— 
) 29 
closed, and yet they arrived in excellent condition, better than any pre- 
viously received. Having been on ice for twenty-nine days, no doubt 
many of the eggs arrived here before hatching, and the larve under 
such conditions would make little progress in their growth. 
As will be seen from these notes (and such is my firm belief), [cerya 
is indigenous to Australia, having spread from that country to the Cape 
of Good Hope, New Zealand, and our continent, and no doubt with some 
plants brought bere. The pursers on steamers running between San 
Francisco and Sydney informed me that with every trip a greater or 
less number of plants are brought over. On these no one would notice 
Icerya; even an expert would overlook a few of the tiny young scales 
if not especially searching for them. At the time Icerya was first ob- 
served here many oranges were brought over. Mr. Sutton, of the 
Alameda, informed me that in 1873 the entire market in San Francisco 
was supplied with Australian oranges. All this matters little. We 
have the pest, and now the most effective enemies of it. Before long 
the work of the latter will be appreciated all over the State. At this 
date small colonies of the Lady-birds lave been established in almost 
every district infested with Icerya, and at Los Angeles they must be 
present already by the thousands. 
It was difficult in Australia to ascertain which was the most effect- 
‘ive enemy of Icerya, on account of the searcity of the latter insect dur- 
ing the unusually dry season of my visit. It is safe to say, however, 
that the Lestophonids are always and at any time ready for any Icerya, 
since they breed upon so many and varied Scales infesting the Euea- 
lypti and Acacias, of which the Australian woods chiefly consist. 
Often Icerya will appear in large numbers in some private garden in a 
city, and yet, as I have been informed, they will be out of sight in a 
short time again. This entire clearing up is the work of the Lady- 
birds, for in most cases the infested scales will produce eggs, and the 
flies are never able to entirely clear a tree of them, in which case t!.e 
Lady-bird steps in and devours Scales, flies, and all. It is only in such 
protected places that the scales sometimes become numerous, as_ it 
takes time for their enemies to establish themselves. The Lestophonus 
no doubt would in time increase here so as to keep the Icerya in check, 
but this would be years, for only two broods of it were observed in 
Australia, as many as that of its host, the Icerya, the parasite appear- 
ing about the same time as the young of the latter. I have seen about 
eight species of Monophleebide upon which Lestophonus will undoubt- 
edly breed. , 
Dr. Diez, of the Adelaide Museum, has shown me several specimens 
of a species of these scales, which he assures me were fully 2 inches in 
length when received alive from the interior of South Australia. He 
had written to the party who sent them for information regarding the 
monstrous scale-bug, yet the only light he received upon the subject 
was that the discoverer of the Scale was found dead in the bush near 
