and the pine-apple 

 growers of Queensland and the Cape of Good Hope. Two 

 useful species of Rhizobiiis were induced to combat the Black 

 Scale, and two other ladybirds, both scale-eaters, and another 

 ladybird from Tasmania. Specimens of the Aphis-feeding 

 species were also introduced. 



The Fruit Fly, the San José Scale, and the Red Scale are the 

 most serious fruit-diseases in Western Australia. The Black 

 Scale is no longer regarded as serious, as it is completely under 

 the control of its parasites. The same remarks apply to the 

 Soft Brown Scale. The various scale-parasites have been con- 

 tinuously successful and, as the Assistant Entomologist states 

 in a full report on this subject, it is impossible to place a monetary 

 value on these insect friends. Take a single instance, the Black 

 Scale : this has not only been checked for the present, but for 

 all time, as, once a parasite is established in a country, it is per- 

 manent, and the cost of labour, time, and spraying is also saved 

 for all time. But the efforts to estabhsh the Fruit Fly parasites 

 have been disappointing. 



During 1910, 50,000 of them were Hberated in various 

 orchards. They appeared to thrive for a time, but eventually 

 disappeared. The Fruit Fly is still the worst insect pest in the 



