No. 1.1 



Mucellnn eoU^ Nutes. 



17 





From Mr. Marshall Woodrow, of I'ooiiaj were received iu Oetoljer 



lb 90 specimens of a 

 Arec^ Piilrn Coccid, iu the Kouknn. ,, \ l\ 



coeeid said to attack the 



Supnree nut palm . [Areea 

 catecJiu) in the Janjira 

 State, on the coast, about 

 80 miles south of Bom- 

 bay, the outturn of drC'^s- 

 ed beetle nuts having 

 been reduced by the 

 ravages of the pest, 

 from 10 lbs. per tree to 

 1 lb. per tree. The trees 

 were said to have suffer- 

 ed for the last twsnty- 

 five years from this insect, 

 which has become spe- 

 cially troublesome during 

 the past six or seven 

 years. Tiie specimens were submitted to Mr. W. Maskell, who has 

 kindly furnished the following note on the identifications of the species : — 



"The insect is, as veo-ards tlie fernale, so raucb like Chionaspis asfidistrce, 

 Signoret, that I may consider it identical with that species. The female pupauiura 

 agrees in its yellow colour andpyriform shape ; the second pellicle is rather large ; and 

 the enclosed insect has the remarkably prominent abdominal segments, as shown in 

 the enclosed rough sketch, characteristic of C. aspidistrce. As far as I can make 

 out, Aspidistra is a genus of half a dozen species of ornamental plants in China and 

 Japan ; and it seems quite likely that (supposing jou to have none of the genus in 

 India) this scale may have other food plants, of wliich one would be Areca catechu. 

 I could not, amongst the numerous specimens you sent me, discover anj' male puparia. 

 In C. aspidistrce these would be small, white, narrow and carinated. In the absence 

 of the perfect certainty which these puparia would give us I think my diagnosis of 

 the female is probably correct." 



With regard to remedies, Mr. Woodrow recommended the people 

 to fire the badly-affected trees and to wash those which were but slightly 

 attacked with an emulsion made in the proportion of one gallon of 

 water, one ounce of sulphate of copper, one ounce of kerosine oil, and a 

 handful of cowdung, to be applied three timee at intervals of a few days, 

 so as to destroy the young as fast as they emerged. It may also be 

 noticed that, as the experience of entomologists in the United States 

 has shown that kerosine and soap emulsion is the best application for 

 destroying Scale insects of all kinds, recource might be had to it, if the 

 treatment suggested by Mr. Woodrow should prove insutlicient. Full 

 directions for the preparation of kerosine and soap emulsiou will be 

 found in earlier numbers of these Notes. 



