100 



]^IARYLAND APtRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 



ORIGINAL HOME OF THE SPECIES. 



From pi'evions writings upon the subject, more particularly in Cali- 

 fornia, it has l)een assumed that this particular insect Avas derived from 

 South America and particularly from Chili, but later evidence obtained 

 by Mr. Howard and brouo-ht together in his last communication upon tlie 

 subject, (^Insect Life, volume 7, page 290, 291) indicate that it is probably 

 a native of the Pacitic Coast, and that it may have spread thence to those 

 countries in which it is known to occur, viz., Chili and parts of Australia 

 and the Island of Kauai ( where it has been found l)y Mr. Albert Koebele,) 

 just as it has l)i'en introduced thence into tlie Eastern States. 



PARASITES AND NATURAL ENEMIES. 



A widespread and minute parasite which attacks a number of other 

 scale-insects of the same suJj-family was reared fr(mi specimens origin- 



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Fk;. 6.— ^•lpftc/(in(sc(ia.-pi(?i>- How : iireatly enlarged ifroni Inxcci Life.) 

 ally collected at Iiiversid(', Md , and has since been fouiul elsewhere, as 

 it was also previously known to occnr in California. It sometimes does 

 very effective work. It is a very minute ChaU-id-tly { Apliclinus fiiscipeniiis 

 How.) which the average fruit-grower would not W- able to distinguish 

 from very niany i)thers of the same genus, anil of which the accompany- 

 ing figure of an allied species, very much enlarged, w ill convey a suffi- 

 ciently accurate idea. The mature fly, having undergone its transforma- 

 tions beneath the scale, issues from a minute circular hole, and, whenever 

 such minute and regular holes are discovered upon the scales, the presence 

 of this, or some allied species of parasite, may be safely inferred. 

 Another species {Atiaphes gracilis How.) which also preys upon allied 

 scale-insects, and especially on the common Oyster-shell Bark-louse of 



