ATTACKING THE BRANCHES. 



41 



the tree. In a few days a fringe of delicate waxy threads 

 issues from their bodies, when they have the appearance shown 

 at 3. Gradually the insect assumes the form shown at 4 ; 5 

 and 6 represent the louse as it approaches maturity, and when 

 detached from the scale; 1 shows the egg highly magnified ; 

 and 8 one of the antennae of the young lice, also much enlarged. 

 Before the end of the season the louse has secreted for itself 



FIG. 29. 



the scaly covering shown at 7, in which it lives and matures. 

 The scale is figured as it appears from the under side when 

 raised and with the louse in it. By the middle of August 

 this female louse has become little else than a bag of eggs, 

 and the process of depositing these now begins, the body of 

 the parent shrinking day by day, until finally, when this 

 work is completed, it becomes a mere atom at the narrow 

 end of the scale, and is scarcely noticeable. 



The scales of the male louse are seldom seen ; they are 

 most frequently found upon the leaves, both on the upper 

 and under sides ; they are smaller in size than those of the 

 female, and different also in shape. The male scale is shown 

 at c, Fig. 30, in which cut is also represented the male insect, 

 much magnified, with wings closed and expanded. 



Only one brood is produced annually in the North, the 

 eggs remaining unchanged under the scale for about nine 

 months ; but in some parts of the South the insect is double- 



