CHAPTER II 

 BENEFICIAL INSECTS, PREDACEOUS AND PARASITIC 



Ladybird-bee ties 



AFTER his strawberries have been ruined by the strawberry 

 weevil, the garden truck by cutworms, the wheat despoiled by the 

 Hessian fly, the melon-patch fallen a prey to plant-lice, and the 

 fruit crop has been a failure on account of the codling moth, plum 

 curculio, and San Jose scale, it is scarcely surprising that the 

 farmer does as one of my acquaintances did and " orders the hands 

 to kill everything that crawls." 



But such would be entirely too heroic a measure, and if strictly 

 adhered to the remedy would be as bad as the disease, for it would 

 mean not only useless labor, but the destruction of the most effect- 

 ive means whereby insect pests are held in check. We pride 

 ourselves and justly that with our spray pumps and deadly 

 sprays many crops can be effectually protected; but were it not 

 for those other insects which' feed upon these injurious forms, 

 what an enormous, and, in some instances, almost futile task it 

 would be! 



Among these beneficial insects the Jittle ladybird-beetles of 

 the family Coccinellidce are entitled to be in the first rank. 

 Almost all the beetles and larvae feed upon plant-lice and scale 

 insects. Of such value are those feeding upon scale insects 

 that not many years ago several Australian species were 

 imported into California that they might prey upon the San 

 Jose and other scales. One of these was eminently successful 

 and almost completely destroyed the cottony cushion-scale. 



Of those feeding upon plant-lice, one of the most common 

 is the Nine-spotted Ladybird (Coccinella novemnotata) . Thi? 



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