42 NATURAL ENEMIES OF TIIK eoeein.F. : MICRO-FUNGI. 



MlCRO-FUNGI. 



In this country micro-fungi are only occasionally 

 destructive to Coccids, and so far as my experience 

 goes only infest those species found on plants under 

 glass. At the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, a colony of 

 Aspidiotus, sp., was completely destroyed by a fungoid 

 disease; and I have frequently seen colonies of Lc- 

 canium, spp., reduced by the same disease. The my- 

 celium may be found traversing every part of the 

 insect's body, but in no case have I found it penetrat- 

 ing into the tissues of the plants. 



True it is that one invariably finds the old dead 

 "scale" of our indigenous species attacked by mould, hut 

 this is the result of natural decay after death. I have 

 not met with a single instance of an outdoor Coccid in 

 this country being attacked 1\ fungoid disease, hut 

 future research may prove they are not immune from 

 such attacks. 



COLLECTING AND IY-KSKKVING Coccnu :. 



Unfortunately the Coccidae do not appeal to us for 

 their beauty, and owing to the lengthy and somewhat 

 tedious process necessary for the microscopical study 

 of them it is feared they will find comparatively few 

 admirers. But from their economic importance many 

 of them rank foremost amongst the most injurious 

 insects of the world ; and they certainly po--e-- many 

 characters of great interest to the biologist. It is 

 hoped therefore that a few hints on collecting and 

 preserving these insects may induce others to study 

 them. 



For field work the following apparatus is recom- 

 mended: strong pocket knife, small pair of pruning 

 shears, botanist's vasculum, set of glass tubes in case. 

 corked zinc collecting box, such as is used by lepi- 



