

NATURAL ENEMIES OF THE COCCIDS I BIRDS. 33 



parasitised. In the majority of species this occurs in 

 July and August. The parasitised Coccid larva con- 

 tinues to live without any apparent signs of the hidden 

 enemy through the winter and early spring. It is not 

 until the insect has reached its penultimate stage that 

 the imprisoned parasites, as a rule, make any external 

 signs of their presence in their host. It is possible, 

 therefore, that the eggs of the parasite may lie dormant 

 until the insect has almost matured, when the para- 

 sitic larvae make their escape, and, after sucking up 

 the life-giving juices of the unfortunate Coccid, finally 

 pupate within its body, and eventually escape, just at 

 the right moment when the newly hatched larvse are 

 abroad, and, as in the case of the Diaspinae, before 

 they have been able to protect their bodies with the 

 secretiony coverings. 



BIRDS. 



We have little or no information from foreign 

 sources to show that Coccids are devoured by birds ; 

 and coccidologists are either altogether silent on the 

 subject, or agree that vertebrate animals rarely make 

 attacks on these insects. 



Mr. Maskell* says " birds as a rule do not care to 

 eat them. The ' blight-bird,' or white-eye, Zosterops 

 later alls, has been noticed in this country pecking 

 about in holly hedges infested by Lecan mm hesper idum; 

 but it is not absolutely certain whether it was eating 

 the Coccids or other more easily picked-off insects on 

 the plant, such as Psocus, which is very commonly 

 observed among Coccids. And other birds seem not 

 to devour them at all." Mr. Greenf writes, " Birds are 

 sometimes supposed to play an important part in the 

 warfare against scale insects, but I am inclined to 

 think that their usefulness against this particular class 

 of insect pests has been overrated. I have watched 



* An Account of New Zealand Scale Insects, 1887 ; p. 20. 

 f The Coccidse of Ceylon, 1896, p. 4. 



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