14 



DEDUCTIONS. 



From observations made, I feel satisfied that there are no "two forms," 

 but that the red scale found throughout the Santa Ana Valley and the 

 red scale found in the San Gabriel Valley are two different and distinct 

 insects. Why? First, because the red scale that is found throughout the 

 Santa Ana Valley attacks the limbs, leaves, fruit, and the trunk of the 

 trees. The one at San Gabriel only attacks the leaves and the fruit. Sec- 

 ondly, in the former the limbs die back; in the latter they do not, as the 

 former covers the bark of the trunk and limbs thickly, and the latter only 

 attacks the leaves and the fruit. Thirdly, the color of the scale of the 

 former is vermilion red; the color of the latter, dirty yellow, and much 

 smaller. The young scale of the former, as soon as a covering begins to 

 form over the insect, is also of a vermilion red, while that of the latter 

 does not differ from the color of the mature scale. 



PARASITES AND BENEFICIAL INSECTS. 



Several parasites and beneficial insects have been introduced into 

 California from the Eastern and Southern States, and are now being 

 propagated at three different stations of the Board. Very soon their 

 merits will be known, and, if satisfactory, they will be distributed 

 throughout the State. All parasites and predaceous insects arrived in 

 very good condition. Colonel J. R. Dobbins, of San Gabriel, who received 

 the first colonies, under date of May twenty-seventh writes: "Your 

 several letters from Florida, Washington, and New York were duly 

 received, as also the box containing the beetles in fine order. I did not 

 disturb them, but merely took the cover from, the box and fastened it 

 (the box) among the foliage of the tree, just as I did last year with the 

 Vedalia colonies. I covered two medium sized trees with cheesecloth 

 stretched over a wooden frame, and, as suggested in yours, gave an 

 entire tree to each variety. Each tree was more or less infested with 

 red and black scale, and some aphis. I have looked into these cover- 

 ings several times, but it is much too soon to expect any development. 

 I had the first lot of Vedalia nearly two months before any increase or 

 work was manifest, and shall not look for anything better in connection 

 with those you sent me. They have been well handled, protected, and 

 cared for, and we must now await the pleasure of dame Nature. My 

 opinion is that no one can form any intelligent ideas as to what may be 

 the outcome of the experiment until sufficient time has elapsed for them 

 to increase and multiply. If they do that, we shall know to a certainty 

 that they have found something to eat and to sustain themselves upon, 

 and measures can then be taken to learn of what their diet may con- 

 sist." 



It had been reported that the Australian lady bird ( Vedalia cardi- 

 nalis) had died out, and it looked very much that way, from the fact 

 that none could be found until last week (about June first), when sev- 

 eral thousand were shipped to all parts of the State from one of the 

 stations of this Board. Colonel Dobbins, under date of June first, 

 advises the Board as follows: "Two boxes of Vedalia arrived one on 

 Saturday, the other on Sunday and they were in good shape.. One 

 colony I located in my own neighborhood, and put the other at Sunny 



