208 



flow slowly down the bark and gradually harden. This was formerly ex- 

 ported from Cartagena to Spain as " Sangre de Dragon." It does not- 

 however agree in composition or properties with the dragon's blood from 

 the East Indies. It should be classed as a kino, and if found in suffi- 

 cient quantity, might be used medicinally. (See Bulletin, August, 1895). 



The tree has compound leaves, somewhat like the common cedar, 

 yellow pea-like flowers, half an inch long, and a flat, rounded pod, con- 

 taining one seed.— {LeguminoscB), 



SAW JOSE SCALE INSECT. 



A plant-pest known under the above name has recently attracted a 

 good deal of attention in the United States and Canada, as well as in 

 England and on the Continent. A special Bulletin has been issued 

 on the subject by the United States Department of Agriculture.* 

 The original home of this scale (Aspidiotus permciosus) is at present 

 unknown. It was observed in an epidemic form in the San Jose 

 Valley in California, about 1870. Since then it has rapidly spread in 

 every direction in the United States. The seriousness of its attacks 

 may be gathered from the following extract : — 



" There is perhaps, no insect capable of causing greater damage to 

 fruit interests in the United States, or perhaps the world, than the 

 San Jose, or pernicious scale. It is not striking in appearance, and 

 might often remain unrecognized, or at least misunderstood, and yet 

 so steadily and relentlessly does it spread over practically all deciduous 

 fruit trees — trunk, limbs, foliage, and fruit — that it is only a question 

 of two or three years before the death of the plant attacked is brought 

 about, and the possibility of injury, which from experience with other 

 «cale enemies of deciduous plants, might be easily ignored or thought 

 insignificant, is soon startlingly demonstrated. Its importance from 

 an economic standpoint, is vastly increased by the ease with which it 

 is distributed over wide districts through the agency of nursery stock 

 and the marketing of fruit, and the extreme difficulty of exterminating 

 it where once introduced, presenting, as it does in the last regard, 

 difficulties not found with any other scale insect." (I.e. pp. 9-10.) 



Aspidiotus perniciosus belongs to the sub-family Diaspinae of the 

 CoccidsD. It is a small soft insect which secretes a scale separate from 

 itseK much like the shell of an oyster. This scale is very minute, 

 round, flattened, and in the case of the male is grayish, hardly black 

 with a light dot and ring." 



The illustration reproduced in the Gardener's Chronicle (Feb. 12, 

 1898, p. 103, figs. 37-40) will afford some idea of the appearance of 

 the insect. In fig. 37 it is on a Californian pear and of the natural 

 size. 



Outside the United States the insect is known to occur in Australia, 

 Chile and Hawaii. It is now spread throughout the States of Cali- 



* The San Jose Scale : its occurrence in the United States, with a full account 

 of its life history and the remedies to be used against it. By L. O. Howard and C. 

 L. Marlatt. Bulletin No. 3. New Series. United States Department of Agri- 

 culture. Division of Entomology. With a map and numerous woodcuts, [Wash- 

 ington. Government Printing Office, 1896.1 



