REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



BY JOHN B. SMITH, SCI). 



GENERAL R£VIE\Kr. 



The season of 1906 was characterized in its entirety by an ex- 

 cess of wet weather, which, while it favored the development of a 

 few species, was on the whole adverse to insect life, and favored 

 the development and spread of epidemic disease, such as that 

 which was noted amongst grasshoppers. There was a steady in- 

 crease in some species and, on the other hand, a distinct decrease 

 in others that were troublesome in preceding seasons. It was in 

 the main a favorable one for the farmer and fruit grower from 

 the entomological standpoint, although severe individual losses 

 were recorded. 



Scale Insects. 



Scale insects have been troublesome throughout the State, as 

 usual, and on as great a variety of plants, and attention to them 

 has occupied a considerable portion of the time of the office force. 



The San Jose or pernicious scale still leads all others in im- 

 portance, and has required more attention than all the remaining 

 species taken together. The correspondence concerning it was 

 heavy, and more than two-thirds of the time of the assistant to the 

 State Entomologist has been devoted to inspection work in orch- 

 ards and nurseries alone. Little remains to be learnt of the life 

 history and habits of the insect, but we are far from understanding 

 all the factors connected with its successful treatment. There has 

 been a puzzling disagreement in the results of spraying work, and 

 the same material used at different times and in different places 

 has not acted in the same manner. Broadly speaking, there is not 



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