32 



PARASITES OF GIPSY AND BROWN-TAIL MOTHS. 



assistance of Prof. H. A. Morgan at that place. Berlese's sending 

 arrived in good condition, and the parasites issued at Baton Rouge 

 and immediately began to attack the native species. The importa- 

 tion was successful for a time, but the introduced species was finally 

 reduced to an insignificant number, presumably through the attacks 

 of hyperparasites. 



In the meantime Prof. C. P. Lounsbury, an American occupying 

 the position of entomologist of the department of agriculture at the 

 Cape of Good Hope, on his arrival at the Cape in 1395 and searching 

 for the usual cosmopolitan scale insects on fruit trees, failed to 



find the black scale. He com- 

 mented on this fact in one of 

 his first-published papers, and 

 alluded to the severity of the 

 scale as a pest in California. 

 Shortly afterwards he found 

 the species, and sent the senior 

 author specimens for identifi- 

 cation in 1895, together with 

 parasites which he had reared 

 from it. Subsequent cor- 

 respondence showed other 

 species, and eventually Scutel- 

 lista cyanea was forwarded. 

 Writing to Mr. Lounsbury 

 September 14, 1896, the chief 

 of the bureau made the follow- 

 ing suggestion : "I think para- 

 sitized black scales could be 

 sent to California to advan- 

 tage. Mr. Alexander Craw 

 would be the proper person to 

 to whom to send them." 

 Mr. Lounsbury made further 

 studies, and commented in his 1898 report on the existence of 

 parasites. When this report met the eye of Mr. E. M. Ehrhorn, of 

 the State horticultural commission, Mr. Ehrhorn wrote Mr. Louns- 

 bury, under date of December 22, 1899, asking him to send a colony 

 of the parasite. Mr. Lounsbury had in the meantime, in a letter 

 to the senior author, suggested that in order to gain authority to 

 spend time over the matter and incur necessary expense it would be 

 desirable for the Secretary of Agriculture of the United States to 

 make. a formal request for these parasites to the secretary of agri- 

 culture of Cape Colony. This was done, and in May, 1900, Lounsbury 



Fig. 6.—Scutellista cyanea, an imported parasite of the 

 black scale: Dorsal and lateral views of adult, with, 

 enlarged details. Greatly enlarged. (From Howard.) 



