INSECTS INJURIOUS TO CITRUS FRUITS 



605 



agents have been in recent years in the search for similar enemies to 

 other introduced insects for they found, in Australia, which appeared 

 to be its original home, a lady-bug beetle which fed on this scale. 

 Some of these beetles * were sent to California where they were 

 reared and distributed to the infested groves and in a few years had 

 reduced the scale to the status of an occasional pest and it is no longer 

 feared, doing less damage normally 

 now than several other species and 

 being always easily reduced in num- 

 bers by the distribution of the lady- 

 bugs. 



The Cottony Cushion Scale is more 

 nearly related to the mealy bugs than 

 to the soft-scales, with which it is 

 usually classed. It is brown in color 

 and has some resemblance to the soft 

 or unarmored scales. It takes its 

 common name from the appearance of 

 the females at egg-laying time when 

 they produce underneath the posterior 

 portion of the body a mass of cottony 

 wax which is 'fluted or furrowed on the 

 upper side and forms a dense cushion. 

 In this cushion the eggs are laid. At 

 this stage the scale is not unlike the 

 common cottony-maple scale of the 

 east (Pulvinaria innumerabilis). 



Recognition of this species is easy 

 on account of the appearance of the 

 females. Adults are found on the 

 bark, but young are more likely to be 

 on the foliage. There are three or four annual generations. 



The scale is generally distributed in California, and is present 

 in many localities in Florida. While the lady-bugs will control it, 

 it is necessary to keep watch and see that they are present in 

 infested groves. 



* Novius (Vedalia) cardinalis Muls. 



* 



FIG. 529. Cottony Cushion 

 Scale. 



