26 INSECT PESTS OF FARM, GARDEN AND ORCHARD 



introduced into this country at an early date and now being found 

 in every State, and occurs throughout the world, where the food- 

 plants exist. 



The mature female scale is about one-eighth inch long, of a 

 dark-brown color, sometimes almost blackish, and shaped some- 

 what like an oyster-shell, as shown in Fig. 454. The male scale 

 is much smaller, and with but one cast skin at the anterior end, 

 as shown in the same figure. 



iLife History. If one of the female scales be turned over 

 during the winter, numerous oval, white eggs will be found under 

 it, with the shriveled body of the female insect tucked away 



FIG. 455. Three common scale insects; a, oyster-shell scale; 6, scurfy scale; 

 c, San Jos6 scale. All natural size. (Photo by Rumsey.) 



at the anterior end. These eggs hatch a week or two after the 

 apples blossom, producing small yellowish insects, which look like 

 mites as they crawl over the bark, which they often give a yel- 

 lowish tinge where very abundant. The young insect is of 

 microscopic size. It settles down after a few hours' wandering 

 and begins sucking the sap from the bark. In a day or two 

 long, white waxy filaments exude from over the body, which 

 soon mat down and form the protecting scale, to which the cast 

 skins are added when the insect molts. The female loses her 



