368 



orauge trees in Florida. I found it on leaves of orange trees said to have been im- 

 ported from Florida, but have never found it on trees growing here. It may interest 

 you to know that the Vedalias have survived the winter, unprotected, out of doors. 

 There are at least two places in this city where they are found at the present time. 

 Occasionally a few Iceryas are found, but usually in very small numbers, and as the 

 Vedalias have proved to be able to take care of themselves during the winter season, 

 it is very probable that they will remain with us so long as any Iceryas are to be 

 found.— [D. W. Coquillett, Los Angeles, Cal., April 8, 1890. 



Reply. — Yours of the 8th has come to hand. You have been misinformed as to the 

 state of aflfairs in Florida. Some sections of that State are naturally more badly 

 damaged by the species of Myiilaspis than others, and the Florida Wax-scale is, in 

 mv experience, not an especially injurious insect to citrus fruits. The relative im- 

 portance of the Florida scale-insects is well set forth by Hubbard, and you can learn 

 hid opinion by consulting his work. My own experience, in a broad way, from personal 

 observation, may be summarized thus: The three most injurious species in Florida are: 

 M. citricola, M. gloverii, and Parlaioria pergandei. None ot these insects are as inju- 

 rious in Florida as either Icerya or the California Red-scale, or the San Jos^ Scale. 

 They are more widely spread throughout the State and do not concentrate so inju- 

 riously in given localities. The Florida scales are also more amenable to treatment 

 than the three species mentioned in California. At one time there was considerable 

 alarm from the attacks of citricola, and a great many groves have been seriously 

 damaged by it, but the most progressive growers at the present time do not fear it. 

 Men who are ignorant of or fail to apply the best remedies still suifer. What truth 

 is there in the rumor that citricola has become established in California ? I send you 

 inclosed some galleys from my forthcoming report for 1889, which will give you the 

 latest information as to the damage done by the 6-spotted mite. I am very glad to 

 learn that Vedalia so well survived the winter out of doors. — [April 16, 1890.] 



A Palm leaf Scale in Trinidad. 



I inclose a piece of palm-leaf of Prilohardia fibifera, which is very badly infested by 

 a scale insect of the genus Mijtilaspis, so far as I am able to make out. The palms 

 were obtained from the botanic gardens in Trinidad, and this insect is only to be 

 found on the species mentioned, while the remainder were absolutely free of them, 

 though they suffered from other pests. 



Can you give me any information about the Mytilaspis ? Unfortunately I have not 

 been able to investigate the life-history of the insect, as the palms are growing in a 

 garden which I can visit only now and then.— [A. Ernst, Caracas, Venezuela, South 

 America, March 9, 1890. 



Reply. — The remarkable Coccid which you send me with your favor of the 9th in- 

 stant, has only lately been described and figured as a new genus and species, Ischnaa- 

 pisfiliformis, by J. W. Douglas, in the EntomologisV s Monthly Magazine, vol. XXIV, 1887, 

 p. 21. Douglas found it in the conservatories of the Royal Botanic Society, of Lon- 

 don, on the leaves of various palms (Strychnos myriatica) and other plants. Within 

 the last year or so I find this species under the same conditions in the greenhouses 

 of the U. S. Department of Agriculture at Washington, where it does much damage. — 

 [March 22, 1890.] 



The Cigarette Beetle. 



My friend, Professor Gill, told me at the Cosmos Club that he had spoken to you 

 about some " troyka" cigarettes that I got at the club, the paper of which had been 

 pierced by a beetle. He told me you said it was the " Death-watch," and gave a 

 latin name, which I did not completely catch, as several people were talking at the 

 same time. To-day I found the inclosed beetle among some of the cigarettes as I was 

 breaking them up. Professor Gill has some of the punctured cigarettes that I gave 

 him ; the rest have been destroyed. I inclose the beetle in a vial, and a piece of the 



