274 POMONA COLLEGE JOURNAL OF ENTOMOLOGY 



The above reports would seem to indicate that by this time the black 

 scale in the coast counties would have disappeared, but such is not the case. 

 The following account taken from the minutes of the Ventura County Board 

 of Horticulture, June 27, 1894, records the introduction of this insect into 

 Ventura County: 



"Persuant to adjournment, T. A. Rice and J. F. Mclntyre met at Ellwood 

 Cooper's ranch today. In company with Mr. Cooper and Mr. Alexander Craw, 

 we made a thorough inspection of the two orchards where the new black 

 ladybird, Rhizohlus vcntralis, was first placed and found that the ladybird 

 had apparently exterminated the black scale in those two orchards. We also 

 visited other orchards where the ladybirds were recently introduced and found 

 the beetles and larvae very numerous. 



"We are much indebted to Mr. Cooper for the hospitality received, and 

 for allowing us to collect a large quantity of the beetles and bring them to 

 Ventura county." 



J. F. McIntyre, Secretary. 



From this report we find that the black ladybird beetle has been in this 

 county for a little over 16 years. It was well scattered over the county 

 at an early date for we find in Insect Life, Vol. V, page 364, July, 1895, 

 where Mr. J. F. Mclntyre sent a number of specimens from Fillmore to 

 the Department of Agriculture. It would naturally be expected that the 

 black scale would be fairly diminished in this county, but such is not the 

 case. At this time we have some of the worst infections I have ever seen in 

 all parts of the county and especially along the coast, where the damp climate 

 is especially conducive to propagation of this pest. In all of these orchards 

 the beetle can be found in considerable numbers, and they have been molested 

 very little by fumigation or spraying. It is therefore interesting to note that 

 in the orchards infested with the citrus mealy bug, it has been found in the 

 greatest numbers and seems to render the most service. 



That they work on the mealy bugs and not the black scale alone has been 

 proven by experiments in breeding cages where they have been confined 

 and fed on nothing but mealy bugs. I have reared a goodly number of them 

 in my office during the past year in such a breeding cage. During the 

 month of May a large shipment of mealy bug infested fruit was sent to 

 Honolulu to meet Mr. Geo. Compere who was bringing to this State internal 

 parasites for this pest. The material was taken out of the orchards here 

 without thought of our own natural enemies, and when it arrived in Honolulu 

 the box contained only a great number of the Rhhobius vcntralis, which had 

 eaten up all of the mealy bugs en route. They breed very rapidly, when pro- 

 tected, and with other natural enemies, promise to aid very greatly in cleaning 

 up the mealy bug in Ventura County. 



