EXPERIMENT STATION EEPORT. 605 



posited between 1,000 and 2,000 minute, reddish-yellow eggs, and has 

 secreted so much that the hind body is raised to an angle of forty-five 

 degrees with the twig. It is at this time — early in June — that the 

 insects become conspicuous, and the cottony masses often remain on 

 the trees for months. Soon after the eggs are deposited the larvas 

 hatch and crawl to the leaves on which, they settle. The larvae are 

 minute creatures, of about the same color as the egg, oval in outline, 

 with distinct legs and antennae, and at the extremity of the body two 

 long spines. They generally settle on the under surface, along the 

 veins, but a few get on the upper surface, and very rarely some are 

 found on the twigs. Late in June or early in July the leaves on a 

 l)adly-infested tree will be thickly set wath the insects. 



Soon after the young have set two moults take place, and if they 

 are examined later two forms will be found, one somewhat narrower 

 than the other. The latter is the female and the former the male, 

 which passes through a true pupal stage, and during the early part 

 of August reaches maturity. It is then a minute, two-winged insect, 

 which, some time in August or early September, emerges and copulates 

 with the female. The females remain on the leaves, feeding, until 

 after the middle of September, when they migrate to Ihe twigs and 

 settle down to pass the winter. Even under normal conditions many 

 of the insects do not reach maturity, while in some years most of them 

 arc destroyed by their enemies. 



Enemies of the Insect. 



Several enemies of the Pulvinaria were found in our examinations, 

 the largest and most conspicuous being the Coccinellid or "lady-bird" 

 beetle, Hyperaspis signata Oliv., and its larvae. This was first observed 

 June 15th, when larvae in various stages were found in newly-formed 

 egg masses. These larvae, when full grown, are about three-sixteenths 

 of an inch long, white in color, and have the upper surface covered 

 with a material resembling that secreted by the Pulvinaria, so that it 

 might be overlooked when resting in one of the egg masses. Often, 

 liowever, a larva would be found feeding within an egg mass when 

 the latter appeared perfectly normal, except perhaps for a slight en- 

 largement. 



Larvae were observed during the examinations in all the infested 

 localities, but more plentiful in some places than in others. They 



