616 
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF 
Fig. 3. 
; Koebele’s 
koeblei Olliff). 
(original 
small species being not longer than one- 
eighth of an inch; the males are bright red 
with dark markings; the females red with 
Adult male, greatly enlarged 
drawing by Birdnekoff). A very 
dark head, prothorax, and marginal spot 
near the middle of each wing cover. The 
larvae are dark red and about one-fourth of 
an inch long. The small oblong red eggs 
are deposited by the females on the egg sacs 
of the host and hatch within a few days. 
The young immediately enter the egg sac and 
begin feeding upon the eggs and young 
hatched scales. It was first introduced by 
Albert Koebele and is continually being re- 
distributed by the State Insectary. It feeds 
upon the cottony cushion scale. (Icerya pur- 
chasi). This species is often more numer- 
ous and does greater execution than does 
the Vedalia (Novius cardinalis), for which 
it is usually mistaken. 
are, first, the careful segregation of all 
Secondary forms, which must be imme- 
diately destroyed and not a single in- 
dividual allowed to escape. Packages must 
be opened in an air-tight room or tight 
glass case; one end covered with a black 
cloth curtain into which holes are cut. 
The package is placed inside the case, the 
operator puts his arms through the holes 
in the curtain and thus works inside the 
case. Second, additional importations to 
enable cross-breeding and to prevent in- 
breeding, also to give the species the ad- 
vantage of different seasons in which to 
become established, or, in case the first 
shipment would meet with disaster upon 
being liberated. 
Our foreign importations are shipped 
almost entirely when they are in the 
larval (young) or pupal (quiescent) stage 
and are placed in cold storage during 
transit. 
The intricacies of cold storaging insect 
species would require chapters to even 
begin to explain the various processes and, 
all told, it is a subject that does not lend 
Ladybird Beetle (Novius Fig. 4. Dipterous 
PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 
Parasite of the Cottony 
Cushion Scale (Cryptochaetum iceryae Will. 
(Family Agromyzidae]. Lestophonus iceryae 
Will.). The adults of this very beneficial 
insect are exceedingly small two-winged flies 
about one-sixteenth of an inch long. The 
head and thorax are metallic blue and the 
abdomen bright iridescent green. The an- 
tennae are black; legs black or dark brown 
with feet light; wings grayish hyaline with 
dark brown veins. The eggs are deposited 
by the females in the ege sacs of the cottony 
cushion scale and the young Maggots feed 
upon the eggs of this pest. The entire life 
history is passed within the protecting sac 
of the host, the adults emerging as by 
magic from the masses of the seale. This 
fly is practically confined to the citrus- 
growing sections of Southern California and 
is more often found in Los Angeles, Orange 
and San Diego counties. While it is not as 
consistent and reliable in its work upon the 
cottony cushion scale as are the ladybird 
beetles (Novius cardinalis and N. Koebelei) 
yet its work is often phenomenal. Certainly 
its rearing and distribution is well worth 
while. 
Fig. 5. Black Ladybird Beetle (Rhizobius ven- — 
tralis Er.). The adults are Smaller than 
those of the common red ladybird; rather 
oval in Shape; black and covered with fine 
hairs which give them a grayish appearance. 
The abdomen is salmon colored. The young 
are dark brown or black and covered with 
many spines. The eggs are deposited singly 
or a few at a place among the egg masses 
of mealy bugs, under the bodies of the black 
Scale or among other Scale insects. .The 
numbers of the host are so great that the 
actual good done is not so marked as in the 
cases of many other predators. The adults 
move little ,except when annoyed. This 
species was imported by Albert Koebele, es- 
pecially as an enemy of black Scale (Sais- 
setia oleae). The young feed upon the eggs 
of the black scale, mealy bugs, hemispherical 
scale and other similar insects. 
