47 



with a salt-water wash, just on general principles of cleanliness. I 

 have felt it merely necessary to recommend soap instead of salt as 

 more valuable where scales are concerned. 



The important feature for America is the Japanese ladybird ( Chilo- 

 corus similis). With the literature available here I can not determine 

 whether this beetle has already been carried to America by Koebele 

 or Compere, but I am expecting daily information on this point from 

 Washington, so that if necessary I can send, or at least make the 

 attempt to send, living beetles to California and the East. 



A general discussion followed the reading of Mr. Marlatt's paper. 



Mr. Cockerell said that he was very glad to hear Mr. Marlatt's 

 paper, as it threw a great deal of interesting light on the conditions 

 existing in Japan. Hitherto we had great I3' lacked information of 

 this sort. He wished to correct one statement in the paper, that he 

 (the speaker) considered the Japanese insect distinct from the true 

 San Jose scale. This was the exact reverse of the truth, but he did 

 consider that the scale presented some varieties in Japan, as, for 

 example, the one feeding on orange trees, a thing the insect in Cali- 

 fornia never did. Mr. Marlatt's statement about the Chilocorus was 

 very interesting. The speaker had noticed a similar case in Arizona 

 when the Chilocorus cacti, feeding normally on the native Diaspis 

 tourney i, came to prey upon the introduced date palm scale (Parlatoria). 

 As regards the main proposition advanced by Mr. Marlatt, that the 

 San Jose scale was certainly not a native of Japan, Mr. Cockerell 

 could not see that any proof had been offered. The fact that the 

 insect occurred mainly upon imported American varieties was just 

 what might be expected if it Avere native to Japan, as the American 

 varieties would be less resistant than the Japanese. It has been 

 observed by Dr. John B. Smith that the Keiffer pear was, to a con- 

 siderable degree, resistant to the scale. Now, this pear was a hybrid 

 with the Chinese sand i^ear, and it seemed to show that trees having 

 Chinese or Japanese blood, or one sliould say sap, were more or less 

 resistant to the scale. The fact that the scale was not found on wild 

 XDlants in Japan proved nothing. Mr. Cockerell had found many 

 Coccids in New Mexico on wild plants, and though the i3lants were 

 abundant the Coccids were usually confined to very limited localities, 

 and even after years of residence in the immediate vicinity were very 

 likel}^ to be overlooked. He also knew of cases such as those of 

 Toumeyella mirahilis and Dactylopius prosopidis in which these iso- 

 lated colonies were entirely destroyed by parasites or predaceous 

 enemies. 



The San Jose scale belonged to a Pal^earctic or at least a Holarctic 

 group, and must surely have originated in the northern temperate 

 zone. It certainly could not be supposed to come from Europe, and 



