78 DESTRUCTIVE INSECTS OF VICTORIA : 



Beneatli the larger scale, if the edge be carefully lifted 

 with the point of a small knife and turned upside down, 

 it will be observed, by the aid of an ordinary pocket lens, 

 to contain a number of minute white eggs (see Plate VII., 

 Fig. 3), 40 or more in number, which, upon being mag- 

 nified under a fairly high power appear to be composed 

 of white transparent matter the months of April, May, 

 and June, being very good ones for observing this insect 

 whilst in the egg stage. 



The eggs are soon hatched, and at once these tiny 

 creatures commence operations upon the unfortunate tree, 

 and from thence often spreading to the fruit, doing great 

 damage to the former by absorbing the juices of the tree, 

 and to the latter by at least disfiguring the fruit (see Plate 

 VII.), thereby lessening its fresh appearance and con- 

 sequently its market value. 



When this pest (as is the case with the majority of 

 Scale insects) finds its way into an orchard, it will, if not 

 at once checked, spread with fearful rapidity, and in 

 orchards of large and old trees is then difficult to contend 

 with. 



At the recent conference of fruit-growers, held to take 

 into consideration the advisability or otherwise of intro- 

 ducing a Noxious Insects Bill, one of the delegates 

 present, Mr. Errey, jun., of Camperdown, Victoria, 

 brought a piece of the limb of a gum-tree (one of the 

 Eucalypti), upon which the Mussel-scale fairly swarmed. 

 Unfortunately, the specimen was removed before I had 

 time to compare it with those obtained from the apple-tree ; 

 but this I yet hope to do, as if it can be proved that this 

 pest has transferred itself to our native trees, it becomes 

 a very serious matter for us. Probably, however, it may 

 be identical with Mr. Crawford's Mytilaspis Eucalypti, a 

 species found on the gum-trees in South Australia, but 

 distinct from that attacking apples. 



Prevention and Remedies. 



When once apple trees are attacked by the Mussel- 

 scale, no time should be lost, and giving the stems of the 



