502 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Fed. i, 1895. 
la general are notably pcarce. Ibis is not true of j 
bees. Their existence i 1 great colonies of 10,000 to 
50,000 each, and their natural protection from stoma 1 
and enemies, insures their presence amo: g the 
flo'ers every yexr, month, w ek and day, except 
f rfooth that storm or cold — the s;ime that shuts 
the pollen close in the anther — keep them in the 
hive. In California, fortunatejy for our fruit growers, 
such impriso ment is very rare, and can never, 1 s 
is fr qtiently true in the East, stand in 1 lie way of 
a. gen rous o op of all kinds of frnit. It is also v ry 
important that in p anting our fri it-treca \v: uuwl 
see to it that varieties are well mixed. Contiguous 
rows should nev r be of the tame variety, u K a 
We know that the variety is fertile, and' fully to 
with its own pollen. 
Two Destkuctivk Beetles. — Ono of the most 
destructive beetles of the East and one of the most 
difficult to combat, is the rose chafer ( Macrodac'y- 
lus subspinosus). Late last May, and even on to 
July and August, I took a handsome beet e of t o 
same great family — Scaraba?ida3 — which mode a bo i- 
ous onslaught on the deciduous tr ' s about Clareni nt, 
especially of the prunus group. A year ago the 
same insects »• ers sent to me from the region of 
Penis, with the report that it was a serious pest 
in the prune an 1 apr cot orchards. This iusei 1 
find to be Serica fimbriate, which wry c'o el 
resembhs Serica s ricea, a very common b ctle of 
the East, and like that s-pecies a dark form ie not 
Uncommon. Serica fim riata is a very warm bro*n 
in color, with a peculiar tatin-like iridesu u lustre. 
B neilb, it is thi kiy stt with yellowish brown hairs 
(specially beneath the head and thorax. The eyt-s 
and fossorial spines of the front legs arc b ack, m u 
tie antennte are light brown, almost yellow. 1 lie 
eyes are nearly bisected by the projecting ridge of 
the front of the head. J he early beetles seemed 
larger t ; an 1 lie la er one?, Of these the fei 
were about 7-10 of an inch long, and the males about 
§. These, like Berica s ricea of the East, have the 
beautiful iridescent lustre. Iu July and August the 
beetles were smaller, showed less of the eatin-like 
lustre, and fairly swainied in the orchards east of 
Pomona, Some of the apricot orchards were literally 
dsfclia ed, Thesy later beetles ranged fr 'in 6-16 tj 
§ of an inch in length. Th se beetles hide in the 
eirtb beneith the tree by day, and come forth to 
eit ly night, As they bury th m selves only four 
or five inches, it is not difficult to unearth and 
destroy them, Of couise the early ones corah g in 
May and Jure do much n ore ha: in than do those 
that do not come to eat the foliage until July and 
AugUBt. But even the latter w 11 do very much harm 
where it is as abundant as it was east of this place 
the past season. No tree can [a t wi h its entire 
foliage (Ven in July and August, without serious 
it jury. In such case it wculd pay wel', ss soon as 
the despoliation is noticed, to dig the beetles out 
and kilt tb>m. This would also prevent egg-laying 
and wou d tend to prevent future i< jury. These 
aud all related insects lay their eg s in the earth, 
and the g ubs or larvse feed ou the roots of various 
plants. They are one, two or three yeari iu passing 
through a 1 their changes from egg to maturity. The 
white gru^, larva cf the May beetle, in the East 
often works most serious mischief feeding on the 
roots of grass. It thus oftimes entirely ruins lawns 
and meadows. Without doubt these Sericeaa, while 
grubs, feed upon roots in the earth. "Whether they 
do damage or not m that stage, I am unable to 
say. I have been told that it also eats the grass 
roots, aud so destrjys lawns in California. 
A Dkktki'Ctive Weevil. — The 9th of June I recei- 
ved from Mr. S. T. Berkeley, Little Rock, Ca ifornia, 
some weevils, with the infoi mation that they were 
eating the foliage from the young almond trees. r Ihis 
proved to be a beetle new to my collection. Prof. 
L. 0. Howard, of the Department of Agriculture, 
informed me that it was Eu, agedores varius. As 
I find no mention of it as a destructive species, it 
should be recorded as an enemy of the orchardist. 
