INJURIOUS INSECTS. 313 



•cerning the insect, but without indicating whether or not it had mani- 

 fested itself in the locality-from which the communication was dated. 

 Mr. Howard says: "The original home of this insect is still in 

 •doubt. It has been supposed that it came to America from Chili, but 

 recent investigations, by the writer, seem to show that it was taken to 

 •Ohili from the United States. It occurs in Hawaii, but it was brought 

 to this point also from California. It made its first appearance near 

 San Jose, Cal., twenty years ago, at a time when many trees were 

 being imported from many parts of the world. It may have come 

 from Australia, since it is known to occur there, though rarely, or it 

 may have come from some Pacific Island or possibly even from China. 

 It has been carried to British Columbia and has extended by natural 

 spread eastward to Idaho on the north and I^fevada, Arizona and New 

 Mexico on the south. Chance importation of California nursery stock 

 has, within the past few years, resulted in its establishment at many 

 points in the East, and particularly in the states of New Jersey, New 

 York, Pennsylvania, Deleware, Maryland, Ohio, Indiana, Virginia, 

 Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, and Florida." From all these points it 

 it has therefore become imperative to use great care when importing, 

 either at wholesale or retail, any tree or plant which is known to fos- 

 ter this scale. To still further complicate the situation, it is such a 

 general feeder that it would almost be easier to give a list of the trees 

 and shrubs that it does not attack, than of those which it does. In 

 California the apricot, prune, almond, English walnut, euonymus and 

 rose are among the valuable plants that sufii'er most from its ravages. 

 In the east its principal injuries have been on pear and peach ; but a 

 long list, including our most valuable fruits and choicest shrubbery, is 

 given of the varieties which it has been known to seriously injure or 

 destroy. It does not attack any of the citrus fruits. Its life history 

 was worked out for the first time in 1894, in the Insectary of the 

 Department of Agriculture, and some remarkable features of its 

 development disclosed. It does not, like the typical coccids, multiply 

 by means of eggs, but the young are produced alive. Another very 

 important and discouraging peculiarity is that there is a succession of 

 generations and a constant reproduction going on throughout the sum- 

 mer, whereas other species are but single brooded, and their brief 

 period of activity once discovered enables us to apply our remedies 

 just when they will be effective, after which we can rest from our 

 labors, so far as they are concerned. The winter, in this species, is 

 passed as a half grown female and young are begun to be produced 

 about the middle of May, these, in their turn, becoming productive in 

 about forty days. The males acquire their wings when twenty-four 

 days old. 



