BENEFICIAL INSECTS 
sectary requesting that a colony of Aus- 
tralian ladybirds be sent to him to check 
the threatened outbreak of the pest. 
Encouraged by the success of this first 
undertaking, the work has been success- 
fully prosecuted for many years, until to- 
day California has the largest insectary 
in the world devoted exclusively to the 
introduction, propagation and dissemina- 
tion of beneficial insects. 
By careful study it has been determined 
that, in a majority of cases, what in Cal- 
ifornia is termed an “insect pest” is 
usually a foreign destructive insect that 
has been accidentally introduced into the 
state without its natural insect check 
(who used it not only for food for itself, 
but upon which to feed and propagate 
its young). 
The introduced species increases enor- 
mously and in a remarkably short time, 
by sheer force of numbers, becomes what 
we term “an insect pest.” 
From the above statement the work of 
the state Insectary can be easily under- 
stood. Its first duty is to locate the home 
of the natural insect enemy, which is 
usually the country from which the pest 
was introduced. The beneficial form is 
then sent to the Insectary, either through 
correspondence with some foreign ento- 
mologist or by sending our entomological 
explorer direct to that country. 
After receipt at the Insectary several 
generations must be bred in confinement 
in order to segregate the secondary and 
even tertiary forms before any adults of 
the species desired may be liberated in 
the open. 
Fig. 1. Field 
Agents with 300 Pounds of 
Ladybirds in sacks at a pack train station. 
Sacks are only half filled to allow the beetles 
to move slightly and to avoid crushing when 
packed on the mules. Sieves, pans, brushes 
and sacks used for this collecting are hanging 
on the fence. 
615 
Fig. 2. The Vedalia (Novius cardinalis Muls). 
Slightly less than one-quarter of an inch in 
length and oval in shape. The color pat- 
tern is very pronounced and striking, being 
red and black. In the females red predomi- 
nates while in the males there is more 
black. The larvae are often over one-half 
of an inch long and lead-gray in color with 
reddish sides. They are often covered with 
whitish nowder from the egg sacs of the 
cottony cushion scale. The eggs are a little 
larger than those of Novius koebelei, but are 
the same color and laid in similar places. 
The young feed upon the eggs and young 
scales and do great execution. The great 
prolificness and appetite of this species 
enables it to do what no other predator has 
yet done. [t disappears with the host and 
is constantly being sent out by the State 
Insectary. Introduced in California by Al- 
bert Koebele. It feeds entirely upon the 
eggs and young of the cottony cushion scale 
(Icerya purchasi). To this beetle is ae- 
credited the salvation of the citrus industry 
in California, which was threatened with 
destruction by the above scale. 
To this part of the work too much care 
cannot be given, as the success or failure 
of the entire undertaking hinges on the 
careful segregation of the species at this 
point. 
To successfully establish an introduced 
species, several additional importations 
must be made and adults liberated as in 
many species if but a single introduction 
is made, in-breeding after a remarkably 
few generations will not only dwarf the 
Species but actually stop reproduction. 
Many failures to establish foreign spe- 
cies during the past is directly traceable 
to this very important feature, owing to 
lack of sufficient knowledge on the part 
of the collector who has been content with 
but a single introduction. This is espe- 
cially true of the Coccinellidae (Lady- 
bird) family. 
We find then the main essential factors 
toward successful foreign introductions 
