22 INSECTS AFFECTING THE ORANGE. 



end of the larva skin, and partly underlie it. They are thin and trans- 

 parent, but as each successive layer adds to their thickness, they de: 

 velop a yellow color, which darkens at length to brown. 



In the new form assumed by the insect after the molt the hinder end 

 is broadly dilated, and as this portion of the body forms and determines 

 the width of the scale, the latter for awhile increases in width as it 

 grows in length. After the second molt in the female the extremity of 

 the body ceases to grow in width, and the portion of the scale formed 

 after this molt is linear, i. e., has the sides parallel. 



The second molt of the female occurs at the age of six or seven weeks. 

 The male molts and changes to pupa a week or ten days earlier, and as 

 the time required for this transition period is quite short, during the 

 time that the females are casting their skins many of the males com- 

 plete their transformations and issue from their scales as winged flies. 



After the second molt the scale of the female continues to grow, and 

 more than doubles its length, but increases little in width. 



In nine or ten weeks from her birth the female begins to deposit eggs. 

 At this time her body, although greatly elongated and distended with 

 ova, does not entirely fill the scale ; a space equal to about one-quarter 

 of its entire length is left vacant at the upper or narrow eud. The 

 female is able, by means of the serrated edges of her body, to make a 

 slight forward and backward movement within this vacant space. 



The eggs are laid in two rows, and are placed obliquely, the eggs of 

 one row alternating and interlocking at the ends with those of the other. 

 The number of eggs laid by a single female varies greatly, but rarely 

 exceeds thirty. The deposition of her eggs occupies the female from 

 one to three weeks, according to the season. The eggs hatch within 

 one week, unless retarded by cold weather. The first laid, those at the 

 outer end, are the first to hatch, but the young lice usually remain 

 several days under the parent scale. The egg-shells are left in place in 

 the scale, but their arrangement is somewhat disturbed by the move- 

 ments of the latest hatched young in making their escape. 



The female after depositing all her eggs is much shrunken, and be- 

 comes very dark purple in color. The end of her existence is passt^d In 

 that portion of the scale which she occupied at the time of the last 

 molt. 



Brood Periods. — There are at least three and sometimes four genera- 

 tions of Long Scale during the year, but the division into separate 

 broods is not as distinct and clearly defined as with many other in- 

 sects. The open winters in countries where the Orange is grown per- 

 mit continuous breeding throughout the year, and at all seasons scales 

 in every stage of development may be found upon the trees. 



Not only does the time required by the insect for its development 

 vary greatly in different seasons, and under varying conditions, but 

 also individual insects in each brood undergo their transformations 

 at unequal intervals, some far outstripping the rest and others lagging 



