27 



As they grow older they become shiggish, but always retain their 

 power of locomotion. The mature males have a single pair of 

 wings, and, being very minute and also rare, are seldom noticed. 



Fig. 1 on Plate I. shows the female from above, and Fig. 2, the 

 same insect from beneath. Fig. 6 is of a half-grown insect. These 

 figures are magnified twenty diameters. The other figures show 

 structural details. 



The Greenhouse Orthezia has not as wide a range of food plants 

 as the Mealy Bug, but it attacks a greater variety of plants than 

 most florists are aware of. Jt has been found on lantana. verbena, 

 lemon verbena, coleus, salvia, libonia, peristrophe, iponia'a,tigeratum^ 

 cineraria, eupatorium, stevia, chrysanthemum, pilea, segar plant, 

 oxalis, pelargonium, abutilon, malvaviscus, fuchsia, heliotrope, peri- 

 winkle, potato, mint, white violet, and forget-me-not. In tropical 

 countries it is reported as infesting citius plants. On all in the 

 list as far as chrysanthemum, when allowed to increase without 

 molestation in the Insectary greenhouse, it became sufficiently inju- 

 rious to cause the death of the plant. 



Coleus appears to be the most favorable plant for its increase, and 

 it is of its injuries to this plant, especially to the variety known as 

 verschaffeUii, that florists most frequently complain. During the 

 winter it is very destructive to the coleus cuttings in the greenhouses, 

 and, if at all numerous on the young plants when they are set out in 

 spring, it is almost sure to increase in a short time to such prodigious 

 numbers that it kills or greatly weakens the plants before frost in 

 the fall. 



REMEDIES. 



As the plants which this pest infests are mostly tender annuals, it 

 is difficult to destroy the insects with insecticides without injuring 

 the plants. This makes preventive measures of more importance 

 to hold the insects in check than remedial ones. Most of the plants 

 are used for bedding purposes, and as these are nearly all placed out 

 of doors in the summer, not many insects would get into the houses 

 to breed and cause trouble in the winter if the plants brought in from 

 outside and the few which may have been kept in the houses during 

 the summer were thoroughly cleaned in the fall. Cuttings for stock 

 should only be made from uninfested plants, and cuttings or plants 

 received from other dealers should be examined at once and rejected 



