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thinks it a good plan to keep its name Lecanium cerasifex, under which it was 

 mentioned first in the old horticultural publications. Then, here is how is 

 classified that insect : — 



The New York Plum Scale belongs to the Arthropoda phylum, the Insect 

 class, the Hemiptera order, the Coccidae family, the Lecanina sub-family, 

 the Lecanium genus and the Lecanium cerasifex species, being called in 

 French Le Kermis du Prunier. 



Summary Description. — I have gathered what I am going to say about the 

 Plum Scale mostly from data given by SUngerland, Fletcher and Jones. On the 

 trees infested by that insect we find, in all seasons of the year, brown scales one- 

 sixth of an inch long, one-eighth of an inch wide and one-twelfth of an inch thick, 

 and an abundance, at some periods, of much smaller ones. The larger brown dead 

 scale or shell of the mature female insect is present on the tree during the whole 

 year, thus enabling fruit growers to tell at any time whether the pest is in their 

 orchards or not. They are very conspicuous and may be easily found. They re- 

 mind one of small halved peas coloured dark brown and stuck on the branches. 

 Beneath the dead scales the bark presents a white scar of the exact shape of the 

 outhne of the scale. 



In May and June, in Quebec, the li\ing female insects resemble the dead 

 scales but they are soft to the touch and often striped with yellow. In July, after 

 egg laying has ceased, they become firm and smoother, lose their yellow marking 

 and are then simply a dark brown shell. If this shell be then turned over it will 

 be found full of the minute w^hite eggs of the pest. 



In ordinary scales, such as the oyster shell bark scale and the San Jose scale, 

 the body is protected by a w^ax covering made up from secretions and the molted 

 skins of the larvae, but in the Plum scale the horny covering of the full grown scale 

 is a part of the body of the insect. The older scales are shiny, oval, convex, and 

 often covered with a mealy pruinous deposit. 



After about August 1st, in Quebec, the dead scales contain nothing but a 

 white dust consisting of the empty egg shells, and are no longer a menace to the 

 tree. They occur most numerously on the under sides of the branches of the 

 preceding one or two years growth. 



When the large shells are found, closely examine the bark and their vicinity 

 for a minute, very flat, spindle-shaped, dark brown scales. It is this stage of the 

 insect that now portends danger to the orchards. They are to be found snugly 

 tucked away into almost every crevice on the trees from the trunk near the ground 

 to the topmost twig. 



