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the scale when liberated. As we had very favorable weather during and 

 after the distribution, I think we will have good reports of their work. 

 The following letter, from Mr. J. F. Mclntyre, of Fillmore, Ventura 

 County, to Mr. Cooper, dated November 6, 1894, is encouraging: 



I am very happy to be able to report that I have just found the Rhizobius ventralis 

 breeding rapidly on both orange and lemon trees. One of the colonies that you sent us 

 one year ago was placed in a clump of eighteen-year-old orange trees (with black scale) 

 one mile from the coast, and now the trees are full of the beetles in all stages. In 

 another place about five miles from the coast they were placed on five large lemon trees 

 owned by one of our Supervisors, and now the scales are all gone and only a few lady- 

 birds left. We have them now breeding on olive, apricot, orange, and lemon trees, and 

 will soon try them on other Lecaniums. Ventura County legislators are strongly in 

 favor of further appropriations to be handled by the State Board of Horticulture, to 

 continue the search for predaceous insects. 



Mr. Mclntyre is a Horticultural Commissioner of Ventura County, 

 and a very close observer of insects. 



The Supervisors of San Bernardino and Los Angeles Counties, and 

 the City Trustees of Riverside, have taken a commendable interest in 

 the introduction of very large colonies of Rhizobii into their respective 

 sections. The Supervisors of San Bernardino County telegraphed Mr. 

 Cooper to have me meet and confer with them in regard to establishing 

 large colonies in their county, so on September 19th I took to that 

 county about 10,000 beetles, and the following day they were liberated 

 in two orchards; one colony in an olive orchard at Cucamonga, and the 

 other at Ontario, where there was an abundance of black scales (Leca- 

 nium olese). I also appeared before the Board of Supervisors of San 

 Bernardino County, and urged upon them the advisability of relying 

 more upon beneficial insects. I called attention to the fact that their 

 county, a few years ago, was entirely free from black scale, and notwith- 

 standing the fact that they had one of the most active Boards of Horti- 

 culture in the State, and that the Supervisors had been more liberal in 

 their appropriation of funds to carry on the warfare against scale 

 insects than any other county, yet the scale had entered the county and 

 spread throughout the western half until to-day not an orange, lemon, 

 or olive orchard is free from the pest in that section. This I consider a 

 very convincing proof that with such pests as the black scale, other 

 than artificial means must be employed to check them. The Supervi- 

 sors therefore instructed the Horticultural Commissioners to leave the 

 matter optional with the orchardists, whether they should spray, fumi- 

 gate, or leave their orchards for the ladybirds. It is fully demonstrated 

 that the ladybirds will not work in an orchard that has been sprayed, 

 for at least a year afterwards. The Supervisors soon afterwards sent 

 agents to Mr. Cooper's orchards, and they collected the Rhizobii by the 

 thousands. Los Angeles and Riverside Counties have done likewise, so 

 that hundreds of thousands of these beneficial insects have been dis- 

 tributed. 



I have just been advised by Mr. John Scott, of Los Angeles, that an 

 internal parasite has made its appearance at Pomona, preying on the 

 larvae of ladybirds. From specimens of the larvae received, I have 

 bred the parasite — a small Chalcid fly — which is entirely new to Cali- 

 fornia. I was in hopes that it was nothing more serious than Prof. L. 

 0. Howard's species, Uomalotylus obscurus, that is found in Florida, par- 

 asitic upon the larvae of the convergent ladybird (Hippodamia conver- 

 gus), but it differs from that. This parasite may check, to some extent, 



