160 ASTEROLECANIUM VARIOLOSUM. 



little coccid lias already been dealt with, and as I have 

 nothing further to add I must refer the reader to the 

 chapter dealing with the natural enemies of the 

 Coccidas (Vol. I, pp. 84-39), under the name Aster o- 

 diaspis quercicola. 



Distribution. Probably indigenous to Europe. It 

 was first observed by Signoret as. an injurious species 

 about the year 1836 near Paris, and he stated that 

 certain oaks in the Bois de Boulogne were practically 

 destroyed by it. It has since been recorded from 

 other parts of the continent of Europe, but I believe 

 more or less sparingly. Dr. Fletcher found it in 

 considerable numbers at Ottawa, Canada, on oaks 

 imported from Pennsylvania ; and King records it 

 from Niagara, Ontario. It has also been found on 

 imported oaks at Washington, U.S.A. In 1895 

 Maskell (1. c.) received it from Nelson, New Zealand, 

 and he says that the twigs of oak from that locality 

 " were so thickly covered with the little greenish- 

 yellow tests as to be in places invisible." Shortly 

 afterwards the species was found to be equally 

 abundant at Sydney, N.S.W. Dr. Froggatt (1. c.) 

 says, " Last year the Director of the Botanic Gardens 

 sent me a number of twigs from the oaks growing in 

 the outer domain upon which the leaves were withered 

 at the tips, and the shoots in a dying condition, from 

 the immense number of scales covering them. Shortly 

 afterwards I examined the oaks in the Botanic 

 Gardens, and found that the tips of every twig were 

 surmounted with four or five dead leaves, giving them 

 a very curious appearance. The twigs just at the 

 tips, and for a few inches down, were covered with 

 the bright yellow scales, which, though scattered down 

 the branchlets, did not appear to extend for several 

 feet to the main branches." The occurrence of such 

 abnormal numbers of this coccid was probably due to 

 the absence of the European members of the Parida3, 

 which have been found to feed upon the insects so 

 extensively in this country. 



