70 AUSTRALIAN BUG. 



For practical ivork (for which this notice is intended) it 

 is hoped that the many figures, and the general desertion 

 of the female from the S. African specimens tchich were 

 kindly identified for me as of the Icerya purchasi (Mask.), 

 by M. Signoret, Paris, will be sufficient : those who desire 

 full description will find it in the ivorks referred to 

 below.* 



"Australian Bug." Cottony Cushion Scale. 



The soft, cushiony, white-ribbed Scale insects, com- 

 monly known as the Australian Bug (the Cottony Cushion 

 Scale of North America), rank amongst the most 

 destructive of the insect pests hurtful to trees and 

 shrubs in S. Africa, although little more than fifteen 

 years have elapsed since this pest was first observed in 

 the Colony. 



Prof. Eoland Trimen, F.E.S., Curator of the South 

 African Museum, mentions, in his Eeport of 1877, that 

 he first saw the Australian Bug in the Botanic Garden 

 at Cape Town in the latter half of 1873, and " the 

 insect gradually extended its range into all the suburbs 

 of the town." 



In 1877 the " Bug " had spread to such an extent, in 

 all parts of the Eastern Province of Cape Colony, as to 

 give rise to an application, from horticulturists and 

 others, to Prof. Trimen for information as to the nature 

 and habits of the new pest, in reply to which request 

 the Eeport above referred to was prepared.! Local laws 

 and regulations were drawn up with a view to stopping 

 the onward spread of this destructive attack, but without 

 the desired success, for in March, 1887, Mr. S. D. 



* Eeport of Prof. C. V. Riley, Entomologist of the Department of Agri- 

 culture, U. S. A., for 1886, pub. 1887, Washington (see, for I. purchasi, 

 pp. 466 492, and plates). ' Insects noxious to Agriculture, &c., in New 

 Zealand. The Scale Insects Coccididce,' 1887, by W. M. Maskell, F.B.M.S., 

 Wellington, N.Z. 



f- See Beport by Mr. Koland Trimen, Curator of the S. African Mus., on 

 the insect of the family Coccidffi, commonly known as the " Australian 

 Bug." Government notice (Blue Book), No. 113, 1877. 



