176 



1 72 sect Pests. 



hazel, horse chestnut, laurel, cherry, sloe and euouymus. Eeh (3) 

 also gives, in addition, Prunus armeniaca. It seems to he generally 

 spread over Europe, and Fernald records it 

 in Nova Scotia, a probable introduction. It 

 seems to be rare in Wales and Scotland. 

 I found it on apples near Criccieth in 1889 

 in some numbers, but I believe they had 

 been recently imported from the Midlands. 



LiFE-HlSTOEY. 



This insect is subject to much variation ; 

 the old adult female after death is dusky 

 chestnut - brown, of spherical shape and 

 varies in length about } to nearly ^ inch, 

 rather less in breadth. 



The male is a pale crimson with two 

 broad short wings, two long tail filaments ; 

 the puparium is small and elongated oval. 

 The male occurs in April and May. The 

 eggs are pale yellowish-white and hatch at 

 the end of the summer into pink larvae 

 which soon become orange and crimson or 

 red-brown. The first moult takes place 

 before winter, when they are found on the twigs as small elongate 

 brown bodies only ^^ inch long. In spring dusky transverse stripes 

 appear and the sexes can be separated. By the time the males are 

 ready to hatch, the females are mature, and the winged males fertilise 

 them. Egg-laying then commences. A healthy average female, says 

 Newstead, lays about 2,000 eggs. 



\F. K. 

 FIG. 143.— BROWN SOFT SCALE. 



(Lecanium caprex). 



Natuhal Enemies. 



Newstead records a small hymenopterous parasite {Bladotlvrix 

 sericea, Dal.) as a great enemy. This small parasite produces deformi- 

 ties in the scale insect altering its external form. When the parasite 

 escapes, a small hole is seen in the dried female (so-called scale). 



Birds also destroy numbers. 



Treatment. 

 This insect, should it appear in large numbers in a plantation, 

 would be best attacked by paraffin emulsion in late summer after the 

 larvae have hatched. 



