96 B- C- ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY, 



lines have disajipeared witli the exception of some remains of the spir- 

 acular line frnm the anal clas])er to last pair of legs more distinct than 

 e\ei". Head small, greenish, and there are some white dots on each seg- 

 ment, from which are emitted short single hairs. Relly strikingly green- 

 ish white. 



All the larvae had disappeared for pnpatinn by 4th Maw Fed. 

 healthily, all throngh. on \-accinium. 



Seven moths (all females) emerged about the middle of September. 

 In the natural state the time of appearance here is October, 



THE OYSTER SHELL SCALE. 



r.y Tom Wilson. F.R.H.S,, 

 Dominion Inspector of Indian Orchards, 



In \iew of the fact that the Oyster Shell Scale (Lepidosaphes ulmij 

 is one of the most common insects in our orchards. I wish to record for 

 our Proceedings a list of host plants that I ha\'e obser\-ed in iJritish 

 Columbia infested by this insect, I am perfectly well aware that this 

 insect has been reported on from many sections of Canada and the 

 United States, and that several papers have appeared recording its full 

 life history, habits and destructiveness. The United States Bulletin 

 No. 121 of the Bureau of Entomology, in particular, forms a complete 

 record of this insect, and a long and probably complete list of host plants 

 is mentioned in the text. So far as British Columbia alone is concerned, 

 we ha\'e no full record of host plants of our own ; consequently to record 

 these, from my own experience, is the main object of this paper. Possibly 

 also I mav be able to add a few more host plants to the list in P>ulletin 

 121. 



Among the different scale insects which infest our orchards and 

 forests, none has such a large and \'aried "bill of fare" as the ( )ystei" 

 Shell Scale, and. judging from the different parts of the world in which 

 it is found, few have such a wide geographical range. 



We are apt to look on our orchards as the princijjal place to hnd 

 the difTerent insect pests, probalily because thev come closest under our 

 obser\-ation ; but in many cases our natural forests harbour man\- of 

 them. Where the original home of the Oyster Shell scale was. it would 

 be difficult or impossible now to determine. It has a world-wide distri- 

 bution at present, but it is belie\-ed that it was first imported into the 

 Eastern United .States in the 18th century, from wdiere it has covered 

 the greater part of the North American Continent, It seems to be able 

 to adapt itself to \-ery different climatic conditions, as is evidenced by 

 the fact that it thri\-es as well here in the neighbourhood of \'ancou\er 

 as it does on A'ancouver Island and in the "dry-" countr-\' of the 



