THE NATURAL ENEMIES OF THE CITRUS 

 MEALY BUG. I 



E. o. ESSIG. 



Beginning with this article, we expect to present, as thoroughly as possible, 

 the life-histories of all our natural enemies of the Citrus Mealy Bug (Pseudo- 

 coccus citri). Due to the great variety of its food plants, and its natural 

 ability to ward off sprays and gases, it is believed by good authorities that the 

 only remedy possible for the Mealy Bug lies with its insect enemies. Whether 

 this be entirely true or not, we are sure that they will play a very important 

 part and should be known by all who are interested in the raising of citrus 

 fruits. Two divisions of friendly insects are recognized : First, those insects 

 which prey directly upon and devour the host, or Predacious enemies; anQ 

 second, those which undergo their transformations from the egg to the adult 

 within the body of the host, or Internal parasites. The first to come under 

 consideration is one of the predacious enemies: 



Sympherobius angustus Banks 

 (Brown Lace-wing). 



Adult Female. — (Fig. 57) — In general the color is brown, and rightly 

 deserves the name Brown Lace-Wing. In shape and carriage it greatly resem- 

 bles the green Aphis-Lion, or Chrysopa, which is familiar to all. Length of 

 body, 6mm. ; including wings, 7 mm. Width of body, 2 mm. Wing spread, 

 14 mm. Head, small with large compound eyes. Mouth-parts as shown im 

 Figure 58A. Antennae nearly as long as body, many articled (59 to 60) ; the 

 articles are nearly rectangular, and very hairy, as is the entire body. Legs, 

 rather long and slender. Wings, primary and secondary, are nearly alike in 

 structure. The former are much larger and highly pigmented, while the latter 

 are nearly hyaline. In repose the wings are folded with the costal margin 

 down, as are the wings of most Neuropteroids. The general and detailed 

 structure may be seen in the drawing (Figure 57). 



The adult forms are very short-lived and scarcely survive a day or two. 

 In confinement they usually live about 24 hours. Although they have little 

 need of food, I have seen them greedily devour adult Mealy Bugs. The pro- 

 cess of eating is simple. With their effective mouth-parts (Fig 58 A) they 

 rapidly eat a hole in the back of the mealy bug and extract the contents, with- 

 out lifting the prey from off its feet. At all times the female is very active 

 and continually keeps its antennae moving while it runs about or flits hither 

 and thither. As yet the eggs have not been found. I believe this is because 

 they are laid in the cottony egg masses of the Mealy Bug and are very difficult 



