first it is very small and hardly perceptible to 

 the naked eye, but careful observation will de- 

 tect it as a minute yellow dot on the bark of 

 the tree, crawling about with the six legs with 

 which it is provided, and seeking a favorable 

 locality upon which to fix itself for life. It 

 will crawl about for only a day or two, and then 

 fastens itself to the bark by a beak-like pro- 

 tuberance which it inserts, and procures nour- 

 ishment from juices of the tree. Immediately 

 upon fixing itself it begins to be covered with 

 a silvery material, which, as it grows older, is 

 gradually changed in color to a very dark hue, 

 and enlarges to the size of about one-sixteenth 

 of an inch in dia.neter. The insect soon after 

 fixing itself loses its legs and antennce, and thus 

 remains through life, keeping its flattened shape 

 but growing wrinkled and almost round, gradu- 

 ally increasing in size to perhaps one-sixteenth 

 of an inch in width and one-fifteenth of an inch 

 in length when full of young. After the young 

 emerge it is dried up and disappears. We have 

 counted from the female, when full of young, be- 

 tween 50 and 60 of the minute sacks which con- 

 tain the young perfectly formed insects ready 

 to crawl about. The young male insect is pro- 

 duced in the same manner and at the same time, 

 though not in such numbers; perhaps half a 

 dozen males to a hundred females. In size the 

 male is about one -third that of the female, and 

 in shape very different, being elongated and 

 more angular, provided with six legs placed 

 differently up on the body, with two antennae 

 and two eyes, and with a teat-like protuberance 

 at the rear end of the body ending with a point. 



At this stage of its existence the male has no 

 wings, and it cannot be discerned without the 

 aid of a magnifying glass. The color of the 

 young male is not a yellow, but of a steej-like 

 or whitish hue It crawls about and fixes it- 

 self upon the bark, as does the young female, 

 and becomes covered with a scale in the same 

 manner, but which is elongated upon one 

 side, and not more than one-half the 

 size of the scale of the female. The male, 

 after remaining its allotted tim'e in the pupa 

 state, emerges as a fully developed insect, 

 having eyes, antenne, six legs and one pair of 

 very long wings of a reddish and transparent 

 appearance, and the protuberance at the rear 

 end of the body is developed into a very long 

 tapering point, nearly as long as the body it- 

 self. The perfect winged male is so minute it 

 can with great difficulty be discerned by the 

 naked eye, crawling and flying about in search 

 of the female, which it impregnates under the 

 scale and then, having fulfilled its mission, it 

 dies. 



In the season of 1880 we saw the winged 

 males first appear on March 23 i, and in great 

 numbers for a few days. The first brood of 

 young scales appeared the latter part of April. 

 Oa June 27th we found the males from the first 

 brood under the scales and nearly developed 

 with appendages and wing pads, and on July 

 2d large numbers of them flying about; also as 

 late as July 25fch, and still later, on August 

 2d, a few were seen. On July 23d the trees 

 were covered with the young of the second 

 brood; August 2d the young males of the 

 second brood were found crawling about. 

 Bark scraped clean on the 23d of July was 

 found on the 25th alive with young insects, and 



some of them already commencing to be 

 covered with scale. As it was expected at the 

 time these observations were made, a third 

 brood would appear about October, so we found 

 it. On October 17th we found the male scale 

 insect in the first pupa stage of development in 

 the winged form, and also on the same day 

 found the perfect winged insect of the third 

 brood moving about on the tree. 



These facts prove conclusively that there are 

 three distinct broods of these insects in the sea- 

 son, the earliest portion of the first brood about 

 March 23d, of the second brood about July 2d, 

 and of the third brood about October 17th, there 

 being apparently an interval of 14 to 15 weeks 

 between the different broods of the season. The 

 young female insects were found crawling about 

 through the season and as late as the last of 

 November. The last brood remains through the 

 winter under the scale until the approach of 

 warm weather in the spring, when they again ap- 

 pear. 



While the Aspidiotus Conchiformis will de- 

 velop but one or at most two broods per season, 

 this new species of Aspidiotus will produce three 

 broods, and each female probably 50 young. 

 This present season of 1882 has been in the de- 

 velopment of fruit and insects about three weeks 

 or more later, consequently the appearance of 

 the scale was not expected as early as last year. 

 The first winged male scale insects of this 

 species were discovered this year on April 25fch 

 crawling about on an English hawthorn tree. 

 At that time no young female scale insects were 

 to be found, but the old females under the scales 

 were approaching maturity, and in due time the 

 young appeared. 



Foes of Scale Insects. 



The natural enemies of the scale insect are 

 the larvae of some varieties of the Coccinellidce, 

 or lady-birds. 



The season of 1881 developed in great num- 

 bers an important enemy of the scale, viz. : the 

 Chrysopa or lace-winged fly, the larvae of which 

 prey upon it. This is a beautiful, slender and 

 delicate fly, bright green in color, with large 

 golden eyes, and very long wings like lace. 

 The eggs are very minute, white and oval in 

 shape, and are attached by a long and slender 

 pedicle to the underside of leaves or the fruit. 

 The larva is about one- quarter of an inch long, 

 slender, and tapering from the middle toward 

 both ends. It is provided with jaws, each per- 

 forated, through which it sucks the juice of its 

 victim. 



Remedies for Scale Insects. 



In 1881 Mr. J. H. M. Townsend, of the Santa 

 Clara County Horticultural Society, kindly 

 placed at our disposal a large number of trees 

 infested with scale for the use of the committee 

 in making such experiments as were desired. 

 A series of careful experiments for the destruc- 

 tion of the scale pest were made and the results 

 carefully noted. "Other experiments had been 

 under way in our own orchards for many 

 months. 



These exprimenta demonstrated on one hand 

 the inefficiency of many applications, and on 

 the other hand showed a certain means for the 

 destruction of the scale insect. The remedies 

 which have proven successful will destroy all 

 the varieties of scale, as the one under treat- 



