2W 



and rare insect in its own country, and that it was in New Zealand that it first 

 shone qnt in all the glory of a conqueror of one of the greatest of tnown pests. So it is 

 now that in New Zealand must be written the last jiages of its interesting life. 

 Having been very lately sent by the New Zealand government to Auckland, to col- 

 lect some of these insects for Icerya-afflicted districts, I had a good opportunity of 

 observing the stages Vedalia and Icerya had passed through. Some two years ago 

 everything seemed white around Auckland with the clustering Icerya, a great many 

 orange and lemon trees (including one entire lemon orchard) were dead, and the 

 prospect was as gloomy as could be, till Vedalia (which had been accidentally im- 

 ported from Australia) appeared on the scene. Astonishing as it may seem to be, 

 and incredible, within one year hardly any of the scales were left, and the ladybirds 

 had also disappeared. The little beetles are rank cannibals when pressed by 

 hunger, and as no one was able to discover any other food but Icerya upon which, 

 they will feed, it was feared that, in the absence of Icerya, they would become ex- 

 tinct. Therefore considerable uneasiness was felt when, some, time ago, the scale 

 again began to increase rapidly, and spread everywhere, and, as yet, no Vedalia 

 were to be seen. 



On the 8th of April last I arrived in Auckland to see whether it would not be 

 possible to procure a few, when I found that in the meantime they had appeared 

 and cleared off the accumulated Icerya with an incredible celerity, and then van- 

 ished for a second time. Even m a district some 30 miles from the city, where only 

 at the end of last December I had seen many thousands of Icerya females, with full 

 ovisacs and larvje without number, only nine ovisacs of eggs and about 50 scales 

 could be obtained wherewith to feed any Vedalia that might be jirocured on a voy- 

 age. On all the Acacia hedges around Auckland in every direction for miles and 

 miles, where formerly buckets full of ovisa<'S could have been gathered in a few 

 chains, there was not a scrap of even a torn one to be seen, and in all the nurseries, 

 whose owners had formerly been in despair, not one single specimen of either insect 

 was to be procured. Only after many days of fruitless search an Acacia hedge was 

 come ujion where 79 Vedalia were procured and sent to Nelson, an intended ship 

 ment to the Cape of Good Hope having been abandoned. From observation, 

 which it is needless to particularize, the following conclusions were arrived at: 

 (1) That Vedalia has unquestionably some other food resources besides Icerya and 

 its cannibal practices, although it could not be determined at the time; (2) that in 

 its first attack upon Icerya it runs over the enemy and leaves a few eggs (two or 

 three) in some 5 or 6 per cent of the ovisacs, and it is these and the few larvae which 

 escape that found the second Icerya invasion ; (3) that the beetles keep on the 

 hedges all through the winter mouths, although so hidden as not to be easily cap- 

 tured, without a net ; (4) that Vedalia larvae soon perish for want of food, but in the 

 imago state they will live for a A^ery long time, probably nearly throughout their 

 natural life, feeding upon their own eggs, which they devour as soon as laid; 

 (5) that this exhausting system of warfare will very soon cause both insects to hv- 

 come exceedingly rare, but that Icerya will always have a great advantage in its 

 food being abundant and always at hand, whereas that of Vedalia is at best uncer- 

 tain and doubtful. 



These conclusions are little other than a fulfillment of Prof. C. V. Riley's predic- 

 tions written in the pages of Insect Life. 



THE CHINESE INSECT-FUNGH'S DRUG. 



Throiigli the courtesy of Mr. A. C. Jones, United States consul, sta- 

 tioned at Chin Kiang, China, and the commissioner of customs of tliat 

 port, we have received specimens of the officinal preparation of the par- 

 asitic fungus, Cordyceps chinensis. This Cordyceps is parasitic on a 



