THE INJUKIOLTS SCALE INSECTS AND MEALY BUGS, &c. 233 
undergoes its transformations, appearing in due season as a very tiny 
two-winged fly having an orange-coloured body. 
Distrihution. 
It was originally discovered by Professor Tryon in Australia on the 
Peach. Mr. Green records it from Fiji, and says that in Ceylon it feeds 
on many species of plants, but that it is partial to the Pelargonium. 
Professor Cockerell found it injurious to a large number of plants in 
Jamaica, including the Grape and Peach. The same author also 
received it from Trinidad. It was in 1892 that it first attracted atten- 
tion in the United States, where it is a serious pest to the Plum and the 
Peach. It was also found there on a dwarf flowering Almond and fifty 
Tea bushes imported from Japan ; the latter were destroyed {vide 
" Psyche," March 1898, pp. 190, 191). Professor C. Sasaki, of the. 
Agricultural College, Tokyo, describes it (under another name) as a pest 
to the Mulberry-trees in Japan. Seeing that the insect was originally 
discovered in Australia, it might be suspected to be indigenous to that 
country ; but I agree with Dr. L. 0. Howard and the late Dr. C. V. 
Riley ("Insect Life," vol. vi., pp. 287-295) that Japan is very probably 
the original home of the species, as we have now three authentic 
instances of its occurrence on freshly imported plants from that country. 
Bemedies. 
As the examples found in this country withstood the severe treatment 
of hot paraffin emulsion, and as we are informed by the United States 
entomologists that it will survive anything but pure kerosene, our wisest 
course by far is to burn the infested plants. Undoubtedly the insect 
must be regarded as a dangerous species, which, if once established, 
would be difficult to eradicate, owing to the diversity of food-plants 
and its decidedly hardy nature. {Gardeners' Chronicle, Oct. 1, 1899, 
p. 245, 246.) 
Croton Scale 
{Parlatoria pergandii, var. crotonis, Cockerell). 
The covering scales of the females of this genus are generally 
recognised from all others of the sub-family by the great size of the 
moulted skin of the second-stage insect, which usually occupies a con- 
siderable portion of the scale, a character strongly developed in the 
black P. zizyiihi, which is so commonly met with on imported Oranges. 
The Croton Scale cannot be considered generally distributed in this 
country as a greenhouse pest, although I know it to be exceedingly 
troublesome in several localities. 
In form the covering scale is somewhat ovate. At first it is of a yel- 
lowish colour and a somewhat waxy texture ; but as it matures this colour 
generally disappears, and the scale presents a drier bran-like appearance. 
The under side of the scale is somewhat trough- shaped, one end of which 
is occupied by the female, and the remaining portion by the purple- 
coloured eggs, the latter being carefully placed transversely and arranged 
in two parallel rows. 
