CITRUS FRUIT INSECTS IN" MEDITERRANEAN COUNTRIES. 21 



NATURAL ENEMIES. 



The one important natural enemy of this scale in Italy, as elsewhere, 

 is the Australian ladybird, Novius cardinalis Muls. This beetle, as 

 already intimated, has been introduced into all the known colonies of 

 the scale in Sicily. The beetle has also been distributed with success 

 in Palestine. 



Cryptochaetum icerya Will., a dipterous parasite, is the second most 

 important enemy of the cottony cushion scale in some of the countries 

 where it occurs, but it was not taken by the writer in Sicily. It is a 

 small fly of a metallic green color, the larva of which lives within the 

 scale. 



THE CITRUS MEALY BUG. 1 



Pseudococcus citri Risso. 



DISTRIBUTION AND INJURY. 



The citrus mealy bug is found in greater or less numbers in nearly 

 all parts of the citrus sections of Spain and Italy. It frequently 

 occurs in serious numbers, and masses of the insects, with their cottony 

 secretion and also much sooty-mold fungus, will be found on the 

 leaves and fruit. In Sicily during the season of 1913 the writer 

 unhesitatingly places the mealy bug at the head of all the citrus insect 

 pests. Clirysomphalus dictyospermi is serious enough in several 

 places, but the area involved is small as compared with that seriously 

 infested with the mealy bug. The scale is also more amenable to 

 treatment. The worst infestations of the mealy bug occurred along 

 the east coast at Catania, Acireale, and Messina, and several interme- 

 diate points, though bad infestations were also seen at several points 

 on the north coast. In many places the numbers were so great that 

 the masses of cotton extended for an inch or two below the fruit. 

 (PI. VI, figs. 1 and 2.) Many of the lemons fell from the trees, others 

 were stunted in growth, and a heavy dropping of the leaves occurred. 

 The fallen fruit and leaves, with the insects and cotton still on them, 

 gave the ground a distinctly whitish appearance. 



Infestations of the mealy bug in Sicily in 1913 were just as severe 

 and much more extensive than were those in the Ventura and San 

 Diego sections in California a few years ago. Even outside of these 

 extremely severe infestations, the insect was generally distributed 

 and much more abundant throughout the entire citrus area in Sicily 

 than was ever seen in Calif ornia outside of the two sections mentioned. 2 



1 Spanish (Valenciana), Cotonet; Italian, Cocciniglia farinosa degli agrumi; Sicilian, Cuttunedda. 



2 The writer may be pardoned for making frequent comparisons between the Mediterranean citrus sec- 

 tions and that of California, but this is done for three reasons: First, people can best judge of conditions in 

 foreign countries in terms of their own conditions; second, California is most like the Mediterranean citrus 

 region; third, the writer is acquainted with citrus conditions in California. 



