93 



the three new species which we shall here characterize. The impor- 

 tance of the matter therefore demands that the species shall be imme- 

 diately described, albeit from rather insufficient material, and all known 

 facts at once placed on record. 



THE ROSE ICERYA. 



(Icerya rosce Riley and Howard.) 



On page 333 of Vol. II of In- 

 sect Life (No. 10, April, 1890) 

 we published a short note on this 

 insect, describing briefly the 

 stages which we possessed and 

 giving it the MS. name of Icerya 

 rosce, deferring detailed descrip- 

 tion on account of insufficient 

 material. All the specimens 

 which we have received have 

 been sent to the Department hy 

 Passed Assistant Paymaster H. 

 E. Smith, U. S. Navy, from Key 

 West, Fla. 



The original specimens were 

 sent March 24, 1890, on a limb of 

 rose, with the information that 

 the rose propagators on the Key 

 were greatly troubled by the 

 pest, which causes the limbs to 

 dry and the leaves to fall. The 

 second sending was received in April, and Mr. Smith stated in his 

 accompanying letter that, while the rose-bushes in the yard from 

 which he took the specimens sent had been infested only four or five 

 months, he was told that other plants, including the Sugar-apple, Lime, 

 and Lemon, had been visited by it for years. The weather had been 

 unusually dry for four or five months and the owner of the bushes was 

 of the opinion that the insect did not appear until the drought set in. 



An examination of the specimens received shows that they prefer- 

 ably infest the stems at and near the forks, and the leaves along the 

 midrib on the under side (Fig. 6). 



We have called this insect the Rose Icerya, for the reasons that it was 

 sent to us as a Rose pest, that we have seen it on no other plant, and 

 that Mr. Smith's informants were possibly in error in their statements 

 as to its infesting other plants, as several other scale insects, not read- 

 ily distinguishable from this to the untrained eye, are commonly found 

 in Florida on the plants mentioned. In other words, the only plant 

 which we know it to infest is the Rose. 



Fig. 6.— Rose twig infested by Icerya rosoe. natural 

 size lotigmali. 



