38 



for 1lio best orchard in the colony, bestowed all the care possible upon his trees. 

 Both of these coccids are very numerous upon his trees, and a^ ;i remedy the trunks 

 and limbs were washed with sulphur and lime mixture with which a strong brush 

 was used. About once every yeaT this had to be repeated. In speaking with him 

 on the value of natural enemies of these scales, the gentleman remarked that the 

 Bame coccids had also been numerous in his neighbor's orchard, and so much so that 

 during one summer many of the trees became whitish, but the following summer all 

 this had disappeared, and the trees ever since kept free of both these scales. It is 

 very evident that the larva- of this tineid moth had been allowed to go undisturbed 

 and devoured all the coccids upon the trunks and limbs, and those that remained on 

 the outer parts of limbs and leaves were either eaten by the many ladybirds and 

 their larva-, or destroyed by the fungus Microcera coccophila, which by itself frees 

 whole trees of this as well as Red Scale in a short time. Mr. Brien always took the 

 gray and dirty appearance of his trees as evidence that myriads of coccids were upon 

 them, and washed off, with the brush and lime and sulphur mixture, the numerous 

 valuable little caterpillars that were doing their best to free his trees of the coccids, 

 naturally destroying all these, and, by the sulphur wash, preventing the Microcera 

 from developing. This must seem plain to everyone, that under such circumstances 

 the operation becomes necessary every year, while in his neighbor's orchard, which 

 had never been sprayed or washed during its existence, ami the natural enemies left 

 undisturbed, hardly a single tree can be found with coccids upon if. These tineid 

 larva- will feed upon most any Diaspidinse when they are in large numbers, and 

 have repeatedly been found upon the red scale. These larva- were sent to Washing- 

 ton, and some of them%rough1 with me were liberated upon Aspidiotus perniciosua 

 Comst. A similar tineid larva was also observed to feed upon CMonaspis eitri 

 Comst., in the Fiji Islands, but not in such large numbers, and not producing such 

 large webs upon the surface of bark. 



The larva of another and much smaller tineid, black with white markings, is 

 found in large numbers, feeding upon a species of Ceroplastes at Sydney, making 

 tunnels under the hard waxy covering and devouring the contents within. This 

 coccid is not yet described. Females of second stage and males were sent to Mr. 

 Maskell. 



Another tineid was bred in numbers from a lot of Icerya collected at Melbourne 

 and used as food for (he Vedalia. The larva- spun all the cottony mat ter of the scales 

 together and within devoured not only all the eggs, but the coccids as well. The 

 same moth was also bred from larva found preying upon Lecanium. This is, it' I re- 

 member right, the same insect that was brought in such numbers by Mr. Webster 

 from Tasmania, in 1889. 



In New Caledonia, upon bamboo badly attacked with a very large green Aphids. 

 that has some Cottony exudation on the lower end of its body, and sitting in n 

 all over the woody pari of tin- plants, batches of empty cocoons of a Pyralid or 

 large Tineid wen- present, the Larvae >A' this no doubt preying upon this Aphis. 1 had 

 no time :it my disposal here to investigate the nun ter properly. If tried, this Lnsecj 

 may likelj become of value in destroying the woolly aphis. 



Diploste koebelei, Skuse, MS. — Mr. Skuse gave me this manuscript name for oue 

 of the mosl interesting and important Cecidomyids, showing the peculiarity of 

 Anstralian inseci lite. The mother il.v deposits her pah- orange-yellow eggs any- 

 where near a patchof Dactylopius, generally near the midrib on underside of leaves 

 where these coccids congregate. Thej are about three times as long as broad and not 

 1 1 ! i i t . ► 1 1 1 1 i 1 \ colored, as in places darker orange spots appear. These soon hatch and 



t lie \ ouug Diaggol - craw | up to and under t he mealy bug8 and here spin a few silken 



threads among ami fastening them. Under this the short duration of their 



beneficial work begins. One after another of tin- coccids is taken hold of and 



1 d out; the remaining empty skins are either fastened on to their webs, 



If needed, or thrown to the ground. Often these maggots ami their performance 



