151 



the eomnioii Black Scale of ('alit'oiuia. It is separated tVoni Lecanium 

 proper by an additioual Joint in the antenna of the adnlt 9 , and by the 

 loss of two of the ei^ht hairs on the anal genital ring'. The subfamily 

 Diaspinai is divided into two tribes, Asi)idiotini and Leucaspini. Alto- 

 gether 65 genera are tabulated. 



Sjniopses to be of most service should be made as a result of serious 

 l)revious work in the family. As an illustration : in Lepidosaphes Shimer, 

 which is here substituted for the better known and more generally 

 accepted MytUaspis Targioni, the chief distinguishing feature between 

 the male and female scales, viz, the lack of the medial scale (or second 

 molt) in the former is not given. 



WORK IN ALGERIA WITH A FUNGUS DISEASE OF THE LOCUST. 



The results of the investigations of MM. Kiinckel and Langlois of a 

 cryptogamic disease which sometimes attacks the Migratory Locust 

 {Schistocerca peregrina Oliv.) of Africa, as reported in the Bulletin of 

 the Soci^te Entomologique de France, Stance de 24 Juin, are not en- 

 couraging. The disease appeared among some specimens collected by 

 M. Kiinckel, but the mortality was insignificant, the contamination of 

 one by another api^eariug to be very difficult. He isolated a coui)le, 

 the male of which died with signs of infection, and the female was 

 thereupon mated with a second male, which died in turn, but without 

 any signs of infection. Special conditions appear to be necessary for 

 the development of the parasite, as the author was only able to estab- 

 lish its presence upon those individuals which were captured in damp 

 situations, and in captivity it was only possible to produce the disease 

 upon a certain number of individuals by the use of damp cloths. The 

 eggs were completely resistant, and in fact the disease attacked only 

 those individuals which had reached the full term of their evolution, 

 and even with these was transmitted from one to the other with great 

 difficulty. The authors conclude as follows: 



Knowing, therefore, the conditions of existence and development of locusts in 

 Africa, it does not seem possible to base any hopes on a mode of destruction which 

 depends upon the artificial development of the fungus ]»arasite observed on the 

 Migratory Locusts. 



The disease experimented with by MM. Kiinckel and Langlois has 

 been determined by M. A. Giard as Lachnidium acridiorum, n. sp. In 

 the discussion which followed the reading of this paper M. J. Gazag- 

 naire urged upon the Algerian Locust service the importance of (;on- 

 fining themselves to practical work by means of the same methods which 

 have been used for the past three years against the local cricket, Htauro- 

 notuH niaroccanufi, namely, by the use of the C3q)riote apparatus, liquid 

 insecticides, and the collection of the egg cases by a numerous force well 

 organized and directed. In his opinion the total destruction of the 

 locust in Algeria is a dream the fulfillment of which is, if possible at all, 

 very remote. There will still occur many invasions, and all that can be 



