ATTACKING THE BRANCHES. 



43 



Another friend is the twice-stabbed lady-bird, Chilochorus 

 bivulnerus Muls. (Fig. 33), an insect easily recognized by its 



Fig. 31. 



Fig. 32. 



Fig. 33. 



polished black wing-cases with a blood-red spot on each. 



Its larva, a bristly-looking little creature (Fig. 34), of a 



grayish color, is very active, and devours 



large numbers of the lice ; the p rfect beetle 



also eats them. The bark-lice and their eggs 



are devoured also by some of our insect-eating 



birds. 



During the winter the trees should be ex- 

 amined and the scales scraped off, and thus a large proportion 

 of the insects may be destroyed. Still, it is almost impos- 

 sible to cleanse the trees entirely in this way, especially the 

 smaller branches; and hence the insect should be 

 fought also at the time when the eggs are hatch- 

 ing and the young lice crawling over the limbs, 

 as then they are tender and easily killed. With 

 this object in view, the time of hatching of the 

 remnants left after the winter or spring scraping 

 should be watched, and, while the young larvse 

 are active, the twigs should be brushed with a 

 strong solution of soft-soap and washing-soda, as recom- 

 mended under No. 2, or syringed with a solution of wash- 

 ing-soda in water, made by dissolving half a pound or more 



