36 



wind all day. This capped the climax for the scale and I have no doubt 

 saved this part of the State many thousands of dollars in the improved 

 condition of the fruit without the expense of spraying. I have just now 

 (November 1) made a thorough examination of our orange and olive 

 trees, and find the following results: On large olive trees, no old scale 

 alive, and 50 per cent, of the young dead; on old seedling oiauge trees, 

 old scale all dead, and only 10 per cent, of the young alive; on young 

 and medium-sized budded orange trees (4 to 7 feet high) I have been un- 

 able to find a single live scale, young or old. Under many of the old, 

 dried-up scale insects 1 find what appear to be masses of dried eggs, 

 but as my lens is not of sufficient power for me to be certain, T will 

 mail you a sample so you can be sure if this is the case. I should be 

 glad to hear from you on this point. The fruit of both olives and or- 

 anges is the cleanest I have ever seen here, being entirely free from old. 

 black fungus. We have not sprayed the trees this year, as it was not 

 necessary." 



An examination of the specimens sent showed that all the eggs were 

 empty, and that about one-half of the scales had been parasitized by 

 the common California parasite of the Black Scale, Tomocera califor- 

 nica Howard, as was evidenced by the circular holes of exit, too large 

 for any other species. 



The Black Scale of California found in South Carolina. — 

 This insect (Lecanium olecv Bernard) is found in California infesting a 

 great variety of trees and is one of the most serious enemies to Orange, 

 Lemon, and other fruit trees in that State. In Europe it is confined to 

 the Olive, and is but occasionally found on other plauts. The species 

 has not been definitely recorded in this country from any other locality 

 than California, though Professor Comstock, in his Eeport as Entomol- 

 ogist to this Department for 1880 (p. 336), mentions a scale received 

 from Fort George, Fla., on Live Oak, Holly, Oleander, and Orange as 

 apparently the same. 



Under date of May 29, 1885, Dr. J. H. Mellichamp, of Bluffton, S. C, 

 sent a bark louse from White-flowering Oleander, which he had noticed 

 for the past two or three years, which proved identical with California 

 specimens of this insect. It is impossible to say at present what the 

 probabilities are of the spread of this insect in the Southeastern States. 

 If the insect mentioned by Professor Comstock five years ago was in- 

 deed Lecanium olecv, it would then seem as though tbe chances were 

 against its becoming a serious pest in the East. 



Bibio albipennis as an injurious Insect. — The general opinion 

 among entomologists has always been that the White-winged Bibio 

 could not be called an injurious insect, as it normally feeds in the larva 

 state on damp, dead leaves on the ground or upon galls attached to such 

 leaves; in other words, upon decaying vegetation. Our correspondence 

 this vear with Mr. C. F. Walters, of Northumberland, Pa., however, 



