PROCEEDINGS OF TWENTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS' CONVENTION. 155 



Thousands, yea, millions, of dollars have been saved to the fruit- 

 growers of the State through the establishment of the State Board of 

 Horticulture and its Quarantine Bureau, and shall we stop at this ? I 

 say, NO. Let us, if anything, widen the field; let us ask our legislators 

 to give us more aid, so that we may not only prevent the introduction of 

 pests, but also add to the army of our microscopic friends, those which 

 are waiting for us in foreign lands whence came their natural food. 



THE WHITE-FLIES OF OALIFOENIA. 



By C. W. WOODWORTH, of the University of California. 



Orange-growers of Florida have given the name "White Fly" to the 

 very injurious species of Aleurodes attacking citrus trees. This term 

 had, at one time or another, been previously employed as a popular 

 name for quite a variety of insects, but it had never gained any general 

 currency. The name will now doubtlessly be appropriated by this new 

 fruit pest, to the exclusion of the members of other groups of insects, 

 and can be very appropriately extended to all members of this family. 

 It will be analogous to the use of the florists' name Green Fly" for the 

 members of the related family Aphidse. The interest in the white-fly 

 family rests almost wholly upon the injury done by the white-fly of the 

 orange. Other members of the group have at times done some appre- 

 ciable injury to the various plants, but certainly it is only during ihe 

 last few years that there has been any very serious financial loss for 

 which they may be held accountable. The seriousness of the situation 

 in Florida can be realized when it is understood that the white-fly is 

 considered the most injurious insect attacking citrus trees — much worse 

 than any of the scale insects. Perhaps not much worse than the injury 

 due to scale insects in California, since the amount of moisture in 

 Florida renders a scale attack there less severe than here, as it seldom or 

 never results in the death of the infested trees. The injury done by the 

 white-fly in Florida resembles very much that due to the black scale in 

 this State, but I am inclined to think the loss there is greater than with 

 us, because it appears that the smut fungus is very difficult to remove, 

 indeed it seems impossible to remove it entirel}^ The difference between 

 California and Florida fruit was so conspicuous in the past season in 

 Eastern markets that each could be recognized as far as seen. The pres- 

 ence of smut fungus, as with us, does not entirely destroy the value of 

 the fruit, but does seriously interfere with its sale. 



I think that there is no evidence of this species of Aleurodes being 

 found at the present time in California, and it is possible that it could 

 not live under the climatic conditions in which we grow these fruits; 

 but, of course, it would be the correct policy to take no chances in the 



