100 FLORIDA FRUITS ORANGES. 



For full and detailed information on this point, as on 

 that of all the insect enemies and friends of the orange, 

 we would refer our readers to the valuable work on 

 ''Orange Insects," written and published by William H. 

 Ashmead, of Jacksonville, Florida; and also to those of 

 Prof. Comstock, Dr. C. J. Kenworthy, and the recent 

 pamphlet issued by the Agricultural Department, contain- 

 ing the result of the investigations of its special agent as 

 to the " rust mite." These books, being devoted exclusively 

 to the one subject, deal more extensively with the enemies 

 of the orange than the limit and object of our present work 

 permit us to do. 



Briefly, therefore, we will note the most injurious of 

 them only, that they may be recognized when seen, and 

 the proper weapons used in the battle against the invaders. 



The long or mussel-shell scale insect is a very tiny fel- 

 low, rarely to be seen, unless revealed by a powerful mi- 

 croscope ; then it appears like a very lively louse, quick 

 and active in its movements, and when alarmed instantly 

 seeking concealment under the scale it has created as its 

 dwelling, which has first served as a home for its eggs, 

 which are purple and laid in two parallel rows, and then 

 as a shelter for its young. 



The latter, the moment they emerge from the eggs, be- 

 gin to suck the sap from the bark or leaf to which they 

 may be attached. They will then scurry around and be- 

 come visible through their movements for three or four 

 days, then insert their beaks in a suitable spot and come 

 to an anchor forever. In a few days the waxy substance 

 of which their scale house is composed begins to arch over 

 their backs ; their legs, useless now, drop off, and the fly, 

 reversing completely the order of things, returns to a lar- 

 val shape, lays its eggs and dies ; soon the eggs hatch and 

 the round of reproduction begins again. One would 



