GENUS FIORINIA IN THE UNITED STATES. 77 



and labeled F.Jiorinise var. camellix, proves it to be F. these Green and 

 not a variety. 



In March, 1908, iVir. George F. Mtchell, of the Experimental Tea 

 Farm at Summerville, S. C, submitted leaves of tea thickly infested 

 with Fiorinia these Green and stated that it was becoming a serious 

 enemy of this plant. At the request of Dr. R. H. True, Air. J. G. 

 Sanders, at that time an agent of the Bureau of Entomology, visited 

 the tea farm and found this seal© in abundance on Assam hybrid, 

 Darjeeling, and China teas and cameUias grown for ornamental pur- 

 poses. Mr. Sanders observed that the Darjeeling tea which was 

 grown in moist lowland was frequently covered with a brown fungus, 

 which was apparently parasitic on the scale. 



It is the belief of Dr. Charles U. Shepard, who is in charge of the 

 experimental farm, that the tea affords better food than Camellia 

 japonica, and he states that it is seldom if ever that the latter plant 

 is killed by attack of this insect alone. 



Since no plants have been introduced from Asiatic regions, all 

 being grown from seed, it is extremely probable that its introduction 

 was through the agency of the cameUias, which have been for a 

 number of years greatly in demand as ornamental plants in this 

 country. 



According to Watt and Mann ^ this scale is of common occurrence 

 in both Assam and Kangra, and is the most prevalent of all coccids 

 in the former Province. !Mr. Stebbing ^ records it on the leaves of 

 the olive, Olea glandulifera, in the northwestern Himalayas, fi'e- 

 quently causing the leaves to turn yellow and drop off. 



Although this insect occurs on both sides of the leaves of tea and 

 Camellia japonica, it is more commonly found on the underside, and 

 if present in sufficient niunbers it can be easily detected by yeUow 

 markings plainly to be seen on the upper surface. 



Fiorinia these. Green can be readily separated from F.jiorinise Targ. 

 by the larger and darker scale, the presence of a proboscis-Uke pro- 

 jection between the antennae which have no stout spines, and in the 

 absence of lateral lobes on the pygidium. 



Scale of female. — Elongate, narrow, dark brown in color, usuaU}^ 

 darker than F. fiorinise, with a distinct dark median longitudinal 

 carina; adult insect entirely inclosed in the hardened exuvia of the 

 second stage, wliich varies from 1 to 1.24 mm. in length, and does not 

 bear a secretionary margin. Length, 1 to 1.40 mm. Breadth, 0.40 

 to 0.60 mm. 



Scale of maZe.— Snow-white, sides nearly parallel, usually indis- 

 tinctly tricarinate, pellicle pale yellow approaching lemon-yeUow at 

 extreme posterior tip. When present in large numbers the puparia 



1 The Pests and Blights of the Tea Plant (second edition), p. 306 (1903). 



2 Manual of Forest Zoology of India, p. 166 (190S). 