This weevil belongs to one of the families of weevils 
or 6Uout beetles (Ortiorhynchidse), and is not distantly 
related to Ortioihycchus ovatus. wuich injures straw- 
berries in Michigan, white in the yrub < r larva stago, 
aud to Fuller's rose beetle (Aranrgue FoUeri). whi h 
works in conscrvat lies East, and nas the same halit 
of feeding o foliage that is repotted of this species. 
I find I his, Fuller's rose beat e, quite common heie. 
1 take it in jarring the oiange trees. 
This weevil is while, lined with griy 1 rown on 
o iv.iceous lilies. There • re three lires on the thor 
one meridian and two lateral, one en ei cli side, ami 
three on each wii^g cover. Thawing c vers are also 
marked wiih depiessed punc'ula'e inte. 'Ihe f et 
and ui der surface vary from cle r white to clear 
gray brown. The an ennae are white, elbow, d, 
cl.ivate, tho la«t three' joints of the ciuh being gray- 
brown. The beak is white with sido linei of Sray- 
brjwn, and ii enlarged at the t p. It probably t.ii.. s 
its specific nam- from the fact that it varies grc»t'y 
in color. In some individuals th white predominate-, 
and in others 1 he gray-brown far exceeds the time. 
They vary also exceedingly in 6ize. I have some 
that a e } an inch long, and others that are scarcely 
more than i inch from tip to lip. 
It is probable that the footless grubs live in the 
earth and feed on roots of some kinds of pi uts. 
Pullet's rose beet e feeds on th? roots of rosea, but 
as a mature insect feeds on the thick fo iage of 
various ferns, w x p'ants, etc. Should these beet'es 
come in such numbers us to threaten mischief, they 
can doubtless be caught on sheets and destroyed, 
as the curculio is t eatcd in the East It i . possible 
that these beetles and the species of 'erica mentioned 
above, could be overcome by the U6e of London purple, 
although bucu veiy probably may not be the case. 
A New Ohange Pest.— The old Green-house pest 
of the East, knoAn as th mealy bug (Dactylopius 
longifili-), had few rivals iu real misci.ief. While it 
will snc.umb to kerosene emulsion, it < ftcn i\qu re-s 
that it be so strong that the plan s sre liktly to be 
much injured, The past seaon an <ther BLOci s, 
which fro . L. O. Howard info.ms me w Pseudoco cus 
ucco3 Ccquilietle, has attacked the oranges about 
one mile south-east of Claremout, alongside of the 
"wash." Upon examinat on the'-e mealybugs were 
found abuudam y on the wild buckwheat, Engonum 
fasicu'atum, Artime-ia • alifoinica and Lepidospartum 
squamatuni of tte wash. In August the males w e 
abundant, and it wa- not d fficuit to find innumerable 
specimens of both sexes attached to the mam stems 
of the p ant where they lean d over between the 
plant aud the ear h. There can b lit le or no doubt 
but that if these mealy bugs i-hould become general 
on he oranges, they would prove a Very serious eueuiy 
of the orange grower. It will bo wLe 10 cut and bum 
all the wild bush close besde the orchirds, and to 
take special pains to kill all the mealy bugs that 
have gained lodgement on the trees. 
Ti e mea'y bog belongs to the same family that 
contains the v.irioua scale lice. Indeed, th ) maie 
mealy bug , like the male scale iosects, Las two wit gs 
and comes forth from a whitish cocoon, which is 
easily found on the plants close among the fema'o 
mealy bugs. The female is covered with huge thick 
masses ol w ite, which is easily rubbed off, and is 
without the long tail-like appendages, which are so 
conspicuous in the o'd Dactyloiius lrngifilis. The 
Genus Pseudococcus 'hows nine segments iu the adult 
female, and six in the larva of the female aud seven 
in the larva of th? male. The femal ■ is about J of 
an inch long, heavily frosted, (and not sparingly 
frosted as stated in the description of P. uccoe), with 
no filaments at the posterior end of the body, but 
has fcale-like proji ctions enti ely around it. The 
male is .J-16 of an inch long, is brownish-black with 
a brown caudal style, and two long filame' ts aslO' gas 
the body. The antennas are about as long as the body, 
Bnd hairy. The wings are two-veined like most male 
coccids, and about as long as the body, so that they 
project beyond ihe tip of the abdomen. The fen-ale 
is very convex, and is more heavily coated with the 
white waxy coating than are m^st mealy bugs. 
The Peas or Cheeky Slug.— The Pear or cherry 
slug is a common and destructive species in the 
East. I find it is also common here," and as it i 
