PKEVIOUS WORK WITH INSECT PARASITES. 27 



reported that the cottony cushion scale was practically no longer a 

 factor to be considered in the cultivation of oranges and lemons in 

 California. The following season this statement was fully justified, 

 and since that time the cottony cushion scale, or white scale, or fluted 

 scale, as it is called, has no longer been a factor in California horti- 

 culture. Rarely it begins to increase in numbers at some given point, 

 but the Australian ladybirds are always kept breeding at the head- 

 quarters of the State Board of Horticulture at Sacramento, and such 

 outbreaks are speedily reduced. In fact, it has been difficult for the 

 State horticultural authorities to keep a sufficient supply of scale 

 insect food alive for the continued breeding of the ladybirds. 



The same insect was introduced direct from California into New 

 Zealand at a later date, and the same good results were brought about. 

 The leery a is no longer a feature in horticulture in New Zealand. 



Novius in Portugal. 



Still a third striking instance of the value of the Australian ladybird 

 was seen later in the case of Portugal. Icerya purchasi was probably 

 introduced into that country in the late eighties or early nineties from 

 her colonies in the Azores, to which point it was probably introduced 

 many years previously from Australia. The insect spread rapidly 

 and threatened the complete destruction of the orange and lemon 

 groves along the banks of the River Tagus. In September, 1896, 

 persons in Portugal applied to the senior author for advice as to the 

 most efficacious means of fighting the scale insect, and a reply was 

 made urging them to make an effort to introduce (Vedalia) Novius 

 cardinalis and sending information as to the success of the insect in 

 California. In October, 1897, the chief of the bureau was able to 

 secure, through the kindness of the State Board of Agriculture of 

 California, about 60 specimens of the ladybird, which were sent by 

 direct mail from Washington packed in moss. But five reached Por- 

 tugal alive, but these were so successfully cared for that there was a 

 numerous progeny. Another sending was made on the 22d of Novem- 

 ber following. These were received on the 19th of December and 

 proved successful. Early in September, 1898, the statement was 

 published in Lisbon newspapers that already colonies or stocks of the 

 Vedalia had been established on 487 estates, whence naturally many 

 others were formed by radiation; gardens and orchards that were 

 completely infested and nearly ruined were already entirely clean or' 

 well on the way toward becoming so. Since that time the pest has 

 almost entirely disappeared. The bureau would not have been able 

 to assist the Portuguese Government to this admirable result had it 

 not been for the enlightened policy of the State Board of Horticulture 

 of California in continuing the breeding in confinement of these preda- 



