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Ellvvood Cooper, who received the insects oil two occasions, has in both instances 

 succeeded in Introducing the same upon L. olecs. On a visit to his orchard on Sep- 

 tember L L892, Larvae of all sizes as ^\ * - 1 1 as mature insects could be found in num- 

 bers at both. places where they had heen liberated. Large numbers of these beetles 

 were scut over here on my former trip, and Prof. Webster also brought a number of 



them from Tasmania, all of which were sent to Los Angeles, yet none of them were 

 liberated at that nor apparently this time. The beetles were met with feeding upon 

 all species of I. cranium upon citrus trees; upon Lecanium sp. on guava at Harwood, 

 New South Wales, w here twoot her species of Bhizobius were also present; upon Banksia 

 serrata infested with Fiorina ( f) and Chionaspis eugenios .Mask. ; at Mount Victoria upon 

 Eriococcus leptospermi Mask., upon Leptospermum Icevigatum L.V.Mueller; atWhitton, 

 New South Wales upon Caauarina&ud feeding here upon te Gossyparia,Ji.Bp. or Bhizocop- 

 cus (t) M askell," also breeding upon Bhizococcus araucaria) Mask., on Araucaria excelsa 

 K. Brown, at Sydney. But the chief food seems to be the various Eriococcus in Aus- 

 tralia. It was in fchis Bpecies and II. del/Hi* Blackb., that freed a large tree in the 

 botanical gardens at Sydney within a comparatively short time of a soft species of 

 Lecanium that was covering the leaves, and shortly after all the R hizococcus upon an 

 Araucaria close by were devoured by them. At the same place this iusect was also 

 numerous upon Lecanium cassiniae Mask., on oleander. The larva of this beetle is 

 preyed upon by a parasite, which at times destroys the greater part of them. 

 Fortunately, by a provision of nature this parasite is kept iu check by secondary 

 parasites^ Twenty-one larvae of this beetle collected at Melbourne under bark of 

 Eucalyptus infested with Eriococcus, upon which they had fed, were parasitized by 

 eighty-four larvae of Iloiualotijlua sp.; of these but fifteen parasites issued, while all 

 the rest were destroyed by two species of secondary parasites. Should the parasite 

 ever appear on the Bhizobius larva in California, which would render its value as an 

 enemy to scale insects of much less importance, we could easily and with advantage 

 introduce these secondary parasites by simply shipping over a lew hundred iufested 

 larva- of fche Bhizobius or puparias of the Homalotylus. It is possible, hut not likely, 

 since we have no Bhizobius in this country, that the parasite was introduced on my 

 former trip to Australia, as at that time a few larvae of this beetle were sent over 

 here, but all these were kept confined in a tent with Icerya, upon which they failed 

 to Wi-d. and all perished. Had the beetle been introduced three years ago they 

 world now be present in the State by the million. 



Bhizobius iebilis Blackb. — Next to B. ventralis Er., the most numerous of all the 

 Rhizobiids, and will prove one of the best acquisitions we could get. The insect was 

 tiist met with during 1889 while unpacking a lot of leaves of Ficus macrophylla full 

 of Ispidiotus nerii Louche, brought from Sydney. The beetle had developed within 

 the paper. It is very numerous in New South Wales upon Leptospermum lasvigatum 

 F. V. Mueller, that are iufeste-l with Einococcus leptospermi Mask., as well as upon 

 Casuarina infested with E. turgipes Mask-, and Monophlebus fuscus Mask., hut not 

 likely feeding upon the latter. It is common upon Araucaria excelm infested with 

 Bhizococcus araucaria: Mask., ami always found upon orange at Parramatta. AYhile 

 at Adelaide, South Australia, Mr. Grasby, of the "Garden and Field/' kindly took 

 me to an olive orchard where Lecanium c<i*aiui<r Mask, was plentiful upon some of 

 tin trees, and here this beetle with its larvae, was present by the hundreds. Here, 

 as all over Australia the fatal parasites were in full sway upon this beneficial insect, 

 the Homalotylus destroying fche larvae and a smaller chalcid the pupa' of the beetle. 



Numbers of these beetles were senl to California by every steamer, and Mr. C'o- 

 quillett returned to me a lot of alcoholic specimens. The beetle is doing remark- 

 ably well at Mr. Cooper's place upon Lecanium olea Bern., and from two speci- 

 a left in my yard upon prune trees infested with A spidio t us pernidosus Coins t., by 

 Mr. (raw, on May 11, 1892; they ha\ e also done well. Already during August larva.* 

 of all yell as imagoes were present, and these were found upon other trees 



as well during September. 



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