INSECTS INJURIOUS TO CITRUS GROVES. 5Q7 



The Wax or White Scale, (Oeroplastes floridetisis 

 Comstock). This beautiful insect is 0.08 to 0.12 of an 

 inch (2 to 3 mm) in length, of an oval form, convex 

 above, and concave beneath. The upper surface presents 

 a rounded protuberance in the centre, around which are 

 arranged six or eight smaller prominences or lobes, which 

 are separated by a groove from the central projection. 

 The white covering consists of soft wax, quite similar 

 to the commercial article. The color in clean specimens 

 inclines to a beautiful, flesh-tinted white, the pinkish 

 tinge being given by the reflection of the light through 

 the wax from the red insect beneath. The insect itself 

 bears on its upper surface six tubercles, three on each 

 side, and shows a short anal tube, the end of which is 

 seen projecting from the posterior extremity of the waxy 

 covering at the bottom of a deep pit. The walls of the 

 body are very thin, and enclose liquids or eggs of a dark 

 red color. The egg is 0.01 of an inch (0.25 mm) long, 

 and of ellipsoidal form. 



The eggs, 71 or 100 in number, are extruded from the 

 body and hatched beneath the waxy scale. The young, 

 escaping from beneath the scale, attach themselves by 

 their beaks to the surfaces of the leaves, chiefly along 

 the midribs and veins. As they approach maturity they 

 go to the bark of the twigs and smaller branches. The 

 exudations of wax first form in ridges, the marginal ones 

 uniting around the central one. 



About a dozen or fifteen similar tufts of wax arise 

 around the centre, and the young louse, when about a 

 week old, has been compared to an oval white star upon 

 the leaf. At this stage it has some superficial resem- 

 blance to some of the stages of insects belonging in the 



