INJURIOUS INSECTS. 311 



stationary, and on the 22u{l the first winged males appeared in the 

 rearing jars. Beautiful little creatures they were, with rose red bodies 

 ornamented with a broad, brown thoracic band and with filmy, iride- 

 scent wings expanding about one tenth of an inch. The females were 

 still active, crawling over leaves and twigs with a wavy motion which, 

 with their fiat scales, suggested a strong resemblance to the tingitids. 



After the disappearance of the males, early in August, the females 

 clustered upon the tender twigs, fixing themselves by their beaks, and 

 began to grow and darken in color, attaining their full size in Novem- 

 ber. 



According to a recent bulletin of the Department of Agriculture, 

 in which scale insects are especially discussed, this species has fre- 

 quently appeared in such numbers as to cause the death of young 

 trees; but while it is unquestionably a serious pest, its conspicuous 

 size, its less close adhesion to the bark of the tree and its consequent- 

 ly greater susceptibility to the action of insecticides renders it a much 

 less formidable foe than many of its close allies. 



Among its natural enemies are a minute parasitic fly, a small, 

 speckled gray bug, and an interesting little lady-bird beetle which, so 

 far as my observation goes, is peculiar to this and a few other coccids. 



Last year I was greatly pleased to discover that the scales were 

 pecked off during winter by birds. A large branch, thickly encrusted 

 with scales, was suffered to remain on one of our trees for purposes of 

 observation the coming spring; but before the ice and snow had dis- 

 appeared not a scale remained, while snow birds, titmice and other 

 birds were frequently noticed flitting among the branches apparently 

 in search of more of the juicy morsels. 



From the results of recent experiments, Mr. Howard gives the 

 preference to whale oil soap, as a winter drench, over every other in- 

 secticide, for all scale insects, while kerosene emulsions are recom- 

 mended for application to infested trees at the period when the young 

 lice are active and spreading over the leaves and new growth. 



