50 



1 or 2 inches of the surface. On the dry ground the}^ were 5 or 

 6 inches below the surface. He noticed no difference in the numbers 

 of larvffi and pup^e under the above conditions, but never found a 

 beetle in the wet ground, except once in a while one on the lower 

 leaves of a plant. In the dry ground he found the beetles by hun- 

 dreds July 28, 1903. 



He observed that water had a bad effect on the insects in their 

 younger stages, which corresponded with our office experiments. He 

 filled an 8 inch flowerpot with soil taken from an infested field, and 

 in it placed 20 pupte and 10 larvae, covering with a piece of lawn 

 and placing the pot in a tin pie-plate. He applied water as for a 

 growing plant, with the result that only one beetle was obtained by 

 this experiment. 



As the first sending of larvie received b}'^ the writer, who had charge 

 of them, failed to transform in moist earth, another lot was placed in 

 a large earthern pot and kept moderately dry, the top only being 

 slightly moistened occasionally. From this jar nearl}^ all the beetles 

 issued, showing that if it should be possible to irrigate at the time 

 when the species is undergoing transformation from the larva to the 

 pupa, and from pupa to adult, the insect could be killed b}^ this 

 method alone. We have also to record the receipt of larvae and adults 

 of this species from Mr. Harry G. Wolfgang, Leetonia, Ohio, who wrote 

 January 11, 1904, that it was especially destructive to citrus, hibiscus, 

 and vinca, the last being a new food plant, while we have not received 

 previous records of the occurrence of this species in Ohio. — F. H. C. 



IMPORTATIONS OF BENEFICIAL INSECTS INTO CALIFORNIA. 



By C. L. Marlatt. 



In the annual reports of the Entomologist of this Department for 

 the past four j^ears (1900-1903) brief accounts have been given of the 

 introduction of various foreign beneficial insects, including the South 

 African black scale parasite, Scutellhta cyanea. the European moth 

 parasite of the larger scale insects, such as Lecaniums and mealybugs, 

 Eraatrki scitnJa^ the European plant-louse ladybird, Cocclndla iseptem- 

 ■punctata and an Australian species, Leis conformis. 



Of these importations the only one which has yielded a marked suc- 

 cess is that of the South African parasite, and this insect is apparently 

 duplicating against the black scale the wonderful work of the Yeda- 

 lia against the white scale in California. In his annual report for 1900 

 Doctor Howard gives the history of this importation, and the earlier 

 one into Louisiana. The subsequent annual reports cited bring the 

 records down to the summer of 1903. In August of this year (1903) 

 Mr. Craw, first deputy commissioner of horticulture, and quarantine 

 officer of California, replied to a telegram of inquiry that the most 



