152 PROCEEDINGS OF TWENTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS' CONVENTION. 



you — that it is by no means easy to get hold of it. Nobody here knows 

 anything but the injurious species, hence help from farmers in finding 

 colonies of black scale is out of the question." 



Under date of May 15, 1901, Mr. Lounsbury further writes: "We 

 have not forgotten you, but we have failed to find any more black scale 

 fit to send. Cape Town and the suburbs are quite free again, the scale 

 being few and far between, even in its haunts where the material sent 

 last year was found. I quite expected my assistant would find a little 

 about Port Elizabeth, our next largest town, some hundred miles east 

 of here, but he writes that he has been unable to find more than an old 

 scale here and there, and not a single twig worth picking." 



Under date of October 23, 1901, Mr. Lounsbury farther writes: "The 

 black scale remains as scarce as ever here. We know plenty of places 

 now where we can find a little of it, but the parasites are always there 

 to keep it down. A few weeks ago we found enough low down in some 

 oleanders to make a sending. The postoffice people would not warrant 

 the packages passing unchallenged at New York with only ^sample 

 post' rates paid on them, saying they thought they might get stopped, or 

 at least delayed on account of their size, so I had letter postage paid — 

 rather a neat little sum. We addressed them to Craw, with the sug- 

 gestion that he might be able to arrange for them farther south in the 

 State." 



From the above we will readily see that if this parasite is ever 

 established in California we may expect great things. 



Next comes the Red scale (Aspidiotus auranti, Mask.). This pest is 

 better known to the growers of Southern California, as it is one of the 

 worst scale insects of the orange groves. It is one of the armored scales, 

 and is very difiicult to conquer. Its native country is not known 

 exactly, but Australia has furnished it to California. When it first 

 appeared with us it seemingly only attacked the orange, but now we 

 find it infesting walnut, grapevine, rose, century plant, and many 

 others. We have several ladybirds which feed readily upon this scale, 

 among which are the twice-stabbed ladybird (Chilocorus bivulnerus)^ 

 and the steel-blue ladybirds, Orchus chalybeus and Orchus australasia. 

 These ladybirds no doubt cause considerable reduction of the scale, but 

 we need a more effective parasite to cope with it. Mr. George Compere, 

 special agent of the State Board of Horticulture, fortunately has been 

 able to find one in China, and already several hundred have been 

 successfully bred and liberated by Mr. Alexander Craw in the orange 

 groves of Southern California. This parasite is very minute, and can 

 hardly be seen with the naked eye, but it seems to be very active and 

 very prolific. 



Another scale very closely allied to A. auranti, and by many con- 

 sidered but a variety of it, is the Yellow scale {A. citrinus, Coql.). 



