18 [January, 



two parasites therein referred to, a Coccinellid and a Dipteron, neither 

 has been determined. I believe that at least the Dipteron is now 

 well-known under the name of Lestoplionus iceryce, Eiley and Howard. 

 So well is this fly thought of in America, that the United States 

 Government, at the instigation of Professor Riley, despatched a 

 special envoy, Mr. A. Koebele, to South Australia to procure as many 

 epecimens possible of Lestoplwnus, for acclimatisation in California. 

 Mr. Koebele obtained, I believe, many thousand flies, and despatched 

 them to America ; unfortunately, two obstacles seemed to have come 

 in the way of success so far : one was the action of the Californian 

 custom house officers, who were foolish enough to insist on opening 

 the cases ; the other is the discovery of a Hymenopterous parasite on 

 Lestoplionus itself. I understand that Professor Riley is now making 

 very careful efforts to keep his Lestophonus alive in captivity, and not 

 to turn them out until the Hymenopters have been destroyed. But it 

 is not for me to detail the American experience ; are not these things 

 written in Professor Riley's excellent monthly periodical, "Insect 

 Life ? " 



Mr. Koebele, on his way back from Australia, stayed a few weeks 

 in New Zealand ; and this brings me to my particular ^oint. Writing 

 in 1887 (Scale Insects of New Zealand, p. 36), I referred to the idea 

 of introducing and acclimatising parasitic insects from other countries ; 

 and I remarked that it seemed to me better to look forward to the 

 time when our own native species would begin to act usefully. That 

 time was actually nearer than I thought. At the moment when my 

 Avords were being printed, Icerya Purchasi, which had up to that date 

 increased so wonderfully about Auckland that the trees and shrubs 

 were white with it, like snow, w'as beginning to rapidly disappear 

 under Coccinellid attacks. And when, in January, 1889, Mr. Koebele 

 came to Auckland, he was scarcely able to find specimens of the pest 

 without considerable trouble. I have already said that in another 

 locality (Napier, Hawke's Bay) a similar thing was happening ; and 

 Mr. Koebele was so pleased at the fact that he devoted himself to 

 collecting our N. Z. Coccinellce, and, I believe, took back with him to 

 San Prancisco more than two thousand live specimens. 



Two or three years ago a friend of mine, on his way out from 

 England, stopped for a month or so at the Cape of Good Hope, and 

 went up to Natal. There he fell in, I believe, with Mr. Bairstow, and 

 on his representations as to the value of Coccinella against Icerya, 

 procured a large jar-full of both insects and brought them on with 

 him to New Zealand. They stood the pat-sage remarkably well, and 



