REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST I914 85 



& Bartlett Company, Stamford, Conn., twigs and leaves of this tree 

 showing a somewhat severe infestation by the above-named insect. 

 Several trees were infested and at least one was in a weakened con- 

 dition. The scale has much the shape of that ofLepidosaphes 

 ulmi Linn., except that it is somewhat broader. It is a small 

 species, being only 1.5 to 2 mm long and a dull grayish white (pure 

 white when the scale is first secreted) . The twig submitted for exami- 

 nation was thickly infested, while small numbers of the scale insects 

 had established themselves at the base of the principal leaf veins 

 with scattering individuals ranged along the veins to the middle of 

 the leaf. The absence of the tricarinate male scales characteristic of 

 Chionaspis, serves at once to distinguish the common scurfy scale 

 from this much rarer form. The insect was also found on an adjacent 

 privet hedge. 



There is very little literature relating to this species. It was 

 described in 1897 by Professor Cockerell from specimens taken on 

 broom shipped from Japan by Mr Alex. Craw the preceding year, 

 and subsequently it was found by Mr Craw on Magnolia 

 sou liana and maples, species not indicated, from the same 

 country. There are specimens in the State collection on orange, 

 received from Mr S. I. Kuwana, which, while closely allied, do not 

 appear to be identical with the form taken on Norway maple. 



Spruce bud scale (Physokermes piceae Schr.) . The 

 smaller twigs of Norway spruce, especially those infested with the 

 spruce gall aphid, Chermes abietis Linn., are occasionally in 

 a weakened, dying condition and, in some instances at least, are 

 rather badly infested by this scale insect. This peculiar pest estab- 

 lishes itself at the base of the branchlets, there sometimes being 

 clusters of two to five or even six of the oval, chestnut-brown scale 

 insects on a twig having a diameter of less than one-eighth of an inch. 

 Each of these very closely resembles a somewhat abnormally 

 developed bud and is easily mistaken for such (plate 3, figure 3). 

 Spruce twigs suffering from the attack of this insect are often received 

 in early July, at which time the young may be found under the 

 mother scales. An observation made some years ago shows that 

 occasionally this scale insect may be extremely abundant, since 

 Prof. Burton M. Gates records that in May and June 1908, bees 

 were attracted in large numbers to spruce trees at Amherst, Mass., 

 by copious exudations of honeydew produced by this bud-resembling 

 scale. The many bees attracted produced a noise suggestive of 

 swarming. The extraction of any such amount of honeydew from 

 a tree must mean a serious reduction in its vitality, and as this scale 



