No. 4.] SAN JOSE SCALE. 303 



few species of circular scales closely resembling the San Jose 

 scale, for whose separation the use of a compound microscope 

 is a necessity. The safest course for the farmer who finds 

 suspicious-appearing scales on his trees is to send a piece of 

 the infested bark or twig direct to the Experiment Station at 

 Amherst, where experts will gladly make a careful examina- 

 tion of the material, and inform the sender of the nature of 

 the insect. Suggestions concerning remedies, where the 

 latter are deemed necessary, will also be furnished. 



Food Plants. 

 The San Jose scale nourishes on a wide range of food 

 plants, and in this fact we see another reason to fear the 

 spread of the pest. Where infested nurseries are located 

 near woodlands, it is highly probable that the latter will 

 eventually become infested, and the eradication of the insect 

 in such a locality would be almost an impossibility. In this 

 State the San Jose scale has been found on the pear, apple, 

 Pyrus nigra, Pyrus heterophylla , plum, cherry, peach, 

 apricot, nectarine, purple-leafed prune, quince, Japanese 

 quince, rose, currant, grape, American elm, European elm, 

 balm of Gilead, willow and catalpa. Elsewhere it is known 

 to attack spirea, maple, walnut, birch, etc. Dr. Howard's 

 latest list of the food plants of this insect includes fifty-live 

 species. From this list it is evident that the insect is capable 

 of adapting itself to nearly all of our deciduous trees. 



Natural Enemies. 

 Several parasites of microscopic proportions have been 

 reared from the San Jose scale in the south and west, but, 

 so for as the writer has been able to learn, none have been 

 recorded from this State. Professor Rolfs of the Florida 

 Experiment Station has given much attention to a fungous 

 disease that has appeared in the colonies of the scale in the 

 south, and finds that it is of considerable assistance in check- 

 ing the increase of the insect. Samples of the fungus sent 

 to Dr. J. B. Smith, New Brunswick, N. J., were trans- 

 planted on infested trees with only slight success. In Massa- 

 chusetts the only natural enemies recorded are two species 

 of lady-birds, found by the writer at Auburndale, Mass., 



