296 p. A. BUXTON. 



Cockerell himself states that his description of Parlatoria victrix was made fTom 

 dark specimens of the species previously named Aonidia blanchardi by Targioni 

 Tozzetti. 



Distribution. — This pest has been recorded from the following localities : 



Algeria : Ourir, S. of Shott Melrir. Egypt : Assouan, Cairo, Luxor. Sudan : 

 Khartoum and N. Sudan generally. Italian Somaliland : Merka. 

 Mesopotamia : Probably throughout the date area ; certainly Basra and Amara. 

 India : Lyallpur, Punjab. United States : Arizona, California. Australia : 

 Northern Territory. 



I can find no record of the occurrence of this scale-insect in Morocco, Tunisia, 

 Tripoh, Arabia, or S. Persia. 



P. blanchardi was introduced into the Southern States of the U.S.A. in 1890 

 from Cairo and Algiers (Cockerell), or in 1889 (Popenoe). It was introduced into 

 Australia about 1894 (Maskell), but has apparently not yet reached South ilfrica. 

 (Lounsbury). 



Biology. — In Mesopotamia this scale occurs on the upper side of the leaflets, 

 more rarely on the midrib ; it attacks particularly recently planted ofi-sets and 

 the resultant young trees during the first half dozen years of their life. I saw it 

 on various types of date palms at and near Basra, and on the variety known as 

 " Zehedi " at Amara. I did not notice it in the other parts of Mesopotamia to 

 which I travelled in the course of the investigation. I never saw a tree severely 

 attacked, even in the most neglected gardens far from the river. I believe that the 

 comparative scarcity of this insect is due to the attacks of Aphelinus mytilaspidis 

 (Eulophidae). 



Males were easily obtained in October by enclosing leaflets attacked by the 

 scale in a bottle. 



This scale on the date leaf is known to the Mesopotamian peasant as " remaj " ; 

 I have not been able to find this word in any dictionary. 



The most complete account of this scale is the pamphlet by Cockerell and Forbes 

 (1907), to which I am indebted for a great deal of information. It is clear from 

 aU the American authors that it is a very serious pest, not only because it weakens 

 the palm by almost covering the leaves, which turn yellow when heavily attacked, 

 but also because it invades the fruit and renders the dates unsightly and hardly fit 

 for the market. We know that it is also a very serious pest in the old world ; King 

 speaks of dates exposed for sale in the Sudan " smothered with " P. blanchardi^ 

 and Targioni Tozzetti' s original description of the species mentions date leaves 

 from the Sahara covered on both surfaces by overlapping scales of this species. 

 Essig says it may kiU the tree in California. Cockerell (1907) states that it is 

 attended by the ant, Pheidole cockerelli, Wheeler, at Tempe, Arizona. 



He and Forbes (1907) make the interesting suggestion that the young insects 

 may be carried from tree to tree by wind, birds, or rats, or by fruit-pickers and 

 pruners. Young offsets are frequently infested by both this and Phoe^iicococcus 

 Sit the time when they are pushing their way through the old matted leaf-bases left 

 on the trunk of the parent tree. 



