THE CHINESE WHITE-WAX SCALE, ERICERUS PELA 

 CHAVANNES 



By INOKICHI KUWANA 

 Of the Imperial Plant Quarantine Station, Yokohama, Japan 



INTRODUCTION 



My attention was first called to the Chinese white-wax scale, 

 Ericerus pela Chavannes, 1 during the summer of 1918, and since 

 that time I have had it under more or less continuous observation 

 for two years. The results of the study are recorded in this 

 paper. 



Besides the commercial value of its wax product, the insect 

 possesses considerable interest from other points of view, espe- 

 cially that of its biology. Although Sasaki (17) and Yano(20) 

 studied its life history to a considerable extent, the notes pub- 

 lished by them on the biology and on the description of the 

 various stages leave many points untouched. 



The object of this paper is to present some additional informa- 

 tion about the insect, especially as to its morphology. The de- 

 tailed descriptions of all stages from the egg to the adult, both 

 male and female, were made from living and freshly mounted 

 material collected during the course of the study, and the notes 

 on the life history and habits are from personal observation. 



The original material for this study, consisting of females 

 with eggs, was obtained by me at Okudo-mura near Tokyo City, 

 on the branches of Fraxinus bungeana var. pubinervis, in the 

 early summer of 1918. From these eggs the scale was bred on 

 the same host and on Ligustrum ibota in the insectary of the 

 Imperial Plant Quarantine Station at Yokohama. My thanks 

 are due to Mr. K. Katsumata and to the late Mr. K. Kobayashi, 

 who kindly assisted me in the insectary. The figures were 

 drawn by Nobu Kuwana under my direction. 



(according to Fernald'a 



