Vol. xxix] ENTOMOLOGICAI, NEWS. 75 
adult lady beetles are not allowed a moment’s peace. By means of a 
natural protection the Vedalia larvae are not molested by the ants, nor 
are the stationary pupae, but the adults seem to lack this protective 
quality and many of them are actually killed and devoured by the ants. 
The extremely high temperatures accompanied by relatively high 
humidity during the summer exerted a very depressing effect upon the 
propagation of the Vedalia. They died off in millions so ... that they 
could not entirely hold the scale in check. For about a month, from 
mid-September to the middle of October, the weather was ideal for 
their propagation and they did very nicely, then it turned much too 
cool and for the past six weeks [to Nov. 27] they have done very 
little outdoors. . . . . . . . Very interesting results have been 
obtained through the very effective control of the Argentine ant 
in and around the hothouse used for the propagation of the Vedalia. 
Until the ants were controlled no difficulties were encountered in 
obtaining heavy infestations of the Jcerya on three large Pittosporum 
bushes which were planted in the hothouse and caged for Vedalia 
propagation. Since the control of the ant, however, the Jcerya is not 
doing nearly so well. The honeydew which was assiduously gathered 
by the ants for food now remains attached to the scales and as it con- 
tinues to be excreted it drops down forming threads which “candy” 
in the dry atmosphere. So much of this honey-dew is in evidence that 
the plants have taken on a snowy appearance.—C. L. Marvatt in Re- 
port No. 9, Emergency Ent. Service, U. S. Dept. Agr., Dec. 3, 1917. 
Maternal Care in Dinocoris tripterus Fab. (Hemiptera). 
Early in February, 1017, in conversation with Ralph Ballin, | 
a high school youth of this city, I learned that he had found on a 
banana, and still had in his care, a mother bug and her brood. I 
urged him to make what observations he could and later he presented 
me with the mother and her fifteen offspring. The adults and 
nymphs were identified by Mr. E. H. Gibson as Dinocoris tripterus 
Fab. Mr. Gibson writes that, so far as he has been able to learn, 
members of this genus occur only in Central and South America, and 
that the nymphs are in the second instar. 
Since there was some doubt in the mind of Fabre as to the ac- 
curacy of the observations on the maternal instinct in Hemiptera, 
and as Kirkaldy has unearthed much evidence (Entomologist, 36: 
113-120, 1903) to show the unfairness of Fabre, I quote the following 
from a letter from Ralph Ballin in reply to certain questions, with 
a figure made from a rough sketch by this youthful observer: 
“Early in February I found the group, mother, empty egg shells and 
young, on part of the banana nearest the stalk; this was concealed 
by other bananas. The young were already hatched when I found 
