26 



Dissolve the soap in boiliug water, and, while the solution is still 

 boiling or verj' hot, add the kerosene. Churn the mixture through a 

 force pump until it emulsifies, which will take about five minutes. 

 For ordinary use dilute the emulsion with nine parts of water. 

 Another method of preparing kerosene emulsion is given in the article 

 on the Greenhouse Orthezia in this bulletin. 



THE GREENHOUSE ORTHEZIA.* 



Orthezia insignis Doug. 



The despicable little insect figured on the accompanying plate is 

 one of the newest pests in greenhouses. It is a tropical insect some- 

 what closely allied to the common mealy bugs familiar to every florist. 

 It was first brought to notice near New York City about five years 

 ago and has now become very generally disseminated through the 

 adjoining states. In Massachusetts it is most common about Boston. 



The Greenhouse Orthezia has its mouth parts formed for piercing 

 and sucking, and obtains its nourishment by imbibing the plant sap, 

 like all other species of the family to which it belongs. The young 

 are very small, and would hardly be discerned on a plant were it not 

 for the presence of snow-white plates of waxy matter which occur on 

 the back and sides, and which contrast strongly with the darker back- 

 ground of the body. The adult females are about the size of the 

 head of a pin and resemble the young in appearance, but bear in 

 addition to the white plates on the back and sides a somewhat cylin- 

 drical sac of the same substance, which projects for some distance 

 behind the insect and in which the eggs are carried. At the poste- 

 rior end of this sac is an opening through which the young crawl soon 

 after hatching from the egg. The young are then quite lively, and 

 scatter well over the stem and underside of the leaves of the plant. 



* A much more complete account of this insect with technical descriptions of all 

 the described species in the genus Orthezia was published in the Tliirty-second 

 Annual Report of the Massachusetts Agricultural College, 1895, pp. 111-133. The 

 Plate illuistrating this article is taken from that source. 



