123 
This coccid can get along very well without the ants, however — 
unlike the corn root-louse. In a root-cage the ants sometimes desert 
the coccids, but the latter continue to feed and to produce eggs and 
young as tho nothing had happened. In this instance the ants derive 
most of the benefit from the partnership. When an ant finds one of 
these mealy bugs on the ground or on the base of a plant, the ant 
picks it up in its jaws, carries it down under ground, and deposits it 
somewhere on the roots, usually not far from the base. If there are 
eggs with the female, the ants carry these down also and put them on 
rootlets. 
When these coccids with ants and their cocoons are put on the 
surface of the soil in a root-cage, the ants begin by burrowing down 
along the roots. Then they carry down the coccids and the cocoons. 
The former they place on the roots, but the latter they carry down 
deeper to special chambers. If there are eggs of the coccid, the ants 
show many attentions to them — touching them often with the tips of 
the antennae, carrying them from place to place, and often cleaning 
them with the mouth — in short, treating them as they do their own 
eggs. The coccids are left much to themselves, but occasionally an 
ant may be seen eating the white waxy secretion of the body of the 
female. Mr. E. O. G. Kelly says that this secretion is eaten only 
when it is newly made and fresh. Much of it is left by the ants and 
is used by the female to cover her eggs. 
In the field the coccid is now and then seen above ground at the 
base of a plant when no ants are present. Occasionally, also, the 
coccids are found working on the roots without ants, there being 
either no sign of ants or else a nest that appears to be deserted. 
This coccid spreads very slowly, as has been said. Newly born 
larvae climb the stem to the leaves, but seem not to leave the plant to 
any great extent, tho a few may be found on such neighboring plants 
as are easily accessible. The summer females frequently go above 
ground and wander about a little, tho they are sluggish. Probably the 
species is spread by ants faster and farther than by any other means. 
No natural enemies of this mealy bug are as yet known. 
Up to the present the species has been of only minor economic 
importance. 
Pseiidococcus trifolii Forbes. 
1885. Forbes, S. A.— Fourteenth Rep. State Ent. 111., pp. 72, 73. 
1890. Garman, H.— Second Rep. Ky. Agr. Exper. Sta., 1889, 
pp. 19, 20. 
1894. Davis, G. C— Insect Life, Vol. VII., pp. 171-173. 
Davis, G. C.— Bull. No. 116, Mich. Agr. Exper. Sta., pp. 
56-60. 
1899. Pettit, R. H.— Can. Ent., Vol. XXXI., pp. 279, 280. 
1902. Pettit, R. H.— Bull. No. 200, Mich. Agr. Exper. Sta., pp. 
193, 194. 
