474 FRUIT CULTURE IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 



ine to the Department of State in my dispatch No. 89, of 23d January, 

 1886. Prof. F. M. Webster and Mr. Albert Koebele, of the Department 

 of Agriculture. Washington, D. C., who visited Australia during the 

 year 1888, are of opinion that the absence of the cottony cushion scale, 

 Icerya, is due to the prevalence of the Australian lady-bird, Vedolia 

 cardinalis, which not only feeds upon the scale itself, but deposits its 

 eggs beneath them, and the young Iarva3 of the lady-bird burrow into 

 the egg masses from below and feed upon the eggs of the leery as ; 

 later they attack the Iceryas of all sizes. 



During the last two years a number of Australian lady-birds have 

 been introduced into infected orchards in California with the most 

 gratifying results. Prof. D. W. Ooquillett, of Los Angeles, Gal., has 

 very carefully studied the life-history of the lady-bird, and an account 

 of them is contained in Professor Riley's Annual Report for 1888. In 

 Insect Life, volume 2, No. 3, 1889, page 70, published by authority of 

 the Secretary of Agriculture, Washington, Prof. D. W. Coquillett 

 states that the Australian lady-birds have been distributed through 

 many orchards *on the Pacific slope of the United States, and that they 

 have spread very rapidly. Mr. J. R. Dobbin, of St. Gabriel, Gal., 

 stated, in July, 1889, that the Australian lady-bird had multiplied and 

 spread over 3,200 trees in his orchard, and that the cottouy cushion scale 

 was rapidly disappearing. He says : 



I made a public statement that my orchard would be free of Icerya by the first of 

 November, but the work has gone on with such amazing speed and thoroughness that 

 I am to-day confident that the pest will have been thoroughly exterminated from my 

 trees by the first of August. As the lady-bird has been extensively distributed, I feel 

 positive from my own experience that the entire valley (San Gabriel) will be prac- 

 tically free from the Icerya before the advent of the new year. 



Citrus trees are affected with what is called the lemon-tree borer, 

 jffimona hirta, in both Australia and New Zealand. In some districts 

 the trees are completely riddled by this pest. Mr. A. T. Urquard 

 of the Karaka in New Zealand, forwarded specimens of these insects 

 to Prof. T. Kirk, F. L. S., of New Zealand, in the pupa state, enabling 

 the professor to identify them with the dEmona hirta of Captain Brown's 

 " Manual of the New Zealand Coleoptera." Mr. Urquhard stated that 

 he had observed this insect for several years in connection with the 

 fertilization of the Yucca fiber plant, but its identity with tht lemon- 

 tree borer has not hitherto been suspected. 



Professor Kirk says that the best way to stop the inroads of the 

 borer is to prevent the deposition of eggs ; this he says, however, can 

 not be done effectively until its habits are more widely known. He 

 recommends that all wounds should, as far as possible, be covered with 

 tar or some substance calculated to prevent the deposition of eggs ; 

 also, probing the galleries with a wire and perforating the larva would 

 be found effective. Soft soap dissolved in boiling water containing a 

 little carbolic acid injected into the galleries by means of a syringe is 

 said to dissolve the larva. Professor Kirk says a weak solution of 

 caustic potash would prove equally effective. 



