l897-] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 221 



DEPARTMENT OF EGONOMIG ENTOMOLOGY. 



Edited by Prof. JOHN B. SMITH, ScD., New Brunswick, N. J. 



Papers for this department are solicited. They should be sent to the editor. Prof. John 

 B. Smith, Sc.D., New Brunswick, N.J. 



The San Jose Scale.— It has been charged, and not without some show 

 of reason, that entomologists and some others are losing their heads in 

 the matter of dealing with this insect, and that there is an unnecessary 

 and somewhat hysterical excitement created by an overabundance of 

 lurid talk accompanied by an absence of careful study and work. 



I say the charge is not without some show of reason, for, after all, what 

 basis is there for all the fuss that has been made ? It is about time that 

 the subject was considered carefully and without excitement, lest the re- 

 action when it comes, as it inevitably must, destroy confidence in the 

 warnings of the entomologist altogether. 



The result thus far of the agitation has been restrictive laws of doubtful 

 constitutional value in some States, the imposition of license fees on the 

 nursery business in others and "rules and regulations" and examination 

 in some more, so that the nurseryman shipping outside his own State has 

 not the least idea of what will happen to his stock before it reaches his 

 customer, if indeed it ever reaches him. Sometimes he must have a 

 certificate of inspection and in one case must file it in another State in 

 exchange for printed permits to ship into that State. All these are vexa- 

 tious restrictions that are only admissible under stress of the clearest 

 necessity. 



Does such a necessity really exist ? 



The San Jose Scale, Aspidiotus perniciostis Comstock, is one of the 

 so-called "armored" scales, the insect itself being hidden and protected 

 by a covering of a tough tissue secreted by the insect itself and supple- 

 mented by its cast skins. There are other species of the same and allied 

 genera with equally dense coverings that occur in the Atlantic States, 

 but this perniciosus is an importation from the Pacific coast — which is all 

 that we really know of its nativity. Prof. Cockerell argues that it is a 

 native of Japan, and his arguments are weighty; but there is no real 

 proof; all is inference, based, I admit, on established facts, but the facts 

 are insufficient and not inconsistent with other conclusions. 



But that we have to deal with an imported insect is nothing really new — 

 we have others that have come to us and have done us woeful harm: cab- 

 bage butterflies, elm leaf beetles, asparagus beetles, horn flies, and others 

 too numerous to mention. Even from the great West we have an immi- 

 grant in the form of the Colorado potato beetle that is no "slouch" as 

 the boys would say. 



Is it so much more destructive than other pests ? Not at all. Let the 

 potato beetle alone and the potato harvest can be easily gathered in most 



