362 



California Fruit Groicer of December 10, 1892, tlie statement tliat 22 

 carloads of Mexican oranges infested by MytUaspis gloverii had been 

 imported into California at Los Angeles, rather emphasizing the indig- 

 nation of the editor of the journal over the supposed negligence of the 

 quarantine officers in allowing this importation. We recently received 

 a letter from Mr. John Scott, Hoiticultural Commissioner of Los An- 

 geles county, who states that the item upon which we based our note 

 was incorrect. Mr. Scott states that not a single carload of Mexican 

 oranges was brought to Los Angeles last year. A few boxes were sent 

 from San Francisco, wiiich were at once returned and not a single 

 orange of this shipment was sold in the city of Los Angeles. We are 

 very glad to make this correction, but the onus of the misstatement, 

 if misstatement there was, lies upon the California Fruit Grower. 



AN ENEMY OF THE OYSTER-SHELL BARK-LOUSE OF THE APPLE. 



We have received from M. J. Lignieres, assistant j)rofessor at the 

 veterinary school at Alfort, France, a pamphlet extracted from the 

 Memoires de la Societe Zoologique de France, 1893, in which he records 

 the first discovery in Europe of Tyroglyplim mains (Shimer) in the 

 scales of the Oyster-shell Bark-louse, Mytilaspis pomoriim. In this 

 country this species has usually been considered an enemy of the Oys- 

 ter-shell Bark-louse, but the author's experiments, which have evi- 

 dently been very carefully conducted, seem to prove that it is not. He 

 linds that it does not feed upon the eggs of Mytilaspis, as supposed, 

 nor does it suck the juices of the tree, but lives only upon the cast skins 

 and Qg^ shells of the bark-louse, and upon these only when they are 

 somewhat moist. A full redescription of the spe(;ies is given, with 

 good outline figures and a more detailed anatomical account of certain 

 parts of the body. 



In the second part of the pamphlet, however, M. Lignieres describes 

 a new Acarian which is, he states, a true enemy of Mytilasjns pomoruni. 

 From its striking resemblance to the Sarcoptidse he proposes for it the 

 generic name Hemisarcoptes^ with the specific name coccisugus. The 

 species is described and figured, and a statement given of the differ- 

 ences in mode of life between it and TjToglyphus. It attacks the eggs 

 of Mytilaspis and is the most formidable enemy of the latter. 



i AN ARTICLE ON SCALE-INSECTS. 



Mr. T. D. A. Cockerell, in the Agricultural Record^ the ofific^'al jour- 

 nal of the Central Agricultural Board of Trinidad for December, 1892, 

 publishes a general article on the subject of Coccid.T, or scale-insects, 

 which possesses more than passing interest. He defines the group, 

 discusses their destructiveness, the methods of destroying them, the 

 natural enemies, and how they are spread by human means. He con- 

 siders that while those who have attributed the death of the Cocoa Palm 

 to scale-insects have probably overestimated the influence of the 



