460 ECONOMIC ZOOLOGY AND ENTOMOLOGY 



Finally an entomologist was sent to Australia to study the pest 

 in its native home and see if some natural enemy could not 

 be found that would help to control it. Among other things 

 that he sent back were colonies of the small ladybird-beetle 

 now commonly known as the Australian ladybird, Novius 

 ( Vedalia) cardinalis, and within a remarkably short time this 

 little beetle, both the larvae and adults of which feed exclu- 

 sively upon this scale, had so reduced the numbers of the pest 

 that it was practically under control, and since that time the 

 cottony-cushion scale has not been regarded as a serious pest. 

 As soon as it appears in considerable numbers on any trees 

 or plants some of the twigs or branches are cut off and sent 

 to the State Horticultural Commissioner who in return sends 

 out a small colony of the ladybird-beetles, if he finds that they 

 are not already present among the specimens that are sent in. 

 The large cottony egg sac of the female scale is longitudinally 

 ribbed or fluted, and is a conspicuous object that is not likely 

 to be mistaken for any other insect. The young are some- 

 times found on the leaves where they are easily recognized by 

 the light cottony secretion and the large glass-like filaments 

 that project from parts of the body. As the ladybird-beetles 

 keep it so well in control it is rarely necessary to take any other 

 measures to combat it. 



Florida Wax -scale (Ceroplastes floridensis] . Although this 

 insect seldom appears in great numbers on the orange or lemon 

 trees, its striking appearance, when it is present at all, at 

 once attracts attention to it and sometimes occasions consider- 

 able needless alarm. The young, which are seen on citrus trees 

 more commonly than the adults, are covered with a white waxy 

 secretion that radiates from the center so that the very young 

 insect looks like a small oval white star. As the insect grows 

 older the waxy covering becomes more or less distinctly 

 separated into six or eight plates. The color is white with a 

 pinkish tinge. 



The Barnacle -scale (C. cirripedijormis), looks somewhat 

 like the preceding but is much larger and the waxy plates 

 are more distinctly marked, each plate being mottled with 

 grayish or light brown. As these insects rarely become at 



