392 



INSECTS INJURIOUS TO THE ORANGE. 



under side of orange leaves, close to the veins ; they are of 

 a reddish-yellow color, and about one five-hundredth of an 

 inch long. Early in the year there hatch from them tiny 

 blood-red mites having six legs, and four oval black spots ou 

 the hinder part of the abdomen. In three or four weeks 

 these transform to eight-legged mites of a paler shade of red, 

 which is the mature form. 



A small, four-winged fly, one-fiftieth of an inch long, de- 

 scribed as "the blue yellow- 

 cloaked Chalcid,^^ Signiphora fla- 

 vopalliatus Ashmead, has been 

 found in considerable numbers 

 destroying the eggs of this scale. 

 Fig. 402 shows this fly, highly 

 magnified. Its body is bluish 

 black, with a yellow crescent- 

 shaped patch behind the head; 

 the wings are transparent and fringed with fine hairs. 



Fig. 402. 



No. 251. — The Long Scale. 



Mytilaspis Gloveri Packard. 



The second most common scale-insect on the orange-trees 

 in Florida is the species now under consideration. It is 

 closely allied to No. 250, but differs from it in that the 

 female scale is much narrower, and generally of a paler 

 color, its usual tint being pale brownish yellow, varying 

 occasionally to dark brown. A back view of the female 

 scale is shown at a in Fig. 403, a front view at c, while 

 the male scale is represented at 6, — all magnified; on the 

 leaf and twig are shown many scales of the natural size. 

 The female insect, under the scale, is of a light-jpairple hue, 

 with the terminal segment yellowish. The eggs are white 

 when first laid, but become tinged with purple before hatch- 

 ing; they are arranged regularly in a double row, as shown 

 at c in the figure. The newly-hatched lice are purplish, 



