LEPIDOPTERA 



27 



Through the investigations of the United States I)e- 

 partment of Agriculture a certain kind of ladybug 

 (Vedalia) was found in Australia, which is the natural 

 enemy of an insect pest (cottony cushion scale) that was 

 destroying the orange trees grown in California. This 

 scale is a plant insect which was imported into the I nited 

 States on young trees. 

 Being 1 freed from their 

 natural enemies (Ve- 

 dalia) which were not 

 imported, they had in- 

 creased rapidly. The 

 prompt importation of 

 Vedalia put an end to 

 their increase, and tliey 

 are now of no great 

 economic importance. 



The bird enemies of 

 the beetle are numerous. 

 Among the most impor- 

 tant are the ring-necked 

 pheasant recently intro- 

 duced, the rose-breasted 

 grosbeak, and the quail, 

 which feed particularly 

 on the potato beetles. 



The English sparrow, cuckoo, and kingbird feed on the 

 weevils. Robins, blackbirds, and crows eat the white 

 grubs, the larval stage of the May beetles. The wood- 

 peckers destroy great numbers of borers by digging holes 

 in the trees where the borers are tunneling. 



18. Lepidoptera. — The Lepidoptera (lep-i-dfy/ter-a : 

 Greek, lepidas, scaly ; pteron, wing) include the familiar 

 moths and butterflies. Some of the members of this order, 



Figure 22. 



Holes made by Wood- 

 peckers. 



