64 INSECTS AFFECTING THE ORANGE. 



TEE DESTRUCTIVE MEALY-BUG. 

 (Daciylopius destructor, Comstock. 



[Figs. 22 and 23.] 



This species has been for several years very destructive to orange 

 trees in groves and gardens in the neighborhood of Jacksonville, Fla., 

 but although this, or some other species with difficulty distinguished 

 from it, attacks the pineapple, Banana, Gtiava, and other tropical plants, 

 no species of Mealy-bug has hitherto been reported as a pest in orange 

 groves in the more southern portions of the State.* 

 Prof. J. H. Comstock gives the following account of this insect: t 

 " Adult Female. Length, 3.5 mm to4 inm ; width, 2 mm . Color, dull brown- 

 ish yellow, somewhat darker than with D. longifilis ; legs and antennae 



concolorous with body. The lateral append- 

 ages (seventeen on each side) are short and 

 inconspicuous and are subequal in length. 

 Upon the surface of the body the powdery 

 secretion is very slight. In spite of the small 

 size of the filaments, the spinnerets and the 

 supporting hairs are as numerous and as prom- 

 inent, or nearly so*, as in D. lonijijilis ; those 

 upon the anal lobes being especially long. 

 Antenna 8 jointed : joint 8 is the longest and 



FIG. y>. T>actylnpws destructor 



CmustO'-k; female, enlarged. IS tWlCC JIS loilg OS tllC HCXt 111 length, lOlllt 3. 

 (AfterC'oiiistocli.) . *.-.* i - i 



After 3, joints 1 and f, subequal, theno andG, 



joint 4 being the shortest. The tarsi are a little, more than half the 

 length of the tibiaB and thedigitules are as in the preceding species (D. 

 adon'uhu)i); claws strung. 



u Eyj. Length, O.i'D" 1 " 1 ; shape, rather long, ellipsoidal ; color, light 

 straw yellow. 



u Young Larva. Rather brighter colored than the egg. Antennae 

 6-jointed with the female, with the same relative proportions as in the 

 preceding species. Tarsi considerably longer than the tibi3. The 

 lower lip is large, conical, and reaches almost to the posterior coxre. 



" Male. Length, 0.87 mm ; expanse of wings. 2.5 mm . Color light olive- 

 brown, lighter than in following species ( />. lonyifilix}; legs coucolorous 

 with body ; antennaB reddish ; eyes dark red ; bands darker brown than 

 the general color; anterior edge of mesoscutum and posterior edge of 

 scutellum darker brown. Body, as will be seen from measurements, 

 rather small and delicate compared with the size of the wings; head 

 small, with almost no hair; antenna} 10-jointed. joints 3 and 10 longest 

 and equal; joints 2, G, 7, 8, and 9 nearly equal and considerably shorter 



* Local outbreaks of the Mealy-bu^ aro froai time to time reported in the central 

 portions of the peninsula. (See Appendix I.) 

 t Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture for 1880, p. 342. 



