171 



In life history there is one decided diflereiice : LongifiUs is viviparous, 

 while destructor is oviparous. LongifiUs is larger but not nearly as 

 prolific as destructor, and rarely becomes numerous enough to do much 

 harm. The species is almost as general a feeder as destructor. 



On the 27th of April, while in the clover fields studying the clover 

 root-borer, an occasional nest of Lasius 7iiger was disturbed or dug into, 

 and the little ants were noticed to be carrying away some oval, plump, 

 mealy-covered, egg-like objects for a safer location. Some specimens 

 of them were obtained and placed in a box with a few ants and later 

 were examined in the laboratory. They were 1.5™™ long and 1'"™ wide 

 and to the unaided eye looked like oval eggs with a mealy cover- 

 ing. When i)laced under the microscope, it revealed no head, but a 

 set of almost transparent legs, antennae, and a short rostrum on the 

 plump body close to the front legs. The legs were small, not capable 

 of dragging the body any distance, but could move it a few millimeters 

 at a time. The tarsal claw and 4 tarsal digitules were present, though 

 the latter were shorter than in the common mealybug. The antennae 

 were from G to 8 jointed according to the number of joints made in the 

 terminal segment. The color was a reddish brown, which appeared 

 much lighter because of the white covering. 



The specimens with the aots were placed by a potted clover plant 

 and every few days were examined. On the loth of May some of them 

 had commenced giving birth to young. These young gathered under 

 the mother bug, or else collected in the flocculent mass back of her 

 that she had secreted while producing them. They Avere of a light 

 translucent flesh color and much flatter than the mother. They had 

 the same mealy covering in a short time after birth that she pos- 

 sessed. The legs and antennie were dirty yellow and almost as large 

 as those possessed by the adult. The antenmie were 0-jointed, the basal 

 and terminal joints being the largest and longest; the others globular 

 and subequal; eyes red. 



To put in as brief a form as possible a long and careful watching 

 from that time on to the present, we will say that the young mealy 

 bugs grew, and they have since been carried through two generations 

 on the roots of the common red clover, Trifolium pratense. After about 

 the 1st of June the mealybugs were found quite common on the clover 

 roots in the vicinity of the Michigan Agricultural College wherever 

 clover was found. They are more regular and even in development 

 than destructor and the number of broods can be easily followed. They 

 are nearly as prolific through the summer as destructor, though the 

 winter interferes, as they do not breed through the cold weather and 

 must start from the winter form in the spring. From 1 to 2 inches 

 below the surface is about the usual depth on the root at which they 

 will be found, but they often go 5 or 6 inches out on a lateral root that 

 does not run too deep. They prefer cavities made in the roots by the 

 clover root-borer, Rylastes trifolii, which is very common with us, but 



